Walter Reed, a guest speaker from the Wilmette Rotary Harbor Club, addressed the McHenry Rotary Club, Thursday, December 6th, on “The Rotary Foundation: Then, Now, and in the Future.”
 

                Walter Reed, a guest speaker from the Wilmette Rotary Harbor Club, addressed the McHenry Rotary Club, Thursday, December 6th, on “The Rotary Foundation: Then, Now, and in the Future.”  He noted that this world class charitable fund began in 1917, 12 years after Rotary International was founded in Chicago.  He briefly reviewed the history of the fund and gave greater attention and detail to the changes which will take place on July 1, 2013.  Because of the enormous pressure on the organization’s central staff in Evanston to handle funding requests from all corners of the world for needs ranging from scholarships, to study exchanges, polio eradication, literacy, and many other community and world projects; the Rotary Foundation will be placing more responsibility upon the individual districts and clubs to handle them.   He closed by noting that Rotary International will apply two tests to grant requests: (1) a need assessment; and (2) proof of sustainability.