January is Rotary Awareness month in the Rotary Calendar. The major themes for the month are making the community more aware of Rotary and for Rotarians to learn more about Rotary. So, a few facts about Rotary. Paul Harris formed the world’s first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago, on February 23, 1905. Rotary’s motto is "Service Above Self" and, as it celebrates its 106th anniversary, the club and its members around the globe continue to focus on furthering truth, fairness, cooperation among all cultures and world peace.
A 1942 Rotary conference held in London planted the seeds for the development of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and some 50 Rotary members served as delegates and consultants at the founding of the United Nations. Today Rotary holds the highest consultative status with the United Nations of any non-governmental organization. In this capacity, Rotary has a strong voice within the UN system and access to its people and resources worldwide.
Rotary currently has 1,200,000 members in 31,600 clubs and can be found in more than 200 countries worldwide.
The headquarters of Rotary International are in Evanston Illonois where there are some 400 employees.
In 1932, Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor created The Four-Way Test, a code of ethics adopted by Rotary 11 years later. The test, which has been translated into more than 100 languages, asks the following questions:
Of the things we think, say or do
1, Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
In 1989 Rotary admitted women and there are now more than 145,000 women members.
The first service project of Rotary was the purchase of a horse for a visiting preacher. The second was the building of a public toilet.
(Thanks to Wanganui Daybreak Bulletin (Editor AG Judith Timpany) for this article)
