An estimated 500 million people worldwide became infected. Many cities closed theaters and cinemas, and placed restrictions on public gatherings. Rotary clubs adjusted their activities while also helping the sick.

This is how Rotary responded to the influenza pandemic that began in 1918 and came in three waves, lasting more than a year.

The Rotary Club of Berkeley, California, USA, meets in John Hinkel Park during the 1918 flu pandemic.

Photo by Edwin J. McCullagh, 1931-32 club president. Courtesy of the Rotary Club of Berkeley.

In the United States, the illness was first identified in military personnel in the spring of 1918. The second, deadliest wave peaked between September and November of that year — the final stages of World War I.

Hospitals in some areas were so overloaded with flu patients that schools, private homes, and other buildings were converted into makeshift hospitals. In Chicago, where Rotary World Headquarters was then located, the number of new cases reached 1,200 a day at one point.

Several district governors reported at the June 1919 convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, that war work and then the flu greatly interfered with club activities and their club visits — but not with the spirit of Rotary service.

Illness and upheaval “prevailed all over the world,” Charles H. Brown, then governor for District 10 (Ohio), told the convention. “But throughout Ohio you will find the Rotary clubs, in every city where a Rotary club exists, in the foremost ranks of civic and social work, doing their full share toward serving our government and humanity.”

Read more about the District response and timeline to the 1918 Flu Pandemic here, on Rotary International's website, Rotary.org.