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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The Rotary Club of Chicago was founded February
3 23, 1905 by Paul Harris, a Chicago attorney, who invited three
4 friends to a meeting: Silvester Schiele, a coal dealer, Hiram
5 Shorey, a merchant tailor, and Gustavus Loehr, a mining
6 engineer; and
 
7     WHEREAS, They discussed Harris' idea that business leaders
8 should meet periodically to enjoy camaraderie and to enlarge
9 their circle of business and professional acquaintances; the
10 club met weekly and membership was limited to one
11 representative from each business and profession; though the
12 term Rotary was not used that night, that gathering is commonly
13 regarded as the first Rotary Club meeting; and
 
14     WHEREAS, The early Rotarians realized that fellowship and
15 mutual self-interest were not enough to keep a club of busy
16 professionals meeting each week; reaching out to improve the
17 lives of the less fortunate proved to be a more powerful
18 motivator; the Rotary commitment to service began when the
19 Rotary Club of Chicago donated a horse to a preacher so he
20 could make the rounds of his churches and parishioners; a few
21 weeks later, the Club constructed Chicago's first public
22 lavatory; and
 
23     WHEREAS, The Rotary Club of Chicago began their
24 relationship with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
25 (RIC) in 1967 to support the pediatric program; in 1969, the
26 first RIC pediatric center sponsored by the Club opened in a
27 converted currency exchange that was purchased by RIC for
28 expansion of programs including the pediatric clinic; over the
29 years, the Rotary Club of Chicago has given almost $2.5 million
30 in support of the RIC Pediatric program; and
 
31     WHEREAS, The Rotary Club of Chicago has taken the lead on

 

 

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1 helping school-aged children; in 1920, the Rotary Club of
2 Chicago started a Boys Work Committee to combat the high
3 dropout rate of immigrant boys and organized a march of 50,000
4 boys down Michigan Avenue; currently, the Club has partnered
5 with the City of Chicago on its KidStart Corporate Initiative,
6 which matches students with paid summer internships in local
7 businesses; the Rotary Club of Chicago's JobStart program will
8 strengthen and expand the KidStart Corporate Initiative by
9 raising academic and training standards for participating
10 students, offering hands-on mentoring and significantly
11 increasing the number of available internships; and
 
12     WHEREAS, Rotary has made several important contributions
13 to the lexicon of leadership and service, including "Service
14 above self", "He profits most who serves best", and Rotary's
15 four-way test; and
 
16     WHEREAS, The founding of the Club sparked a worldwide
17 movement, which now includes 1.2 million Rotarians in some
18 31,000 Rotary Clubs in 166 countries; there are currently
19 386,107 Rotarians in the United States; and
 
20     WHEREAS, The founding also initiated the "service club"
21 movement, which now includes more than 3 million people around
22 world in organizations such as Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Civitan,
23 Zonta, Y'sdom, and Optimist; and
 
24     WHEREAS, In 1985, Rotary International made a historic
25 commitment to immunize all of the world's children against
26 polio; working in partnership with the World Health
27 Organization, UNICEF, the Centers for Disease Control and
28 Prevention, and national governments, Rotary is the largest
29 private-sector contributor in the global polio eradication
30 campaign; through its PolioPlus program, Rotary raised more
31 than $240 million and will have contributed half a billion
32 dollars to the cause by 2005, the target date for certification

 

 

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1 of polio eradication and Rotary's centennial year; Rotarians
2 have mobilized hundreds of thousands of PolioPlus volunteers to
3 promote and carry out national immunization days in
4 polio-endemic countries, resulting in the immunization of
5 nearly two billion children worldwide; therefore, be it
 
6     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
7 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
8 we recognize and congratulate the Rotary Club of Chicago on the
9 occasion of its 100th anniversary and extend our sincere
10 appreciation to the Club for the fellowship, community service,
11 and major contributions it provides to the citizens of Chicago;
12 and be it further
 
13     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
14 presented to the Rotary Club of Chicago as an expression of our
15 admiration and best wishes on this happy occasion.