tivities of a Rotary club should be
regarded, however, chiefly as labora-
tory experiments designed to train
individual members in service.

Community Service Work Varies

Community needs and agencies
naturally differ in different communi-
ties. The following pages, therefore,
will offer only suggestions of a gen-
eral nature. Details will, of course,
depend upon the local situation.

A proper understanding of the fore-
going basic principles and of the follow-
ing suggestions as to application will
enable a Rotary club, especially a newly
organized club, to avoid rushing into
community undertakings before sufh-
cient attention has been given to the
fundamental purposes for which Ro-
tary clubs are organized and to the.
community service agencies which al-
ready exist.

“Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan”

The most helpful principle to be ob-
served by the community service com-
mittee is to avoid ineffective work.
This can best be done by planning.

Following its appointment, the com-
munity service committee should pre-
pare for presentation to the aims and
objects committee of the club some
definite plan of community service ac-
tivities in which individual members
may participate. As steps to take in
constructing such a plan, the following
outline is suggested:

1. Ascertain the need.

2. Determine what should be done
to meet the need.

3. Decide who should do the job.
Discover who will finance the job.

Plan when the job should be done.

Step 1. Ascertain the Need

The first step in community service
planning is, of course, finding out what
community conditions require atten-
tion. To this end the club meeting may
well be used as a forum for intelligent
discussion of problems relating to the

community. (Suggestions for com-
munity service meetings may be found

on page 9.)
The Community Survey

Almost essential in determining the

need is the community survey. There
are two types of surveys, which, for
convenience of discussion, are called
“general” surveys and “particular”
surveys. The general survey scans the
whole field of community activities
and needs, uncovering conditions which
seem to require further study. Periodi-
cally, perhaps every three to five years,
a complete survey should be made in
cooperation with other organizations.
(See page 10.) In other years the com-
munity service committee of the club
may be able to make a general survey
without outside help. The study of
any one of the conditions which a gen-
eral survey reveals—crippled children
work, juvenile delinquency, housing
problems, etc.—is called the particular
survey. This goes deeply into the par-
ticular condition and discovers details
not visible from the general survey.

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