History

The Coos Bay - North Bend Rotary Club was first formed in 1922 by a group of local and prominent business and professional men, many of whose names are still familiar to us today: Ben Chandler, Albert Kohler, I.R. Tower, W.J. Conrad and Al Powers. Rotary was the world's first service organization. Its members are men and women who are leaders in their professions and businesses. Membership is by invitation only. Today, Rotary is a flourishing service-oriented organization with over 27,000 clubs and more than 1.2 million members throughout the world. Its motto is "Service Before Self". An outstanding example of a service project undertaken worldwide by Rotary is Polio Plus. In 1985, Rotary dedicated its efforts to eradicate polio from the Earth. Its members set a goal to raise $120 million for this task. When it was over, Rotarians had raised nearly $425 million in order to proceed with the immunization of children all over the world and eradicate polio forever. Over 1 billion children have already been immunized and polio has been eliminated from the Western Hemisphere. Immunizations are now being concentrated in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. No other organization has ever made a commitment of this magnitude and proceeded to follow it through so as to accomplish it successfully. Humanitarian projects such as Polio Plus allow Rotarians to take pride in Rotary. Rotary directs its avenues of service in four specific areas:

1. Club Service where fellowship and cooperation are developed within the club so as to encourage and promote service to others.

2. Vocational Service where high ethical standards of conduct in businesses and professions are to be practiced by all its members and the members give assistance to other people in their avenues of endeavor.

3. Community Service whereby Rotarians identify needs of the community and address those needs through the completion of various projects within the community.

4. International Service through understanding, goodwill and peace among all peoples of all countries and in helping to service the needs of less fortunate people all over the world.