To mark the anniversary of nine decades since the establishment of the first Romanian Rotary District, Romfilatelia and the Romanian Post introduce into circulation on Friday, March 20th this year, the postage stamp issue entitled Rotary, District Romania, 90 years, consisting of a postage stamp and a First Day Cover.
In 1905, American lawyer Paul Percy Harris, along with three friends, founded a Rotary club in Chicago, a non-profit organization that brought together professionals and leaders from various fields to perform community service, promote ethics, and contribute to the peace and well-being of the community in which it operated.
Shortly afterwards, other clubs were also established, and the network known as Rotary International expanded worldwide.
In 1929, the first Rotary club appeared in Romania, and on March 1st, 1936, District 84 Romania was established, comprising nine clubs – Bucharest, Timișoara, Brașov, Cernăuți, Arad, Câmpina, Iași, Cluj, and Ploiești – and having as its Governor the engineer Christian Penescu – Kertsch, the President of the first Club – Bucharest (the postage stamp with the face value of Lei 16).
During the communist era, the Rotary movement was banned in Romania, but it was reactivated in 1992 with the establishment of the Bucharest Rotary Club.
Today, Rotary International District 2241 Romania and the Republic of Moldova is a humanitarian, non-governmental, non-profit, community service organization in which people unite and take action to create lasting change in their communities and in themselves, leading to a lasting impact wherever they act.
On the First Day Cover is represented a diagram of Rotary International’s areas of action, also adopted by Rotary International District 2241 Romania and Republic of Moldova, which are: Peacebuilding and conflict prevention, Disease prevention and treatment, Water, sanitation and hygiene, Maternal and child health, Basic education and literacy, Community economic development and Environment.
Romfilatelia thanks the representatives of Rotary International District 2241 Romania and Republic of Moldova for their documentary support granted in the development of this postage stamp issue.
