Rotary, the world’s first service club, began with the formation of a Rotary Club in Chicago on February 22, 1905.

A young lawyer, Paul Harris, and three of his friends created that club. He wished to recapture the friendly spirit he had felt among business people in the small town where he had grown up.

Their weekly meetings “rotated” between each of their offices, providing the group with its name.

Today Rotary flourishes in 162 countries with 29,728 individual clubs and more than 1,193,461 members.

The Rotary Club of Haverhill meets every Thursday at 12:15 p.m. at Michael’s Function Halls

A combination of member fellowship and interesting speakers on local to global subjects provide a unique weekly experience. The meeting always closes at 1:30 pm so that members can make afternoon business plans.

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Interact is Rotary International’s service club for young people ages 14 to 18. Interact clubs are sponsored by individual Rotary clubs, which provide support and guidance, but they are self-governing and self-supporting. Club membership varies greatly. Clubs can be single gender or mixed, large or small. They can draw from the student body of a single school or from two or more schools in the same community. Visit the Interact site.

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Haverhill Rotary’s mission is to make our community and world a better place in which to live while sharing fellowship and good times. To these ends Haverhill Rotary:

• Raises more than $50,000 annually through an auction, travel raffle, and individual contributions.
• Distributes scholarships to each of the area High Schools and sponsors student guests each week.
• Contributes to the Rotary International PolioPlus that will eliminate polio worldwide by the year 2005.
• Among environmental efforts, cares for First Landing Park commemorating the arrival of the first English settlers.
• Distributes more than $50,000 to forty local charities such as Girls, Inc., Boys Club, YMCA, YWCA, Emmaus, the Public Library, and Bethany Homes (See Charitable).
• Sends high school students to Rotary Youth Leadership Awareness camp.
• Participates in a variety of community service projects such as Community Meals and Rebuilding Together with Christmas in April.
• Sponsors-an international project in a developing country each year.

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Club Service—Serving one another in a spirit of fellowship and sound organization.

Community Service—Identifying community needs and addressing them.

Vocational Service—Putting high standards of conduct in our professional and business lives while supporting the vocational training of young people.

International Service—Working with our Rotary District and Rotary International to support world peace and understanding.

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Each member of Rotary holds a “classification” representing his/her profession or business. This system encourages people to build relationships across business and professional fields. The club currently includes 110 members representing classifications regardless of race, religion, creed, ethnicity, or gender.

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