March 2, 2021
March brings with it the promise of gardening and warmer, sunny days, as Earth turns its frostbitten cheek to winter and springs forth from the vernal equinox. As March brings the first day of spring, it is the start of new beginnings.
For Roswell Rotary, March brings volunteer opportunities at Roswell Relays and Sweep the Hooch. Get outdoors and enjoy the fun!
Debbie Baker Cwalina is the owner and founder of Creative Corporate Ideas Inc., a certified Woman Owned Business (WBE). She started her company in 1993 and has received recognition as a Top Woman Owned Small Business in Georgia.
In the Fall of 2014, looking for a place to make a difference, Debbie joined the Roswell Rotary Club. Inspired by the many programs that her Rotary club supported throughout the community, Debbie and Mike Schoppenhorst approached then President Lou Tabickman and Interact Chair Becky Stone with the concept of Be THE Voice. Be THE Voice is a high-energy student-driven "Movement for Kindness, Compassion and Inclusion" that has made great strides in changing how students respond to difficult situations including bullying. For more information click here: https://be-the-voice.org/
After nine months of research and development and enthusiastic support from the Rotary club of Roswell, Debbie and Mike launched the BTV program in 8 area schools, led by the Interact Clubs. With the success of the program and her strong desire to get involved in the community, Debbie was honored to be awarded Roswell Rotary’s prestigious “Rookie of the Year” award in 2015 and then share the “Rotarian of the Year” award with Mike in 2016. In addition, Be THE Voice won the “Best Youth Service Project” for District IV in 2018/19.
In the 2019/20 program, Be THE Voice impacted approximately 50,000 students in 47 schools throughout Georgia. The reviews the BTV program has received from Principals, Teachers and Students have been overwhelmingly positive. With the help of Roswell Rotary and many other corporate sponsors and volunteers, Be THE Voice became a 501c3 in 2017 to help meet the fast growing demand for the campaign. Flexible enough to be used in any school in the country, we aim to take BTV nationwide!
Mission:
Lunches for Learning exists to break the cycle of poverty in rural Honduras by providing a healthy lunch to elementary school children every school day at their school; thereby allowing these children to stay in school so they can complete their education and enter the workforce as literate individuals.
Fast Facts:
• Founded in 2004
• More than 1,700 children are fed a nutritious lunch at 33 rural elementary and middle schools in the Valle District of Honduras.
• Without these meals, many of the children in this community would go without any food at all on most days. Many (up to 30% each year) would begin dropping out of school in order to search for or work for food on a daily basis.
• The school’s dropout rate has dropped from more than 30% each year to essentially zero.
• RRC has initiated and continues to promote an annual fundraiser, known as Hearts for Honduras, which has raised over $20,000 in each of the first three years of its existence to help Lunches for Learning meet their operational costs.
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