Thank You, Immediate Past President Rick!
Our deepest appreciation and thanks goes out to Immediate Past President (how about that new title?) Rick Clark for his devotion to leading our club this year. We have added so many amazing new members, increased our giving to the Rotary Foundation and Polio Plus, and done some amazing work in our local community. In addition, we sure have had fun at our socials and our lunch meetings. Let's not forget all of the delicious desserts we were able to taste courtesy of Tina! It was a stellar year of Rotary for our club, as evidenced by our Club of the Year award at District Conference. 
Rotary International Theme for 2025-2026
Welcome to a new year of Rotary - this year's Rotary International theme is Unite for Good!
In an effort to streamline our club communications and to keep members engaged when they are unable to attend a meeting, we are rolling out a newsletter that should be issued the 1st and 3rd weeks of each month. The newsletter will include meeting recaps, project updates and any messages from committee chairs. Down the left side of the newsletter will be our meeting dates (guest speaker names will be added as they are confirmed), upcoming events such as socials or projects and member birthdays and Rotary anniversaries.
Any member is welcome to submit something for the newsletter, so please send your submissions to Lisa at gelberlisa@gmail.com. Feedback is welcome, but please note the general formatting of the newsletter is somewhat static, but there may be some flexibility to adjust things. I hope you enjoy it!
Year End Celebration
Club members gathered together on June 28th at the home of Thomas and Donna Nolfa to celebrate the wonderful year of service we completed. Members enjoyed good food and company and in his last act as President, Rick handed out some recognitions for individual Rotarians. This year, there were two Rotarians of the Year - Steve Cory and Marc Gelber. These two have spent thousands of volunteer hours on our CPR/AED training program and they are appreciated so much! Congratulations to both of these outstanding Rotarians! Rick also recognized many of his board members for their service and there were a couple of additional awards that will not be mentioned here in case the recipients do not yet know about them.
Our new Assistant Governor, Butch Carter, a member of East Cobb Rotary, was on hand to officially induct Erik Bykat as our new President. Thank you for agreeing to lead our club, Erik! We look forward to your leadership and another great year of Rotary! 
June 24 Meeting Recap
Our June 24, 2025 meeting started with a bang...the bang of the gavel hitting the bell by incoming President, Erik Bykat. Erik got an early start leading our meetings as Rick was out of town for business. Everyone was thrilled to see Richard Matherly, only 8 days after hip replacement surgery. Richard did a great job with Happy Dollars, collecting about $200 which will go toward the back to school supply project for North Fulton Community Charities. We were thrilled to welcome guest, Brigitte Vantieghem, whose husband was a member of the Windward Rotary club (which later became the Milton Rotary Club) with Brad Serff. Brigitte also mentioned several family members in Belgium belonging to Rotary, including a former District Governor! We had 27 members present for the meeting as well as Joseph Powell from the companion club.
Erik presented results from the member survey he sent out at the beginning of June. Notably, when asked about how large the club should be, 70% stated under 60 members. This correlates directly with the answer to the question "Why did you join this Rotary club?" Members stated they liked the smaller size and the feeling of camaraderie.
Favorite service projects of members include (in no particular order):
- Greenway Murals
- CPR/AED training
- supporting First Responders
- Children's Development Academy
- North Fulton Community Charities
- Prayer Breakfast
Members also suggested new ideas for service projects:
- Habitat for Humanity Build Day
- Supporting Veterans
- Supporting Children
- Furthering Opioid Awareness
- Helping Foster Care Organization
Erik then listed out his four goals for this Rotary year:
- Fundraising
- Consistent Membership Growth in line with member survey results
- Work together and complement the companion club
- Opioid Awareness
Erik then introduced members of his board and asked them to share a few words about their position:
- President Elect, Dan Jenkins
- Secretary, Steve Siders
- Treasurer, Mike Mudd
- Public Image, Lisa Gelber
- Foundation, Doug Higgins
- Community Service, Amie Blanton
- Membership, Jeff Esterkes
- Youth Services, Joy Manbeck
- Rick Clark, Fundraising (not present)
The meeting left everyone feeling confident about the future of our club and excited for another year of Service Above Self!
Community Service Updates
School Supplies for North Fulton Community Charities
