Led by Heights Rotarian Erv Lehman, several club members assisted in feeding the crowd that attended the SPARK Up The Park Fish Fry Fundraiser at Sinclair Elementary on Saturday afternoon.  The funds raised are for improvements to the existing Spark Park on the school's grounds.

The family event provided activities for attending children and fed the guests with fried fish, french fries, slaw and hush puppies. There was also a silent auction and raffle.  The top prize in the raffle was a 7 day Carribbean Cruise on Carnival.

The Spark Park expansion plans include adding a walking/jogging trail, additional picnic tables and benches, soccer goals, and replacing the chain link fence with ornamental iron fence.  Heights Rotarian Brian Cannell, the fundraiser chair, reminded all attendees that SPARKs are open to the community during non-school hours, so the improvements to the park will benefit the entire neighborhood.

Manning the six grills on Heights Rotary's cooking trailer, as the Chef Supreme, was Rotarian Dennis Adams.  He was kept busy frying the fish, sliced potatoes and the hush puppies.  Assisting in the food preparation were Heights Rotarians Gahlen Carpenter, Houston Varner, Diane Hinsley and Erv and Bette Lehman.

Heights Rotarians work to raise fund for Polio eradication...

For some time now, some of the stone panels on the East side of the Memorial have needed repairs.  Some tiles were also in need of replacment.  Thanks to all who had a part in getting these repairs done...Clint Horne and Gary Meyer did a lot of the coordination and follow-up work.

Community members in the Heights have noticed and the club is receiving calls from folks thanking us for keeping this memorial in tip-top shape!

For all Rotarians, February 23, 1905 has special significance. Rotary International was born on that date. Paul Harris was a small town boy who came to Chicago. He missed the friendliness and neighborliness of the small towns of his youth. So, he founded Rotary.

Originally Rotary meetings were held in the offices of the first Rotarians. Thus, the name Rotary. Those original Rotarians numbered four. They were Gustavus Loehr, Silvester Schele, Hiram Sidney, and of course, Paul Harris.

Rotary grew quickly. Within ten years there were clubs across North America. Among the club sites were San Francisco, New York, and Winnipeg, Canada. In 1921, there were Rotary Clubs on six of the seven continents. In that same year, Rotarians adopted their official name, Rotary International.

Rotary quickly outgrew its original mission of serving the professional and social needs of its members. It expanded its service to communities that had special needs. The official motto, "Service above self" was well within its sights.

Twenty years after its founding, there were 200 clubs with some 20,000 members. Well-known professional persons were Rotarians, including novelist Thomas Mann, diplomat Carlos Romero, composer Jean Sebelius, and the famed missionary Albert Schweitzer.

All Rotarians recite the Four-Way Test. Rotarian Albert J. Taylor created it in 1932. Eleven years later Rotary International officially adopted it. It has been translated and recited in more than 100 languages.

Sadly, the advent of World War II caused many Rotary Clubs to disband. Other clubs provided relief to war victims. As the war wound down, Rotarians everywhere called for a conference to promote education and culture worldwide. That challenge inspired the founding of UNESCO.

When United Nations was chartered in 1945, 49 Rotarians served in the conference to charter the worldwide organization. To this day, Rotarians still act as observers at United Nation meetings.

The wartime Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill said about Rotary International, "Few there are who do not recognize the good work which is done by Rotary Clubs throughout the free world."

During the years following the war, Rotary met the needs of a changing world in numerous ways.

In 1989, women became Rotarians. Currently there are some 145,000 female Rotarians. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, new clubs sprang up in central and eastern Europe. The first Russian Rotary Club was founded in 1990.

Rotarians still take pride in their history. The place of the first club meeting has been preserved. For a number of years, room 711 in Chicago's Unity Building was preserved just as it was in 1905. It became a visitation site for Rotarians worldwide. When the building was to be demolished in 1989, Rotarians dismantled the room and its contents, including doors and radiators. In 1993, the room was rebuilt and now exists on the 16th floor of Rotary's world headquarters in Evanston, Illinois.

Today, Rotary International has 1.2 million members in 32,000 Rotary Clubs in more than 200 countries.

In order to comply with audit requirements for the Foundation, and to use funds in the best way to accomplish this objective, the Foundation has approved the following change to the by-laws:

9.5  Every third year, the Board of Directors of the Rotary Club of Houston Heights shall appoint auditors to audit the Foundation.  The cost of such Foundation audit shall be a charge against the administration budget of the Foundation.  The Foundation shall cause financial statements to be prepared, in accourdance with generally accepted accounting principles, for any year for which an audit is not required.

9.6  The Trustees shall publish the report of the auditors to the general membership of the Rotary Club of Houston Heights.  The Trusteees shall also publish the annual financial statements to the general membership of the Rotary Club of Houston Heights.

The basic change in the by-laws will provide for an complete audit every three years, instead of each year.