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Happy Valentine's Day | Rotary Club of Traverse City
February 4, 2024 Committee Updates:

GUESTS:​​​​​​

  • Jaimie Falzarano - Falzarano & Associates, Leadership Development (new member program)
  • Chelsea Dye - sponsored by Whitney Shephard and Jeanine Roach (new member program)
  • Mia Mance - Executive Director of SDBA; recently retired from media/radio (guest of Julie Wade)
  • Dan Silva - Financial Advisor as Corebridge Financial (guest of Aaron Miller)
  • Rachel Tilghman - Marketing Technology and former Rotarian in New Zealand (guest of Kristen Crawley)
  • Sonali Mahagamage, GRSP student

SERVICE: See Events Calendar for all service opportunities and sign up online

GRSP: Tag Sonali on GroupMe if you’re doing anything fun around town! She’s down for anything! 
 
LEGACY PROJECT UPDATE: Fundraising event coming soon. Contact Kristen Crawley or Jordan Chase if you’re interested in helping.
 
DISTRICT GRANT: Cari Phelps shared our disaster relief grant efforts were supported by 2,683 households for Over the Moon diaper bank and Second Harvest. We are also assisting with a grant for JEA equipment enhancements, and she is also working on applying for a $25,000 “Debbie Recovery” grant! If you have a homeowner in mind that could use major support please reach out to Cari. (Note: Specifically pertains to hurricane Debby)
 
MEMBERSHIP MOMENT:
 
Jason Somers is one of the Metro OG founders (13 years ago) and he shared that when he first joined, he knew nothing about Rotary. When he reflects on who was in the room back then, he knew it was full of good people and it was a group he wanted to be a part of. His memories of our initial service projects really inspired him to continue supporting and give to the community. Even the smallest donation goes a long way by channeling funds through Rotary. He used to be a huge runner, including competing in Ultra Marathons!
 
 
 
FAMILY ROTARY:
Rotary Youth Exchange: still looking for host families starting late July 2025-2026. Open to different school options as well, but ideally the host would have a current HS student already in the home. 
 
COMMUNICATIONS/PUBLIC IMAGE
  • Follow us on IG: @metrosavannahrotary (tag us in your posts!)
  • Send your member news and BFW/announcements to Jamie and Kristin
UPCOMING EVENTS: See the calendar listings on the side for the most current updates
 
PROGRAM: 7 Areas of Focus
 
The club broke out into to small groups to answer personal questions around Rotary’s areas of focus: 
  • Peace Building & Conflict Prevention
  • Disease Prevention & Treatment
  • Water, Sanitation & Hygiene
  • Maternal & Child Health
  • Basic Education & Literacy
  • Community Economic Development
  • Environment 
The Rotary Foundation Areas of Focus - Rotary District 5630
    Featured Speaker: Bret Bell  Tybee Island City Manager
     
    Jordan Chase introduced Bret with a Top 10 List of things we might not know about him:
    1. Bret does not like wearing new clothes.👕
    2. He loses his phone at least once a day. 📱
    3. Bret makes a mean mojito. 🍹
    4. He’s one of the best skiers she knows. ⛷
    5. Bret used to be a reporter for Savannah Morning News. He’s a big fan of police reports.🗞
    6. He hails from Gloucester, Massachusetts - pronounced "glostah" - rhymes with "lobstah".🦞
    7. Bret is married to Adrienne and has a 14 year old son Hal. 👪
    8. He was our club president and managed to run most meetings with a top ten list.🔔
    9. Bret can break-dance! 🕺
    10. She believes he has a special aura where things just always seem to work out for him, due to his positive attitude, attention and care for those around him, and he holds all parties' best interest in mind. 😇
    Metro's own Bret Bell was appointed City Manager of Tybee Island in September 2024. For the previous 18 years, he served in various positions for the City of Savannah, including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Information Officer, Assistant to the City Manager, and Public Information Director. He’s a charter member of Metro Rotary. 
     
    Bret blames Jordan for recruiting him into our club, and Cecilia for instigating the Top 10 list. (It’s basically impossible to say no to both of those ladies!)
     
    He’s been on the new job for only four months and he’s ready to share the Top 5 questions he gets thus far:
    1. Q: Do you wear shorts to work? 
             A: Heck yeah, I do! (well, once)
    1. Q: What’s going on with the beach?
    A: The beaches have been going through a lot! Two named storms and weekly un-named storms as well, which ate away a lot at the beach. They started calling him “Bad Luck Bret” since ⅓ of the beach has eroded away since he started the job. They are trying to smooth out the ledges to make it safer, but some areas needed to be shut down. Like all barrier islands, Tybee is in a constant state of erosion. Sea level rise also contributes to this challenge. Today’s solutions are focused on Green Infrastructure and Beach Re-nourishment (the last one was in 2019 and the next one will be in Fall ‘26). This is a 20 million dollar project – not included in this is the north end erosion. There’s a big study in progress with the goal to put a permanent solution in place during the next harbor deepening project, including raising the height of the jetty. This is a long term project costing over a 100 million dollars. Another challenge are the homes close to the shore. Tybee Island is in it on their own and are working on a plan.
     
    The 2017 Hurricane Irma aftermath led Tybee to work with the Army Corp of Engineers to start a half mile of dune construction project. Natural vegetation is doing quite well and it’s considered a national model for green infrastructure. They have partnered with the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography to fly drones and measure different impacts of their work. He discussed the difference between gray and green infrastructure. 
    1. Q: What’s going on with the flooding?
    A: The south end of the island is the lowest part of the island, which is why it floods more often. One of the biggest concerns is in the case of a medical emergency, they are limited. Tybee has the fastest rate of sea level rise in America (yikes!) Between 2010 & 2023 the average level rose 7.3 inches. The previous 3 decades it only rose 3.7 inches. Six of the top 10 highest water level records have happened since 2015. They experience 7-9 coastal flooding days per year and expect 70-75 days in the next 30 years. 
     
    A2: Why? Warming oceans: Gulf stream, melting ice in the polar caps, sinking land due to over-pumping of aquifers. One of their solutions is a “living shoreline” which provides native habitat for sea creatures.
    1. Q: What’s happening with short-term rentals?
    A: Tybee started tackling this about 5 years ago. During COVID, Tybee became a very attractive destination for regional people. Visitor numbers sky-rocketed and peaked in 2022. Along with that came a huge growth in vacation rentals. 1400 dwellings are currently permitted as vacation rentals. The City Council adopted new ordinances and they are try to phase out vacation rentals in the long run. Anyone with a rental prior to 2022 can keep the rental as long as they are still the owners. If they sell it, the permit cannot be transferred. They cannot gift it to their family and if it’s under an LLC, if any of the parties on the LLC change, the permit is void. This has created a division on the island. They are facing a number of lawsuits and there have been attempts to take away the local government’s ability to regulate the industry. 
    1. Q: What’s the deal with Orange Crush?
    A: Orange Crush has been around for a long time. It started as Spring Break for Savannah State University students. It wasn’t a big deal because it was primarily local kids. It then turned into a different event because of competing promoters with the goal to get as many eyeballs on their sponsors and logos that they are hired to promote. They started charging for beach access as well as access to various clubs to promote their client’s products. To this date, nobody has completed a full permit application. Bret has been meeting with these promoters for the past few months. He says it’s really tough and it’s why his predecessor is no longer the city manager. This year's proposed Orange Crush weekend is over Easter weekend. (In 2023, there were over 50,000 in attendance. It was rough, people were shot, officers were assaulted, and there was a lot of property damage.) In 2024, they basically shut the entire thing down with checkpoints and blocked all parking. Bret says that didn’t feel great though either, since all of the local businesses lost money on what would have been a lucrative weekend. For 2025, Bret wants to find a hybrid solution and work with all parties to come up with something everyone agrees on. This will still include heightened security, but also shared responsibility for sanitation and emergency vehicle aid.
      Upcoming Events
      From the President

       

      Metropolitan Savannah Rotary, or “Metro” was founded to create a club to attract more younger professionals to Rotary while also accommodating diverse needs. Understanding that younger professionals often have limited schedules because of growing careers, family, or both, we built our schedule offering meetings on varying days, times, and activities. Our members enjoy the club because of the different experiences offered through volunteer service, networking, socializing, and community and global impact. Almost 15 years after our inception, we are still thinking and acting creatively to make the club “ridiculously awesome.” 

      While our club offers unique scheduling and meeting formats, we follow the traditions of Rotary International and live by the motto "Service Above Self." We participate in district and global grants to make the greatest impact possible like eradicating Polio, funding Alzheimer's research, partnering with local nonprofits, and sponsoring student programs. 

      If you found our site because you’re interested in joining Rotary or searching for a club to visit while in Savannah, we hope you’ll join us to experience it for yourself. Our upcoming events are posted on the left, and the invitation is open.

      In service,

      Kristen Crawley
      president@metrosavannahrotary.org
      2024–2025 Board
      Club Leadership & Board Members
      President
      President Elect
      Treasurer and Immediate Past President
      Secretary
      Legacy Project Chair
      Service Chair
      Grants Chair
      Programming Co Chair
      Programming Co Chair
      Membership - Retention
      Membership - Recruitment
      Communications
      Sergeant-at-Arms
      Family of Rotary
      Disaster Response
      Foundation
      Interact
      GRSP Liaison
      Immediate Past President
      Club Information
      We meet In Person
      Tuesdays at 11:45 AM
      JEA
      5111 Abercorn Street
      Savannah, GA 31405
      United States of America
      Meetings are every 1st and 3rd Tuesday at 11:45 a.m with the program starting at noon. Additional events are listed in our calendar on the Events tab.