District 7770 is one of the largest and most effective districts in the Rotary world. The district is well known throughout Rotary and is well respected for the quality results achieved by its members.
District 7770 comprises the 25 eastern counties of South Carolina (the remainder of the state is in District 7750). Today, District 7770 encompasses 78 Rotary clubs with a membership of approximately 5,000 Rotarians.
Our District includes the popular coastal tourist destination of Myrtle Beach; golfing and leisure in Hilton Head Island; history and architecture in Charleston; and the seat of state government in Columbia.
Rotary District 7770 makes an impact throughout its neighborhoods and around the world through our focus on Rotary’s Five Avenues of Service.
Club Service focuses on strengthening individual clubs. Without our Rotary Clubs, we wouldn’t have District 7770.
Vocational Service focuses on involving club members in serving others through their various professions. Rotarians are business leaders, and their Rotary involvement can inspire others through vocational service. District 7770 sends teams of young professionals to other countries to perform needs assessments and to study their occupations in other countries. We’ve accepted teams of young professionals from all over the world, matching them with their professional peers in South Carolina and housing them in the homes of Rotarians for a four-to-five week visit to South Carolina.
Community Service focuses on club projects and volunteer efforts that clubs perform together to have a direct impact on their immediate communities. District 7770 took the lead in supporting Coins for Alzheimer’s Research, a cooperative Rotary program that supports research for the treatment and cure of Alzheimer’s disease. In order to accomplish this, Rotarians are encouraged to voluntarily empty their pockets of change, or what ever amount they choose, whenever they attend a Rotary meeting.
International Service focuses on performing humanitarian projects around the world and furthering Rotary’s goal of peace through understanding
For more than 30 years, Rotary Clubs and Districts have supported the Gift of Life International program. During this time, the equivalent of $500 million has been raised or provided in services that were performed at a significantly reduced rate by hospitals and health care professionals. The result of this effort on the part of Rotarians around the world is that the lives of more than 10,000 children have been saved through Gift of Life.
District 7770 is a long-time supporter of Gift of Life, a program that accepts at risk children from third world countries and provides life-saving surgeries with Rotary funds. Through partnerships with hospitals around our District, we are able to bring children to the United States, give them life-saving heart and lung surgeries, house them with Rotary families and send them home well. Since the start of our involvement, we have saved the lives of more than 100 children from around the world.
New Generations is Rotary’s effort to involve younger generations in the world of Rotary by providing them dynamic opportunities to lead. Rotary promotes peace in the world through the understanding of other cultures. Study abroad programs are help Rotary fulfill that goal. District 7770 awards college scholarships to worthy students who want to study abroad for a year. We’ve placed students on almost every continent, helping them immerse themselves in another culture and become fluent in a language, while making life-long friends and learning valuable life skills.
District 7770 has a rich Interact (International action) history. Interact was originally founded at a Florida high school in 1965 as a means to introduce high school students to the ideals of “service above self”.
Today, District 7770 has approximately 60 high-school based clubs with around 2,500 members. These 60 clubs participate in a wide-range of service activities including adopt-a-highway, serving seniors, neighborhood clean-ups, mentoring, reading to children, helping the poor and raising money for local causes, Polio Plus and Gift of Life. To date, 7770 clubs have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Rotary’s Polio Plus campaign and almost $175,000 to the 7770 Gift of Life campaign.
Probably one of the greatest benefits of an Interact Club is exposing young people to professionals via joint projects and having Interactors at Rotary club meetings. This is a wonderful opportunity for youth to spend time with people of different backgrounds, interests, and professions. Interact clubs are easy to start and easy to maintain. After all, it is a club organized and run by the youth. A school sponsor is all that is necessary. There are high school clubs and there are community-based clubs. Both operate in basically the same manner.
