 Please welcome (back) to the board, Jessica Pedigo! She will serve as President after Bret Bell's reign. The club unanimously approved the Board's nomination at Tuesday's meeting. This is what happens when you quit coming regularly to meetings...sucker!! PS - that was actually quoted from none other than Jessica |
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A big warm welcome to the following guests who attended our last meeting:
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 Metro's fall fundraiser is in the works for our annual service partner, Ogeechee Riverkeeper! Join us on Oct 18 at the Starland Dairy for games, food, wine, and Two Tides beer! Of course, there will also be a fabulous silent auction! Event revenue will go toward the Stormwater-Wise Windsor Forest project. We're recruiting sponsors and silent auction donations. (Ahem....if you own a boat, you might as well go ahead and donate a river cruise for the auction so that the committee doesn't have to track you down.) Sponsorship forms are available here! |
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On May 15 Fearless Annual Service Partner (ASP) Leader Daniel Weiner will present the three finalists. Then it's your chance to vote and help the club determine which worthy organization we'll be supporting in 2018-19. The three finalist have all been interviewed by the committee and you can read their applications here: |
 Denise Grabowski is an urban planner who has been a part of many important ongoing projects that affect us all, from the arena, to the parking study, to the bus system redesign. She came to Savannah from her native Atlanta 23 years ago to work for the Metropolitan Planning Commission. Denise founded her own urban planning firm, Symbioscity, 8 years ago. She is married with 2 kids - 6th grader, Julia, and 3rd grader, Michael. She loves cooking, gardening, being on the water and travel, with recent trips to Russia, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia. She played for Georgia Tech’s coed Ultimate Frisbee team and was invited to a national tournament with them in San Diego, although she doesn’t play the sport much anymore. Random: If you could replace the bow, the wave, the handshake and the salute, what interesting new gestural greeting would you create? Blowing a kiss gesture. Preference: Closed cabinets or open shelving? Closed. Trivia: Does alcohol warm or cool your body? Denise got it right - cool is correct. Alcohol dilates warm blood vessels near your skin, creating the impression of warmth, while it actually can drop core body temperature. Audience: What is the transit system redesign that your firm is working on? This initiative will result in a realignment of our fixed-route bus network, led by an international transit planning firm, Jarrett Walker + Associates, with the assistance of CAT and Symbioscity. Check out Brags, Whines, & Finds for more information on CAT's Let's Go Community Open House. |
.png) Jordan Chase *disclaimer: This photo already existed in our photo library so I'm using it because...#america Jordan is Human Resources Senior Business Partner at Memorial Health where she has worked for eight years. Born in Macon, she was raised in Savannah from age 2, taking ballet at the former Montessori school, now Husk on Oglethorpe Avenue. She attended John Hopkins University and College of Charleston. Her hobbies include fitness, namely, running, swimming, and health club workouts. She also loves trying out new restaurants and reading, especially historical fiction. She was Metro's first full-term president, a role she earned by drawing straws with Clint Murphy and David Acuff, and was the first of this club’s two "pregnidents", mother of children ages 10, 9, and 5 and married to club member Danny Chase (who proclaimed he is actually considered her oldest child). Random: If you could use only one app that did not come pre-installed on your smartphone, and not including mail, text, browser, map, or calendar apps, which would it be? Amazon Preference: Macarena, Achy Breaky or Electric Slide. Ahhhhh, Macarena Trivia: Name as many of the countries or regions where the following Christmas foods are served: Buche de Noel: a rolled pastry in France Pozole: hominy soup in Latin America Panettone: a sweet bread in Italy Zakusky: appetizers in Russia Glogg: a mulled wine in Scandinavia Kourabiedes: cookies in Greece |
 Retro Metro Art Bazaar to benefit our Annual Service Partner will take place Wednesday, Nov 15th. Food, 60s beats, libations, and art - all to benefit Savannah's community art program. Buy your tickets now! |
 As many of you know, March 8 was International Women's Day. Metro Rotary will honor Women in Rotary at our program meeting on March 21. Judge Louisa Abbot will be presenting and is the first woman in history to serve as President of a Rotary club (Rotary Club of Savannah). The Honorable Louisa Abbot is in her seventeenth year as Judge of Superior Court of Chatham County, Eastern Judicial Circuit. Please join us next Tuesday for a profound presentation by a dynamic guest speaker!
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 Thousands of Rotarians from around the world will descend upon Atlanta June 10-14, 2017 for the Rotary International Convention and Centennial Celebration of the Rotary Foundation! Convention and Hotel registration begins May 28 and goes up in price over the next year. Take advantage of the discounted prices beginning May 28. Find out more by watching this short video here. Metro will mostly likely organize group transportation and lodging. More to come on that. For now, we hope you will mark your calendars, register early, and plan to be in Atlanta June 10-14, 2017!
Registration fees:
May 28 - June 6, 2016..............$265.00
June 7 - Dec. 15, 2016.............$340.00
Dec. 16, 2016-March 31, 2017..$425.00
On Site Registration.................$490.00
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.jpg) It was a homecoming of sorts on April 9 as Metro Rotarians returned to Greenbriar Children's Center, our Club's first Community Service Partner.
Rotarians cleaned out and planted the spring garden in the extensive raised beds that Metro created for Greenbriar in 2013. Rotarians worked with children at the center to plant all kinds of fantastic veggies, which the Center will harvest for use in its meals.
Great to see this partnership continue!
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 Metro inducted two new awesome members during the April 5 Meeting. They are Patrick Bentley, a Project Manager at the Savannah Economic Development Authority, and Jeff Harris, Vice President of Human Resources & Auxiliary Operations at SCAD.
Congratulations Patrick and Jeff, and welcome to the Club!
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.jpg) Metro inducted five new awesome members during the March 1 Meeting.
They are: Justin Hummel, Sago Property Management; Henry Lee Perry, Savannah State University; Kevin Klinkenberg, Savannah Development and Renewal Authority; Cecilia Arango, Thomas & Hutton Engineering Co.; and Liz Parizo, Memorial Health.
Congratulations to all!
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Metro Meets the Candidates
 With interminable debates in Cleveland and California in the rear-view mirror, the election world now pivots to Savannah, where the political event of the season will be held September 22 at The Florence.
There, Metro Rotarians will share the stage with more than two dozen Savannah City Council candidates - an unpredictable bunch on a good day. Throw some alcohol into that mix, along with a pair of take-no-political-prisoner Rotarians named Clint Murphy and Staci Donegan, and there ain't no telling where this night is gonna go.
This will be a casual opportunity to get to know the candidates better, and for them to get to know our Club better. It should be fun and informative. And The Florence has an awesome bar.
We want to look good, so please make every effort to come.
See everyone at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, at The Florence, 2 W. Victory Drive.
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We Have a New Logo
  Metro launched a new logo during the Sept. 1 meeting. The logo started as a conversation between Past President Robert McCorkle and Communications Chair Bret Bell over the spring: They wanted a brand that reflected the vibrancy and uniqueness of Metro while still honoring the Rotary International traditions. They wanted a logo that was more flexible than our clunky old one. They wanted to shorten Metropolitan in favor of the catchier Metro, which we all call ourselves anyway. And they really liked that M.
Those talks resulted in some pretty inspiring cut-and-paste sessions (with actual scissors and glue), which thankfully led Robert and Bret to the conclusion that there was no way in hell they were going to pull this off.
They tapped Cari Clark (duh), who is literally the best in town for this sort of thing. Cari was gracious with her time and talent, and lent the club the considerable resources of her amazing firm Clark Communications
The result is a fresher-looking logo that is distinctly Metro, while paying homage to the Rotary wheel and true to the official Rotary colors. Look for this sucker on all of our stuff, including hipper new t-shirts that Florence Slatinsky is creating for us.
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Rodeo!
 Great turnout for the Oct. 13 Food Truck Rodeo will mean lots of cold hard cash for our 2015-16 service partner, the Forsyth Farmers' Market.
The event outside Service Brewing featured food trucks, plenty of beer, lots of ridiculous carnie games, and an unforgiving mechanical bull. Congratulations to cowboy Jake Crawley for winning the bull riding competition. He was awarded the coveted brass rodeo belt buckle.
Special thanks, too, to Jessica Pedigo, Liza Smith and their amazing team, which worked their tails off to make the event happen. Ridiculous times had by all! And only minor injuries!
All proceeds will benefit the Forsyth Farmers' Market. Metro Rotary is partnering with the Farmers' Market to develop and implement the Bring it Home! program in partnership with the brand new Farm Truck 912. Bring it Home! will provide fun, educational programming in addition to healthy food options through Farm Truck 912 to many local families in food insecure neighborhoods. Bring it Home! aims to improve the health status of Savannah’s most vulnerable community members.
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Volunteer for Revival Fest!
 What more could you ask for.....great music, cold craft brews, and delicious food offerings??? What: You want to add a little COMMUNITY SERVICE into the mix.....you got it!
Looking for volunteers for the 3rd Annual Revival Fest taking place Saturday, September 12, in the Coastal Heritage Society’s Georgia State Railroad Museum. This is an awesome time. Our very own Jason Nieluwbowzyxcczz?%, pictured above, clearly enjoyed himself last year. In short, Revival Fest is like a giant backyard party with your favorite music, food, friends and libations. http://www.revivalfest.org/
Alcohol sales are benefiting Coastal Heritage Society. This is a Family Friendly event. Shifts are three hours. Upon arrival volunteers will be assigned by the Revival Fest staff to one and or/any of the following jobs duties:
Volunteers will be invited to enjoy the festival before or after their shift.
Due to the many shifts and not knowing where you will be assigned to work, this will be the honor system of self-reporting. Once you complete your 3 hour shift, please email BOTH Amelia Harper & Bea Saba at harper.amelia@gmail.com and sabab@liveoakpl.org to get your service credit.
For BOTH active members AND prospective members – Sign Up Here: http://metropolitansavannahrotary.org/volunteer/managevolunteercontacts?VolunteerSignUpId=4609b32c-d83f-4206-934a-ccbf82dd3546&Token=8kM9F9KUC_HT93iIwbl80dfZ71Ct9--bP1D8rOBZ78Kj1QkbjyZdDjNnZnCbxzAP0
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Family Field Day Needs Your Help
 This much-anticipated barrel of laughs is almost upon us: 2:30 p.m. Sept. 13 in Tiedeman Park.
Here's what the planning committee needs from you:
If you've got any of this, please contact Jake Crawley or Jessica Thomas.
Event details:
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Metro turns out for Cool Communities, Hot Savannah
Some scenes from the Aug. 22 volunteer event with the Forsyth Farmers' Market Farm Truck at the Cool Communities, Hot Savannah event in Wells Park. More than 15 Metro Rotarians helped organize activities for children, and paint the Farm Truck (not the awesome mural pictured, but equally impressive stuff). A great start to our partnership!
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 The Sultan of Spreadsheets, the Master of Minutes, the Pied Piper of Planning Docs: Patton Dugas has been a busy guy folks.
The new Members Only page Patton's set up on http://metropolitansavannahrotary.org is your one-stop shop for Metro business: Check you attendance, pay your dues, view Club goals, learn about prospective members, read the rules, view our budget.
If you are among the Club nerds and actually read that budget, you'll see that annual Club dues will increase next year from $300 to $350. Ouch we know, but still way cheaper than every other Rotary club in town. Beginning in October, lunch will also increase from $10 to $12.50, which will include the Square processing fee.
Why are you greedy bastards doing this to me, you may ask? For one, things cost more. For another, we're growing into a more established club, and want to have a bigger impact on our community. The increase will allow us to do more, and have more fun.
Check it all out by clicking on the "Members Only" tab at the top of the homepage at http://www.metropolitansavannahrotary.org or by going directly to the page here: http://metropolitansavannahrotary.org/Page/Show?ClassCode=Page&Slug=members-only. Make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom to get your billing and attendance digits.
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Get On The Bus
 During the July 21 Meeting, Forsyth Farmers Market Director Teri Schell gave Metro the 411 on Farm Truck 912, our big service project for the next year.
The lowdown: Farm Truck 912 is a mobile farmers’ market that will bring local fruits and vegetables to Savannah neighborhoods with the least access to healthy food. In Chatham County, 19% of people and 26% of children reported a lack of reliable access to food in 2013.
Metro is on board to support Farm Truck 912 through the "Bring it Home" programming that includes cooking, exercise, health education, and social activities in conjunction with Farm Truck stops. We'll also be directly supporting the startup of Farm Truck operations through a variety of volunteer opportunities.
"This is really a brand new project, so we can make it what ever we want," Schell said.
You can help shape this awesome partnership during our family-friendly kickoff event with Farm Truck 912 on Saturday, Aug. 22, in Wells Park near MLK and 38th Street. The truck will be there as part of the Savannah Development and Renewal Authority's (SDRA) Street Fair - "Cool Communities in Hot Savannah," which will feature local products, foods, businesses, artists, musicians, and activities for the whole family.
During the event, we will be helping FFM with art & crafts, games and projects centered on healthy choices & food education that hopefully the participants will “bring home” and incorporate in their daily lives.
The event runs from 2 – 7pm, but FFM would love our help for the set up and take down after the event. Thus, we have created 2 hour volunteer shifts from 1 pm until 8 pm. Sign up here: http://admin.clubrunner.ca/11960/VolunteerTask/List?VolunteerSignUpId=61ddb0df-3f68-4cb8-bde9-82e346b3ac12&SelectedId=ffee7d98-43a4-4fad-943e-665ee9611831
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Who Wants It?
 Mark your calendar: The much-anticipated Family Field Day is ON.
Set for 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13, in Tiedeman Park, it's an event you really don't want to miss. Last year's totally rocked.
Jessica Thomas' planning crew is looking to make it even better, and needs your help. Please take a moment to fill out this short survey about what you'd like to see at the event: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3S2JBGN
Event details:
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Rotarians step up for Committee assignments
 President Kirk pushed Committee involvement as the key to Metro’s success for the upcoming year. Below are those who signed up for each during last week’s Club Assembly. Impressive!
Grants Committee: Coordinates district and global grants, and annual service partner grant and fundraising efforts
Chair, Jessica Pedigo
Jason Somers Denise McCoy Cody Tharpe Bea Saba Clint Murphy Florence Slatinsky Robert McCorkle
Foundation Committee: Develops plans to ensure Metro support of Rotary Foundation
Chair, Jordan Chase Brady Cannon Jenny Woodruff Robert McCorkle Darron Alvord
Family of Rotary Committee: Engage members’ families in Rotary
Chair, Jessica Thomas Jake Crawley Jamie Arkens Smith Amelia Harper Clint Murphy Programming Committee: Execute Club meetings and monthly social activities
Chair, Leigh Acevedo Emmy Williams Chris Corey Jason Somers Kristen Crawley John Northup George Barrow Eric Bull Lee Beckman Bea Saba Josh Brooks Cindy Mullally David Acuff Communications Committee: Increase Club communications internally and Club profile in the community
Chair, Bret Bell Alfred McGuire Eric Bull Jamie Smith Arkins Florence Slatinsky Josh Yates Whitney Shepherd Service Committee: Organizes monthly service projects and coordinates annual service partner
Chairs, Jeanine Roach and David Acuff Staci Donegan Devon Smyth John Bennett Whitney Shepherd Darron Alvord Membership Committee: Recruits, integrates and retains Club members
Chair, Michael McLeod Emmy Williams Jason N George Barrow John Northup Clint Murphy Cam Pope Jeff Brady |
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New World Order
 Suzanne Kirk left no doubt about her presidential style during last week’s regime change, ushering in a Canadian-style governance that focused on punctual efficiency, socialist populism with an emphasis on committee rule, and Yukon-style beards.
She introduced a new global grants initiative that will partner with worthy projects in either Ghana or Brazil, though sources indicate it’s in reality the beginning of a vast pipeline to funnel Club funds to Saskatchewan.
“Metro Savannah Rotary has accomplished so much in our first few years; it’s hard to imagine we were just chartered in 2012,” Kirk said. “Our founding members and past Presidents have established a vibrant club for today’s Rotarian. I’m honored to follow in their footsteps and help our club continue to demonstrate our commitment of service above self both here in Savannah and in the global communities we support.” Outgoing President Robert McCorkle presented Kirk with the traditional framed portrait of Harris the Cat, which will proudly hang in Kirk’s home or business for the year. Kirk gave McCorkle some booze. During McCorkle’s past year as president, membership grew by 5 percent, Metro became an Every Rotarian Every Year (EREY) Club, inducted four new members into the Paul Harris Society, and received the Gold Award from the District Governor. Members volunteered more than 400 hours during a dozen service projects across the community, and the Club raised nearly $10,000 for service partner Savannah Bicycle Campaign.
“It has been a thrill to play a small role in the continued growth of the Metropolitan Savannah Rotary Club,” McCorkle said. “This Club continues to be a testament to what a group of individuals can do when they join together to put ‘Service Above Self’ and make concentrated efforts to transform the lives of others. I am proud to call myself a Rotarian.”  Joining Kirk and McCorkle on the 2015-2016 Board of Directors are: Patton Dugas, Brad Whitfield, Amelia Harper, Bea Saba Jeanine Roach, Jessica Pedigo, Jordan Chase, Michael McLeod, Bret Bell, Leigh Acevedo, Jeff Brady, Jessica Thomas, Julie Wade, Liza Smith, Josh Brooks and David Acuff.
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Pedigo named Rotarian of the Year
 At his final meeting as President, Robert McCorkle presented annual awards to Rotarians who went above and beyond during the course of the year.
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July 10 Service Project: Emmaus House
 Metro Rotarians prepped, cooked, served, cleaned and helped 100 souls receive a hot meal at Emmaus House on July 10. Amazing service, amazing experience. Nice job everyone.
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Metro installs new President, Board of Directors
.jpg) Suzanne Kirk, President of Employee Development Strategies Inc., was installed this week as President of the Metropolitan Savannah Rotary Club. Kirk succeeds outgoing president Robert McCorkle, partner in the law firm of McCorkle & Johnson, LLP.
“Metro Savannah Rotary has accomplished so much in our first few years; it’s hard to imagine we were just chartered in 2012,” Kirk said. “Our founding members and past Presidents have established a vibrant club for today’s Rotarian. I’m honored to follow in their footsteps and help our club continue to demonstrate our commitment of service above self both here in Savannah and in the global communities we support.”
Joining Kirk and McCorkle on the 2015-2016 Board of Directors are: Patton Dugas, Brad Whitfield, Amelia Harper, Bea Saba Jeanine Roach, Jessica Pedigo, Jordan Chase, Michael McLeod, Bret Bell, Leigh Acevedo, Jeff Brady, Jessica Thomas, Julie Wade, Liza Smith, Josh Brooks and David Acuff.
During McCorkle’s past year as president, membership grew by 5 percent, and the Club was successful in securing donations to the Rotary Foundation from each of the Club's members. Members volunteered more than 400 hours during a dozen service projects across the community, and the Club raised nearly $10,000 for service partner Savannah Bicycle Campaign.
At his final meeting as President, McCorkle presented the Rotarian of the Year Award to Jessica Pedigo, Volunteer of the Year Award to Ben Barksdale, and awards to Jordan Chase and Bea Saba for their service to the Club.
“It has been a thrill to play a small role in the continued growth of the Metropolitan Savannah Rotary Club,” McCorkle said. “This Club continues to be a testament to what a group of individuals can do when they join together to put ‘Service Above Self’ and make concentrated efforts to transform the lives of others. I am proud to call myself a Rotarian.”
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