WINGS of Rotary

 

Rotary, the world's first and most international service club, was founded by attorney Paul P. Harris (1868-1947), on February 23, 1905 in Chicago, Illinois. Harris and three others gathered to discuss his idea of periodically bringing together a group of businessmen from different professions to become better acquainted. They decided to limit membership to one representative of each profession and to rotate the meeting site among each member's place of business, to acquaint each other with their various vocations and to promote business. This rotation of meeting places is the source of the name "Rotary". Once established, Rotary Club membership grew rapidly.  

 

The second Rotary Club was founded in San Francisco in 1908. Once clubs were formed in Canada and Great Britain, in 1912, Rotary became an international organization. Since 1905, the ideas of Paul Harris and his friends have become ideals accepted by people of practically all nationalities, and of many political and religious beliefs. Today, there are Rotary Clubs in over 200 countries – from Anchorage, Alaska, USA to Wellington, New Zealand.  

 

The universal acceptance of Rotary principles has been so great that there are now more than 46,000 Rotary clubs, with a membership of over 1.2 million men and women. Rotary’s motto is "Service Above Self". Therefore, Rotarians live by an ethical guideline called a Four-Way Test.  This is used by Rotarians worldwide to evaluate the things they think, say, or do.