The Bridgeton Club became the 4th Club in the District of South Jersey in September 1921. It was formed by our friends from Vineland who had become the 3rd club a year earlier through the efforts of the Atlantic City Club who had been sponsored by the first club in the region - Camden.

The Bridgeton Club hit the ground running.  Twenty men of commitment were required to Charter and the club raised its membership to over 50 from the professional and business community of the prosperous town of Bridgeton.

The club was headquartered in the brand-new Cumberland Hotel on Commerce & Pearl Streets, on the site of the present Senior Citizen High Rise Apartment building. This remained the meeting place for the
next 44 years until the Hotel closed its doors in 1965. Rotary moved to the old Cohanzick Country Club until it burned.

The club now holds its regular weekly meetings at Gia’s Catering.

Bridgeton Rotary was an immediate force for the good of the community. In the early 1920s, the club rescued the local Boy Scouts organization from financial difficulty by raising $9000.00, a significant amount for that time.

Over the years, such projects as  convincing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the Cohansey River and then maintain it, establishing crossing guards for the schools on local intersections long before it became law, spearheading the campaign to create municipal trash collection and numerous other city improvements.

Rotary continued through the depression and World War II. The club reached more than 100 in membership from the late 1950s through the late 1960s, and was a major supporter of the Rotary International programs and the Rotary Foundation with all its scholarship and exchange programs.

Of all the great projects conceived and carried out by Bridgeton Rotary, the club's current-day HUG-A-BEAR program is one of the most unique and successful in living up to Rotary's motto of "service above self."

Rotary looks forward to the day when we will be able to supply cuddly huggable stuffed bears to children in even more municipalities .