The year 1905 was significant. It was that time when Paul Harris founded the Rotary International that spread to almost each and every nation.

Truly to being an international movement, Rotary Club worked towards eradication of polio and thanks to its efforts all the nations, except one or two, are free from the dreaded disease today.

Coimbatore became part of the movement in the year 1944. The first president of the Coimbatore Rotary was Diwan Bahadur C.S. Rathinasabapathy Mudaliar and R. Venataswamy Naidu was its secretary. G.D.Naidu was enthusiastically involved in every good deed of the club.

Many more Rotary clubs mushroomed in the city that happened to be part of District 320 and they continued to do many social services. The clubs were named Rotary Club of Coimbatore – West, East, North, South, Mid Town, Central, Metropolis, Texcity, Satellite. Every Rotary district had a governor and Prof. P.R. Ramakrishnan, whose centenary is being celebrated this year, was one of the early governors when the region comprised even Ceylon (today’s Sri Lanka).

One of the most significant contribution of the club was the shelters it provided for each and every bus stand in the region.

Meeting every Thursday at the Paul Harris Hall, Rotarians came up with ideas that would be beneficial to the people. Prominent among them were S.R.P. Ponnusamy Chettiar, Prof. P.R. Ramaswamy, T.R. Sundaram Pillai, N.C. Rajan, P. Jagadeesan, G. Varadaraj, Polio Plus V.V. Sriram, M.K. Kuppuraj of Asoka Betelnut Company, Pratap Gokuldas and P.N. Gopal. That was the time when getting into the club was through various procedures.

Currently there are over 30 Rotary Clubs in Coimbatore continuing with their social services. The most significant one being providing calipers to those in need by the Coimbatore Mid Town Rotary.

The club initiated the idea of running a fleet of ambulance so that the accident victim or the patient gets the ‘golden hour’ treatment.

The Club has hosted various exchange programmes for the youth. Youth from other countries have had a chance to meet their peers from the city and vice-versa.

A new team takes charge every July and chalk out their plans to reach out to the needy.

The clubs host eminent speakers on a regular basis to add value to their services. The college wing of the club is called ‘Rotaract’, while the school wing ‘Interact’. Though the club was male dominated in the beginning, it soon started enrolling women as members. The first women president being Usha Kirtilal Mehta and a prominent member being Rajashree Pathy. Women members and wives of Rotarians play a predominant role in the Innerwheel Society.

The Rotary Movement is continuing its good deeds to the society silently and its members are unsung heroes.