Rotary International News and Links

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Rotary Milestones:

1905
First Rotary club organized in Chicago, Illinois, USA

1908
Second club formed in San Francisco, California, USA

1910
First Rotary convention held in Chicago

1912
The Rotary Club of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, becomes the first club outside the United States to be officially chartered. (The club was formed in 1910.)

1917
Endowment fund, forerunner of The Rotary Foundation, established

1932
4-Way Test formulated by Chicago Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor

1945
Forty-nine Rotarians help draft United Nations Charter in San Francisco

1947
Rotary founder Paul Harris dies; first 18 Rotary Foundation scholarships granted

1962
First Interact club formed in Melbourne, Florida, USA 1965 Rotary Foundation launches Matching Grants and Group Study Exchange programs

1978
RI's largest convention, with 39,834 registrants, held in Tokyo

1985
Rotary announces PolioPlus program to immunize all the children of the world against polio

1989
Council on Legislation opens Rotary membership to women worldwide; Rotary clubs chartered in Budapest, Hungary, and Warsaw, Poland, for first time in almost 50 years

1990
Rotary Club of Moscow chartered first club in Soviet Union

1990 - 91
Preserve Planet Earth program inspires some 2,000 Rotary-sponsored environmental projects

1994
Western Hemisphere declared polio-free

1999
Rotary Centers for International Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution established

2000
Western Pacific declared polio-free

2001
30,000th Rotary club chartered

2002
Europe declared polio-free; first class of 70 Rotary Peace Scholars begin study

2003
Rotarians raise more than US$118 million to support the final stages of polio eradication