What is Rotary?
HOW IT BEGAN
The world's first service club, Rotary, began in Chicago, Illinois, in February 1905. The club's founder, Paul Harris, wanted to recapture the friendly spirit he had felt among business people in the small town of Wallingford, Vermont, where he had grown up. He started the club with three friends, and their weekly meetings "rotated" among their offices.
WHAT IT BECAME
Rotary is an opportunity to build lifelong friendships and experience the personal fulfillment of providing volunteer service to others. It is comprised of professional leaders who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and build goodwill and peace in the world. Rotary club membership represents a cross-section of the community's business and professional men and women, as well as community leaders.
The main objective of Rotary is service — in the community, in the workplace, and throughout the world. Rotarians develop service projects that address many of today's most critical issues:
- children at risk
- international understanding and goodwill
- literacy and numeracy
- poverty and hunger
- clean water
Rotary also supports programs for youth with educational opportunities and international exchanges for students, teachers, and other professionals, as well as vocational and career development.
The Rotary motto is Service Above Self. The guiding principles of Rotary are defined by the 4-way test, which has been translated into more than100 languages –
Of the things we think, say or do
- Is it the TRUTH?
- Is it FAIR to all concerned?
- Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
- Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
Today, Rotary flourishes with more than 33,000 clubs and more than 1.2 million members, providing community service in 200 countries and geographical areas.
ROTARY’S PLEDGE TO THE WORLD
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$240 million to immunize the children of the world; by 2005, Rotary's centenary year and the target date for the certification of a polio-free world, the PolioPlus program will have contributed US$500 million 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.
For more information on Rotary go to www.Rotary.org
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