ROTARY'S 107TH BIRTHDAY
The Month of February is Rotary Awareness Month where the public is informed about Rotary International.
23rd February, 2012 Rotary International Celebrated its 107th birthday.
The Month of February is Rotary Awareness Month where the public is informed about Rotary International.
23rd February, 2012 Rotary International Celebrated its 107th birthday.
Rotary International is the world's first service club. It was originally the Rotary Club of Chicago, that was formed on 23 February 1905 by Paul P. Harris, an attorney who wished to capture in a professional club the same friendly spirit he had felt in the small towns of his youth. The Rotary name derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among members' offices.
Rotary's popularity spread, and within a decade, clubs were chartered from San Francisco to New York to Winnipeg, Canada. By 1921, Rotary clubs had been formed on six continents. The organization adopted the Rotary International name a year later.
As Rotary grew, its mission expanded beyond serving club members’ professional and social interests. Rotarians began pooling their resources and contributing their talents to help serve communities in need. The organization's dedication to this ideal is best expressed in its motto: Service Above Self.
By July 1925, Rotary had grown to more than 2,000 clubs and an estimated 108,000 members. The organization's distinguished reputation attracted presidents, prime ministers, and a host of other luminaries to its ranks — among them author Thomas Mann, diplomat Carlos P. Romulo, humanitarian Albert Schweitzer, and composer Jean Sibelius.
Rotary International has many worldwide service projects one of them is the goal of eradicating Polio . This project has been going on for the past 25 years and Rotary International has intends to raise the total of US$535 million funding gap through 2012. Rotary International to date has raised approximately US$200 million to this cause.
The Rotary International Family in the Virgin Islands consists of the Rotary Clubs of Tortola, Road Town and Sunrise, Rotaract Club of Tortola, Interact Club of Road Town and the EarlyAct Clubs of the Enis Adams Primary School and Isabella Morris Primary Schools.
In May 2012 the Rotary District Conference will be held in the BVI.