Rotary International

• Rotary International, the world's largest Service organization having a global presence was founded on 23rd February 1905 in Chicago by lawyer Paul Harris & his three friends Silvester Schiele, a coal dealer, Gustavus E. Loehr, a mining engineer and Hiram Shorey, a merchant tailor.
• Out of their discussions evolved the idea of a men's club whose membership would be limited to one representative from each business and profession. Weekly meetings were to be held at each member's place of business in turn. The rotation of meetings was designed to acquaint the members with each other's vocation and to promote business. Hence, the name 'Rotary' was adopted.
• Soon, the original motto of getting together for fellowship & business promotion was left far behind and the idea of serving community by using members' talent & profession was evolved.
• By 1910, there were sixteen Rotary Clubs which combined to form an united body 'The National Association of Rotary Clubs'. Rotary went international when a club was organised in Winnipeg, Canada. In 1911, the Rotary idea spanned the Atlantic when clubs were organised in Dublin, London and Belfast. In 1912, the constitution was revised and the name changed to 'The International Association of Rotary Clubs' and the Rotary Club of London, England, cabled its request for admittance to membership. Finally in 1922, the constitution and bylaws were revised completely, the adoption of the Standard Club Constitution was made mandatory for all new clubs organised subsequently and the name was shortened to 'Rotary International'.
• Rotary International is headquartered at One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, Illinois - 60201, U.S.A.
• The individual Rotarian, the heart & soul of Rotary is a member of his local club and all such clubs are members of Rotary International.
• Officially, Rotary is defined as 'An organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide, who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill & peace in the world'.
• Clubs meet weekly and all members enjoy each other's fellowship before they get down to the business of running the club and discuss its service goals.
• Membership is by invitation only and is based on choosing a representative of each business, profession and institution in the community; which is called as 'Classification' of the member.
• The member is called as a Rotarian or Rtn. in short while the spouse is called as Rotary Ann.
• Initially for a great period, Rotary was essentially a men's club. Effective 1st July 1989, Rotary membership has been opened to women also. Now nearly 2000 women serve as Club Presidents
• As on December 2009, there are more than 1.2 million Rotarians all over the world in 33,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide.

RI Theme

Our RI Director K. R. Ravindran

• K.R. Ravindran is from Kelaniya, Western Province, Sri Lanka
• K. R. (Ravi) Ravindran is CEO of a publicly-listed company with a worldwide clientele in the tea packaging industry.
• He also serves on the board of several other companies and charitable trusts.
• He is the founding president of the Sri Lanka Anti-Narcotics Association.
• As his country's national PolioPlus chair, Ravi headed a task force consisting of the government, UNICEF, and Rotary and worked closely with UNICEF to successfully negotiate a ceasefire with the northern militants during National Immunization Days.
• A Rotarian since 1974, Ravi is a member of the Rotary Club of Colombo.
• He has served Rotary as District Governor, International Assembly Group Discussion Leader, and Committee Member.
• He currently chairs the Schools Reawakening project sponsored by Rotary clubs and districts in Sri Lanka, which entails rebuilding 25 tsunami-devastated schools to benefit 11,000 children.
• Ravi & his wife, Vanathy, live in Kelaniya, Sri Lanka