About Rotary Club of Knoxville

The Rotary Club of Knoxville is the community’s oldest and largest civic organization.  Our members are leaders from diverse backgrounds who are dedicated to the ideal of Service Above Self. We honor our past while creating an inspired future through a passionate, engaged and growing membership. We build lasting friendships through our contributions to a variety of local and international service projects. We have fun together and involve our families in our Rotary work to create lasting changes in our community and the world.

The club’s earliest members included several of the visionaries responsible for the concept of our nation’s most visited national park. In 1923, RCK member Willis Davis and his wife returned from visiting national parks in the Western U.S. asking “why not have a park in our mountains?”

This idea inspired Col. David C. Chapman, the club’s first president, and several other Knoxville Rotarians to create the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association, which had a significant influence in the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Throughout the last century and into the new millennium RCK continues supporting the Park with projects such as a trail for handicapped visitors, a wildlife display at the Sugarlands Visitors Center, an information display on Mt. LeConte and improvements to Alum Cave Trail. In early 2007, RCK will unveil its Recognition Wall project at Sugarlands honoring those who have contributed to the Park over the past seven decades.

But the Park has not been the only beneficiary of the enthusiasm and generosity of RCK’s members…

Community Service: in the early years, the club helped to organize a band at Old Knoxville High, sponsored playgrounds, boys camps and even encouraged pork production during WW I through the “Pig and Corn Club.”

Higher Education: The Rotary Foundation of Knoxville, begun in 1923, helped over 600 local students to achieve their educational goals with low-interest loans. Since 1996, the club’s Foundation has awarded college scholarships to deserving Knox County high school seniors each year.   In 2021, the club awarded 2 1-year scholarships totaling $5,000 and 2 4-year scholarships totalling $20,000.

Other club programs & projects have included and /or continue to include support for:  Junior Achievement, 4-H Clubs, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, the Boys and Girls Club of Knoxville, Character Counts, John Tarleton Home For Children, Habitat for Humanity, Helen Ross-McNabb Center, the Salvation Army, Tennessee School For the Deaf, YMCA Day Care Scholarships, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards and annual Knox County Teacher Recognition Awards.

RCK also sponsors Welcome Picnics for International Students at the University of Tennessee and Pellissippi State Community College each year. The club sponsors two Interact Clubs – one at Knoxville Catholic High School and the other at Webb School of Knoxville – and two Rotaract Clubs – one at UT and the other is a community-based club for young professionals age 21-to 30.

INTERNATIONAL SERVICE

Since the mid-90’s RCK’s influence has reached beyond the borders of the U.S. Our Hungarian Connection began in 1995 with the establishment of a “Twin Club” partnership with the Rotary Club of Mateszalka in Northeast Hungary. Our two clubs collaborated on the renovation of Camp Tridea, a summer retreat for underprivileged children, orphans and refugees in Northeast Hungary. Over the ensuing years we have sponsored three bicycle trips across Hungary to raise funds for the camp and for the Mateszalka Children’s Home. We have funded playgrounds around the city and an impressive skatepark. Each Christmas we send funds for a gift for each child at the orphanage. The members of the Mateszalka Rotary Club and the Mateszalka Inner Wheel Club then shop for a special gift for each child, wrap each gift, and deliver to the orphanage where the gifts are placed under the Christmas tree before distribution at Christmas.

In 2006, RCK began working with the Rotary Club of Knysna, South Africa to help with needs identified there including partial funding of a mini-van to transport needy students, funds for pre-school equipment and supplies, renovation materials, computers for a vocational education program, a breakfast feeding program for day laborers, etc. In addition, the club has sponsored travel grants for several groups of Interact students to travel to Knysna and assist with the Knysna Rotary’s various projects.

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL WORLD SERVICE

RCK members have been very generous in supporting the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International which provides resources for key international service programs. Every past president of RCK has been named as a “Paul Harris Fellow” through a contribution of $1,000 to the Foundation. Every year since 2005-06, the club has contributed well over $100 per capita to the Rotary Foundation of RI Annual Fund and every year it has been recognized as a STAR club. In 2010, RI recognized RCK for having made total club contributions to the RI Annual find of over $1,000,000. As of 2013, total club contributions had increased to $1,210,448.

Polio Plus
For all Rotarians, the most far-reaching service effort is Polio Plus begun by RI in 1985 to protect the children of the world from the crippling and fatal effects of polio. During the next few years, Rotarians can look forward to total eradication of this devastating disease.

Rotary International Centennial Project
Together with five other Knoxville area clubs,  RCK raised over $100,000 to underwrite a bronze sculpture created by Hungarian Rotarian and sculptor Lajos Biro commemorating Rotary’s ongoing commitment to the world’s children through the eradication of polio.  The 2005 dedication of the Centennial sculpture, located in downtown Knoxville’s prominent Krutch Park and featuring past-Rotary International Vice-President William Sergeant, drew RI’s president, many past RI presidents, many RI Directors and Foundation Trustees, as well as other international dignitaries.

OUR MEMBERS AND THE FUTURE

The club has over 200 members who are devoted to the Rotary ideals of Service, as well as Building Goodwill and Peace in the World.  The club has been the home club of 10 Rotary District Governors including PDG Walter T. Pulliam, 1972-73, PDG Arthur V. Clancy, Jr., 1989-90, PDG John W. Bailey, Jr., 2004-05, and PDG Frank Rothermel, 2011-12. The late Charles H. Miller served as District Governor in 1960-61 and went on to serve as a Director of RI 1966-68 and for two terms as a trustee of the Rotary Foundation.

RCK is proud to have been part of RI since 1915. All members of the club look forward to continuing that tradition of service into Rotary’s second century. In addition, the Rotary Club of Knoxville looks forward to our second century of service to Knoxville and to the world.  The best is yet to come!