Rotary Club of Amherst East Awards Paul Harris Fellow Honor to Rev. Charles Biegner on February 17, 2005

As the Rotary Club of Amherst East prepares to celebrate Rotary International's 100th anniversary, it will award a Paul Harris Fellowship to the Reverand Charles Biegner on February 17, 2005. The club will deliver the award at its lunch meeting at Daffodils Restaurannt in Amherst, New York.

(PRWEB) February 1, 2005 -- The Rotary Club of Amherst East will award to Rev. Charles Biegner a Paul Harris Fellowship to honor his contributions to the Buffalo community. Rev. Biegner is Pastor Emeritus of the Resurrection Lutheran Church Health Center at Genesee and Doats Street in Buffalo.

Rev. Biegner spoke to our club, where we learned how much his efforts have contributed to the health and well being of many Buffalo residents," said Paul McAfee, president of the Rotary Club of Amherst East. We are please to be able to confer this honor on Rev. Biegner."

The Medical Center consists of the following services: Jericho Road Family Practice, Lighthouse Free Medical Clinic, Lighthouse Free Chiropractic Clinic, Samaritan Pastor Counseling Center, and African-American Smoke Freedom. In addition, the Health Center strives to assist those who cannot afford to pay for a prescription and, at the same time, works to get them more permanent assistance.

The Rotary Club of Amherst East will hold a luncheon honoring Rev. Biegner on Thursday, February 17, at Daffodils Restaurant. The club will celebrate Rotary Internationals 100th year during the lunch. The club also will deliver checks to other local causes it supports. Everyone, whether a Rotary member or not, is welcome to attend. Contact Paul McAfee at (716) 568-0329 to make a reservation.

For more information about the Rotary Club of Amherst East, visit www.amhersteastrotary.org.

About Rotary International

The Rotary Club of Amherst East is part of Rotary International. The world's first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago, Illinois, USA, was formed on 23 February 1905 by Paul P. Harris, an attorney who wished to recapture in a professional club the same friendly spirit he had felt in the small towns of his youth. The name "Rotary" derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among members' offices.

Rotary's popularity spread throughout the United States in the decade that followed; clubs were chartered from San Francisco to New York. By 1921, Rotary clubs had been formed on six continents, and the organization adopted the name Rotary International a year later.

As Rotary grew, its mission expanded beyond serving the professional and social interests of club members. Rotarians began pooling their resources and contributing their talents to help serve communities in need. The organization's dedication to this ideal is best expressed in its principal motto: Service Above Self. Rotary also later embraced a code of ethics, called the 4-Way Test, that has been translated into hundreds of languages.

During and after World War II, Rotarians became increasingly involved in promoting international understanding. In 1945, 49 Rotary members served in 29 delegations to the United Nations Charter Conference. Rotary still actively participates in UN conferences by sending observers to major meetings and promoting the United Nations in Rotary publications. Rotary International's relationship with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) dates back to a 1943 London Rotary conference that promoted international cultural and educational exchanges. Attended by ministers of education and observers from around the world, and chaired by a past president of RI, the conference was an impetus to the establishment of UNESCO in 1946.

An endowment fund, set up by Rotarians in 1917 "for doing good in the world," became a not-for-profit corporation known as The Rotary Foundation in 1928. Upon the death of Paul Harris in 1947, an outpouring of Rotarian donations made in his honor, totaling US$2 million, launched the Foundation's first program - graduate fellowships, now called Ambassadorial Scholarships. Today, contributions to The Rotary Foundation total more than US$80 million annually and support a wide range of humanitarian grants and educational programs that enable Rotarians to bring hope and promote international understanding throughout the world.

In 1985, Rotary made a historic commitment to immunize all of the world's children against polio. Working in partnership with nongovernmental organizations and national governments thorough its PolioPlus program, Rotary is the largest private-sector contributor to the global polio eradication campaign. Rotarians have mobilized hundreds of thousands of PolioPlus volunteers and have immunized more than one billion children worldwide. By the 2005 target date for certification of a polio-free world, Rotary will have contributed half a billion dollars to the cause.

As it approached the dawn of the 21st century, Rotary worked to meet the changing needs of society, expanding its service effort to address such pressing issues as environmental degradation, illiteracy, world hunger, and children at risk. The organization admitted women for the first time (worldwide) in 1989 and claims more than 145,000 women in its ranks today. Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Rotary clubs were formed or re-established throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Today, 1.2 million Rotarians belong to some 31,000 Rotary clubs in 166 countries.

Media Contacts:

Paul McAfee

President

Rotary Club of Amherst East

Phone: 716 568-0329

Rev. Charles Biegner

Resurrection Lutheran Church Health Center

3 Doat Street, Buffalo, NY 14211

Phone: 716 837-4789

Paul McAfee, CEO of eXubrio, LLC, provides pro bono public relations support to the Rotary Club of Amherst East. Visit www.exubrio.com for more information about eXubrios services.

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