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District 6900 News for May, 2025
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GeorgiaUnitedDC.com
By Ryan Clements This year at conference we used a Kululu Photo Wall to allow all the attendees to upload photos at anytime during the event to share with our group. We had TVs in the Hall of Friendship that always displayed the action and open each session with the latest pics. The Georgia United DC photo wall will remain live for the next year, so feel free to check it out and download your favorite pictures. We also selected a ton of great pictures that capture the weekend and put them in a video slide show on our YouTube Channel. It was a great weekend and I enjoyed being a part of the team that made the A/V magic happen.
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GeorgiaUnitedDC.com
By Gordon Owens On behalf of DG Bobby from 6910, DG Todd from 6920 and me, we want to extend our sincere thanks to all of the hard work that went on behind the scenes to make the magic of the first-ever Georgia Rotary District Conference happen. Carol Colón who used to be in the Fayetteville Club in our district but has since moved to D6910, served as our overall conference chair and had the tough task of helping us blend all of our traditions and crazy ideas into one spectacular event. Ryan Clements helped us manage the show from the A/V desk, Elwyn Gaissert served as Sgt. at Arms, Mandy Timmons handled decor & public image and Becky Stone organized the tailgate party. There were countless other volunteers that helped manage registration, served as referees or helped setup/breakdown to make sure everything went off without a hitch. We have received nothing but rave reviews and we look forward to the next Georgia Rotary event to bring our new friends together soon. Thanks again!
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Congratulations!
By Gordon Owens This year we made the Club of the Year awards more transparent and published a scoreboard that any member could access at any time to see how their club's stats compared to others in their category. We set a finish line of March, 31, 2025 and at that point, we checked the stats to select the winners. Congratulations to our clubs that lead the way in giving more, growing more and doing more: - Category I | Meriwether County | North Atlanta (runner up)
- Category II | North Fulton | Vinings Cumberland (runner up)
- Category III | Dunwoody | Decatur (runner up)
- Category IV | Peachtree City (tie) | Roswell (tie)
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Sponsored By The Rotary Club of Americus
By Gordon Owens This may be the single hardest task a governor in our district has. We have 67 clubs that do amazing work in their communities that are all led by great Rotarians. So, picking just one person in each category takes a lot of careful consideration. While the scoreboard drives the decision on which clubs will win Club of the Year and is based on numerical stats, the Sheffield Leadership Award has much more to do with an individual effort in setting a club up for success today and carry that club well into the future. Congratulations to this year's class of club presidents honored with the Sheffield Leadership award: - Category I | Rick Perry, Henry County
- Category II | Rick Clark, North Fulton
- Category III | Dudley Larus, Decatur
- Category IV | Nancy Alterman, Roswell
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Rotarian of the Year
By Gordon Owens Having a great season takes a ton of hard work and preparation. Your club presidents started to get into game shape in July of 2023, a full year before they became the captain of the team. While it was my job to give them the playbook to make their clubs irresistible and to help them show their communities the Magic of Rotary, it was our MVP’s job to prepare me to lead. The journey from District Governor Nominee Designate to serving as District Governor is two and a half years and Mary was in my corner every step along the way. From helping me draft a team of district leaders to planning all the events that went into getting our clubs ready for the 2024-2025 Rotary season, she was there. When it came time to make improvements to our processes to make life easier for our club presidents, she was a great sounding board. And on the occasion we had to throw a penalty flag, her knowledge of Rotary policy & procedure was invaluable. Probably her most important role is that of Momma, as she is who PDG André and I call when we get into a sibling squabble. Congratulations to my dear friend, mentor and our Rotary District 6900 Rotarian of the Year, my MVP, Mary Ligon. [more] |
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Sponsored By The Rotary Club of Stone Mountain
By Gordon Owens Cedric Hill has been a standout Assistant Governor throughout this Rotary year. During PETS he worked on brining the Atlanta Southern Crescent, Columbus, Muskogee Columbus, & North Columbus clubs together to work on projects and have a bigger impact in the community than any one club could achieve on its own. The three Columbus clubs, hosted one of our 3-day law enforcement trainings for ending human trafficking, taking great care of the various agencies in attendance. Cedric never misses an opportunity to show up and support his clubs in their service projects or make a connection across town to expand the impact Rotary has in the area. I look forward to seeing how Cedric continues to bring this area together to support his real passion for service, helping youth create peace through his Cure Violence program. Congratulations to Cedric Hill for being named this year’s Follow Me award winner.
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Foundation, Polio Plus & Membership
By Gordon Owens While the cutoff for awards at conference was March 31, 2025, the Rotary year is far from over. We treated this like the All Star break and gave the club in each category an All Star medal for being in the lead on March 31st. Just like in sports, there can only be one greatest of all time in per capita giving and membership growth so we gave out some GOAT awards to the following: - Per Capita TRF | $698 | North Atlanta
- Per Capita Polio Plus | $914 | Vinings Cumberland
- Net New Members | +15 | Johns Creek North Fulton
- Members Sponsored | 8 | Michael Griffin, Henry County
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Certificate For Meritorious Service
By Bob Hagan It was my pleasure to present Kay Williamson with the Certificate For Meritorious Service from The Rotary Foundation. It was extra special to have Vice Chairman of The Rotary Foundation, Larry Lunsford, on hand to help me present the award to Kay during a special dinner for club and district leadership at our Georgia United District Conference. Kay, a long time & active member of the Meriwether County Rotary Club, has worked tirelessly to make sure our clubs take full advantage of our district grant funding and all the appropriate documentation is maintained. Kay is a key member of our district foundation team, please join me in congratulating her in this prestigious award.
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Membership Hall of Fame
By Audley Knight As the incoming District Membership Chair, I have big shoes to fill. Our current chair, Dave Schwickerath, was awarded with a Membership Hall of Fame award as he has sponsored 46 new members in just three years. Talk about leading by example! I was so pleased that Dave's passion for bringing more people into the family of Rotary won't stop just because he is no longer the chair. He is going to stay a part of the district membership team next year and I look forward to continuing to work with him to grow Rotary in our district.
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The Magic of Rotary Awards
By Gordon Owens While our generosity to The Rotary Foundation funds the good work we do and growing our clubs helps lighten the load, we truly show the Magic of Rotary to our members, our community and around the world through the service we do. I asked for clubs to submit their best projects in 6 categories this year and here are the overall winners: - Club Fundraiser | Alpharetta | Freezin For A Reason Polar Plunge
- Member Engagement | East Cobb | Magic of Rotary Passport
- Impactful Service | Atlanta Southern Crescent | The Giving Side of Christmas
- New/Improved Project | Dougherty County | Helping Hands Food Packing
- Peace Pole Install | North Cobb | The Extension +10 more...
- World Polio Day | Peachtree City | $50 Matching Challenge
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Unite For Good
By Gordon Owens My wife, Ashley, has served as DGE Steve's chief hazing officer, as her brother is a West Point grad and Steve went to the Naval Academy. As a fun way to give Steve some advice as he prepares to lead our district in July, I had Ashley help me with some props in her Go Army, Beat Navy t-shirt. - The Naval Academy mascot is a goat. Just like a goat, he will have to eat just about anything as he visits clubs next year and occasionally you will have to butt heads to get the job done. But his primary role is to clear the path so our clubs can grow more & do more.
- I gave him a cocktail glass, as at some point only a glass of his favorite beverage and a break will relax the pressures and pace of serving as governor.
- I then gave him a hand grenade and instructed him, that like a good Marine, sometimes you just need to blow things up and start over.
- Finally, I gave him a coffee mug with the Naval Academy phrase, "Don't Give Up The Ship." This has double meaning. On one hand, Rotary leadership is designed to Give Up The Ship, as come July 1 I will turn over the district to Steve to steer us into the next Rotary year. But I reminded him that while he is at the helm, don’t give up the ship to those whispering in his ear about how to do it or the way we’ve always done it. He gets to choose the path forward.
I wish Steve and his wife, Anna, along with all the district & club leadership the best of luck leading the way next year! [more] |
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Check Out The Fun
By Mandy Timmons It was cheaper to buy a 360 Photo Booth than rent one for the conference weekend. Check out the great time people had when they stopped by the 6900 Magic booth in the Hall of Friendship at the Georgia United District Conference. If you want to use the booth at your next event, reach out to me to make arrangements as there will be a small fee but a fraction of the cost of renting one. Watch the 360 Video
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Georgia Opioid Crisis Abatement Trust
By Kay Williamson At Georgia United DC we announced that the 3 Rotary districts in Georgia are working with the Georgia Opioid Crisis Abatement Trust to do local projects funded by settlement money. The trust has committed $500,000 to be split between the three districts for projects like placing Narcan boxes in schools or establishing awareness campaigns. We had a well attended breakout session and clubs are raring to go on these projects. Be patient, we are in the final stages of dotting the i's and crossing the t's with the trust. Once we have everything in place we will send out communications about how to leverage this funding in your local area. To learn more visit GAopioidtrust.org.
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Rotavette.com
By Gordon Owens Congratulations to former Roswell Rotarian and current member of the Big Canoe Rotary Club, Don Rolader for winning the Rotavette Raffle. According to the raffle rules we needed to sell 1001 tickets to give away the car. We ended up with a pot of $22,500 to split between the winner and The Rotary Foundation. Thanks to all who purchased tickets and helped us raise some extra money for The Rotary Foundation and congratulations to Don who is $11,250 richer.
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GRSP Honorees
By Katheryne Fields A big thanks to District 6900 for your continued support of GRSP! The flag ceremony is always one of the highlights of district conference. This year, GRSP chair Ian Bond surprised Carolina Klockner from Brazil who is hosted by the Rotary Club of Savannah with the William A. Watt award for the best GRSP student. The award is sponsored by the Thomasville Rotary Club. On Sunday, the Sandy Springs Rotary Club announced their selection for the Frank E. Bently GRSP Leadership award as Betty Price from the Rotary Club of Roswell. Last but absolutely not least, on Thursday night at a leadership dinner hosted by DG Gordon, the Griffin Rotary Club recognized the following clubs with the Jake Cheatham award for the best per capita giving in each category: - I | Muscogee-Columbus
- II | North Columbus
- III | Dunwoody
- IV | Thomasville
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RYLA Update
By Jaclyn Donovan Only one month until RYLA! We are so excited that our favorite time of year is rolling back around again. If your club is sponsoring a student (or multiple students) for RYLA 2025, here are a few final reminders to check off: - Make sure you are paid the fees for each student you are sponsoring: $500 each plus $50 for each student riding … [more]
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LEADERBOARD |
Check out the full district scoreboard |
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| Here are the clubs that are leading the way in our district for membership, annual fund and polio plus. |
| Category |
NET MEMBERSHIP |
ANNUAL FUND |
POLIO PLUS |
| I |
Henry County |
North Atlanta |
Meriwether County (Warm Springs) |
| II |
Johns Creek North Fulton |
Vinings Cumberland |
Vinings Cumberland |
| III |
Decatur |
Dunwoody |
Carrollton Dawnbreakers |
| IV |
Roswell |
Peachtree City |
Columbus |
Upcoming Key Dates
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