August 26, 2025 Meeting Recap
Our lunch meeting was full of energy and excitement as we welcomed District Governor Steve Ivory on August 26th! In addition to DG Steve and his lovely wife, Anna, we had several other important visitors, including our Area Governor, Butch Carter, and PDG, and friend of our club, Bob Hagan. We were happy to see Josh Mason (invited by Cliff Wilcox) visit our club again, and Captain Andy Wheeler, from Alpharetta Fire, received a special invitation to join us.
Richard brought the energy to Happy Dollars (as always) and we raised $180 for Polio Plus. Several members donated $$ in honor of DG Steve's visit to our club and Steve Cory donated to celebrate the good news that his brother-in-law received a new liver!
After some club announcements and updates, Mike Mudd introduced a video commemorating the completion of our Lusito Mechanic School Global Grant at Heart for Africa in eSwatini. The video featured Past President John Bach as a narrator and really brought to life the difference our global grants have made at Heart for Africa over the past ten years. Mike Mudd presented David Bryant (Executive Director at Heart for Africa) with a plaque that will be installed at the Lusito Mechanic School to recognize the contributions Rotary has made to the success of this program.
Next up, DG Steve Ivory shared the importance of growing Rotary membership (grow more, do more!) and the importance of the The Rotary Foundation. After seeing the video on our global grants at Heart for Africa, DG Steve immediately recognized how our work with Heart for Africa touches on many of the seven areas of focus for Rotary, including economic development, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy, water and sanitation. DG Steve also shared eight benefits of joining Rotary, including leadership development, personal fulfillment, networking & connections, social events & fellowship, community engagement, making a difference, supporting various causes, and professional growth.
DG Steve officially inducted three new members as part of his visit - welcome to Rotary Club of North Fulton, Sandy Holiday, Stacie Martin (companion club) and Dillon Thomas! We look forward to getting to know you and serving alongside you! Thanks to our members Rick Clark and Joseph Powell for sponsoring these new members.
DG Steve has a mission to recognize as many community heroes as he can this Rotary year. We were honored to have him recognize Captain Andy Wheeler of Alpharetta Fire. Captain Wheeler has been a huge help with our CPR/AED Training project for the past 11 months. We appreciate his contributions and look forward to continued service together.
What a great meeting we shared with our District Governor, Steve Ivory!
Score for Polio Plus!
Submitted by Doug Higgins, Foundation Chair
High School, College and Pro Football have different starts to their seasons. While the pros are still in pre-season play, college is one week into their season and most high schools have completed three weeks. So, where are we in raising money to eradicate polio? As of today, 22 Rotarians have pledged $567.50 based on their team's success! President Erik's Oregon Ducks scored an impressive 59 points!!
Fun stat from Oregon's opener:
In their season debut against Montana State, Oregon fielded 18 new starters - including a lineup of transfer players who had a combined 190 career starts at their previous schools. Talk about experience hitting the ground running!
We'll have a full breakdown next week once the pro teams enter the competition. Thanks everyone for sharing your team spirit to benefit Polio Plus!
CDA Treasure Hunt
Submitted by Amie Blanton, Service Project Chair
CDA Treasure Hunt
As a reminder for those of you who have signed up, we have an exciting service project to support our Children’s Development Academy (CDA) with the annual CDA Treasure Hunt for around 120 students on September 16th, 10:15am - 12pm. This is the time where we set up the playground for the hunt then watch the kids hunt for little goodies provided by our club. The kids will gather around 10:40am. We plan on staying for lunch with the pre-k students. It is a FUN time so please come to help place a smile and UNITE for Good!
There are a few spots left if you'd still like to volunteer. Here is the registration link for volunteers: https://x.gldn.io/1nrVEDdYeVb
District 6900 Global Grant Highlights
Submitted by Mike Mudd, District 6900 Grants Chair
In 2024-25, The Rotary Foundation approved Global Grants for 9 clubs in District 6900. The total District Designated Funds earned by these clubs exceeded $255,000. In order to sustain our District's ability to fund Global Grants in the future, these 9 clubs contributed over $345,000 to the Annual Fund - SHARE.
The Rotary Club of Thomasville partnered with a host club for a water project in Kenya. This $67,000 project benefited a school system with a WASH (water, sanitation, hygiene) project. The Rotary Club of Buckhead partnered with an international club for a $74,000 medical project here in Atlanta. This project provided 9 Hercules beds for the Shepherd Center.
We begin the 2025-26 Rotary year with an excellent pipeline of new Global Grant projects. The Rotary Club of Alpharetta has submitted a $100,000 Global Grant request for a literacy project that will help students in nearly 2 dozen Fulton County elementary schools. The Rotary Club of Vinings-Cumberland has a $30,000 Global Grant application for a medical project in Bolivia.
You may have noticed that two of the four Global Grants highlighted above benefit local communities here in District 6900. Most Global Grants awarded to clubs in District 6900 benefit communities outside of the United States. When the Global Grant directly benefits one of our communities here in District 6900, that is an example of a Reverse District Grant.
All successful Global Grant projects will include 2 Rotary clubs, located in 2 different countries, a project that aligns with one of Rotary's Seven Areas of Focus, is sustainable and supported by the local community, has a budget of at least $30,000, and has active Rotarian involvement.
If you would like to learn more, please visit: https://my.rotary.org/document/guide-global-grants
Rotary Club of North Fulton at the Alpharetta Farmer's Market
Our CPR/AED Training Crew took to the streets of Alpharetta on Saturday, August 23rd to share the importance of CPR/AED training with our local community. Those who stopped by our tent were able to get a quick refresher on CPR basics as well exposure to AED devices. In addition, we plenty of folks were scanning our QR code to sign up for upcoming classes. We were grateful for the assistance of Alpharetta Fire, who showed up with a truck that was a magnet for families with young children!
