Rotary is a worldwide organization of more than 1.2 million business, professional, and community leaders. Rotary International is the world's first service club organization. Members of Rotary clubs, known as Rotarians, provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.

There are over 32,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. Clubs are nonpolitical, nonreligious, and open to all cultures, races, and creeds. As signified by the motto Service Above Self, Rotary's main objective is service - in the community, in the workplace, and throughout the world.

The Rotary Club of New Orleans was formed on February 23, 1910 during a meeting held at 232 North Peters Street.

On April 26, 1910, with a membership of 40, the Rotary Club of New Orleans officially became the 12th Rotary Club organized in the world. The weekly meetings begin at 12:12pm in honor of this.

The Rotary Club of New Orleans participates in many community projects. You can find members painting and scraping houses in blighted neighborhoods, painting classrooms in school, volunteering at the public parks and public television stations and tutoring at the public school, to name a few. In November 2006, the New Orleans Rotary Club initiated a fund raiser to provide funding to refurbish fire stations in Orleans Parish that were destroyed by Katrina's flooding. The current project, this 2008 calendar, will provide funding for new uniforms for all the fire fighters in the New Orleans Fire Department.

For more information about the New Orleans Rotary Club, visit www.neworleansrotary.org.