Paul Harris Fellows
Paul Percy Harris (April 19, 1868–January 27, 1947) was a Chicago, Illinois, attorney best known for founding Rotary International in 1905, a service organization with more than one million members worldwide.
Harris was born in Racine, Wisconsin, but grew up in Vermont. He attended Princeton University, the University of Vermont, and the University of Iowa. For the next five years, he worked odd jobs for a newspaper as a salesman and a reporter, on fruit farms, as an actor and cowboy, and on cattle ships that traveled to Europe.
He began his law practice in 1896. Harris organized Rotary "in fellowship and friendship" with three clients, Silvester Schele, Gustavus Loehr, and Henry Ruggles. By the time of his death at the age of seventy-nine, the club had grown to more than 200,000 members in 75 countries. The club is dedicated to "service above self".
In his honour, individual Rotary clubs choose a Paul Harris Fellow who meets high professional and personal standards set by the founder. The fellow is honored at a fundraising dinner and receives a special certificate, a gold pin, and a gold medallion on a blue-and-gold ribbon.
Paul Harris Fellowship
The criterion for receiving this award as recognized by Rotary International is as follow:
Paul Harris Fellow/Multiple Paul Harris Fellow
Donors of US$1,000 or more to the Annual Programs Fund, PolioPlus, or the Humanitarian Grants Program, or people, who have that amount contributed in their name, can be recognized as Paul Harris Fellows. Each new Paul Harris Fellow receives a commemorative certificate and a pin.
However with the Hythe club and many other clubs the award is given to a club member who has given outstanding service to the Club, District and/or Rotary International.
The payment for such awards remains the same but rather than the individual contributing the payments is made by friends and colleagues of the recipient through the Hythe Rotary Club council.
At present our club has 12 members who have been given this award