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Lunch Meeting Friday, Jan. 9 Historic DeKalb County Courthouse 101 E. Court Square
Meeting begins at 12:15 pm
THURSDAY, APRIL 2
Past Presidents Celebration
The Lost Druid | 2866 Washington St., Avondale Estates, GA
GREETERS THIS WEEK
Nick Villaume and Jamaal Ellis
Weekly luncheon meetings begin at 12:15 pm
on Fridays unless otherwise noted.
January
16
Dale Cardwell
Consumer Investigative Reporter
January
23
Dr. Gymiah Whitaker
Superintendent, City Schools of Decatur
January
30
Scott Richards
Police Chief,
City of Decatur
. . . . . MLK Jr. Service Project
January 17-19
Everyone is invited to participate in our annual MLK service project, January 17-19, 2026. We will team up to do home repairs and painting for some elderly residents in the Decatur community. Doug has emailed everyone a link to register – be sure to sign up for a shift or two.
. . . . . Special Fundraising Event:
Murder Mystery Dinner and Drama!
Lucky you! You’ve been invited to the Dunn Speakeasy for the wedding of the year! In this “married to the mob” event, you’ll never know who to trust. With the two families merging together, someone is bound to lose power, which means someone else will lose their life! Get on the trolley and solve this case with your fellow detectives.
Dress like the cat’s meow for this mafia wedding! Flapper dresses, zoot suits, feather boas and headbands, pinstriped suits, and fedoras are all appropriate. Traditional wedding attire is nifty too!
Dinner and a show for one price. Lots of fun for everyone, and everyone is a suspect!
When: Friday, February 27 at 7 pm (no meeting that day)
Where: Decatur Historic Courthouse
Good cause: Fundraiser for the Decatur Rotary Foundation, which supports community grants, youth programs, service projects, and more.
Tickets on sale soon. Invite all your family, friends, and other Rotarians!
. . . . .
Milestones
Anniversaries
David Ewing, 30 years
Doug Robinson, 13 years
Bryan Markowitz, 11 years
Charles Lutin, 4 years
James Herndon, 2 years
Nichole Simms, 1 year
Elizabeth Sullivan, 1 year
Danielle Jones, 1 year
Birthdays
Pete Pfeiffer, January 1
Bill Mealor, January 4
Alan Dishman, January 19
Lawrence Sharp, January 23
Doug Robinson, January 27
Meeting recap: Dec. 19
Eric Lucas (left) introduced speaker Robert Franklin
At the final meeting of 2025, we were honored to have the Rev. Dr. Robert Franklin, who holds the James T. and Berta R. Laney Chair in Moral Leadership at Emory’s Candler School of Theology, as our lunch speaker. On the topic of good leadership, he spoke about how effective leaders are humble enough to know there is always more to know, and he lamented how the overuse of electronic devices has led to the decrease in reading full-length books. Dr. Franklin also talked about the books that influenced previous U.S. presidents, and he shared historian Doris Kearns Goodwin’s list of “essential traits” a president (or any good leader) needs:
Empathy: identifying with other points of view
Resilience: learning from difficult moments
Communication: doing so effectively
Openness: listening to others
Impulse control: knowing what not to say/do
Relaxation: disengaging to restore energy
We had several visitors at the last meeting:
Ellaway Amiker, Terry Phillips, and Mark Anthony Scott, guests of Lawrence Sharp
Rev. Elizabeth Clement, guest of Eric Lucas
Danya Kulyk, guest of Todd Speed
Paul Benson and Ellie Benson, guests of John Bennett
Gayle K. Watts, visiting Rotarian from Negril, Jamaica, Rotary Club
Nathaniel West, visiting Rotarian from Trinidad Rotary Club
We hope to see you again soon!
Scenes from around the room at our most recent meeting. Individuals are identified from left to right.
Stacey Stevens gave the invocation
Pat Walsh and Luis Abularach share holiday greetings
Exchange student Ellie (center) with her dad, Paul. She will go abroad next school year.
Visiting Rotarian Nathaniel West and Willie Acree brought holiday spirit
Bob Ettensohn reminds members about the MLK service project
Bob, Genevieve, and Dud discuss fundraising ideas
Left: Judge Mark Anthony Scott was one of our many guests. Right: Doug Tozzi won the holiday gift basket. Congrats, Doug!
Thank You to Our Club Sponsors
We are grateful for the support of our local sponsors, and we encourage our members to support them in return.
Stacey Stevens gave the invocation
