John has held numerous Rotary roles that have taken him from California to Chicago and Gallipoli.
He took us on what he called a Rotary Ramble, an informative but fun reflection on things he had noticed on his Rotary journey.
Brenda Lazelle reports.
He began by showing us a photo of Paul Harris’ headstone in Chicago to point out that very close by is the founder of LIONS Melvin Jones’ headstone. The two biggest service organisations in the world and the two founders are buried metres from one another.
Rotary started as a lunchtime Club, and a fun fact is that in 1938, a new club was chartered that wanted to meet in the evening. Rotary International approved this request and Mosgiel became the first evening Rotary Club – in the world. It took until 1968 for the first breakfast Club to be established in Florida.
Rotary’s global footprint is impressive. We were told that there are about the same number of Rotary Clubs in the world as there are McDonalds stores. And of course, Rotary is known for doing projects - the first one being a public toilet in Chicago. The rationale was that by providing a public facility it enabled shoppers to spend longer shopping. Some notable projects initiated by Rotary in New Zealand include: Milk in Schools in the late 1920s, Outward Bound was brought to New Zealand in 1961, Cure Kids and Crippled Children Society (now CCS Disability Action) was launched by Paul Harris during his visit to New Zealand in 1935.
Famous Rotarians include Colonel Sanders, Neil Armstrong and Pope Francis who as Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, was asked to leave Rotary because of unsatisfactory attendance! That decision might have been regretted a few years later when he was promoted!
Jennifer Jones is the first female RI President and she will live in one of the two apartments available for RI President and President Elect in Rotary HQ in Evanston Chicago.
There are 545 Rotary Districts. The first on the list is District 1010 in Northern Scotland and the last on the list was District 9980 – the lower South Island. On July 1, the two South Island Districts came together to form District 9999. They believe this will mean they will always be the last District on the list and they like their quirky point of difference.