The Rotary Club of Covington reached a milestone achievement Tuesday when it became part of just 14 percent of clubs worldwide to have 100 percent Paul Harris Fellow participation.
The Paul Harris Fellow status means a member is recognized as having $1,000 donated to the Rotary Foundation. Every member of the Rotary Club of Covington has now reached that status.
The Foundation, which was started in 1917, is a charitable organization that has supported thousands of projects to provide clean water, fight disease, promote peace, provide basic education and grow local economies.
The hallmark project funded by the Rotary Foundation is Polio Plus, the effort to eradicate polio.
Rotary began fighting Polio when it immunized 6 million children in the Philippines in 1979. In 1980, Rotary committed to eliminating the disease through immunization and in 1988 helped launch the global eradication initiative.
Since 1988, 2.5 billion children have been immunized against Polio in 122 countries and cases of the disease are down 99.9 percent since the initiative began. The virus is now limited to just Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
There are more than 34,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and 2,000 of those clubs have 100 percent Paul Harris Fellow status among its members.
Within the district that the Covington club falls under, comprised of 75 clubs, the Rotary Club of Covington is the 44th club to be recognized with this honor.
Tuesday, Rotary Club of Covington members received certificates and pins for being Paul Harris Fellows with a past and future district president in attendance.The club was also given two other recognitions, one for being a 100 percent Sustaining Club and an Every Rotarian Every Year (EREY) club.
A 100 percent Sustaining Club has every member of the club donate at least $100 a year to the Rotary foundation and an EREY Club has everyone donate something toward the foundation.
