An old cure for loneliness

Since its start, Rotary has been a place for genuine connection

By John Hewko

In the summer of 1910, while visiting his cousin in Chicago, P.A.C. McIntyre, a businessman from Winnipeg, heard about a club where people of different trades and professions gathered weekly to share friendship and perform community service. Since members of the club rotated their meetings at one another’s offices, they settled on “Rotary” as a fitting name. Keenly interested, McIntyre met with Paul Harris, the young Chicago lawyer who had founded the first Rotary club there five years earlier.

During their conversation, Harris explained that the club was intended to restore the sense of camaraderie and community he had known growing up in small-town Vermont but found absent in urban life. “Everywhere there were people but nowhere a familiar face,” Harris recalled in his autobiography as he described the loneliness and social alienation that he and others had experienced. He wanted to establish a place for people to come together — not just to conduct business, but to form lasting, genuine connections.

Impressed by Harris’ vision and Rotary’s early success in Chicago and other U.S. cities, McIntyre returned to his hometown and formed the first Rotary club outside the U.S. in 1912. That one club in Winnipeg soon became dozens and then hundreds in Canada as the passion for fellowship and good deeds swept across the country.

In recent years, there’s been much talk about social isolation or the “loneliness epidemic.” Even though it’s portrayed as a modern illness or a long-term effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, loneliness is hardly a new phenomenon, as Rotary’s story shows. At the beginning of the 20th century, loneliness and isolation became increasingly recognized as a societal problem in North America because rapid urbanization shifted populations from smaller, tighter rural communities into more anonymous city existences. In response to the social crisis, organizations such as Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions emerged and flourished.

Unfortunately, in the past decade the idea of belonging to a traditional civic organization has become perceived as obsolete. Many see the groups as relics of their grandparents’ generation and instead flock to online communities. Despite being more digitally connected than ever, those same people are struggling to forge the kind of deep, meaningful relationships that give life purpose.

The Commonwealth Fund’s 2021 survey of older adults ranked Canada as the loneliest among 11 developed nations. According to Statistics Canada, nearly 1 in 4 people ages 15 to 24 report feeling lonely always or often.

Loneliness is more than a personal struggle; in 2023, Dr. Vivek Murthy, who was then the U.S. surgeon general, declared loneliness a public health crisis on par with smoking or obesity in terms of its detrimental effects.

We don’t have to go far to search for a cure. Canada’s historical ties to Rotary make it the perfect place for an antidote to the loneliness epidemic. While joining civic organizations might seem outdated to some, it has proved to be effective at creating connections — much like Grandma’s homemade chicken soup, which, after many generations, still provides spoonfuls of comfort.

At their core, Rotary and other groups complement governments by addressing social needs and advocating for change. The 2025 Rotary Convention in Calgary, which brought together 15,000 Rotary members from more than 120 countries and regions, offers a powerful reminder of the strength of service organizations.

At present, the trend toward isolationism is taking hold in many countries; in some instances, it’s accompanied by drastic shifts in governmental policies that have led to significant cuts in funding for humanitarian programs and economic development. Civic organizations are stepping in to fill the gaps in essential social services. They wield a potent soft power and project their values of compassion and giving onto universal issues, from global health and disaster response to development programs and education.

For more than 100 years, civic organizations have fostered the kinds of connections that sustain us. This time-tested cure can work miracles at a time when loneliness threatens our collective well-being.

John Hewko is general secretary and CEO of Rotary International.

This story originally appeared in the January 2026 issue of Rotary Canada magazine.