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Colleen Saringer describes herself as a blue-collar woman wrapped in a PhD package. She speaks frequently to audiences on mental health in the workplace, rooted in her personal experience. During the course of 25 years as a global organizational health leader and consultant, she dedicated her career to partnering with companies to better the health of their people and profits. She has weathered the challenges of two family-owned construction businesses, one of which came close to ending due to a death by suicide. And she is a published, peer reviewed author on workplace culture and health behavior policy.
GREETERS THIS WEEK
Doug Robinson and Laura Brookshire
Weekly luncheon meetings begin at 12:15 pm
on Fridays unless otherwise noted.
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THURSDAY
MAY 1
ANNUAL FUNDRAISER!
The Lost Druid,
Avondale Estates
6-9 pm
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FRIDAY
MAY 2
NO
MEETING
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FRIDAY
MAY 9
SPEAKER: Gigi Pedraza
Latino Community Fund
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FRIDAY
MAY 16
SPEAKER: Dejah Gay Delta Community Credit Union
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FRIDAY
MAY 23
No Meeting Memorial Day Weekend
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FRIDAY
MAY 30
SPEAKER: Scot Lockman DeKalb Public Library
Service Project: Toy Park Cleanup April 26
Beloved Decatur Rotarian Rev. Dr. James Brewer Calvert passed away in 2023, and last year our club installed two benches in his honor at the First Christian Church Toy Park. To honor James’s memory, we pledged to perform Toy Park clean-up duties once a year. It’s that time – come and join us to honor James’s spirit of community engagement!
Toy Park Cleanup, Friday, April 26, 2-4 pm
First Christian Church of Decatur, 601 W. Ponce de Leon Ave.
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It’s Not Too Late to Secure Auction Items for May 1 Fundraiser!
Alison says, "Be at the fundraiser or be square!"
We can accept auction items or sponsorships until April 29. If you can’t make it to the fundraiser event, consider becoming a Community Partner sponsor at the $250, $500, or $1,000 level.
Contact Alison Weissinger, Kelly Caudle, or Lawrence Sharp about auction items or sponsorships. Thank you!
. . . . . Keep Those Bottles of Wine for Fundraiser Coming!
Please bring a bottle of wine to Rotary on Friday. We will use these for our ring toss game at the fundraiser. Thank you!
Contact Kelly Caudle or Alison Weissinger with questions.
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Now Accepting Community Grant Applications The Decatur Rotary Club invites applications from 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations for our 2025-26 Community Grants. Applications should be for projects or programs that focus on literacy or youth at-risk and that will have a positive impact on the DeKalb County community and its residents.
Eligibility requirements and a link to the application are on the Decatur Rotary website, under the Grants tab.
Deadline for applications is May 16. Share this info widely!
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Milestones | April
Club Anniversaries
Bill Mealor, 44 years
Bob Buckner, 39 years
Mac Willett, 38 years
Birthdays
Dan DeWoskin, 13 years
RJ Jawanda, 9 years
Jamaal Ellis, 4 years
Alison Weissinger, April 1
Elliot Augustine, April 2
David Hughes, April 4
Luis Abularach, April 4
Bedros Sharian, April 5
Dorian DeBarr, April 8
Bob Buckner, April 17
Maria Alvarez, April 22
Friday, June 6 Recap Speaker: Ariana Bryant | Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
From left: Bob Ettensohn, speaker Ariana Bryant
Bob Ettensohn introduced lunch speaker Ariana Bryant, of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA). In her role as Community Development Officer, Ariana pursues partnerships and community initiatives to advance the well-being of children and their families. She emphasized that the health of children extends beyond the borders of CHOA’s medical facilities, and said that in 2023, Children’s provided $412.4 million in benefits to parents, families, and children. She also shared some important CHOA initiatives, such as the child advocacy program Strong4Life and a rural health initiative that supports a pediatrician pipeline as well as behavioral and mental health in rural parts of the state.
Leadership Award for President Dudley Larus
Dist. Gov. Gordon Owens honoring Dudley Larus with Sheffield Leadership Award
Al Adams gave remarks on the significance of our club’s president, Dudley, being honored with a Sheffield Leadership Award and thanked him for his excellent leadership of the club over the past year. Dudley guided us to grow and thrive.
District Governor Elect Steve Ivory also spoke about Dudley’s leadership and congratulated the club on its positive momentum.
The Sheffield Leadership Award, established in 1994, is presented by the Rotary Club of Americus in honor of three Past District Governors – all from the same family and the Americus Rotary Club. It honors John West Sheffield (District 39, 1926-27), John W. Sheffield (District 690, 1961-62), and Langdon Sheffield (District 690, 1975-76), who have each served this Rotary District as District Governors.
Selected by the District Governor, the award is presented annually to the District 6900 club presidents (from each of the club size categories) who best exemplify the extraordinary leadership traits represented by the Sheffield family and execute their responsibilities in an exceptional manner.
Congratulations, Dud!!!
Elizabeth Sullivan – Classification Talk
Elizabeth Sullivan
Elizabeth Sullivan spoke briefly about her law firm’s area of practice, workers’ compensation. She has experience defending employers and insurance companies as well as advocating for injured workers, and thus is able to bring a whole perspective to her work.
Rotary Global Grant Scholar
Taiko Nakazawa
Since fall 2023, Decatur Rotary has hosted Taiko Nakazawa, of Japan, as a Global Grant Scholar. She spoke to the club about her wonderful experience at Emory, where she just completed her master’s degree at the Rollins School of Public Health. She now has an internship at Villa International, so we hope to see her more often.
Visitors
We welcomed Brandi Smith, visiting Rotarian from the Buckhead Club; Jim Kresge, guest of Doug Robinson; Willie Accree and Jack Kirivong, guests of Jason Conn; Andrea Young, guest of Dud Larus; Riley McMillan, guest of John Bennett; Selma Doganson, RYE student and guest of the club; and Taiko Nakazawa, Global Grant Scholar and guest of the club.
Scenes from our most recent meeting and events. Individuals are identified from left to right.
Speaker Ariana Bryant and Brandi Smith, of the Buckhead Rotary Club
Guest Jim Kresge and Doug Robinson (Happy anniversary to Doug & Diana!)
Charlie Lutin, David Ewing, Lawrence Sharp, Kalia Morrison, David Hughes
Rick Garnitz, Leo Ladefian, Luis Abularach, Brian Markowitz
Dist. Gov. Elect Steve Ivory and President Elect Alison Weissinger
Willie Acree and Jack Kilivong, both returning visitors. We hope you’ll join the club!
Dudley with Bob, who really wanted to win the raffle!
Please bring a bottle of wine to Rotary on Friday. We will use these for our ring toss game at the fundraiser. Thank you!
Guest Jim Kresge and Doug Robinson (Happy anniversary to Doug & Diana!)
Charlie Lutin, David Ewing, Lawrence Sharp, Kalia Morrison, David Hughes
Rick Garnitz, Leo Ladefian, Luis Abularach, Brian Markowitz
Dist. Gov. Elect Steve Ivory and President Elect Alison Weissinger
Willie Acree and Jack Kilivong, both returning visitors. We hope you’ll join the club!
Dudley with Bob, who really wanted to win the raffle!
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