Rotary Club of Northampton-Cuyahoga Valley
The History of Our Club...
Rotary was founded in 1905 by Paul Harris, a Chicago attorney. It's role in the world and in the lives of it's members has been in a state of continuous evolution. In it's earliest days, Rotary offered it's members a way to find fellowship and friendship and to build connections within their communities and businesses. Rotary's name came from the practice of rotating meetings among the offices of it's members. Soon after, the concept of Service Above Self found a place in Rotary. As Rotary expanded, so did it's influence. Currently there are around 1.2 million members in over 35,000 clubs worldwide.
In the Spring of 1962, some twenty plus men began organizing and meeting to form a new local Rotary club (membership for women was added at a later date). Phone calls were made each week reminding potential members of a meeting. The Summer of 1962 was a "hit or miss" challenge. The Fall found renewed commitment and the club was officially chartered October 22, 1962 with twenty-four charter members as the Rotary Club of Northampton. A Charter Dinner was held at Woodridge Hgh School on November 14, 1962. The featured speaker that evening was A.Z. Baker, a former Rotary International President.
The Rotary Club of Northampton is indebted to Donald Stephens, insurance agent and future politician, and Wilford Gregg, Superintendent of the Boston-Northampton School District (Later to become known as Woodridge) as our founding fathers. Donald was our first President with Wilford serving as our first Secretary-Treasurer. Wilford would later serve as our fourth President. Our sponsoring club was The Rotary Club of Hudosn. Back in 1962, the guidelines for membership required that you lived or worked within the geographical assignment of your club. Our club was to serve Boston Township, Northampton Township, and Peninsula.
Over the years much has changed. Membership in our club has fluctuated between a low of sixteen and a high of forty. The number of members has most often been in the twenties. In 2017 we officially changed our name to The Rotary Club of Northampton/Cuyahoga Valley to better reflect our geographical area of membership. One thing that has not changed is our meeting place. The restaurant, Peck's Indian Lodge, was owned by a charter member of the club. He sold the restaurant and the new owner decided it wasn't worth opening for lunch just to have the Rotary Club mmet there. This ended u being an ill-fated decision as it only lasted a few years until the restaurant was sold again to the current owners and Papa Joe's has been our home since 1986.
Fundraisers have always been a challenge for our small club. In 1962, it was customary for Rotary Clubs in the district to make a donation to start a new club. This policy was a great help in giving us our start. Our initial fundraising effort in 1964-1965 was to sponsor The Mills' Brothers Circus. The first event was held in the mud at a site bordering State & Quick Roads. The second event was held at the old Ascot Race Track which was located across from the current Cuyahoga Falls Post Office on State Road. These two events generated some funds which allowed the club to begin it's intended purpose of Service to the Community. Since then, we have used more common and traditional fundraisers like reverse raffles, golf outings, art raffles, pancake breakfasts, football pools, beer concessions, etc.
SERVICE ABOVE SELF is the Key Rotary Principle. Rotary International's main Project since 1979 has been Polio Plus, aimed to defeat the polio virus World Wide and eliminate it's devastating effects. Rotary International is firmly committed to finishing this fight to eradicate this debilitating and paralyzing disease from the face of the Earth. As of January 2019, there were only 22 known new cases: sixteen in Afghanistan and six in Pakistan, both war torn countries.
Another commitment of our club was supporting our local fire department by purchasing $7500 worth of heart-monitoring equipment and the valuable "Jaws of Life" hardware.