ROTARY History
Rotary started with the vision of one man — Paul Harris. The Chicago attorney formed the Rotary Club of Chicago on 23 February 1905, so professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships.
Over time, Rotary’s reach and vision gradually extended to humanitarian service. Members have a long track record of addressing challenges in their communities and around the world.
“Whatever Rotary may mean to us, to the world it will be known by the results it achieves. ”
ROTARY INTERNATIONAL
ROTARY is the world’s first service club. The first Rotary club was founded in Chicago, Illinois, USA on 23 February 1905.
ROTARY is some 1.2 million service-minded men and women belonging to more than 30,000 Rotary clubs in virtually every nation in the world.
ROTARIANS meet weekly for fellowship and interesting and informative programs dealing with topics of local and global importance. Membership reflects a wide cross-section of community representation.
ROTARIANS plan and carry out a remarkable variety of humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs that touch people’s lives in their local communities and our world community.
ROTARY is The Rotary Foundation, which each year provides some US$90 million for international scholarships, cultural exchanges, and humanitarian projects large and small that improve the quality of life for millions of people. Rotary is widely regarded as the world’s largest private provider of international educational scholarships.
ROTARY is PolioPlus, Rotary’s commitment to work with national and international health organizations on the goal of polio eradication by the year 2005, Rotary’s 100th anniversary. More than one billion children in developing nations have been immunized against polio through PolioPlus grants.