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Meet Robert Ebert - Former Firefighter
February, 2010

Robert and his wife Melissa moved to Bennington from Texas where he was a firefighter for twentyfour years. Retired, he has been busy volunteering for many organizations, including the Rotary Car Show.

Robert graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in Humanities. He was looking for work when he saw a commercial on television with a grey headed fire chief, asking. "Do you think you could go into a burning building? Do you think you could climb this ladder?" And there was a picture of this ladder."Do you think you could provide emergency, medical service to people in need?"

Robert thought he could do those things and he didn’t have any other prospects at all so he went down and put in for it. It was a competitive process to get in. There was a civil service exam and physical agility tests. When he didn’t hear from them, he thought he had not gotten in, but then he was contacted.

Although he had never thought of being a public servant, many times during his career he thought of how fortunate he was to be working in emergency care when he saw people at some of the worst times in their lives who looked to him to make things better. There were many different jobs Robert did within the fire department.

Robert is amused that since he moved to Vermont not many people are impressed with how rich a career fire fighting is.

Since Robert has moved to Bennington, he has enjoyed the diversity of physical activities available and the number of opportunities there are to volunteer in the community.

After his years in the fire department, service has been a part of Robert’s life and Rotary will enable him to contribute to the community.

About Rotary.. What Is Rotary?

Bennington Rotary Club is a party of Rotary International. Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. In more than 200 countries worldwide, approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 33,000 Rotary clubs. Rotary club membership represents a cross-section of the community's business and professional men and women. The world's Rotary clubs meet weekly and are nonpolitical, nonreligious, and open to all cultures, races, and creeds.

Rotarians partner together on National Immunization Day in Moradabad, India.
Copyright: Rotary Images/Alyce Henson

View more great Rotary Images on Rotary.org

The Main Objective of Rotary is Service

The object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:

1. The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;
2. High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying of each Rotarian's occupation as an opportunity to service society;
3. The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian's personal, business and community life;
4. The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.
    

The Rotary motto is: Service Above Self.

Although Rotary clubs develop autonomous service programs, all Rotarians worldwide are united in a campaign for the global eradication of polio. In the 1980s, Rotarians raised US$630 million to immunize the children of the world; by 2007, Rotary's centenary year and the target date for the certification of a polio-free world, the PolioPlus program will have contributed hundreds of millions to this cause. In addition, Rotary has provided an army of volunteers to promote and assist at national immunization days in polio-endemic countries around the world.

Some of the information on this page was gathered from the international rotary website. To learn more about the Rotary Organization you can visit the Rotary International web site