Rotary Club Celebrates 70 Years Of Involvement In Cheshire

November 9, 2009 by Josh Morgan

It was 70 years ago when the Cheshire Rotary Club was first chartered, and over 500 different people have come and gone as members, but their mission of community service remains the same.
Last week, the club celebrated its 70th anniversary at the Waverly Tavern, where the group has been meeting for more than 40 years. Throughout the year, the group raises money and distributes it to a number of different causes, including a local scholarship program, the William E. Grove II Memorial Firefighter of the Year Award, the Birthday Book program with the Cheshire Public Library, and the Cheshire YMCA van for program transportation. Richard Miller, the club’s historian, spoke at the event and gave a brief history of the Cheshire Rotary Club. As a Rotarian for more than 50 years, Miller also served as District Governor in 1980-1981. Miller recalled joining the club in 1955, 16 years after its inception with only 15 people. He said Rotary is a “service club concerned with the community” and, over the years, the function of the club has remained the same. Miller said it was about putting “service above self” and trying to focus on making the community a better place.
“For more than 40 years, we’ve given an award to the fireman of the year and, for many years, have given out college scholarships,” Miller said. “There is a long list of things that makes me proud to be a Rotarian.”
Rotary clubs got their start in the Chicago area right after the turn of the 20th century, around 1905. The name rotary was coined because the meeting places for these groups often changed, or rotated, between members’ homes or offices. Over time, its popularity grew and clubs sprouted up all over the country. Now, there are over a million members worldwide in 30,000 different clubs.
“Rotary clubs are everywhere,” Miller explained. “It is rare for a club to disband once it has been organized, so over time it grew, from only three or four to thousands. It’s really a great thing to belong to.”
While many of the goals of Rotary clubs are focused in the community or state where the club is located, for the past two decades clubs all over the country have rallied together to rid the world of polio. While the disease is still prevalent in Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan, Rotary clubs worldwide have been fundraising for this cause.
Recently, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $100 million to the cause, with the expectation that Rotary International and the Rotary Fund would match it.
“We started this mission in 1989 and we are not yet finished,” Miller said. “We still have four more countries that we need to rid of polio.”
Rotarian Jim McGregor didn’t want to join another service organization after serving on the Board of Directors with the Chamber of Commerce for many years. After he finished with the Chamber, McGregor said he was burned out and “didn’t want to join another group for as long as I lived.” However, he was asked to attend one meeting and he did, and immediately formed a bond with a Rotarian over common interests.
“I went to one meeting and got hooked,” McGregor said. “I learned that Rotary is a very philanthropic organization about giving back to the community. It’s a very good group of people.”
Over the years, Cheshire Rotary grew from a dozen members to a membership peak of more than 70 individuals in the late 1970s. Membership has declined in the past few decades and there are approximately 33 current members. That trend is not specific to Cheshire, as all over the United States Rotary memberships have been diminished.
“Membership in the country has not increased in two or three years, maybe even more than that,” Miller said. “People are busy with their jobs or families, and it’s difficult to maintain these memberships. These clubs will continue however, just with a fewer members, but we’ll stay active.”
For more information on the Cheshire Rotary Club, including how to become a member, visit the Web at www.cheshirerotary.org.