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September 23rd Meeting Recap

Special thanks to Suzanne Swain for taking notes during the meeting!

Happy Dollars

Steve Cory led Happy Dollars and got the ball rolling with some very happy news - our club has officially reached the milestone of training 1,000 citizens in under one year!! The milestone was met on Saturday, September 20th at Wellstar North Fulton and we gave one attendee in each of our two classes a Paul Harris 4 Way Test commemorative coin. Other Happy Dollars include:

Suzanne Swain: traveled to DC to see her oldest daughter deliver an argument in court - she is full of joy and gratitude for her daughter's accomplishment and for spending the weekend with the whole family.

Stacey Nyman: celebrated her son's MBA by taking him to London and had a fabulous time.

Steve Siders: it was his birthday (and he could have been at jury duty but got a postponement) and he brought a cake to share!

Stacy Georges: thanked everyone for the support at the golf tournament. 

GUEST SPEAKER

Our Guest Speaker this week was Morgan Rodgers, Director of Alpharetta Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services. Their motto is "We Do Fun for a Living". With 32 parks throughout the City of Alpharetta, there is one close to most residents. Wacky World Playground at Wills Park is set for a makeover that should be completed in spring 2026. Old Rucker Farm provides fresh produce to North Fulton Community Charities. 

Upcoming events associated with Alpharetta's Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services:

Wire and Wood Songwriter and Music Festival Oct 10 and 11, with 6 stages of free music

High School Battle of the Bands on October 18th

New this year: Holiday Light Tour on the Alpha Loop

Greenway Murals Update

Our work on Phase 3 of the Greenway Mural Trail began last week and included power washing of the 14 sewer covers, followed by priming. Thanks to Jeff Esterkes and Doug Higgins for pitching in to help Richard with this task! Members gathered on Thursday evening to organize the art supplies that each student would need to carry our their creative endeavors over the weekend. After this completed, we headed over to Lazy Dog for our monthly social and enjoyed refreshments and each other's company. We all enjoyed their large outdoor patio!

Saturday's fun on the Greenway started bright and early and the artists showed up ready to paint. We had some volunteers on bikes, exchanging supplies needed by the artists, some were on foot, and others were on a borrowed Gator to make the delivery of water and large items easier between the 2 miles we were spread out on the Greenway. Our most important job was to ensure the safety of the artists while they worked - many volunteers were "monitoring" an artist (or 2 or 3). If you were a volunteer this weekend, you likely received words of appreciation from members of the community who frequent the Greenway. They really enjoy seeing the beautiful art concepts on something that was previously so unattractive. 

Special thanks to our leaders, Amie, Thomas and Richard, as well as our muralist and mentor, Annalysa Kimball. She did a great job of getting all the paints ready in advance and has such a nice way of gently encouraging the student artists! 

Plenty of photos will be posted on our social media accounts, as this newsletter format is not ideal for attaching many photos. I regret that I do not have photos of Thomas or Richard, two of the three drivers of this project along with Amie. Thomas and Richard were both in motion for two days straight and difficult to capture. Amie was monitoring artists on the very south end of our project both days. While we have plenty photos of the artists (that will be on our social media), I wanted to highlight Rotarians for the newsletter and it seems we are a bit light in those photos this year. Since Garrett is celebrating a birthday, he is getting his photo in the newsletter this week! 

Score for Polio Plus Update

Submitted by Doug Higgins, Foundation Chair

Our Score for Polio Plus competition is off to an amazing start thanks to some high scoring teams and your generous pledges per point. President Erik remains in the lead at $233. However, others are closing in! Nipping at his heels is PP (Past President) Richard Matherly at $231 from the combined results of Oconee High School and Denmark High School Flag Football. Should we have allowed Richard to choose two teams? Will there be a protest? PP Lisa follows closely at $218, but her Baylor Bears have not had a bye yet. Next, Kathleen's Fightin' Irish have brought her to $204, with a bye week. Coming up fast on the outside is Jonathan and his Falcons. He is now at $190 and has more regular season games left to play than the college teams. Will the post season play make the difference? Will Jonathan's generous pledge per point of $2.50 be the deciding factor? The competition is heating up and upsets are bound to continue! Most importantly, the total pledged to date is an impressive $2,942! Go Polio Plus! 

CPR/AED Training Update

Our amazing CPR/AED training team (consisting of Steve Cory, Marc Gelber, Jeff Esterkes, Andy West and Richard Matherly) met their goal of training 1,000 people in performing CPR, using an AED and helping a choking victim on Saturday, September 20th at Wellstar North Fulton hospital. The training classes began in October 2024 and some classes had as few as 8 attendees, so this really has been a marathon for them! This would not have been possible without the incredible support of the North Fulton Fire Departments. To commemorate reaching this milestone, Richard handed out 4 Way Test Coins to two attendees. Many thanks to our training team for your commitment and dedication to this project. Classes will be an ongoing part of our community service projects, albeit with a less intense pace!

Companion Club Update

Companion Club Member Stacy Georges would like to express her gratitude to those RCNF members who volunteered at the Sept 15th golf tournament in support of the Golf 4 Respite Care: Rick Clark, Steve Cory Jeff Esterkes, Mark Hutchins, Dan Jenkins and Richard Matherly. In addition, our very own Area Governor, Butch Carter's business, Hones 1 Auto Care, sponsored the Hole in One contest. They had beautiful weather and the tournament was a success! 

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