Rotary Club of Redmond
Rotary was born in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., on February 23, 1905. Its founder was Paul P. Harris, an attorney. On that day, Paul met with three friends – Sylvester Schiele, a coal dealer, Gustavus E. Loehr, a mining engineer; and Hiram E. Shorey, a merchant tailor. Paul's idea was to promote fellowship among business acquaintances.
Because they met in rotation at each other's places of business, their club took the name Rotary. To make the club a representative cross-section of the business and professional community, only one representative of each business or profession was admitted. This was the beginning of the classification principle of membership.
While the original basis of Rotary was fellowship, service to others soon became its hallmark. Each club determines its own service activities, which it channels through four "Avenues of Service" – Club Service, Community Service, Vocational Service and International Service.
The definition Rotary provided by the Rotary International Board of Directors in 1976 is as follows. "Rotary is an organization of business and professional persons united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world." Rotarians number over 1.2 million worldwide with clubs on every continent.
