FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 4, 2005
Contact:  Erin K. Kelly
(717) 846-2828
ekelly@pasen.gov
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Senate Adopts Waugh Resolution Honoring Rotary International's 100th Anniversary 

HARRISBURG – The state Senate unanimously adopted a resolution yesterday sponsored by Senator Mike Waugh (R-28) honoring the 100th anniversary of the founding of Rotary International. 

In 1905, a group of friends in Chicago, Illinois, began meeting to cultivate business ties and develop friendships.  Out of those meetings grew an organization that today has 31,000 chapters around the globe dedicated to the tradition of businesspeople and professionals working together in the cause of service to humanity. 

On the Senate floor Waugh shared this history with his fellow Senators, noting that today there are 1.2 million Rotarians around the world.  He commended the organization for its projects, including a drive to eliminate polio throughout the world, as well as its foreign exchange programs. 

Working with government agencies, the Rotary International has achieved a 99 percent reduction in the number of polio cases worldwide since it began the project in the mid-1980s. 

Rotary International has also increased understanding among countries through its exchange programs. Since the 1940s, 35,000 students from 110 countries have studied abroad as Rotary Ambassadorial scholars. Rotary’s Group Study Exchange program has helped over 45,000 professionals explore their career fields in other countries.  And every year 8,000 secondary school students participate in the Rotary’s Youth Exchange Program.

"As Rotary marks its centennial, its members continue to uphold its motto – Service Above Self – in Pennsylvania and around the globe," Waugh said.  "And I am pleased to note that the Rotary Club of York, with 315 members, is the largest local Rotary chapter in Pennsylvania."