Rotary Club of City Northwest Hong Kong Visits RI Open House

by Rotarian Perry P. Yu, City Northwest Hong Kong

On 6 July 2000, Rotarian Perry Yu of the Rotary Club of City Northwest Hong Kong visited the Rotary International Open House in Evanston, Illinois, USA and met with RI President 2000-01 Frank J. Devlyn. Perry is the International Service Chairman and Internet Communication Coordinator for the Club, and, not surprisingly, had found out about the event on President Frank Devlyn's home page.

Perry arrived in Chicago on 6 July and went straight to the Open House in nearby Evanston, the home of RI headquarters and also well known as the home of famous Northwestern University. Arriving in Evanston at lunchtime, Perry first joined the local Rotary Club of Evanston luncheon at the North Shore Hotel. The luncheon was a special one as the first luncheon for the Evanston Rotary Club in the new year and was well attended by over 100 Rotarians, including many international visitors from as far as Mexico, Canada, Turkey, India, and, of course, Hong Kong. Representing Rotary Club of City Northwest Hong Kong, Perry exchanged club banners with Evanston Club President Lloyd Urban and heard RI President Frank Devlyn deliver his keynote address.

After lunch, Perry walked over to One Rotary Center where the RI headquarters is located. Although its location is at the heart of the town of Evanston, it's very rustic with tree-lined streets, sidewalk cafes, sculpture gardens and certainly a very nice break for Perry from the hectic pace, traffic jam and polluted air in the downtown of Hong Kong. One Rotary Center is a building of 18 stories, which Rotary purchased in 1987 from American Hospital Supply Corporation. Most floors are now used by RI as offices and house the RI Secretariat.

Perry visited the newly remodeled Reception Lobby, the Hall of Flags, the International Hall of Honor (17th and 18th floor atrium), the Paul Harris statue, archives of the Paul Harris Room and a replica of Room 711 where it all started (16th floor). Perry also spoke to representatives of the new proactive Task Forces at the Task Forces Booth, saw extensive exhibits of the history of RI, learned about ongoing Rotary programs in the Rotary Auditorium (3rd floor) and purchased from area vendors many RI logo souvenirs many of which have not been seen in Hong Kong.

Completing the tour, Perry visited the executive offices floor which houses the Office of the President, the Boardroom, the Directors and Trustees' Lounge, the General Secretary's Office and the President-Elect's Office (18th floor). Many visiting Rotarians from all over were already gathering there and chatting and waiting for an opportunity to meet with RI President Frank.

Finally President Frank came back from lunch as well and gave us a quick guided tour of the floor. President Frank was very enthusiastic and warm and received all of us in his chamber. As we know well, President Frank is very proud of using the Internet to facilitate communication between himself and the Rotary community at large and personally carries a mission to encourage all Rotary clubs worldwide to leverage upon the Internet for inter- and intra-club communication. Naturally he asked all visitors what their club's status with the Internet is, and when it came to City Northwest Hong Kong's turn, fortunately we have nothing to be embarrassing, as we already have our web page in place. Within just a couple of mouse clicks at his work station, President Frank was able to select the District 3450 link from a District Link listing, and then navigate to City Northwest Hong Kong's link quickly and opened up the club's home page. On behalf of the Rotary Club of City Northwest Hong Kong from District 3450, Perry also presented a special golden dragon as a souvenir to RI and President Frank on occasion of the RI Open House.

When Perry left One Rotary Center it was already in the late afternoon. Perry took a picture of the large outdoor sculpture commemorating Rotary's PolioPlus Program, walked across the street and enjoyed sipping cappuccino at a sidewalk café while basking in the warm lazy sun of early summer in Chicago.

More pictures of Perry's visit to the RI Open House

This page last updated 31 July 2000. Send email to webmaster perry@pobox.com.