HR0109 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0109 LRB094 10554 HSS 40844 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The world's first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago, Illinois, USA, was formed on February, 23, 1905 by Paul P. Harris; the name "Rotary" derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among members' offices; and

WHEREAS, Rotary's popularity spread throughout the United States in the decade that followed; clubs were chartered from San Francisco to New York; by 1921, Rotary clubs had been formed on six continents, and the organization adopted the name Rotary International a year later; and

WHEREAS, As Rotary grew, its mission expanded beyond serving the professional and social interests of club members; Rotarians began pooling their resources and contributing their talents to help serve communities in need; the organization's dedication to this ideal is best expressed in its principal motto: Service Above Self; Rotary also later embraced a code of ethics, called the Four-Way Test, that has been translated into hundreds of languages; and

WHEREAS, The Four-Way Test is the standard by which Rotarians judge all that they do; it was created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor, who later served as RI president; it includes four questions: is it TRUTH?; is it FAIR to all concerned?; will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?; and will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?; and

WHEREAS, The Four Avenues of Service are Rotary's philosophical cornerstone and the foundation on which club activity is based: Club Service focuses on strengthening fellowship and ensuring the effective functioning of the club; Vocational Service encourages Rotarians to serve others through their vocations and to practice high ethical standards; Community Service covers the projects and activities the club undertakes to improve life in its community; International Service encompasses actions taken to expand Rotary's humanitarian reach around the globe and to promote world understanding and peace; and

WHEREAS, In 1985, Rotary's members vowed to make the world polio-free; this 20-year commitment to end polio represents the largest private-sector support of a global health initiative to date; Rotary has already committed $500 million and countless hours of volunteer work to help immunize nearly two billion children throughout the world; today, there are only a few hundred polio cases worldwide, a 99.8 percent reduction since 1988, when polio paralyzed more than 350,000 children a year; and

WHEREAS, In an effort to educate tomorrow's peacemakers and ambassadors, Rotary recently launched the Rotary Centers for International Studies for peace and conflict studies at eight prestigious universities worldwide; the program provides master's-level degree education in conflict resolution to a group of 70 Rotary World Peace Scholars chosen annually in a world-competitive selection process; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Rotary International on the occasion of its 100th anniversary; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Rotary International as an expression of our respect and esteem and with best wishes for the organization's continued success.