Greencastle Rotary honors Headley

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Recently, the Greencastle Rotary Club honored its past president, Matt Headley, with the Paul Harris Fellow recognition for his service to Rotary and the community.

Paul Harris Fellow recognitions are granted to persons who contribute $1,000 or more to the Foundation.

The award may also be granted to persons -- Rotarians and non-Rotarians alike -- whose honor the $1,000 donation is made.

Rotary International Founder Paul Harris, on many occasions, had expressed great interest in developing a large educational endowment fund supported by contributions worldwide that would afford practical means of actively promoting an important phase of Rotary's International service.

The Rotary Foundation had been established in 1948, when the Minneapolis Convention gave approval and amended the R.I. by-laws to provide for such an institution under the supervision of five trustees.

However, the seed actually had been sown a decade before, when the late Arch Klumph, regarded as the father of the Foundation, indicated at the 1917 Convention in Atlanta, that "Rotary should accept the endowments for the purposes of doing good in the world in charitable, educational, and other avenues of community progress."

Immediately after Paul Harris' death in 1947, the first plan for the Foundation's educational awards was formulated and dedicated as a memorial to Rotary's founder, who had believed so strongly in service.

An auspicious start was made by granting 18 fellowships to students from seven different countries for the scholastic year 1947-48.

The Rotary Foundation has since remained entirely dependent on voluntary contributions from both Rotarian and non-Rotarians around the world.

A major source of funding is derived from Paul Harris Fellow recognitions.

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