January 28, 2019
Meeting Minutes
Bell rung at 12:15 PM
Pledge/Invocation: George Hall
Guests/visiting Rotarians: Wes Brown
Sunshine Report: Tom Rogers
Interact Students: James Hefner
CART
We will continue raising money and awareness for Alzheimer’s through contributions to the blue bucket, however we are going to suspend the Inside and Outside challenges for December and January while we focus on the Smash Alzheimer’s Campaign and the upcoming Signature Fundraising Raffle.
SIGNATURE FUNDRAISING RAFFLE
President Leland updated the club on our efforts selling tickets for the raffle. So far, we have 90 members committed to buy or sell 412 tickets towards our goal of 500 tickets. The drawing will be held Valentine’s Day 2019. Everyone who has committed to 3 tickets or more was presented a special Rotary pin.
It was announced that our annual Valentines Party will be held at Mercedes Benz of Augusta and will precede the drawing for the car that is scheduled to take place at 6:00. Invitations will follow today’s meeting. As a reminder, proceeds from this event are benefit Child Enrichment of Augusta.
Special Birthday Announcement
President Leland congratulated Haskell Toporek on his 80th birthday and the club sang Happy Birthday while he blew out his candles. The club enjoyed his cake for desert. Haskell has been a member of Rotary since 1974.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
President Leland called on John Sebby with the Salvation Army who updated the club on the status of their space following a fire over the weekend. He was hopeful the facility would be ready to open within a week. He thanked all of the Rotarians in the community and their organizations for their help getting through this disaster. The Red Cross and Golden Harvest Food Bank, along with others, have stepped up to help during this time of need.
He also reminded the Hull Fund Committee that there is a meeting immediately following the club meeting.
PROGRAM
Rotarian Gene McManus introduced our speaker Dr. Jim Garvey, retired professor from Augusta University. Dr. Garvey spoke about the Walton Award, which was established and first awarded in 2017.
The Walton Award is named after George and Dorothy Walton who were a very prominent couple in Augusta in the 1700s. George was a lawyer by trade, but also a soldier and politician. He was one of Georgia’s representatives to the Continental Congress and youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence.
He served Georgia as a Senator, member of Congress, Governor, and Chief Justice. He was also instrumental in the founding of the Academy of Richmond County.
Dr. Garvey is quick to point out that his presentation is not about Mr. Walton, but the award that bears his name. The inspiration for the award came from Club member Gene McManus when he realized that there were many couples in Augusta doing great things but were not being recognized for it. Many individuals, groups, and organizations are honored for their service, but there was not an award for couples.
The award was created and includes a cash prize provided by AP Wealth Management that is donated to a local non-profit chosen by the recipient. The first award was presented to Steve and Linda Cutcliff for their outstanding service and support of the Maxwell House. The 2018 award went to Ellis and Ann Johnson for their efforts with the Jessie Norman School. This year’s winners are Jan and Phin Hitchcock.
The Hitchcocks are very involved with Fireside Ministries, Turn Back the Block, and the Heritage Academy. They are passionate about helping people earn their GED and they take a special interest in providing a Christmas meal for 150 boys at the youth detention center.
Dr. Garvey hopes to increase awareness of the award by continuing to honor couples who are making a difference in our community.
REMINDERS
Our next meeting will be February 4, 2019 and our speaker will be Daniel Rogers, Scout Executive for the Georgia Carolina Counsel.
President Leland led the club in the 4-way test and the meeting was adjourned at 1:15 PM.
Easy links to pages on our website
Rotary schedule of meeting dates and speakers
Member Proposal Form
Online directory - Find a member or update your information
Bulletins - Weekly bulletins from 2014-current
Save the Date:Annual Rotary Club Golf Tournament
Tuesday, May 7th
CART
Tuesday, May 7th
CART buckets
Inside Challenger:
Outside Challenger:
Total
$141.89
$00.00
$00.00
$141.89
Guests
Guest
Jim Garvey
Julie Ferguson
Steve Munn
Tariq Robinson
Joe Spencer
Becky Vasquez
Guest Of
Guest Speaker
Kevin Wade
John Whitwell
Anna Reeves
Haskell Toporek
Leigh Porterfield
Richmond Academy Interact Club
Hill Nixon
Reab Berry
Braydon Curley
Loftlin Phillips
Augusta Tech Rotaract Club
Visiting Rotarians
Name
Club
Meeting Makeup
Dora Hogg 1-14-19 On Line Make up
Darryl Leech 1-28-19 On Line Make up
Brittany Burnett 1-14-19 On Line Make up
Absentees
Forester Adams
Jim Laura
Stacie Adkins
Darryl Leech
Matt Barrett
Mahendra Mandawat
Clay Bednarz
Rob McKenzie
Shell Berry
Linda McKnight
Barclay Bishop
Brad Means
Steve Boler
Connie Melear
Mark Bowen
Sam Meller
Conley Braun
Ian Mercier
David Brendza
Frank Mulherin
Carl Brown
Robert Osborne
Larry Broyles
Tim Owings
Gretchen Caughman
Natalie Paine
Gwendolyn Conner
Sue Parr
Rob Dennis
Jeff Partl
John Donaldson
Jonathan Powell
Ashlee Duren
Anglea Pringle
Chris Etterlee
TR Reddy
Susan Everitt
Daniel Rhodes
Fran Forehand
Jerry Rogers
Mark Gilliam
Hal Scott
Aimee Hall
Deborah Sleeth
Chad Harpley
Jeff Spears
Tripp Harrison
Stan Stanton
Randy Hatcher
Kevin Steffes
Richard Isdell
Charles Stewart
Janice Jackson
Kyle Titus
Steve Kaplan
Havird Usry
Brooks Keel
Frank Ward
Russell Keen
Willie Williams
Zach Kelehear
George Williams
Bill Keogh
