What is a PHF

Back in 1917, Rotary President Arch C. Klumph had proposed that an endowment be set up "for doing good in the world".

In 1928, this endowment became a not-for-profit corporation known as The Rotary Foundation. Upon the death of Paul Harris in 1947, an outpouring of Rotarian donations made in his honor, totaling US$2 million, launched the Foundation's first program - graduate fellowships, now called Ambassadorial Scholarships. Today The Rotary Foundation improves the lives of people in every corner of the world by promoting world understanding and peace through local, national, andinternational humanitarian, educational, and cultural programs.

The Rotary Foundation is supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share the vision of a better world. The Trustees of the Foundation offer a variety of ways of expressing gratitude and recognition. Perhaps the best known is the designation of a Paul Harris Fellow - a recognition presented in honor of our founder Paul Harris. Anyone who contributes - or in whose name is contributed a gift of US$1,000 or more to the Annual Programs Fund may become a Paul Harris Fellow. Each new Paul Harris Fellow receives a commemorative certificate, a Paul Harris Fellow pin, and a medallion.

To be a Paul Harris Fellow means more than just a monetary contribution: it means the wheels of the Foundation's program are set in motion.

For every $1,000 US Dollars!

• Villagers in India will have clean water;
• 700 farmers in Jamaica can raise enough fruit to feed their families
• 10 deaf children in Uganda will receive the gift of hearing;
• 100 people in India can have sight restoring operations;
• A Group Study Exchange team can participate in a district conference;
• A Rotary volunteer physician from Sweden can provide lifesaving treatment to villagers in Mali;
• A soup kitchen in the Philippines will be able to feed more than 800 people a day
• 33 Braille typewriters will be delivered to a school for the blind in Brazil;
• 100 acres of new forest will be planted in Sudan;
• A Scholar from Nigeria will receive a month's support for a year;
• Enough vaccine to immunize the children of several African villages against polio

The Rotary Club of Saint John uses the Paul Harris Fellowship to honor extraordinary service to the community by a deserving club member or non-Rotarian. As a result, within the Rotary Club of Saint John, the club makes the necessary $1,000 USD donation to the Rotary Foundation on behalf of the honoree.

The Paul Harris Fellowship program, named after the founder of Rotary International, was instituted in 1957, and since that time more than 120 people have been so honored in the Saint John area, and over 1 million individuals worldwide. It is one of the best ways Rotary can say "thank you" to many deserving supporters.