Welcome to the Rotary Club of Charlottesville!

The Rotary Club of Charlottesville is a vibrant and growing club with over 45 members, many of whom have joined within the last ten years.  Our members are innovators who enjoy uniting in fellowship to serve the Rotary mission:  provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace throughout our fellowship of business, professional and community leaders.

The first Rotary club was established in 1905 in Chicago by Paul Harris, a young attorney, so that businessmen and professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships.  The first club represented four nationalities and three faiths.  Over time, Rotary’s reach and vision extended to humanitarian service and became the forerunner of other great service clubs such as Kiwanis International (1915), Lions International (1917), and Optimist International (1919). Only 16 years after being founded, Rotary had clubs on six continents and over 800 clubs in the U.S.  Today, Rotary International is a network of 1.2 million members comprising over 35,000 clubs worldwide.

Chartered in 1921, we are honored to be the longest-standing Rotary Club in Charlottesville.  Our Charter Members were a veritable Who’s Who of civic leaders in Charlottesville. We embrace our history and the many Rotarians who have paved the way for our club to thrive.  Respect for our senior members is strong within our club.  Indeed, descendants of the Charter Members can be found in the Club’s ranks today.  Through the years, our Club has engaged in a vast array of civic projects including sponsorship of the Charlottesville Municipal Band in 1921, youth camps, a nursing scholarship at PVCC, and construction of Forest Hills Park and Fifeville playgrounds  before the current Parks and Recreation Department was established.  Our current local projects include the Imagination Library and CATEC.  We sponsor Interact and Rotaract Clubs for high school and college students; we also sponsor foreign exchange students. Our International Services Committee is currently involved in projects in Honduras, Uganda, Rwanda, and Nepal. 

We remain dedicated to the six core service areas of Rotary: promote peace; fight disease; provide clean water, sanitation and hygiene; advocate for healthy mothers and children; support education; and grow local economies.  Rotary International is a global network that strives to build a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change. Rotary values diversity and celebrates the contributions of people of all backgrounds, regardless of their age, ethnicity, race, color, abilities, religion, socioeconomic status, culture, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. As a part of Rotary District 7610, we invite you to join us soon and check out Rotary - we look forward to meeting you!

Collin Campbell

Rotary President 2022-2023