Announcements from August 1 Meeting

President Jasmine Mills

• Membership dues invoices are out and are past due (July 15). Please make sure your email address is up to date with Tony as he goes by the ones in ClubRunner. You can arrange for a payment plan throughout the year with Tony or Jasmine. You may also pay for all of your lunches up front for the entire year or be billed for them.

• Reminder: Please register and pre-pay for lunch by Saturday before each Tuesday meeting. . You do not need to register for the meeting if you are not buying lunch. Leigh Acevedo is on a mission to decrease financial and food waste. You have the option to pay quarterly or for the whole year (contact treasurer Tony Uhrich with questions).

• Metro has had a lot of fun over the summer! Jasmine shared photos of our recent social at Cotton & Rye, three Munch lunches, and our first service project with our ASP Re:Purpose Savannah on July 29th.

• Upcoming Speakers - contact Lee Perry for speaker ideas

  • August 15th: Bridget Cross, Director - Georgia Fund for Perinatal Mental Health

  • September 5: Bert Brantley, CEO - Savannah Chamber of Commerce

• Let Jasmine and Jamie know if you spot club members in the news, any recognition/awards/announcements on social media - let's spread the good MetRotarians news!

• We inducted Jason Usry into Metro on August 1st - welcome Jason!

• Stand by for more info on Metro Night at the Savannah Ghost Pirates!

SERVICE

Ro gave a summary of our first project with our ASP Re:Purpose Savannah on Sat., July 29. 21 members attended along with Sarah's two daughters! The next service day will be on a job site - stay tuned for details. First service committee meeting was held on Aug. 4. Contact Ro to join her committee. 

• Reach out to a committee chair if you have not heard from them yet following the committee "speed dating" and roundtable discussions at our July 18 meeting

• Membership push led by Zerik in September - focus on bringing guests who might be a good fit for our Metro.

• If you have not received a membership pin yet, let Jasmine know as she has pins. Possible resurrection of "wear your flair" with incentives! 

SERVICE

SOCIAL

• Tuesday, August 22, 5:30-7pm, location TBA

GUESTS/VISITORS

• Jody Patterson - Chapter Director, Gray's Reef National Marine Science Sanctuary - guest of Derek Goldfarb & Jamie Arkins
• Ruth Huston - Outside Sales Rep, SESCO Lighting - guest of Laura Lee Bocade

 

Jessica Leigh Lebos is a longtime weekly columnist who writes about interesting people, enchanting places, and the compelling, confounding connections in between. She is the author of two books, Savannah Sideways and the newly released The Camellia Thief & Other Tales, available at your favorite local independent bookstore and online corporate megalodon. You can find her in the bushes stalking what's in bloom by subscribing to her Substack at savannahsideways.com.

 

Jessica has lived here since the late 90s and “married in” to Savannah via her husband, Mark. They had their children in California and then moved to Savannah. They first connected with the Savannah community at the JEA attending the Senior lunches by listening to incredible elders telling amazing stories. She knew that as a writer, she had landed in a special place.

 

She first worked at SKIRT! Magazine, and then Connect Savannah as a weekly columnist. Her first book is called Savannah Sideways, a collection of stories from her time at Connect. She went on from there to “do a bunch of her own things” then post-COVID, she found herself confused and wondering what was going on..."farmisht" as she says. Her good friend Rubi encouraged her to start writing again. She learned about Substack, which is similar to a blog, and started writing a column there. She loved hearing other’s perspectives.

 

This year, post-pandemic, she put together another collection called The Camellia Thief and Other Tales. She shared a passage from her own life and had us laughing at her dreams and banter with her husband. (Especially fun for those of us who know this wonderful couple.) She also incorporated Carl Jung’s teachings regarding dreams into her writing. She references countless Savannah highlights, new and old, and truly transports her reader/listener to each depicted scene. She also comments on Savannah’s growth, sprawling developments, and the dredging of the Savannah River.

 

She also shared a story about working at a River Street Marketplace kiosk during COVID titled “Respect the River Street Hustle.” If you want to keep laughing in the face of the city deemed "a beautiful woman with a dirty face", follow Jessica Leigh Lebos' writing and you'll have a newfoudn respect for our fair Savannah.