Home Page | Rotary Club of Metropolitan Savannah

Metro meets on 1st & 3rd Tuesdays of each month at 12noon at the Jewish Educational Alliance, 5111 Abercorn St., Savannah, GA

Over The Moon Diaper Bank - Donations Drive
Apr 22, 2024 – May 07, 2024
Service: TIMA Yard Clean-up
Tybee Island Maritime Academy

Apr 27, 2024
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
5th Tuesday Family of Rotary Park Night
Hull Park

Apr 30, 2024
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Announcements | April 16 Meeting

Posted by Jamie Arkins

PRESIDENT UPDATE & COMMITTEE REPORTS

Jasmine Mills, President, kicked off the first meeting of the year with the 4 way test

GUESTS/VISITORS:

Danietté Thomas - fashion designer and consultant (guest of Zerik Samples)
Drew Acuff (Guest of Cari Phelps)
Heather Radtke - VP with Speros (Guest of Laura Lee Brocade)
Kris Parks (Guest and mother of Emily Doherty)

MEMBERSHIP MINUTE: Danietté Thomas (guest) shared that most people don’t know that she moved to Savannah when she was 7 months from Arkansas.

CLUB ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Need a Rotary nametag? We got you! If you do not already have a name tag or your current one is incorrect due to a classification or name change, please share your name & classification here by Friday, May 10.

Did you know? You can subscribe to the Metro Rotary Calendar! Go to ClubRunner, Events, click on Subscribe to Calendar at the bottom (Google, Apple, Outlook compatible)

UPCOMING DATES (PROGRAMS & SOCIALS):

April:
- 4/30: 5th Tuesday Social at Hull Park
May
- 5/7: Cecilia Arango, A Personal Odyssey
- 5/21: Julie Wade, Tharros Place
- 5/28: Social @ Coastal Empire Beer Co.
June
- 6/4: Dana Williams, Mayor of Thunderbolt
- 6/18: Mae Bowley, Re:Purpose Savannah
- 6/25: End of Year Celebration Social

SERVICE:

4/27: Tybee Island Maritime Academy, 9am–12noon Landscaping
5/4: Second Harvest, 8am–11am Summer Feeding program
5/13: Emmaus House Soup Kitchen - 7:30-9:30am, 2nd Monday of each month
Legacy Project will take the place of ASP (chair John Bennett) - committee met on April 25 and will have announcements for the club soon!

DISTRICT EVENTS:

Auction items needed for District Conference this weekend in Jekyll Island! April 26^th-28^th, 2024.
Get them to Kristen Crawley before Friday midday or Venmo her for a credit at @Kristen-Crawley21 => $30

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL:

50 fellowships for master’s degree programs at six universities in U.S., Asia, Australia, & Europe
80 fellowships to earn postgraduate diplomas at Makerere University in Uganda and Bahçeşehir University in Turkey.
Applications due May 15

MEMBERSHIP:

Check your attendance in ClubRunner. Is it accurate? Email if not: metrosavannahrotary@gmail.com
Membership Committee - reaching out if not meeting 50% attendance to discuss options
Visit the “Members Only” area of the website for more info
If you are interested in being on the Board, please reach out to Kristen Crawley
“Fireside Chat”: First step for a new member. Thurs., May 23, 5:30 PM @ Habitat for Humanity Restore @ 701 MLK. If you are interested in sponsoring a member, check out the “Members Only” area of the website for more info!
Sponsor Challenge: Anyone who sponsors a new member this rotary year will be entered into a drawing to be held on June 18 (last meeting of the Rotary Year!)

CLASSIFICATION TALK/NEW MEMBER INDUCTIONS:

Ruth Hutson (Outside sales rep for SESCO Lighting. Sponsors: Laura Lee Bocade & Denise Grabowski.) She presented on her son Jack including their trip to Maui (which was just prior to the fires.) ALOHA expanded. Son Campbell plays tuba and double bass. Husband Tyler teaches at GA Southern. Her Masters is from University of Texas. She moved to NY in October of 2001. She’s also been prominently involved in music theater & opera productions. She toured with Julie Andrews and is a personal friend! She taught at SCAD for 16 years in lighting design and themed design. She partnered with Disney Imagineering to tour theme park careers. One year after leaving SCAD, she’s found her way to connect with Rotary and Service as well as bringing her skills to the City of Savannah to light up the town for St. Patty’s Day. Her heart also is into greenhouses and aquaponics. She’s the operations manager for Inside Voices United, an incarceration outreach program.
Emerson Ingram (Systems Engineer Contractor & Senior Consultant, Booz Allen Hamilton: Sponsors: Jeff Brady, Will Gruver) Grew up in Fort Myers FL, where his father was very active in Rotary there. He attended FL Southern College with a BA in Computer Science. His main focus is cyber-security and he also had a short stint in the ROTC program during college. He met his wife in 2019 via Greek Life and decided to leave FL when their jobs became remote, so they chose Savannah in August of 2023. Considering the remote work situation, he really wanted to dive into the community with service and friendships and is incredibly grateful to meet everyone in our club.

NEW MEMBER PROGRAM:

Fitz Haile: Data and Analytics Consultant, United Way. Sponsors: Kristen Crawley & Jordan Chase

YOUTH SERVICES:

Preston Johnson Speech Contest:
- Top 2, Serani Hassan & Sanlos Celestin, participated in Zone 34 contest April 6 in St. Simons
Will Gruver will schedule participants to present to our club soon

LEGACY PROJECT:

Metro's 15th anniversary in 2027, currently saving $ for this
Currently have 6 nominated projects
Project nominees are acquiring more information from “owners” - top 2-3 will be presented to club
Contact John Bennett to submit ideas or for more information

Featured Guest Speaker | April 16

Featured Speaker: Michael Schwartz, Founder, Safety Valve Project

Michael Schwartz is an attorney in Savannah. His practice focuses on defending individuals whose conduct has been misunderstood by people in positions of power. He defends against allegations ranging from possession of controlled substances to murder. He is a veteran of the Georgia Capital Defender and the United States Air Force JAG Corps.

In 2021, recognizing a pattern in his clients’ lives, he began studying the effects of school suspension and expulsion. With a group of friends, he incorporated a nonprofit organization called the Safety Valve Project, Inc., which exists to provide families (who can't afford it) free assistance in defending against suspension or expulsion before school tribunals.

With the goal of slowing the flow of the school-to-prison pipeline, Safety Valve Project pairs students facing tribunals with defense teams trained to identify biopsychosocial and environmental factors that add context to alleged misconduct. Safety Valve Project builds and funds defense teams to investigate allegations, represent students before tribunals and, if necessary, appeal suspensions and expulsions to school boards, the Board of Education, and appellate courts.

Michael started off by sharing that one of the Air Force values is Service Before Self, and his wife is a yoga teacher, so our 4-way test resonated with him. As a criminal defense lawyer, he errs on the side of “if you can’t say something nice, say something clever and devastating.” He’s passionate about talking with people about service...everything from attending a fundraiser and writing a check, to the one-on-one interactions that directly help individuals and families.

Michael was sitting in Judge Karpf’s court (Suzy’s husband) for a murder trial (not his case) but wanted to learn more from the experience. Seeing the jurors show up, the Public Defenders, etc., he was overwhelmed with the sense of how everyone is trying to operate in these public systems. He’s fully aware that not all of our systems work well for all people. Half of his career specifically was focused on death penalty cases. Since 1973, only 2%-4% of death row inmates have been exonerated. This process is implemented by the highest quality of professionals, and yet we are still getting it wrong up to 4% of the time.

***PSA: challenge your parking ticket once/year and you’ll win every time***

Appeals become incredibly frustrating to all parties. He made an example about “exclusionary discipline” and how that impact has terrible effects not only on the individuals but also on the institution and the families. A young person who is removed from school for more than 10 days is 3 times more likely to have an interaction with law enforcement within the next year. He found a common theme after reviewing a number of cases and found a common thread started with the client being removed from school and ending in his office facing the death penalty. The job became understanding the backstory to what caused the behavior problems in the first place. Michael became tired of being at the end of the line and decided he wanted to be involved at the start of this process. The social science behind all of this demonstrates the pipeline that the youth are run through as a result.

Building the Safety Valve Project started with Michael taking on a case with a 4th grader at Savannah Classical Academy (a school with “Zero Tolerance” at the time, which is against the law in GA.) There are additional flaws with that logic as well. Michael met with the CEO (Principal) of Savannah Classical and was told there was no way to work this out. He wasn’t okay with taking no for an answer, so he called the 4th grader’s family as well as speaking with the other student who was involved in the fight. They employed the services of the Mediation Center and ended up planning a trip to the arcade and had a blast with the boys. Michael had photos from this trip, and presented the trial lawyers with an image of the two boys with their arms around each other! The point being, there are alternative ways to solve problems with a little bit of creativity. In Chatham County, we have a single person hearing officer, so when a student is facing a hearing, they are entitled to counseling. (He noted that our Public Defender office in Chatham is actually staffed with wonderful attorneys.) In the school system, you have a right to counsel, but it’s not funded. Which means that only 2% of these kids show up with a lawyer. This does not bode well for the student and their family.

The goal is to help the under-resourced teacher, but removing the child from the classroom isn’t the best option. There’s a choice to work with the attorneys to identify the “why” behind the behavior and work towards rehabilitation. The social science behind this “third justice system” in GA (the schools) is real and Michael wants us to spread the word about the Safety Valve Project with anyone that you might know who would be a resource.

Service | May 2024

Hello Metro,

Is there a best month of the year?! There MAY be! Here's a look ahead at this coming month's service projects, including a timely diaper donations drive for Over the Moon!

MAY SERVICE PROJECTS

Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia - Saturday May 4 Sign up here

Metro + Junior League + Jaycees will be at Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia's new location on Chatham Parkway to pack food for their Summer Feeding program. Hooray for a community effort!

Please note that we currently only have 3 people signed up for this service project. If we don't get to at least 15 volunteers by end of this week, we may need to reschedule that day, so please sign up if you are able to join on the 4th so we can get a headcount and make some decisions. Thank you!

***

Over the Moon Diapers Donations Drive - now thru May 7

Our friends at Over the Moon Diaper Bank are in need of diapers, pull ups and baby wipes, so we're going to help them out with a donations drive. You can donate by:

Ordering directly from their Target or Amazon wishlist, and items will ship directly to OTM. Please include a gift message and say you're with Metro Rotary so they know who it's from.
Bringing items to the JEA at our next meeting on May 7 (or earlier) and drop off at their donation barrels in the lobby.

This is a great way to get those make-up attendance credits! For every $25 donated, you'll get one make-up credit. Max 3 credits. Please send your proof of purchase to me and I will compile for Sara.

***

Emmaus House - Monday May 13 Sign up here

The 2nd Monday of each month is now "Metro Monday"! We will assist with the soup kitchen from 7:30-9:30am. This service project is for adult volunteers. Minors 13 and up can volunteer accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

***

Hope to see you there, and as always--

Thanks for being ridiculously awesome!
Ro

Announcements | April 2 Meeting

Posted by Jamie Arkins

PRESIDENT UPDATE & COMMITTEE REPORTS

President-Elect Kristen Crawley presided and kicked off the meeting with the 4-way test:

GUESTS/VISITORS:

Danietté Thomas - fashion designer and consultant (guest of Zerik Samples)

CLUB ANNOUNCEMENTS:

TODAY (April 15) is the last day to order a Metro shirt! If you do not already have a black Metro t-shirt or your current one doesn't fit, please share your name & size here by EOD today!

April Birthdays & Anniversaries:

Birthdays: Cindy Mullally (4), Jamie Arkins (8), Kristin King (17), Sarah Smith (21), Tony Uhrich (21), Robert McCorkle (25), Suzanne Kirk (26), Kelley Waldron (26)
Club anniversaries: Michael McLeod (11 y), Lee Beckmann (10 y)
Wedding anniversaries: Beth & Michael Whalen (19 y), Cody & Nicki Tharpe (18 y)

MEMBERSHIP MINUTE:

Kristen asked Zerik and Leigh what the benefits are of giving to Rotary Foundation.
- Leigh loves the matching gift aspect of our club
- Zerik loves the growth process aspect of our giving and that we get to determine where our additional funds go.

Something you don't know about Leigh: she was a debutante. The riskiest thing she's ever done was watch the sunrise on Mount Haleakala and their brakes failed on the drive down. The most fun she’s ever had was also camping and hiking on the mountain.

RECOGNITION/AWARDS:

This year’s Preston Johnson Speech Contest was a huge success: 3 places/awards were given!
Service day at Re-Purpose and check presentation. 17 members attended, and press releases in WTOC and Savannah Business Journal.
Superfluous award to Whitney Shephard

UPCOMING DATES (PROGRAMS & SOCIALS):

April:
- 4/16: Program: Michael Schwartz, Safety Valve Project
- 4/23: Club Social: Culinary Institute tour & drinks
  - Join Patrick Phelps at 5:30 PM for a hard hat tour of the building - PS Tavern afterwards
  - Please wear closed-toed shoes and pants for safety in the construction space.
- 4/30: 5th Tuesday Family of Rotary Park Night @ Hull Park
May:
- 5/7: Program: Cecilia Arango, A Personal Odyssey

SERVICE:

4/27: Tybee Island Maritime Academy, 9am–12noon Landscaping
5/4: Second Harvest, 8am–11am Summer Feeding program

DISTRICT EVENTS:

Register for District Conference in Jekyll Island - lots of fun activities and dynamic speakers: April 26^th-28^th, 2024.
- Register online HERE
- Deadline for hotel discount is March 26.
- 3 Credits per full day of attendance at district conference
Oslo Summer 2024 GRSP Scholarship Opens for Georgia college students
- Spend summer attending school & exchanging cultural customs in Norway, 6/24 - 8/2/2024
- Application is now open & closes Jan. 5, 2024.
- Applicants must have completed sophomore year of college by Spring 2024 & have the recommendation of a Georgia Rotarian.

MEMBERSHIP:

Check your attendance in ClubRunner. Is it accurate? Email if not: metrosavannahrotary@gmail.com
Membership Committee - reaching out if not meeting 50% attendance to discuss options
Visit the “Members Only” area of the website for more info
If you are interested in being on the Board, please reach out to Kristen Crawley
“Fireside Chat”: First step for a new member. Thu, 3/28, 5:30 PM @ Habitat for Humanity Restore on 701 MLK. If you are interested in sponsoring a member, check out the “Members Only” area of the website for more info!
Sponsor Challenge: Anyone who sponsors a new member this rotary year will be entered into a drawing to be held on June 18 (last meeting of the Rotary Year!)

NEW MEMBER PROGRAM:

Fitz Haile: Data and Analytics Consultant, United Way. Sponsors: Kristen Crawley & Jordan Chase
Ruth Hutson: Outside sales rep for SESCO Lighting. Sponsors: Laura Lee Bocade & Denise Grabowski
Emerson Ingram: Systems Engineer Contractor & Senior Consultant, Booz Allen Hamilton. Sponsors: Jeff Brady & Will Gruver

YOUTH SERVICES:

Clubs with at least 40 points qualify.
- Points for activities like meeting regularly, completing meaningful service projects, growing membership, and engaging with sponsoring club.
ALL 3 OF OUR CLUBS GOT 50+ POINTS!

LEGACY PROJECT:

Metro's 15th anniversary in 2027, currently saving $ for this
Currently have 6 nominated projects
Project nominees are acquiring more information from “owners” - top 2-3 will be presented to club
Contact John Bennett to submit ideas or for more information

Metro Savannah Rotary is a diverse group of professionals who are passionate about service and connection. We offer flexible meetings and attendance, so members can create a Rotary experience that meets their needs.

We're proud to be members of Rotary International, believe strongly in its mission and traditions, and partner frequently with other clubs in the area. What really sets us apart is our attendance flexibility each month (2 lunch meetings, 1 social, and 1 service event), unique style (the question we always ask ourselves is, "Will it be ridiculously awesome?"), affordable dues (less than the cost of a dinner out per month), and our commitment to the community (click on the "Service Partner" tab to catch a glimpse).

If you're looking for a Rotary experience unlike any other, check out Metro!

Stay Safe and Healthy,

Jasmine Mills

president@metrosavannahrotary.org