HR0059 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0059 LRB094 06873 CSA 38158 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Rotary Club of Chicago was founded February 23, 1905 by Paul Harris, a Chicago attorney, who invited three friends to a meeting: Silvester Schiele, a coal dealer, Hiram Shorey, a merchant tailor, and Gustavus Loehr, a mining engineer; and

WHEREAS, They discussed Harris' idea that business leaders should meet periodically to enjoy camaraderie and to enlarge their circle of business and professional acquaintances; the club met weekly and membership was limited to one representative from each business and profession; though the term Rotary was not used that night, that gathering is commonly regarded as the first Rotary Club meeting; and

WHEREAS, The early Rotarians realized that fellowship and mutual self-interest were not enough to keep a club of busy professionals meeting each week; reaching out to improve the lives of the less fortunate proved to be a more powerful motivator; the Rotary commitment to service began when the Rotary Club of Chicago donated a horse to a preacher so he could make the rounds of his churches and parishioners; a few weeks later, the Club constructed Chicago's first public lavatory; and

WHEREAS, The Rotary Club of Chicago began their relationship with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) in 1967 to support the pediatric program; in 1969, the first RIC pediatric center sponsored by the Club opened in a converted currency exchange that was purchased by RIC for expansion of programs including the pediatric clinic; over the years, the Rotary Club of Chicago has given almost $2.5 million in support of the RIC Pediatric program; and

WHEREAS, The Rotary Club of Chicago has taken the lead on helping school-aged children; in 1920, the Rotary Club of Chicago started a Boys Work Committee to combat the high dropout rate of immigrant boys and organized a march of 50,000 boys down Michigan Avenue; currently, the Club has partnered with the City of Chicago on its KidStart Corporate Initiative, which matches students with paid summer internships in local businesses; the Rotary Club of Chicago's JobStart program will strengthen and expand the KidStart Corporate Initiative by raising academic and training standards for participating students, offering hands-on mentoring and significantly increasing the number of available internships; and

WHEREAS, Rotary has made several important contributions to the lexicon of leadership and service, including "Service above self", "He profits most who serves best", and Rotary's four-way test; and

WHEREAS, The founding of the Club sparked a worldwide movement, which now includes 1.2 million Rotarians in some 31,000 Rotary Clubs in 166 countries; there are currently 386,107 Rotarians in the United States; and

WHEREAS, The founding also initiated the "service club" movement, which now includes more than 3 million people around world in organizations such as Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Civitan, Zonta, Y'sdom, and Optimist; and

WHEREAS, In 1985, Rotary International 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 $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; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize and congratulate the Rotary Club of Chicago on the occasion of its 100th anniversary and extend our sincere appreciation to the Club for the fellowship, community service, and major contributions it provides to the citizens of Chicago; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the Rotary Club of Chicago as an expression of our admiration and best wishes on this happy occasion.