The Alabama Central District (Civitan Mother District) Web Site

Champ Seabury Andrews, the brother of Civitan’s second president, O. B. Andrews, wrote the creed in 1922. Champ was a member of the Chattanooga, Tennessee, Civitan Club. He attended Auburn University and was a member of that school’s first football team. He fought in the Spanish-American War, commissioned as a Captain in the Third Tennessee Infantry. Andrews was described as a brilliant, persuasive speaker, constantly in demand.

He moved to New Haven, Connecticut, in 1924 where he was associated with National Folding Box Company. He died in New Haven in 1936 and is buried in Chattanooga’s Forest Hills Cemetery.

The creed has been amended several times, the last was in 1992.

THE CIVITAN CREED

I AM CIVITAN: as old as life, as young as the rainbow, as endless as time.

MY HANDS do the work of the world and reach out in service to others.

MY EARS hear the cry of children and the call throughout the world for peace, guidance, progress and unity.

MY EYES search for others to join in the fellowship and service of Civitan.

MY MOUTH utters the call to daily duty and speaks prayers in every tongue.

MY MIND teaches me respect for law and the flag of my country.

MY HEART beats for every friend, bleeds for every injury to humanity and throbs with joy at every triumph of truth.

MY SOUL knows no fear but its own unworthiness.

MY HOPE is for a better world through Civitan.

MY MOTTO: builders of good citizenship.

MY BELIEF: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

MY PLEDGE: to practice the Golden Rule and to build upon it a better and nobler citizenship.

This Web Site Designed and Created by Tony Ledbetter 07/15/01.

Last updated 11/25/08 .