The Cosmopolitan International Club of Calgary was chartered in 1930 in Calgary, Alberta when 125 local men joined together with the motto "Unity, Service, Action." The group raised money to assist local charities and provided social events for members. In the 1940s the organization adopted the Calgary Boy Scouts as the major beneficiary of their support and they began the annual Ice Stampede. In the early years the club also supported St. John Ambulance, Canadian Arthritis and Rheumatism Association, Red Cross Hospital, Canadian Cancer Society, Canadian Legion and the Community Chest. More recently the club has worked closely with the Heart and Stroke Foundation, diabetes research, and has provided vans to groups such as the Cerebral Palsy Association, the Diabetic Association, the Heart and Stroke Foundation and to the Kerby Museum of Fashion. One member, Fred Kennedy, became International President in 1948. A women's auxiliary, Cosmopals, was established in 1944.