About Us

                             The local Rotary Club of North Hawaii

 
The Rotary Club of North Hawaii was charted on February 4, 1955 as the Rotary Club of Hamakua under the founding President Richard Frazier who was the son of Charles F. Frazer who served as President of the Rotary Club of Honolulu and also as District Governor.  By then, Rotary had Clubs in Hilo & Kona with the son of District Governor (DG) Charlie’s guidance; the new Club was established and sponsored by the Hilo & Kona’s Clubs!
The Hamakua Club was originally turned down as the 30-Chartered Members were represented by four Sugar Plantations in Honokaa & the Hamakua Coast!  Rotary International (RI) did not approve of the classification of Sugar Plantations, saying not diversified enough!  DG Charlie with Hawaii Rotarian’s made the trip to Chicago in 1954 and argued to add the new Club that had rich farming community’s and had much diversify and planned to attract possible members from both East & West and North part of the Hawaii Island, including the Kohala Coast &Waimea They also claimed to RI that the Kona Club had a similar Sugar Industry leaders and diversity and approved the Charter of the new Club #23 in December 1954. 
During the early years of the Clubs meetings occurred mostly in Honokaa, but when Richard’s Grandson became President in year 1964-1965, he made changes.  By then the sugar plantation industry was “waning” and greater diversification of Members was gaining from the West side of Hawaii and the Kohala Coast.  On March 4, 1965 President Frazier moved the Club to Waimea where is home today and led the Club to be renamed the Rotary Club of North Hawaii.   This rich geography from huge Mountains like Mauna Kea bridges sprawling ranch lands like Parker Ranch to beautiful sun-bleached beaches of the Kohala Coast had geography& demographic diversity.
 
The North Hawaii Club’s community activities are now mostly landmarks of which all members can be proud.  These include the Honokaa community swimming pool.  Hale Malama (assisted care for elderly) & the Salvation Army, community parade floats and speakers to support community functions.  The North Hawaii Rotarians have continued the support of youth activities: such as scholarships, soccer fields & skateboard parks, community clean ups & education opportunities such as RYLA or Rotary Youth Leadership Activity.  The Club has also participated in a number of International Service Projects to help many disadvantaged youth, mothers & economically challenged World locations for clean water!
 
It has always been and will be the desire of the fellowship of Rotarians to make North Hawaii (East & West) a better place to live & work, and enjoy a fuller life!  The Community & International Services is not only the local focus, but also part of the goals of the over 32,000 Clubs Worldwide and over 1.2 million Rotarians that your connected to when you join Rotary!  Our motto is “Service Above Self” and to help make the World a more peaceful & better place through service projects, support & involvement.    
 
The Rotary Club of North Hawai'i has a rich history of providing & supporting improvement projects in Honoka'a, Waimea, Waikoloa and North Kohala.  In recognition of the almost 70 years of Service, 100 years of District 5000 Service & over 115 years of International Services, The North Hawaii'i Club committed to a significant Project to benefit the Waimea Community!
 
After consulting and doing a Community needs analysis with local organizations and individuals, the Rotary Club of North Hawai'i made the decision to build an open-air pavilion that could be used by all.  In 2004, the Club signed an agreement that designates the site in Minukeole Park in the center of Waimea for this pavilion.  It was envisioned and the pavilion became a gathering spot for seniors, families, organizations, as well as a performance location for classes, events and a place to gather for special activities.  This is yet another example of the Rotary Club providing Club excellence in local service!
 

Rotary In Hawai‘i: THE DISTRICT 5000 History

By Gary Siracusa, RGHF Member PDG
Like over 90% of everything that comes to Hawaii, Rotary arrived in Hawaii aboard the ship Lurline in 1915, just 10 years after the beginning of Rotary in Chicago. One of the benefits of Rotary is fellowship and the Hawaii Rotary connection grew from the social acquaintance between V.O. Lawrence, a member of the No.3 Rotary Club of Oakland, CA and James L. Coke, later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Hawaii. As they sailed together from San Francisco to Hawaii, they talked about Rotary and how to introduce Rotary to Hawaii.
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The Commercial Club atop the McCandless Building in downtown Honolulu was the first regular meeting place of the Rotary Club of Honolulu in 1915.
Upon arrival in Honolulu, Justice Coke invited a number of local professional and business men to meet with Lawrence and himself at the old Commercial Club. After the objectives of Rotary had been explained by Lawrence, the group decided to organize the Rotary Club of Honolulu. The charter was dated July 1, 1915 and twenty-eight members had the distinction of membership in the 170th club admitted to Rotary which at that time had a total membership of approximately 20,000 members.
In June 1920, Charles C. Graves, President of the Rotary Club of Honolulu, made a trip to Hilo on the Big Island and invited about twenty business men to dinner. As a result, an application was made to Rotary for a charter. The request was granted on December 1, 1920 and with 16 members; the Rotary Club of Hilo became the second club in the Territory of Hawaii and 795th in Rotary.
The Secretary of the Rotary Club of Honolulu, John Caldwell, spent two years working on the formation of a third club again on Oahu in the Wahiawa-Waialua area. He was assisted by Steven Bowen of Wahiawa and on May 27, 1937 Club President Steven Bowen received the charter for club no.4168, the Rotary Club of Wahiawa-Waialua.
The Rotary Club of Kauai was admitted on August 23, 1937 as club no.4378 – John Caldwell along with fellow Rotary Club of Honolulu members Wayne Stewart and Charles Loomis teamed up on organizing this club and the charter President was W.P. Alexander.
The Rotary Club of Honolulu assisted with the formation of the Rotary Club of Maui with David C. Rattery as its first President, received their charter on November 4, 1937 as club no.4478. Later, in 1950-51, the assignment of charter club numbers was discontinued as the number of Rotary clubs swelled to over 7,000. Rotary was now represented on all four major islands in Hawaii.
It was about this time that Rotarians in the Territory of Hawaii petitioned for organization as a district; up until now we were part of California District 104. At its January 1938 board meeting, Rotary International approved the split of District 104 and all the clubs in Hawaii united under the new designation as District 100. Wayne Stewart, past president of the Rotary Club of Honolulu became the first District Governor for D100; Rotary came of age in the Territory of Hawaii with only five clubs and 231 members. In 1950, District 100 was re designated as D150 and again changed in 1950 to D500. The current designation as D5000 occurred in 1991.
The 6th club in the Territory of Hawaii – the Rotary Club of Waikiki - was organized once again through the efforts of a committee from the Rotary Club of Honolulu. Frank Cleve was the charter president and the club held its first meeting at the Green Lantern Restaurant on Kalakaua Avenue (later known as the Wagon Wheel Restaurant).
One of the most significant events for District 500 was hosting the 60th International Rotary Convention in May 1969. It was a colossal undertaking for the geographically spread District and involved hundreds of Rotarians from throughout the State. At that time, it was the 2nd largest Convention held in the United States and attracted 14,684 attendees from 66 countries. The President of Rotary International that year was Kiyoshi Togasaki of Japan.
Credit for the award to Hawaii of the 1969 convention should go to Morley Theaker of the Rotary Club of Honolulu; he was instrumental in the effort to bring the convention to Hawaii and after securing the support of local Rotarians, personally carried the formal invitation to Chicago where he met with R.I. President Carl Miller and convinced him of the ability of the Hawaii Rotarians to host the event. Carl later moved to Hawaii and became a very active member of the Rotary Club of Honolulu.
In 1990, the American Red Cross honored the Rotary Clubs of Hawaii for outstanding community and public service, presenting the District with its Humanitarian Award. This was the first time that one international organization was honored by another international organization with a national award here in Hawaii.
One of the first to suggest the addition of the keyway to the Rotary Wheel was Charles R. Frazier. The Rotary International Board of Directors approved the addition of the keyway in 1923. Without a keyway, a gear is just an idler spinning, incapable of transmitting power.
District 5000 has approximately 1,600 member Rotarians in 53 Clubs located in the five islands of Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Lanai and the Big Island. We are part of Zone 26/27.
In remembrance of PDG Clarence McIntosh,
who provided the early history of Rotary in our District.
 

A Brief History of Rotary

“WHATEVER ROTARY MAY MEAN TO US, TO THE WORLD IT WILL BE KNOWN BY THE RESULTS IT ACHIEVES.”
—PAUL P. HARRIS

Our 1.2 million-member organization started with the vision of one man—Paul P. Harris. The Chicago attorney formed one of the world’s first service organizations, the Rotary Club of Chicago, on 23 February 1905 as a place where professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships. Rotary’s name came from the group’s early practice of rotating meetings among the offices of each member.

OUR ONGOING COMMITMENT

Rotarians have not only been present for major events in history—we’ve been a part of them. From the beginning, three key traits have remained strong throughout Rotary:

We’re truly international. Only 16 years after being founded, Rotary had clubs on six continents. Today we’re working together from around the globe both digitally and in-person to solve some of our world’s most challenging problems.

We persevere in tough times. During WWII, Rotary clubs in Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Japan were forced to disband. Despite the risks, many continued to meet informally and following the war’s end, Rotary members joined together to rebuild their clubs and their countries.

Our commitment to service is ongoing. We began our fight against polio in 1979 with a project to immunize 6 million children in the Philippines. By 2012, only three countries remain polio-endemic—down from 125 in 1988.

NOTABLE ROTARIANS

Rotarians are your neighbors, your community leaders and some of the world’s greatest history-makers:

  • Warren G. Harding, U.S. president
  • Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer
  • Dr. Charles H. Mayo, co-founder of Mayo Clinic
  • Guglielmo Marconi, Italian inventor of the wireless radio and Nobel laureate
  • Thomas Mann, German novelist and Nobel laureate
  • Friedrich Bergius, German chemist and Nobel laureate
  • Admiral Richard E. Byrd, American explorer
  • Jan Masaryk, foreign minister of Czechoslovakia
  • H.E. Soleiman Frangieh, president of Lebanon
  • Dianne Feinstein, U.S. senator
  • Manny Pacquaio, Filipino world-champion boxer and congressman
  • Richard Lugar, U.S. senator
  • Frank Borman, American astronaut
  • Edgar A. Guest, American poet and journalist
  • Sir Harry Lauder, Scottish entertainer
  • Franz Lehar, Austrian composer
  • Lennart Nilsson, Swedish photographer
  • James Cash Penney, founder of JC Penney Co.
  • Carlos Romulo, UN General Assembly president
  • Sigmund Sternberg, English businessman and philanthropist

Ready to make history with us? Get involved.