Full Text of HR0059 94th General Assembly
HR0059 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| WHEREAS, The Rotary Club of Chicago has taken the lead on |
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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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| 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
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| 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
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| 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.
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