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Ruritan National is a service club located in small towns and rural areas in the United States. It aims to achieve "Fellowship, Goodwill and Community Service". The local clubs are autonomous from the national organization. Many Ruritan clubs sponsor local clubs or chapters of 4-H, Future Farmers of America, or a Boy Scouts of America troop.

Many clubs provide and supervise community recreational centers, sponsor little league and other athletic programs, sponsor anti-litter campaigns, help the sick and needy and provide a wide range of other activities to help improve their communities.

The first Ruritan Club was chartered May 21, 1928, in Holland, Virginia, now part of Suffolk, Virginia.

Since that first club, Ruritan has grown throughout the United States of America, and in doing so, has become "America’s Leading Community Service Organization," with over 30,000 members in more than 1,200 clubs.

Tom Downing of Suffolk, Virginia, and Jack Gwaltney of Holland, Virginia, are known as the co-founders of Ruritan. Gwaltney and Downing recognized the need for an organization where community leaders could meet and discuss ways to make their community a better place in which to live.

The name "Ruritan" was suggested by Daisy Nurney, a reporter for the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot newspaper, and the club’s charter members unanimously adopted "Ruritan" as the organization’s name. The word is a combination of the Latin words for open country "ruri" and small town "tan," interpreted as pertaining to rural and small town life.

The National Office is located in Dublin, Virginia, which is the required National Office location as defined by the Ruritan Constitution.

Individuals are members of Ruritan Clubs. Club officers consist of a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Immediate Past President, and 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-Year Directors. Clubs are organized into zones, overseen by a zone governor and consisting of three to ten clubs at the discretion of the district cabinet. Zones are then organized into districts.

To become a member, you can:

1. Fill out a Associate Membership Form and pay the membership fee of $43 a year. You will be placed in the closest Ruritan Club by the national organization.

2. Have a fellow Ruritan sponsor you into the club.

• Ruritan National Website
• State Listing of Ruritan Clubs
• Holland Ruritan Club (The first Ruritan Club)
• Holland District Ruritans (Ruritan District for Southeastern VA and NE North Carolina)
• Hickory Ruritan Club (One of the clubs in Southeastern VA)
• Guilford Lake Area Ruritan Club (A club in northeastern Ohio - Zone 4)