100th Anniversary of Sanford-Springvale Rotary

Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, on September 16, Rotarians in Sanford and Springvale, ME, will gather to celebrate their 100th year of membership in a global network of neighbors, friends, and leaders working together for positive change in their communities and around the world. It is a pleasure to congratulate the Sanford/Springvale Rotary Club on a century of service.

It is remarkable that what began as a small group of civic leaders in Chicago in 1905 has grown to a service organization of 1.4 million dedicated members in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. In any language, Rotarians live up to their motto of ``Service Above Self.''

There are more than 46,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide. Chartered in 1923, the Sanford-Springvale Club was part of the first great wave of expansion that took the Rotary movement from major American cities to smaller communities, to Canada and Europe, and then on to Asia and Africa.

Rotary International is a powerful force for good around the world. The global effort to eradicate polio is considered to be the most successful public health campaign in human history, one that would not have been possible without Rotary's commitment. When Rotary launched its PolioPlus program back in 1985, it was described as a ``gift from the 20th century to the 21st.'' It has been just that.

In addition to its strong and ongoing support for PolioPlus, the Sanford-Springvale Club is part of a Rotary International effort to make affordable and safe water more widely available in developing countries. On one mission to a small village in India, club members combined the two initiatives by helping with a childhood immunization effort and carrying out a safe drinking water project.

The Sanford-Springvale Club is a powerful force for good at home. From its ``January Thaw'' fundraiser to a summertime golf tournament, the club generously supports a wide range of charitable endeavors, including scholarships, literacy programs, food pantries, and nutrition programs for schoolchildren. Members collect winter clothes for those in need, participate in beach cleanups, and join together to complete community projects, like building a healing garden at the Cancer Care Center in Sanford.

When Paul Harris led the way in founding Rotary International 118 years ago, he said this: ``Whatever Rotary may mean to us, to the world it will be known by the results it achieves.'' The results are inspiring, and the world is grateful. The Rotary Club of Sanford and Springvale, ME, is part of that effort, and I congratulate its members for their accomplishments and contributions.

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