About Rotary - Rotary New Zealand

About Rotary
About Rotary
	4-Way Test
	Classifications
	Object of Rotary
	Avenues of Service
	Rotary Months/Anniversaries
	Declaration of Rotarians in Businesses and Professions

Service Above Self

Early in its history, the members of the first Rotary club realizedthat fellowship and mutual self-interest were not enough to keep agroup of busy professionals meeting each week. Undertaking efforts toimprove the lives of others proved an even more powerful motivation. In1907 the club adopted a practical community service project -- theinstallation of a public comfort station near the city hall in downtownChicago.

Threeyears after the organization of the Chicago club, a second club wasformed in San Francisco, California, and three more clubs were foundedthe following year. By 1910, there were 16 clubs in the United States,and the first convention was held in Chicago where the clubs organizedthemselves to form the National Association of Rotary Clubs. At thatconvention, a member of the Chicago club proposed a motto for the neworganization, recognizing its commitment to the idea of service: "HeProfits Most Who Serves His Fellows Best."

Thefollowing year, another early leader spoke of the importance of servingothers and promoted the idea that a club should be organized on theprinciple of "Service, Not Self." The two sayings, modified to "HeProfits Most Who Serves Best" and "Service Above Self," were quicklyembraced by all Rotarians and were officially designated as Rotarymottoes at the 1950 convention in Detroit, Michigan. In 1989, theRotary International Council on Legislation established "Service AboveSelf" as the organization's principal motto.