About Rotary

A BRIEF HISTORY & FACTS
Rotary International

1905 The first Rotary Club in the world was formed in Chicago, Feb. 23, 1905, by Paul Harris, a lawyer, who suggested the form of organization to three friends, and with them instituted the first club.

1908 Three years later, a Chicago Rotarian told the story in San Francisco and the second club was organized by Homer W. Wood of that city.

1910 The National organization was founded in 1910 with 16 clubs.

1911 The International organization was founded with the admittance of the Winnigpeg Club.

1928 The Rotary Foundation was established.

1947 Paul Harris Fellowship was established after the death of Paul Harris, Rotary founder.

The Chicago group named the club "Rotary" because the meeting 'rotated' between the offices of the five original members, and the Club met on a weekly basis. Their first project was a $20,000 Comfort Station established near Chicago City Hall.

The Rotary symbol is a geared wheel with 6 spokes and a key. This wheel is designed to do work and drive other wheels in a common effort. The thing that makes this wheel work is the gearing and the key. Who is the key to Rotary? YOU . . . the individual Rotarians . . . are the key. Your effort is the force which drives the wheel of Rotary.

Sumter Rotary Club History

The Sumter Rotary Club was organized late in the fall of 1921 by the Columbia Rotary Club under the local leadership of Dr. S.H. Edmunds, Dr. J.A. Mood, Mr. H.G. Osteen and perhaps one or two others.

Applications for a charter was completed with 25 names. However, before the application was forwarded, one of the charter members, Mr. John H. Clifton, died and the list was submitted with 24 names. Dr. S.H. Edmunds was elected president and Mr. S.L. Roddey Secretary. The first meeting was held during the latter part of December, 1921. Meetings were held intermittently during the year 1922 and in January of 1923, regular weekly meetings were established.

In its long history, our club has made significant contributions toward community
and international service. Through the years Sumter Rotary Club has had numerous
projects such as participation in the YMCA expansion programs, building the
first cabin at the Y's Camp Mac Boykin in Manchester Forest, supporting the Crippled Children's Fund, the Rotary Scholarship Fund, Foreign Exchange Student Projects, Student Visitation Programs, and most recently establishing the Rotary Centennial Plaza in downtown Sumter.

Perhaps our most significant project has been the establishment of the CART Fund in October 1995. CART stands for Coins for Alzheimer's Research Trust and is dedicated to providing much needed research dollars with the aim of helping to find a cure and/or a prevention for Alzheimer's disease. Our members voluntarily started donating their loose change at our meetings as a pilot project. It was so successful that we introduced it to our District 7770 in 1996 and it was then adopted as a District project.

Our District made its first grant of $100,000.00 to the Emory University Alzheimer's Research Center in April 1999. Since then all 6 districts in N.C., all the other S.C. districts, and all 3 Georgia districts have adopted the CART project.

Starting in May 2001, over 8 consecutive years, Cart has made 11 grants of $200,000.00 - $250,000.00 each to Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, John Hopkins School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center, UCLA, University of Texas Medical Branch, Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic -- Jacksonville (2 grants), the University of Alabama-Birmingham, and the University of Kentucky. Total grants made to date total $2,750,000 million dollars.

These grants are highly coveted as we have had as many as 71 applicants in one year from research centers in 44 states. The scientific community now considers CART as one of the leading providers of seed money for cutting edge, high impact research funds.

The Fund has been honored three times by organizations and individuals outside of Rotary; one was a Symposium given in CART's honor by some of the world's leading Alzheimer's scientists in Philadelphia in July 2004 and the other was when the Secretary of State of S.C. named CART as the No. 1 "Angel" because we give 100% of all donated funds to research. In 2006 the Governor of S. C. issued a proclamation naming June 22, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as CART Fund Day.

The Sumter Club leads all other clubs in all districts in total dollars donated to CART. As of July 31, 2009, contributions to CART by all clubs, which are tax deductable, exceeded $3,000,000.00. We are extremely proud that this worthy project started in our club.

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