Rotary is an organization of business and professional persons, united worldwide, who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world.

Founded in Chicago in 1905, Rotary is the world's first service club.

Rotary currently has over 31,000 Clubs with 1.2 million members located in 166 countries.

The Rotary Foundation, each year provides some $60 million for international scholarships, cultural exchanges, and humanitarian projects large and small that improve the quality of life for millions of people.

Polio Plus is Rotary's commitment to eradicate polio in the world by the year 2005.  More than one-half billion children in developing nations have been immunized against polio. 144 countries are now declared polio free with the last case in the Americas in 1991 (Peru).

Rotary plans and carries-out a remarkable variety of humanitarian, educational and cultural exchange programs that touch people's lives in their local communities and our work community.

Rotary is a membership-by-invitation organization, and is based upon vocational classification. Attendance at meetings is a basic obligation and a member may make up a meeting at any Rotary Club in the world.