Rotary Club Lafayette Georgia

Rotarian Daryl Brooks introduced two members of the Walker County School's Curriculum and Instructor Department, Robin Samples (Director) and Debbie Ingle (Pre-K). Curriculum is uniform statewide via standards and administered at the local level. Robin indicated that new standards were coming for Math instruction. Debbie explained the Pre-K Lottery and how much better prepared for kindergarten Pre-K students were. Both are pictured below with with Robin on the left, Debbie on the right and Club President Sally McGinnis in the center.

Rotarian Ruth Bass introduced Past President Julie Carter who discussed two Club Education projects: Georgia Laws of Life and Cobb-Rhyne Scholarship and Education Fund, two of whose honorees were present, along with their parents. Georgia Laws of Life is an annual character-based essay contest in which over 40,000 high school students discuss a saying or quotation that points to a core personal value and how it applies to their lives. Andrew Lemons, this year's LHS winner,... read his essay about the need to think of how we can help others who are less blessed. Each year the Club, supported by District matching funds, awards scholarships from the above-named fund. For 2021, the club awarded four $1,105 scholarships to Anthony Collins, Ben Manuum, Riley Mitchell and Logan Ramey. Logan, pictured with Julie, spoke of his high school accomplishments and future endeavors. District Assistant Governor Pete McDonald presented the Club with two banners, recognizing its generous support of the Rotary Foundation, the non-profit which enables Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.

Rotarian David Matteson's guest speaker Tuesday was Betts Berry, retiring Walker County Schools' Young Farmer Advisor. Congratulations, Betts, for a great 7 years in this position! Betts also reflected on her 45 years teaching experience, including some "kids say the 'darndest' things" stories from her kindergarten classes. She switched gears to speak briefly about Ag Education, stating that "it's not just about teaching a student how to become a farmer, but about how agriculture touches everyone every day. In addition, AG Education teaches employability skills: leadership, task management, responsibility, accountability, flexibility, and time management."

Rotarians staffed a rest station at. Saturday’s Honeybee Bike Ride!

Rotarian Richard Westbrook introduced Brian Hart, Walker County Commissioner for District 3. Brian gave an update on progress toward meeting his original campaign goals in the areas of debt reduction, infrastructure improvement, and employees. Since 2017, debt has been reduced from $70 million to $24 million. Infrastructure needs include road paving (county has a total of 647 miles) , building maintenance (it owns 68 total buildings), increased landfill capacity (there is none), and equipment acquisition (perpetual). Significant progress is being made in handling these. See Brian for details on the above and specific employee wage and benefits matters being addressed..

Club President Sallie McGinnis welcomed Tina Fischlin, District 6910 Governor, and Pete McDonald Jr, Area XVII Asst Governor. Tina provided updates on District happenings and International initiatives. Tina is also a Director for Alliance for Smiles, which provides cleft lip/palate surgery in under-serviced communities around the world. On global note, Rotary and its partners have been working to eradicate polio for over 35 years. Great News: Africa is now free of the wild polio virus, leaving only Afghanistan and Pakistan. Plus: The infrastructure developed to combat polio is now being use to fight COVID-19 and other diseases!

Rotarian Janie Grinnell introduced our two guest speakers, Leah Jenkins (L) and Davis Grinnell (R). They presented their 4-H Project Achievement results, in which 4-H-ers research a topic, prepare a presentation on that topic, and then present or demonstrate their abilities to perform in a competitive manner. Davis discussed Continental Drift (a hypothesis that the Earth's continents have moved moved over time), while Leah described her role in the process of planting and harvesting the family garden. Note to Rotarians: No meeting Tuesday, November 24th: Enjoy Thanksgiving!

Rotary Club living up to its motto People of Action by staffing the concession stand at a recent LaFayette Rambler football game!

Rotarian Albert Ellis (R) welcomed fellow Rotarian Robert Wardlaw (L) as guest speaker. Robert is Walker County's Economic and Community Development Director. He updated the Club on the 2021 T-SPLOST, McLemore Cove's new clubhouse, the health facility project by Healthy Foundations, and the Hutcheson Estate residential and commercial development project near Ridgeland High School.

President-Elect Chris Davis introduced LaFayette's City Manager, David Hamilton, who provided brief updates on a wide variety of projects. Projects include planning for a "smart grid" to interconnect the city electrical system, an update on the Main Street paving project, a new water source at Dixon Springs, a grant to replace the lift station near Roper, a grant to share cost of a "Splash Pad" near the pool, and an EPA assessment grant to survey "brown field" sites which may potentially have some level of contamination. (See David for more information on any of these). topics.