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It's a Matter of History!
For more than nine decades, mankind has been served by a special family of volunteers, originally known as Co-Operators, and now as Sertomans. Each member of this organization can take pride in the colorful history of the Co-Operative Club and Sertoma.

This history is based upon information gleaned from past Sertoman magazines and THE CO-OPERATOR magazines on file at Sertoma Headquarters.

These events occurred in Sertoma from the day the first club was founded as the Co-Operative Club to present day Sertoma activities.

1912 – 1929 – The Beginnings
1912: The first official luncheon meeting of the founding club was held on April 11, 1912, at the Coates House Hotel, then the fashionable hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. The founders of the first Co-Operative Club were George W. Smith, M.D., Charles E. Allen, M.D. and William R. Rowe. These three men are now recognized as the founding fathers of the Co-Operator Club of Kansas City, Missouri, and of Sertoma.

The name by which the first Sertoma club was identified was the "Stand Together Club." This name was used even before the club was officially organized as the Co-Operative Club of Kansas City, Missouri.

The Kansas City, Missouri, club progressed rapidly from its very beginning. Originally, there was no thought of starting a new national or organization. Consequently, the club was a Kansas City, Missouri, institution for a period of several years. However, as members moved to other cities, a few of them started similar clubs.

1920: In December 1920, Edward G. Freed, then president of the Kansas City club, invited representatives from other clubs to meet together to consider forming an organization. Representatives from the Wichita, Manhattan and Topeka, Kansas, clubs and the Kansas City, Missouri, club attended. The organization was immediately formed and Freed was elected the first President.

1921: On June 21, 1921, the first Convention was held in Kansas City, Missouri. Attending were 32 delegates representing six clubs: Kansas City, Topeka, Manhattan, Chicago and Omaha. James P. "Daddy" Summerville, Charter President of the Kansas City, Missouri, club, was elected the second President.

The founding fathers never lost their fervor. All were active and served the organization fully with dedication and high principles. Dr. George Smith even left his medical practice in December 1920 to organize a dozen clubs throughout the Midwest over a period of 15 months. Among the clubs organized by Dr. Smith in 1921-22 were the present clubs in Little Rock, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Memphis, St. Paul and Milwaukee.

1922: The first dues increase – called "per capita tax" – was voted on by the delegates to the 1922 Kansas City Convention. The dues went from $2 to $3 per member, and a further assessment of $2 per member was levied to support the magazine.

1923: The Co-Operettes had its beginning in 1923 when the wives of the members of the Co-Operative Club of Manhattan, Kansas, organized the first auxiliary, called the "Co-Op Lassies." In 1928 the Co-Operettes became a national organization.

Radio was used to promote the activities of the early Sertoma club when radio station WHB in Kansas City – at that time one of the very few official government-licensed broadcasting stations – offered the club airtime (the owner of Kansas City Station WHB was a local member, E.J. Sweeney). This was another Sertoma "first."

1926: "Make Life Worthwhile" was the slogan accepted by the organization in 1926. It was as good then as it is today.

Girls Week was an innovation of the Kansas City club in the late ‘20s when the club inaugurated this fantastic celebration paying tribute to the "splendid young womanhood of our land"!

1930s
1930: Co-Operative Club members exemplified their early club identification in the early '30s during the Depression and, instead of folding, the members "stood together." The Depression took its toll on the organization – money for stamps had to be borrowed and the office could not meet its payroll – but the organization survived.

1934: The well-known Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans had its beginning in Sertoma. In 1934 the New Orleans club began this very successful project when former Director Warren V. Miller introduced the resolution that the club sponsor a football contest to be held in New Orleans during the Christmas holiday season.

1940s
1942: Sertomans had the opportunity to become members for life when the Life Member plan was adopted at the 1942 Convention in Chicago.

During 1942, a movement was started to merge the 14 National Monarch clubs, in the states of N.C., Va., Penn., N.Y. and Del., with the Co-Operative Clubs . The merger finally took place on September 1, 1943.

1946: The first Sertoma club chartered in Canada was at Windsor, Ontario, in 1946. The organization was now truly .

1948: The first recipient of the Distinguished Service Award was Harold J. Reed of Omaha, Nebraska. This award is now known as the Sertoman of the Year Award.

In the early 1940s, confusion had emerged between the Co-Operative Club name and consumer cooperatives. Thus, a motion was made during the Albuquerque Convention in 1948 to change the name to Sertoma. Many members resented the change. A contest was announced with a $500 cash prize offered for a name that might be selected. A total of 49 names were submitted.

The Board of Directors narrowed the list down to seven to present to the Convention: Ambassadors, Century, Cooperators, Monarch, Operative, Sertoma and Sponsors. Noble W. Hiatt, then president of the North Indianapolis, Ind. club, coined the name SERTOMA from the slogan, SERvice TO MAnkind, and his idea was selected. The official name change became effective on June 21, 1950.

1949: The need for an sponsorship became apparent, and the first sponsorship recommended to clubs by the Board of Directors was made known in 1949 by the Sertoma Club of Phoenix, Arizona, when the club introduced the YES Program (Youth Employment Service). Sertoma today holds the copyright to the name "YES" even though local, state and national government involvement of "employment services" has limited the need for Sertoma club YES Programs.

1950s
1950: The name "Sertoma" was officially adopted on June 21, 1950.

1951: Sertoma's National Heritage (Freedom) program was introduced with the announcement that the Richmond, Virginia, Sertoma club had accepted a challenge from noted columnist Drew Pearson to see that every child and home receive a copy of the Declaration of Independence of the United States (original name was American Way Program).

The original founder, Dr. George W. Smith, died in 1951, and Billy Rowe was listed as deceased sometime between 1951 and 1961.

1953: The first award from Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, for Freedom Program activities was received in 1953. Sertoma and the Sertoman magazine continued to win awards from Freedoms Foundation. After receiving recognition for 10 consecutive years, Sertoma also was recognized with the Distinguished Service Award.

1954: The Service to Mankind Award program was adopted at the 1954 Convention in Asheville, North Carolina, and the first award was presented in 1955 to an Albuquerque, New Mexico, dentist who was noted for his community service activities.

1955: The first Service to Mankind Award was presented to an Albuquerque, New Mexico, dentist.

CBAC Program had its beginning due to an earlier slogan, "Think Big," which was promoted at the 1954 Convention in Asheville, North Carolina, Club-Build-A-Club experiences showed the way for this ever-important growth program for Sertoma.

1956: The first Leadership Conference held (similar to today's standards) in which District Governors, Directors and Officers attend conferences for education and training.

The first club chartered in Mexico was at Mexico City in 1956.

1960s
1960: The Sertoma Foundation was formed on November 15, 1960, to strengthen the partnership between the organization and our clubs.

The first "Sertoma Speaks" poll was approved and the question asked of Sertoma clubs was, "In the interest of preserving the freedom of the people in the Western Hemisphere, should the United States take whatever steps necessary to prevent Cuba from becoming a Communist nation?" (The poll was discontinued as an program soon after.)

1961: Dr. Charles Allen, Sertoma's last remaining founder, died during the spring of 1961, shortly after he had attended his Sertoma club's luncheon meeting.

1962: The Sertoma Board of Directors adopted the Club Achievement Program and eliminated the Awards program, which allowed only one club to win top honors. (CAP Awards offered recognition to all clubs that fulfilled requirements in New Club Building, membership, Life Membership, Projects and Administration.)

1963: Hearing and Speech Services Program officially adopted at 1963 Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as an Internationally recommended sponsorship.

1964: The first Convention to be held outside the United States was the 1964 Convention held in Mexico City, Mexico.

The first officer to be elected from a country other than the United States of America was Jaime M. Benavides, elected Vice President in 1964. He was from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and a member of the Monterrey Sertoma Club.

1965: The first Sertoma club to be established in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico was the San Juan Sertoma Club, chartered on August 14, 1965.

1970s
1970: Serteen and Collegiate Sertoma clubs were introduced and approved as recommended sponsorships in the projects requirement of the Club Achievement Program. The first Serteen club, recognized in 1971, was the Page Equine Serteen Club of Greensboro, North Carolina. The first Collegiate Sertoma club was the Collegiate Sertoma Club of the Kansas State Teachers College of Emporia, Kansas.

1972: Plutarco Guzman became the first Sertoman who was not a citizen of the United States to become President of Sertoma. The attorney from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, was elected at the 1972 Convention in Dallas, Texas.

1973: The Foundation began to establish Sertoma Centers for Communication Disorders.

1977: The Foundation adopted the Affiliate program to encourage a cooperative relationship between Sertoma clubs and existing speech and hearing facilities.

1978: Sertoma hosted a meeting of hearing and speech organizations. The result was a joint public information program directed toward May as Better Hearing & Speech Month. The Council for Better Hearing & Speech Month was formed as an outcome of that meeting and stayed in existence until 1995. Sertoma has continued to promote May as Better Hearing & Speech Month through individual club programs.

Sertoma adopted the Standard of Excellence Program, designed to increase growth in Service to Mankind, as well as to recognize achievement of members and create recognition for the work of good club administration.

1980s
1980: The first Sertoma club to be chartered in Europe was the Aarau Sertoma Club of Aarau, Switzerland, on January 3, 1980.

At the 1980 Convention in Orlando, Fla., Public Service Sertoma Clubs were approved for all Sertoma. The PSSCs were Sertoma clubs made up of people employed in public services, including fire departments, law enforcement, the State Department, military organizations, etc.

1981: The Foundation relocated its Headquarters from Birmingham, Alabama, to Kansas City, Missouri.

1983: The Board of Directors appointed a five-member Development Task Force to help guide Sertoma into the future.

1984: Past President Mel Ritter launched a drive in 1984 to collect memorabilia from the Cooperative Club era to be displayed at Headquarters.

1985: Delegates at the 1985 Convention in Chicago, Ill., voted to welcome women into the membership of Sertoma. The first all-female Sertoma club was the First Progressive Sertoma Club in Tampa, Fla., chartered November 22, 1985.
With a fundraising goal of $100,000, Sertoma responded to the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Centennial Commission's efforts to raise money for restoration and commemoration events for the Statue of Liberty.

The Standard of Excellence Program became the STAR* Program – Service Through Achievement-Recognition.

1986: The Foundation coordinated Better Hearing & Speech Month for the United States.

1987: The Sertoma Board of Directors approved STAND (Sertomans Together Advocate No Drugs), an anti-drug education program, as an sponsorship.

Sertoma celebrated its Diamond Jubilee with its 75th birthday on April 11, 1987.

1988: Sertoma introduced the Certified Trainer Program through which selected volunteers are prepared and trained for leadership development presentations at every level of the organization.

1989: The Phoenix Task Force was formed to update the organizational focus.

1990s
1991: Sertoma and the Sertoma Foundation each adopted a formal Mission Statement.

1992: The Sertoma Family introduced the Communicative Disorders Scholarship Program for master's candidates in the field of speech and hearing. This program was hailed as the finest available in the nation. The first "Sertoma Scholars" were designated.

The Building a Legacy campaign was launched to grow the Endowment from $1 million to more than $7 million today.

1993: Sertoma implemented annual scholarships for students who are deaf or hard of hearing and beginning or continuing their studies in a bachelor's degree program.

1994: The first class of Certified Club Builders was appointed: Sam Anderson, Dan Camp, Robert Davies, Don Drake, Tommy Dupree, Bob Hankey, David Lee Harris, Betty Litsas, Jim Offield, Ray Paules, Hugh Rainey, Robert Snapp and Dave Wesson. The CBs were commissioned to build two new clubs annually.

1995: Advocate member program began, giving people with little time to join a club an opportunity to give annually to Advocate membership.

1996: The Legacy 2000 campaign was launched to encourage Sertoma members to remember the Foundation in their will or estate plans.

1997: Sertoma Fantasy Baseball camps were started for speech- and hearing-impaired youth with the goal of a camp and a supporting Sertoma club in each major league baseball city.

1998: Service 400 was implemented as an innovative five-year program with the goal of building 400 clubs centered around community service within five years. Although Sertoma provided funds for club building for years, Service 400 was the first time matching grants (of up to the first $500) were offered to new clubs.

The 21st Century
2001: The first female Sertoma President, Diana Caine-Helwig, SOARed during her 2001-2002 term, and a Strategic Plan was adopted. The objective was to redesign the organization to give "value" in belonging. The Board of Directors approved a plan to re-align the Regions, to reduce the size of the Board and to re-direct the majority of committee work from the Board to member-based committees and task forces.

2002: The first issue of the Sertoman Digest was published in November 2002. This publication was designed with an organizational focus to be mailed between issues of the Sertoman magazine.

2003: President's Advisory Councils (PACs) were introduced to improve communication between club presidents and the Board. Additionally, Sertoma joined the WISE EARS!® Coalition, a health education campaign of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). Headquarters introduced the Sertoma International/WISE EARS! campaign to the clubs for implementation during May's Better Hearing & Speech Month. This national sponsorship was focused on noise-induced hearing loss.

2005: Introduced, in January 2005, SERTOMA SAFEEARS! … to hear the future – Sertoma's first national service project with the support of non-Sertoma corporate and organizational partners – in order to rebuild our brand as the speech and hearing service organization.

2008: Sertoma International and the Sertoma Foundation merge, creating one united organization.

Present and Future
Our history is a picture of events with which we should all be familiar – from our birth as a small club in Kansas City to the viable organization Sertoma is today. Our milestones and accomplishments multiply as we continue to Make Life Worthwhile Through SERvice TO MAnkind.

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