At the DeKalb Rotary Council's Annual Breakfast where educators and rotarians are honored, the Rotary Club of North Atlanta chose to honor 2nd Grade teacher Jodie Cohen of the Doraville United Elementary School.  Ms Cohen was recognized for her extraordinary service and dedication to her students.  Congratulations Ms Cohen, and thank you for all you do for education and the students!

 

 

L to R:  rotarian Cynthia Edwards, Jodie Cohen (honoree), Dr Jesse Berger, principal Doraville United Elementary, Christopher Drew, president North Atlanta Rotary Club

 

 

 

Once again North Atlanta Rotary served our community in various ways this holiday season.  Here's a couple of examples from service done on Saturday, December 18, 2021.

 

With the help of family and the CCHS Interact Club, rotarians volunteered to "Ring the Bell" for the Salvation Army in front of the Chamblee WalMart.  We had young and old represented with grandkids, CCHS Interactors, to grandparents!

 

the youngest:  Jack and Emmy

these two sang the whole time they were out front bell ringing and garnered much praise!

 

Grateful to have Leslie and Mark in their special Christmas sweaters to support the efforts!

 

Rotarian Dick Michell checking in with Anika, Harper and Andrew, three of the several CCHS Interactors that came out to support NARotary and the Salvation Army. 

 

Juliet and rotarian Lance Reising showed up in festive colors!

 

Rotarian Jim Hobbs with his welcoming smile supporting the Salvation Army!

 

Rotarians Pat Thomas, Nathan Aberson and Barbara Bush were also present to greet the shoppers!

 

Apologies to all of the volunteers I didn't get photos of including CCHS Interactors Riasha, Journee, Mehezabin, and NAR Club President Christopher Drew and family, and our project volunteer coordinator President elect Mike Emanuele.  THANK YOU everyone!

 

 

 

Also on Saturday we delivered $1300.00 worth of gifts to the Nicholas House for five children and their families who are in the NH transitional housing program.  Unfortunately we forgot to take any photos of the haul we delivered -- it included lots of clothing items, coats, boots and some fun things like nail polish, candy, a tablet, basketball hoop, crystal maze game, some developmental games, books, a bicycle and WalMart gift certificates for the Parents.  

We hope the families that received these gifts will have a very Merry Christmas this year!

 

THANK YOU to the many NAR rotarians who made this all possible with donations to the project, to Kathleen McKinley for organizing the shopping efforts and project coordinator Barbara Bush.

 

Once again NAR Club provided Dictionaries to the students of Cary Reynolds Elementary School in Doraville.  Because of COVID and remote learning we were not able to deliver the dictionaries to the 3rd graders in the 2020-21 school year, so this year we delivered dictionaries to the school for both the current 3rd and 4th graders.  Although the students were back in the classroom, due to COVID Delta variant concerns, we were not able to go into the classrooms to deliver the dictionaries as we have in the past.  

 

Victoria Reisch, Cary Reynolds Academic Coach and NAR PP Barbara Bush 

showing the donated Spanish English and English Dictionaries

 

Prior to delivering the dictionaries we gathered at one of our lunch meetings to insert into the front of each dictionary a sticker with the Four Way Test on it, along with a name plate for each student.

 

Bill McLaughlin (back), PP Jon Yaeger, Masarrat Husain, President Christopher Drew and PP Nathan Aberson are seen here during our club meeting mini service event inserting the stickers into each dictionary.

 

 

 

On July 31st 2021 we held the 8th annual collection event for FODAC (Friends of Disabled Adults and Children) and it was a SMASHING success by any standards!  Rotarians and friends from North Atlanta, Dunwoody, Stone Mountain, Tucker, Emory Druid Hills, and Atlanta Metro Rotary Clubs, along side Atlanta Metro Rotaract Club and Atlanta Arirang Lion's Club members gathered for a light breakfast and organizing on the patio of the 57th Fighter Squadron Restaurant in Chamblee. 

 

After event coordinator and North Atlanta Rotary (NAR) Club Past President Ralph Sims divided us into our respective groups and gave us our maps of pick up locations, we disbursed into the community to collect an estimated $318,000 worth of medical equipment and supplies!  The largest haul yet for this event.

 

Many thanks go to our event coordinator Ralph Sims for his tireless efforts to organize us and all of the volunteers who worked so hard on this very hot day, and to the community members who so generously donated these items to FODAC for refurbishment and redistribution before being distributed back out to those in need.  Several motorized scooters, hospital beds, electric and manual wheel chairs, walkers, canes, and various medical supplies were among the items collected in all of the donated vans, trucks and trailers. Thank you to the 57th Fighter Squadron Restaurant for use of their patio for breakfast and their back parking lot for our staging area.  It truly took a village, and we are grateful to everyone who participated, and to the support of the communities from downtown Atlanta to Roswell, to Milton, to Lawrenceville to Stone Mountain.  THANK YOU!

 

Volunteers representing 6 Rotary Clubs, 1 Rotaract Club and 1 Lion's Club gathered on the patio of the 57th Fighter Squadron Restaurant and prepared for a day of service!

 

Event coordinator and NAR PP Ralph Sims organizing and thanking the volunteers before dispatch into the community.

 

FODAC Executive Director Chris Brand thanking the volunteers for coming out and sharing FODAC's mission and accomplishments, all for the benefit of those in need.

 

North Atlanta Rotary event coordinator PP Ralph Sims thanking Natalie Barot of Emory Druid Hills Rotary Club who came through with several vehicles used for donation pickups, as well as thanking all volunteers for their generous donations of time, trucks, trailers and vans used to pick up medical equipment from the community-wide donors.  It took all of you!

 

Kay and NAR PP/PE Mike Emanuele, NAR PP Jon Yaeger, NAR President Christopher Drew and Jon's friend Chris Flowers enjoying fellowship at breakfast.

 

 

Ron Sato and other members of the Metro Atlanta Rotaract Club gathering at breakfast.

 

  

NAR PP/PE Mike Emanuele, Camille and NAR PP Kent Gipson

 

Dunwoody Rotary Club members enjoying breakfast and fellowship.

 

 

Rotaractor Alex West and others at the donation drop off site.

We are so very thankful for all the Rotaractors who participated with us this year! 

 

Kay and NAR PP/PE Mike Emanuel and Metro Atlanta Rotaract and Atlanta Arirang Lion's volunteers returning with a trailer and car full of donations!

 

Alex West and other volunteers in action unloading medical equipment and supplies.

 

NAR PP Kent Gipson, NAR PP Garry Guan, Metro Atlanta Rotaractors, family members and FODAC staff ready to unload a truck full.

 

Volunteers unloading a lift power chair and batteries, among other donated items.

 

Rotarians from Dunwoody and Emory Druid Hills, Rotaractors from Metro Atlanta, and Chris Brand and Ron of FODAC -- happy to return with a load of donated medical equipment.

 

Volunteers unloading donations of medical equipment, supplies & medical food, scooters and beds.

 

Rotarians from Emory Druid Hills and Rotaractors from Metro Atlanta were very well represented, shown here along with Chris Brand, FODAC Executive Director and PP of Stone Mountain Rotary Club.

 

 

FODAC is a non-profit organization located in Stone Mountain; it provides a place for collection and refurbishment, and then redistribution of used medical equipment and supplies to members of the local community as well as those in need across the country and internationally.  Their mission:  "With a strong network of volunteers and partners, FODAC provides refurbished equipment and services for adults and children with disabilities to improve their overall quality of life. Over the years, our model to assist individuals with disabilities has remained the same: to provide free or low-cost wheelchairs and other home medical equipment (HME), vehicle and home adaptations and more. Above all, our staff is like a family that works together to make every day a little easier, and a little more affordable, for people in need."   

www.FODAC.org

 

 

We were able to get together in person this year to celebrate President Fazle Khan and our strange COVID Rotary year, and to induct our incoming President Christopher Drew and Pres-Elect Mike Emanuele.  It was wonderful to see so many friends, some for the first time in a very long time, and to catch up.

 

Special thanks to AG Ceasar Gaiters for coming and inducting our 2021-2022 Rotary leadership.

 

 

Don Millen, Juliet Reising and Mary Frances Richardson

 

Catherine Bernard and Kay Emanuele

 

Ann Bowers Miller and Ralph Peeler

 

Alex Johnson, Awal Khan and AG Ceasar Gaiters

Pres-elect Christopher with daughter Cassidy Drew

Jim Hobbs and Lance Reising

Kay and Mike Emanuele

Eva with farther Pat Thomas

Jim Greco, President Fazle, and Ralph Sims

Paulina and Garry Guan

Marty Michell, Masarrat & Durshi Husain, Don Millen and Dick Michell

Jim and Kathy Hobbs and Cassidy Drew

Mike Emanuele and Fazle Khan

Bill McLaughlin and Jon Yaeger

President Fazle Khan thanking Don Millen for his service

Mike presenting the President's plaque and congratulating Pres Fazle Khan 

 

Fazle and the President's Plaque

AG Ceasar Gaiters inducting 2021-22 President Christopher Drew and Pres-elect Mike Emanuele

Time to look forward!  Congratulations President Christopher and Pres-elect Mike!

For Earth Day we participated in another event with the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper to clean up a branch of the Peachtree Creek.  We were part of a much larger group of 40 or so, and spread out along the creek bed, so no "action photos" were captured.  However we had Don Millen and Tana Guan each falling into the creek and getting soaked, and Nathan hauling a lot of the larger trash to the dumpsters for the rest of us.

It's always a fun Saturday morning working with the community and supporting Mother Earth!

 

 

Don Millen, Nathan Aberson, Barbara Bush, Garry and Tana Guan with CRK Event Director

 

 

Although we were experiencing a COVID epidemic we decided to undertake an outdoor evening social hosted by President-elect Christopher Drew and his wife Stacy Dres at their business A-R-T & Associates.  We had a fun time simply seeing each other and catching up while staying safe.

 

Thank you to Christopher and Stacy for providing this opportunity for us to gather! 

 

   

Stacy and Cassidy Drew w/Puppy       Ralph Peeler and Ralph Sims

 

Catherine, Nathan and Christopher

President Fazle Khan, Nathan Aberson, Stacy and Christopher Drew

Don and Starr Millen

Alex Johnson, Nathan Aberson and Ralph Sims

Catherine Bernard, Cassidy, Stacy and Christopher Drew

Around the circle: Ralph Peeler, Jon Yaeger, Alex Johnson, Nathan Aberson, Ralph Sims, Garry Guan

and Mike Emanuele

On Saturday, August 29, 2020 we had a fun time volunteering for the 10th Annual Chatahoochee RiverKeeper's "Sweep the Hooch no trash Saturday" project at the Proctor Creek site.  We joined several other groups here making up a force of about 40 people and we picked up a ton of trash, it's sad to say.  Special thanks to Nathan Aberson for organizing us, and Fazle Khan, Don Millen, Susan Kalus, Barbara Bush and special guest star Joan McGowen for spending your Saturday morning in the creek!

 

This year the "Sweep the Hooch" event at all the many sties around Atlanta had a total of 1064 volunteers.  On this one Saturday morning we removed 54,358 lbs of trash and 19,288 lbs of recyclables.  Folks, that's a lot of trash in our creeks and rivers.  This was up 10,000 lbs from last years' haul. We can do better than this people -- STOP littering!

 

Barbara, Joan, Don and Susan taking a quick photo op break 

 

Fazle wading along the creek

 

Nathan and Susan bringing up their first bags of trash.  This much trash was collected by the group in the first hour.

 

Susan celebrating a find!

 

Nathan and Joan cleaning the creek

 

We were at just one of the many sites organized by the Chatahoochee Riverkeeper to keep the waterways in and around Atlanta clean.  Let's do better folks and stop throwing trash in the rivers and creeks.

 

On Thursday, January 9, 2020 the Rotary Club of North Atlanta dedicated a bench at the Ashford Dunwoody Cowart Family YMCA in honor of Spurgeon Richardson, a long time Rotarian and past President and CEO of the Atlanta Convention and Visitor's Bureau. Spurgeon passed away October 18, 2019. Spurge and NARotary Club member Mary Frances have been long time supporters of Rotary and the YMCA, along with many other community organizations.  This bench is given to honor their dedication to community service and to commemorate the life and accomplishments of Spurgeon.

 

Mary Frances with two of her grandchildren Katie and Noah, and son-in-law Charles Gerrick

 

Katie, Mary Frances and Noah cutting the ribbon

 

 

 

NAR Dedication Organizers Don and Starr Millen, Mary Frances, NAR President Nathan Aberson and District Governor Jim Squire enjoying the bench at the dedication.

 

At our regular meeting on December 19th we welcomed three new members into the Rotary Club of North Atlanta.

 

left to right: sponsor President Nathan Aberson with Amanda Stewart, Mark Howard sponsored by Jim Greco (not present), Dr. Awal Khan sponsored by Dr. Fazle Khan and Membership Chair Jon Yaeger.

 

 

 

5th Annual Whiskies of the World Atlanta 
Benefitting the North Atlanta Rotary Foundation
 
Whiskies of the World® Expo brings together distillers from around the world to share their finest spirits and knowledge with whisky enthusiasts. Discover the Art of Whisky in the company of connoisseurs and whisky celebrities.
 
Hundreds of whiskies to sample
- Styles: Scotch, Bourbon, American Craft, Malts, Ryes, Grains, …
- Origins: Scottish, Irish, American, Canadian, Indian, Australian ...
 
A chance to meet Distillers and Brand Ambassadors
Delicious Foods 
Whisky Masterclasses: Guided tasting and educational experiences.
Whisky mixology
Cigar and Whisky pairing

 

Supporting the North Atlanta Rotary Foundation

 

Many thanks to all the volunteers for your hard work and support!

 

 

 

 

One recent Saturday morning Rotarians, along with family and friends from eight (8) Rotary Clubs and one (1) Rotaract Club came together to disburse into the community collecting home medical equipment for refurbishment and re-distribution through FODAC (Friends of Disabled Adults and Children).  The value of the items collected was estimated at over $250,000!  This is absolutely fantastic for FODAC and its clients.

 

 

Volunteers from the Rotary Clubs of North Atlanta, Dunwoody, Brookhaven, Emory Druid Hills, Decatur, Stone Mountain, South DeKalb and North Atlanta Retract Club enjoying fellowship on the back patio of the 57th Fighter Squadron Restaurant, July 22, 2017.

 

 

L to R: FODAC CEO and Stone Mountain Rotary PP Chris Brand unloading just one truck, along with Dunwoody Rotarians Jennie Stipick, PE Rick Woods, and Tracey Carothers, aided by N A Rotary PP and Event Coordinator Ralph Sims.

 

 

The success of the event would not have been possible without the leadership and hands on involvement of North Atlanta PP and Event Coordinator Ralph Sims and the support and participation of our partners, including the 57th Fighter Squadron Restaurant where the event was staged.  Thanks to Ralph's organizing, our team of volunteers had the right equipment to facilitate the pickups - a mix of SUVs, Trucks, Trailers, and even a Box Truck - to go along with the 46 volunteers and two very hard working FODAC staff members.  Many thanks go to all those that persevered through the heat and humidity of the day to gather and transport and then unload all the donations.  And special thanks to the community for giving of the equipment they no longer needed, so that others can make use of it.  Kudos to all!

 

 

L to R: Rotaractor Gilbert Vazquez, Tucker President Ed Warner, Gary Bush, FODAC staff Lloyd Ames, North Atlanta Rotarian Kathy Monacelli, FODAC CEO Chris Brand, Emory Druid Hills Rotarian Pravin Kakadiya and President Ravi Singh, and North Atlanta Rotarian Joan McGowan waiting to unload our largest truck and trailer pick ups of the day!

 

 

L to R:  Moving one of the heavy hospital beds, FODAC CEO Chris Brand and Staff Ron Hess, Sam Gipson, Vraj Chhabhaya and FODAC staff Lloyd Ames in truck.

 

 

L to R: Brookhaven Rotarians Tony Schafer, President Tom Prior, PP Karen Kropp, Mister Schafer, and Patrick Lewis taking a moment before unloading a full truck and trailer combo.

 

 

L to R: Decatur Rotarian Mark Burnette, Dunwoody Rotarian Louise Barden, Kathy Burette and Tucker President Ed Warner unloading one of their deliveries.

 

 

L to R:  North Atlanta Rotarian Kent Gipson with son Sam, Jim Aberson, Burnell Pitcher and North Atlanta Rotarian Nathan Aberson caught in the middle of unloading a truck and trailer.

 

 

One almost full FODAC truck! L to R, North Atlanta PP Ralph Sims, FODAC staff Lloyd Ames, Tucker President Ed Warner, FODAC CEO & Stone Mtn PP Chris Brand... the bosses overseeing the load!

 

Many thanks to North Atlanta PP and Event Coordinator Ralph Sims for his leadership and hands on oversight of the event, to FODAC staff Lloyd Ames, Tucker President Ed Warner, and FODAC CEO and Stone Mountain PP Chris Brand for all their support with this event and their ongoing every day support of FODAC!

 

To find out more about FODAC go to www.fodac.org