100th Anniversary Gala
Benefits The Rotary Club of Miami
Charity & Social EventsOne of South Florida’s oldest and most respected community service organizations will be hosting its 100th anniversary gala at the Rusty Pelican on Saturday, March 25, 2017. The Rotary Club of Miami, organized in 1917 by the early civic leaders of Miami, is planning an extravagant celebration with a breath-taking view of a downtown that the club members helped create over the decades.
The cocktail reception and evening program will include special entertainment and historical displays of early South Florida, spotlighting the many organizations Rotary Club of Miami founded and supported through the years. Emceeing the evening will be Eliott Rodriguez of CBS 4, who will introduce a who’s who of community leaders and VIPs to honor the 100 years of service and support that the club has provided locally and across the globe. Keeping the party-goers entertained and out on the dance floor will be the Chase Band.
Chairing the milestone gala are Past President and Past District Governor, Robin Shelley and his wife and fellow Rotarian Susan Shelley, and club President Oliver A. Ruiz and his wife, Lissette. Major sponsors include the University of Miami, the Goldsmith Family Foundation, the Florida International University Wertheim College of Medicine, Tonkinson Financial, Sabadell Bank, Shutts & Bowen, The Lubitz Financial Group, Malloy & Malloy, P.L., BB& T Bank, Van Orsdel Family Funeral Chapels and Northern Trust.
For individual tickets and information on being a sponsor, visit www.CenturyofService.org or contact the Rotary Club of Miami at 305-443-5787. There will be valet parking provided at the Rusty Pelican. Proceeds will benefit The Rotary Club of Miami, Florida Foundation, which funds the community service and international humanitarian service projects of the Rotary Club of Miami.
For individual tickets and information on being a sponsor, visit www.CenturyofService.org or contact the Rotary Club of Miami at 305-443-5787. Valet Parking will be provided. Proceeds will benefit The Rotary Club of Miami, Florida Foundation, which funds the community service and international humanitarian service projects of the Rotary Club of Miami.
First Club President and founding member Dr. James Jackson, namesake of Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital..
About The Rotary Club of Miami
The history of the Rotary Club of Miami is closely intertwined with the history and growth of South Florida. A group of 15 Miami pioneers and early business leaders united to form the Rotary Club of Miami. Their first official meeting was called to order on March 1, 2017. The first president was the city’s most prominent physician, Dr. James Jackson, namesake of Miami’s world-renowned Jackson Memorial Hospital. Other early presidents and notable members include Frank B. Shutts, Crate Bowen, Rodney Burdine, John Seybold, Dr. Bascom Palmer, and Frank Stoneman, the publisher of the Miami Herald and father of Marjory Stoneman Douglas. A few of the dozens of prominent organizations established and nurtured by the Rotary Club of Miami include the University of Miami, Lighthouse for the Blind, YMCA, Boys and Girls Scouts, BoysTown of Florida, the Bone and Tissue Transplant Center and the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office.
The Club’s Thomas Brown McClelland Trust (TBM), established in 1983, is one of South Florida’s leading private sources of medical school scholarships. Each year, the club interviews dozens of the brightest students from Miami-Dade County to select the recipients of this prestigious scholarship. Now in its fourth decade, the TBM scholarship program has provided more than $6.5 million to assist these future physicians. In 1969, the Club began the Dr. James Griffitts Police Officer of the Year Award, honoring the City of Miami’s finest officers each December. The Rotary Club of Miami is also renowned for its support of international philanthropic projects, specifically the efforts to end polio world-wide, and recent projects to bring clean water to communities in emerging countries.
Rotary’s motto is “Service Above Self,” and we are proud to have served our community and the world since 1917. We look forward to hosting a truly special evening as we celebrate our 100th anniversary in 2017 – and kick off a second Century of Service!