October 31, 2022

Meeting Minutes

President Faye Hargrove rang the bell and called the meeting to order.  
Brittany Burnett gave the pledge and invocation.
Bill Keogh gave the Sunshine Report today.
Visiting Guests: Club members introduced their guests in attendance today.  
Interact Students: Interact students from the Academy of Richmond County introduced themselves and were welcomed to the meeting. 
Announcements

• Please continue to sign in each week so that we have a record of attendance.
• We have added the virtual meeting option back for those who cannot attend in person but still wish to participate in meetings.
• October is National Book Month. The Literacy Committee is collecting children’s books and donations to purchase books for RISE Augusta to support a free Scholastic Book Fair for students. Collections will be taken every Monday during October.  
• We are looking for speakers to give a brief overview of their professions to the three Interact clubs we sponsor. Anyone interested in presenting should contact Jerry Rogers at jerry@firethornwp.com.

GRSP
Our GRSP student Simbai Mutoti recently spent time visiting with interact students at Aquinas, Westminster, and the Academy of Richmond County. 

CART: President Faye asked everyone to please continue to contribute to the blue buckets on the table or online at mycartfund.org using the same login credentials you use with DACDB.  
This week the inside challenger was Rick Franza.

Save the Dates

• November 7th – Veterans Program
• December 5th – Visit from District Governor Heather Kellen
• December 19th – Holiday party

Program
College Pick’em

Rick Franza announced winners of the College Pick’em contest. This week’s winner was AK Gulati. The winner received a $50 gift card to a local restaurant.  Also the monthly winner was Haskell Toporek who received a photo shoot package donated by Sanjeev Singhal.                       .

You should be getting an email from Ashley Duren for you to pick your games.  If you do not receive the email, please contact Rick or Ashley. Great prizes will be given out each week and there will be prizes for the top 3 at the end of the season.  Remember, we are using the point spread to determine the winner of each game.  

Signature Fundraiser

Past President Dustin Young reminded Rotarians of the signature fundraiser. The raffle for a Mercedes Benz GLA 250 has begun. Tickets are $100 each and a maximum of 1500 tickets will be sold. Each Rotarian is asked to purchase or sell three tickets to support the fundraiser.  So far we have sold 120+ tickets from the club and the Apparo Academy has sold 15 tickets and turned in the $1500.  We have a long way to go so please reach out to the Signature Fundraising Committee to pick up your tickets.

Guest Speaker

Jerry Woods introduced this week’s guest speaker, Mark Albertin, the Director of Photography for Morris Communication Corporate Digital. Mr. Albertin is a photographer, videographer, and film maker.  One of his many film projects includes documenting the 100 year anniversary of our Rotary Club.  

Mr. Albertin talked to us about his latest film, a documentary titled Sacred Waters – The Okefenokee in Peril.  This film was commissioned by a coalition of environmental groups to shine a light on the pending request by Twin Pines to mine the Okefenokee for Titanium Dioxide which is  a common mineral used as a whitener in paints and toothpaste.  

Twin Pines has been mining for this mineral in Florida and now they are looking to move into Georgia and mine on the edge of the swamp.  There is great concern from both scientists and residents that mining the swamp will do irreparable damage to the swamp by destroying the Trail Ridge.  The Trail Ridge is an old barrier island that separates the swamp from the ocean and keeps the swamp waters in place.  Mining in this area could result in the swamp being drained.  

Mr. Albertin shared a short clip of the video, but encouraged everyone to watch the full 30 minute version.  Then, everyone who is so inclined should reach out to their representatives in state government to express their concerns and objections to mining in this area.

At the conclusion of our reports President Faye led us in reciting the four-way test and adjourned the meeting.

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