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Rotary Today and Tomorrow
In 1985, Rotary made a historic commitment to immunize all of the world's children against polio. Working in partnership with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and national governments, Rotary is the largest private-sector contributor in the global polio eradication campaign. Through its PolioPlus program, Rotary raised more than US$240 million and will have contributed half a billion dollars to the cause by 2005, the target date for certification of polio eradication and Rotary's centennial year. Rotarians have mobilized hundreds of thousands of PolioPlus volunteers to promote and carry out national immunization days in polio-endemic countries, resulting in the immunization of nearly two billion children worldwide. |
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Throughout
the late 20th century, Rotary International's
service program has adapted to the times.
Rotary began to address the pressing global
issues of environmental degradation with
the formation of the Preserve Planet Earth
program in 1990. Other programs were formed
to address illiteracy, drug abuse, and the
needs of both an aging population and the
increasing number of children at risk.
Reflecting society in 1905, the organization
had been limited to male members and remained
so officially until 1989, when the Council
on Legislation, Rotary's parliament, voted
to eliminate the male-only provision, opening
up membership to qualified women across
the world (though the U.S. women Rotarians
began to appear during the 1986-1987 Rotary
year). Today, there are approximately 145,000
women Rotarians worldwide, many of them
serving in leadership roles.
Rotary experienced a growth spurt in the
early 1990s when it expanded into former
Soviet bloc countries following the collapse
of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union.
Beginning in 1989, clubs in Central and
Eastern Europe that had been disbanded for
more than 50 years were re-established,
and the first Russian Rotary club was chartered
in 1990.
Nearly 100 years after Paul Harris and his
colleagues chartered the club that would
become Rotary International, Rotarians continue
to take pride in their history. In honor
of the club that first gathered in Room
711, Rotarians have preserved the room in
an extensive re-creation of the office as
it existed in 1905. For several years, the
club maintained the room as a shrine for
visiting Rotarians. In 1989, when the Unity
Building was scheduled to be demolished,
Rotary's 711 Club carefully dismantled the
office, salvaging the original interior,
including doors and radiators. In 1993,
the Board of Directors of Rotary International
set aside a permanent home for the restored
Room 711 on the 16th floor of RI World Headquarters
in Evanston, Illinois. |
