Here is a little Rotary history for those newer to the club.
Rotary began on February 23, 1905 when founder, Paul Harris, invited three Chicago businessmen to a meeting to share fellowship and networking to try and recreate a small town business environment in the big city. The concept began to spread quickly with a second club forming in San Francisco and others following in quick succession. Rotary became "International" on May 15, 1910 with the Rotary Club of Winnipeg, Manitoba, followed by clubs in London, Dublin and other countries. Today, Rotary has around 1.2 million members in over 400 countries and geographical areas.
Given the size of Rotary, it is organized in various levels. At the core of Rotary is the club, which can have anywhere from a few dozen to hundreds of Rotary members.
Each club belongs to a District. Rotary District 5950 currently has 63 clubs in Minnesota There are roughly 535 Districts in the Rotary world, which are then organized into Zones. The Zones usually have around 18 Districts and there are 34 Zones. Since that's still a large number, the Zones are paired in two's. The paired Zones elect Directors who serve 2 year terms, with the selection alternating between the two Zones. The 17 Zone Directors worldwide sit on the Board of Rotary International, along with the RI President.
Each club belongs to a District. Rotary District 5950 currently has 63 clubs in Minnesota There are roughly 535 Districts in the Rotary world, which are then organized into Zones. The Zones usually have around 18 Districts and there are 34 Zones. Since that's still a large number, the Zones are paired in two's. The paired Zones elect Directors who serve 2 year terms, with the selection alternating between the two Zones. The 17 Zone Directors worldwide sit on the Board of Rotary International, along with the RI President.
We are in ZONE 29: USA (IA, IL, KS, MI, MN, ND, NE, OK, SD, WI), Canada which is comprised of seventeen districts: 5580, 5610, 5630, 5650, 5670, 5690, 5710, 5950, 5960, 5970, 6000, 6220, 6250, 6270, 6420, 6440, 6450. We are paired with ZONE 25B: USA (TX) which has seven districts.
Our own DGE Tom Gump was featured twice in the Zone 25B-29 News most recent edition! Please click on the picture below to read the newsletter and Tom's articles!
