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The San Diego Downtown Breakfast Rotary Club was chartered on October 9, 1990 by a small group of representatives from the main Rotary Club (#33) that represents the downtown business community. The Club has approximately 90 active members that range in age from their late 20's to their 60's. The members represent a wide variation of professions and most, but not all, live or work in the downtown area. The Club is very active and supports a variety of private and public community organizations as well as health/social causes in metropolitan San Diego and across the border in Mexico.

The Club meets every Wednesday morning at 7:00 a.m. in what many think is one of the most beautiful settings for any Rotary Club, at the University Club high atop the Symphony Towers building on the 34th floor. The location provides a 270-degree panoramic view of downtown San Diego, the bay, Pacific Ocean, Point Loma, and surrounding mountains. The view is unparalleled and provides a different backdrop for every meeting. Guests and visiting Rotarians consistently note that the upbeat tone of the club meetings, with good-natured teasing and laughter, make visiting the Downtown Breakfast Club a most enjoyable experience.

Through our Military Liaison, Joe Ciokon, the Downtown Breakfast Rotary Club is proud to have been allowed to participate in the US Navy Distinguished Visitor Program. Our members were invited by Vice Admiral Brent Bennitt to fly from NAS North Island and trap onto an aircraft carrier at sea, spend 24-hours touring the ship and observing flight operations (day and night) and then catapult off the ship for a flight back to North Island. What an incredible experience this has been for all of us! And what tremendous appreciation we have felt for the men and women of our US Navy! Unfortunately, due to the "War on Terror," this popular program has been revised by the Navy and are by invitation only with fewer opportunities avalable to community leaders from all over the country. Here are some pictures from the last lucky group from our club. (Click Here For Details).

The Downtown Breakfast Club membership is committed to the ideals of Rotary and believes that enjoying the weekly meeting is just one small aspect of the overall Rotary experience. An open invitation is extended to other Rotarians, and those interested in joining the Club to visit with the Club during one of the Wednesday meetings. The Symphony Towers building is located at 750 "B" Street in the heart of downtown San Diego.

What is Rotary - A Brief History

Rotary is a service organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide who conduct humanitarian projects, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and work toward world understanding and peace. Our motto is "Service Above Self."

On February 23, 1905, a Chicago lawyer, Paul P. Harris, called three friends to a meeting. What he had in mind was a club that would kindle fellowship among members of the business community. It was an idea that grew from his desire to find within the large city the kind of friendly spirit that he knew in the villages where he had grown up.

The four businessmen didn't decide then and there to call themselves a Rotary club, but their get-together was, in fact, the first meeting of the world's first Rotary club. As they continued to meet, adding others to the group, they rotated their meetings among the members' places of business, hence the name. Soon after the club name was agreed upon, one of the new members suggested a wagon wheel design as the club emblem. It was the precursor of the familiar cogwheel emblem now worn by Rotarians around the world. By the end of 1905, the club had 30 members.

The second Rotary club was formed in 1908 half a continent away from Chicago in San Francisco, California. It was a much shorter leap across San Francisco Bay to Oakland, California, where the third club was formed. Others followed in Seattle, Washington, Los Angeles, California, and New York City, New York. Rotary became international in 1910 when a club was formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. By 1921 the organization was represented on every continent, and the name Rotary International was adopted in 1922.

Currently, there are 25,000 clubs world wide, in 172 countries, with 1.2 million members.

Object of Rotary

The Object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:

· FIRST. The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;

· SECOND. High ethical standards in business and professions, the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations, and the dignifying of each Rotarian's occupation as an opportunity to serve society;

· THIRD. The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian's personal, business and community life;

· FOURTH. The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.

4-Way Test

One of the most widely printed and quoted statements of business ethics in the world is the Rotary 4-Way Test. It was created by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor in 1932 when he was asked to take charge of a company that was facing bankruptcy. Taylor looked for a way to save the struggling company mired in depression-caused financial difficulties. He drew up a 24-word code of ethics for all employees to follow in their business and professional lives. The 4-Way Test became the guide for sales, production, advertising and all relations with dealers and customers, and the survival of the company is credited to this simple philosophy.

Herb Taylor became president of Rotary International in 1954-55. The 4-Way Test was adopted by Rotary in 1943 and has been translated into more than a hundred languages and published in thousands of ways. Here it is in English:

"Of the things we think, say or do:
1. Is it the Truth?
2. Is it Fair to all concerned?
3. Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?"

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