RCSM Members Awards-23 Feb 2024

RCSM Annual Teacher of the Year & Member Awards Joint Breakfast Event With Member Clubs of the DeKalb Rotary Council-23 Feb 2024.

Show Rotary Cares Award RCSM Parent Club

Darlene Evans is the nominee for the Rotary Club of Stone Mountain’s parent club’s “Show Rotary Cares Award” (Rotarian of the Year) for 2023-2024. Darlene has been described as “a person that hit the ground running as a new member of RCSM. She took on tasks early on and followed through with great results. She is a take charge person who demonstrates a positive attitude and shares great ideas followed by action.”

Show Rotary Cares Award RCSM Passport Club

Dorothy Edwards is the Rotary Club of Stone Mountain’s Passport Club’s selection for our

“Show Rotary Cares Award” (Rotarian of the Year) for 2023-2024.

Dorothy Edwards is the reason the Passport Club is hosting the Freedom Series. She has

single-handedly recruited our speakers for the series. We have had a Pearl Harbor survivor and

a Tuskegee Airman. She is working on our next speakers – the most likely people right now are

a POW survivor, a Holocaust survivor, and a Navajo Code Talker.

This series is offered at no charge to the attendees, but it is reaping some impressive rewards:

we are raising money for PolioPlus (as well as awareness). We are reaching children around

the US because teachers are showing these videos in their classrooms. We are raising

awareness of both Rotary International and the Rotary Leadership Institute. We are making

connections with other Rotary clubs and opening conversations about how we can work

together. We have also been asked to help another district create a Passport Club. As we are

preserving history from eyewitnesses who helped make it.

 Dorothy is the immediate past Chair of the Passport Club and a Paul Harris Fellow. For

community service, she works with schools in southern Michigan as well as several veterans’

groups. She uses her business, a trophy shop, to support children’s groups that need

recognition but don’t have funds as her vocational service.

You Are The Key Award

Darlene Smith Daly is the Rotary Club of Stone Mountain’s nominee for the DeKalb Rotary Council’s

“You Are the Key Award” for 2023-2024.

Darlene became a valued member of the Rotary Club of Stone Mountain in November 2022. Since

her induction into the club, she has demonstrated a deep commitment, not only to our community, but

to our club by actively serving in several roles. Notably, she functions as the club’s Secretary while

simultaneously assuming the position of Director – Communications (Chair of the Public Image

Committee). In this role, Darlene oversees the creation and distribution of the club's weekly

newsletter, managing updates to the official website, and leading planning for future improvements

and activities.

Beyond these contributions, Darlene plays an integral part in the Strategic Planning Committee,

where her insights contribute to the club's overall direction and objectives. She has taken the lead on

numerous projects such as the distribution of the Membership Satisfaction Survey to club members.

Her involvement extends beyond the boardroom, as she enthusiastically participates in service

projects. From volunteering at the FODAC thrift store to her recent efforts in helping to label

dictionaries for our Community Grant, Darlene's dedication shines through in each endeavor.

A testament to her commitment to literacy, Darlene has been actively involved in collecting books for

the Clarkston Tell Me A Story literacy initiative. Her passion for community service and engagement,

exemplifying the true spirit of Rotary, is evident, making her a valued and dynamic member of the

Rotary Club of Stone Mountain. Although a relatively new Rotarian, when Darlene saw a grave void in

members able to serve as candidates for our 2024-2025 President, she answered the call to add

“President-Elect” to her current roles in our club. 

Born and raised in the Virgin Islands (British and U.S., respectively), Darlene has resided in DeKalb

County, Georgia, with her family for approximately 40 years.

Guardian of the Legacy Award

Irvine Weekes is the nominee for the Rotary Club of Stone Mountain’s Guardian of the Legacy Award.

Irvine has been nominated because he has stepped up to be the president of our club for a second

term when he had fully prepared for and expected to begin focusing on developing and growing a new

business. He basically put his plans on hold and changed his focus to contribute to helping our club

survive and thrive when we found we had a void in our leadership ranks. Although we had gained

several new members, many of our members with “institutional knowledge” had either passed,

relocated, resigned, or remained with us in a different club format and were not available for traditional

club leadership roles.

Irvine took the initiative to re-establish the Rotary Club of Stone Mountain’s 501 (c) 3 non-profit

foundation which had been administratively dissolved. He researched the previous foundation’s status

and upon finding that it no longer existed, with club members’ approval, completed and submitted the

required forms to the IRS to form a new foundation himself.