May 8, 2023
Meeting Minutes
President Faye rang the bell and called the meeting to order.
Bill Keogh gave the pledge and invocation
Bill Keogh gave the Sunshine Report today.
Club members introduced their guests in attendance today.
President Faye shared a Rotary recruitment video highlighting the good work we do.
District Conference
President Faye and several club members attended the District Conference in Warm Springs, Georgia. During the event, the Club was recognized as the Extra Large Club of the Year and as a Gold Club, and received the Distinguished Fundraiser Award for our annual raffle, and the Golden Bucket Award. Faye thanked the members for all of their hard work during the year to help earn these recognitions.
Announcements
- On the first Monday, of the month, Jerry Woods and the membership committee will be available to spend 15 minutes sharing information about Rotary International and our club with prospective members.
- President Faye reported that the Rotary Club beat the Lions Club in the Lions vs Rotary Food Drive that was recently held. Rotary combined to donate 93,000 cans of food for local food banks.
- The Member Engagement Committee is hosting a Greenjackets baseball game on 5/10 and a Braves baseball game on June 11.
- President Faye reminded the club there will be no meeting on May 29 as we observe Memorial Day.
- Chris McKinney reminded the club that we use dues dollars to fund club operating expenses and encouraged everyone to please pay their dues promptly. As of today’s meeting, approximately half of our quarterly dues had not been received.
- Jennifer Bowen, with Destination Augusta, will be our speaker next week.
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. Also, please complete our club’s Google form to sign up to be a Cart Challenger. This week’s inside challenger is Haskell Toporek and the outside challenger is Jerry Woods.
Guest Speaker/Program
Chris McKinney introduced our guest speaker today, Dr. Jermaine Whirl, President of Augusta Technical College. Dr. Whirl a very exciting and comprehensive update on the activities Augusta Tech is currently involved with. He also encouraged everyone to join their email list serve, Facebook, or LinkedIn in order to get updates.
Augusta Tech was created in 1961 and now includes 5 campuses located in 5 counties offering over 130 programs. These programs include both credit and non-credit courses. Dual enrollment with local high schools is also a successful program and Dr. Whirl called attention to 7 students graduating from Grovetown High School who have already completed the welding program at Augusta Tech while still in high school.
Augusta Tech is also partnering with the following organizations in the community;
Piedmont Hospital – using the old Trinity Hospital space to train nurses in a real hospital setting
Augusta University – created the Augusta Advantage program so no students at Augusta Tech lose credits when transferring to Augusta University
Jim Hudson Automotive – using the old Johnson Motor location on Walton Way to create the Jim Hudson Automotive Institute to training tomorrow’s mechanics and service techs
Augusta National Golf Club – partnering with the city of Augusta to use the Augusta Municipal Golf Course, the “Patch”, to provide students with instruction in golf course management, horticulture, and food services.
Dr. Whirl ended his presentation by highlighting a real life rags to riches success story involving Mr. Ramir Williams. Mr. Williams went from being homeless to traveling around the world as the Creative Director for TNT. Using his degree in Design Media from Augusta Tech he obtained a job at TNT and is now working with former NBA players Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith among others.
Faye led us in reciting the four-way test and then 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
