Service Above Self
In 1905 some Chicago business friends first started meeting for a meal together. They extended their activities beyond 'business and friendship' and started the first Rotary clu - undertaking efforts to improve the lives of others.
Then and today, this has proved the most powerful and binding motivation for what we do in Rotary. From that first club's practical community service project - the installation of a public toilet near the city hall in downtown Chicago - to today's global eradication of polio, Rotary continues to build a better world.
Our history is one of rapid growth - three years after the first club in Chicago, a second was formed in San Francisco, and three more clubs were founded the following year.
Only 16 years after being founded, Rotary had clubs on six continents.
...A good idea catches on fast!
Today we’re working together from around this neighbourhood and around the globe to solve local and some of our world’s most challenging problems.
Our commitment to our motto of "Service above self" is ongoing. For example, we began our fight against polio in 1979 with a project to immunize 6 million children in the Philippines. Today after 2.5 billion child immunisations worldwide, only a handful of countries remain polio-endemic - down from 125 in 1988.
India marked three years since its last case of wild polio on 13 January 2014, so now only 4 countries are afflicted - Syria, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. We are very close to eradicating polio - a landmark achievement for global public health and Rotary's worldwide effort.
We focus our efforts in six areas:
The 4-Way Test