From Our Club President
Celebrating Our Leaders, Our Commitment, GRSP
This week I am celebrating! Why? For several reasons:
- Jack Sparks has agreed to step into the leadership line at Dunwoody as our Secretary for this Rotary year - 2020-21. Since Jack joined us in 2012, he has demonstrated a commitment to service. He chaired our Dresden and Kingsley "book for every child" program for the last few years and was recognized as Rotarian of the Year in 2019 for his work as chair of the fall barbecue. Jack's decision has been enthusiastically endorsed by our Past Presidents and approved by the Board of Directors.
- I appreciate how we help each other and the club. I'd like to extend special thanks to Jennifer Bowler for serving as President Nominee AND Secretary since the start of this Rotary year, and to Immediate Past President Cathie Brumfield for leading the Nominating Committee efforts to identify individuals who can lead this club going forward. We'll have more news for you as President Elect Carter Stout puts together his team for next year.
- I am excited about celebrating GRSP this Friday and the club's long-time commitment to the program. GRSP has been a big part of this club's life since we started - with a student every year, the GRSP Leadership Weekend that has become one of our signature projects, and active involvement by our members in the program's leadership. Read the story below to learn more about what's in store this Friday.
- Finally, I value your support and commitment. Thanks to all of you who have agreed to leave your 2020 Governor's Ball fees in the Dunwoody Charitable Fund. Because of your continued generosity, we are joining forces with Past President Laura Kann's district in Illinois on a Global Grant project in Puerto Rico. We will have a story about this project in next week's bulletin.
We hope to see you Friday on Zoom. In the meantime, check out our service opportunities in this bulletin and join us for a Saturday of service!
This Week's Speaker
Yemariam Workneh, Our 2019-20 GRSP Student
This Friday, join us via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86202979419 to hear the latest from Yemariam Workneh, our 2019-20 GRSP student, who continues her studies at Oglethorpe University.
Yemariam's GRSP story is unique - because last year the Rotary Club of Dunwoody agreed to pioneer a new way of selecting students to participate in the Georgia Rotary Student Program. Instead of selecting a student from applications submitted directly to GRSP, we worked with Oglethorpe to identify an incoming freshman from a country new to GRSP who needed financial support. We selected Yemariam, the first GRSP student ever from Ethiopia. We offered an $11,000 scholarship - in equal partnership with GRSP ($5,500 each). And this year, when the pandemic kept us from bringing in a Class of 2020-21, Dunwoody's board decided to provide scholarship assistance to Yemariam for another year; with our allocated GRSP funds and generous contributions from some members, we recently sent a tuition check to Oglethorpe for $6,800.
Yemariam hails from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and graduated high school from the Addis Global Academy just before starting her GRSP experience. She sings, plays basketball, and was president of the academy's Community Service Club. Yemariam is working on an undergraduate degree in International Studies at Oglethorpe.
On Friday, Yemariam will share what her GRSP experience means to her and address some of her trials and opportunities of dealing with the pandemic.
We'll be joined by several members of the GRSP leadership team. And Eleni Bafas, our GRSP trustee and Secretary of the new GRSP Foundation Board, and Lorri Christopher, GRSP's Secretary, will be honored for their financial gifts to GRSP - Eleni with a Will Watt Fellow and Lorri with a Ronnie Waller Fellow.
