Bainbridge Rotarians

I hope all of you were safe and sound as the US, including GA, experienced major weather events recently including sleet, snow, rain, snow. I hope none of you had too much hardship from the rough conditions. DGE Cynthia Edwards completed her International Assembly Training a few weeks ago so congrats to her! She also conducted training for district leaders in Peachtree City.

There's so much GOOD going on in the District.

• Rotary Youth Exchange: I survived my second Disney chaperoning event with 16 international RYE students from six FL and GA districts! We had all kinds of adventures. (If you want to have a ton of fun and have loads of energy, run around Disney parks for four days straight with 16 15-17 year olds!!) We even had rough weather in Orlando!
• Service Projects: I participated in two amazing service project this month with the Bainbridge Rotary Club where we teamed up with Salvation Army, Key Club and Anchor Club from Bainbridge High School and fed 650 people in 3.5 hours! Very well done. Additionally, I read to a bunch of third graders at a local elementary school with the Rotarians of On the Flint!
• The Rotary Foundation: I am so happy with many of our clubs and Rotarians for Foundation and Polio Plus giving excellence. So far, we have total giving of over $798K with $363K to Foundation and $193K to Polio Plus and $87K in Endowment. We are first in Zone 34 for Polio Plus and in third place overall for Polio Plus. We still have plenty of time to go and lots of opportunity left for 23 clubs that have not given to Foundation yet and 27 to Polio Plus. Please aim to contribute to some of our primary goals. We have another club with $1M in total giving again. Thanks again; I am helping present a $1M giving banner to RC of Alpharetta this week. Congrats and thanks to Alpharetta! I also helped recognized three major donors and 1 Major Donor Level 2 at RC of North Atlanta. The club also presented a $12K check to DRFC Bob Hagan.
• Recognizing Lifetime Achievement: We gave a lifetime service award to 58-year Rotarian Don Millen of the Rotary Club of North Atlanta - read the story later in this newsletter.
• Membership: The district membership team, led by Audley Knight, held a special Discovery Rotary Event with nearly 50 potential future Rotarians. This was all done with money that Jose Gonzalez told us was available to spend on special membership events. We may be doing some more local events. Keep up your good work to grow Rotary.
• GRSP: This program for promoting peace through understanding celebrates its 80th anniversary this year - with nearly 4,000 alumni. The GRSP trustees held their winter meeting in January - a special shortened meeting due to inclement weather with important work, as they took time to review finances, select students for the 2026-27 school year, and recognize some donors - including District 6900's own Warren Hamilton Jr. (Will Watt Fellow), Aadu Allpere (Kendall Weisiger Fellow), Bill Dallas (Jake Cheatam Fellow) and PDG Andre Marria (Ronnie Waller Fellow).

There's so much ahead of us! Please keep in mind the series of events set up for camaraderie and fellowship, and contact Shawn Bendig of Rotary Club of Vinings Cumberland with questions.

• February 13-15, 2026 – We Heart Rotary - Barnsley Resort – 597 Barnsley Gardens Road, Adairsville, GA 30103
• March 7, 2026 - Atlanta United Soccer at Mercedes Benz stadium with All 3 GA Rotary Districts!
• April 4, 2026 – Saturday, 7pm – Atlanta Vibe Volleyball vs Orlando Valkyries Georgia State University Convocation Center, 455 Capitol Avenue SE Atlanta GA 30312
• April 16-19, 2026 – District Conference – Lake Lanier Islands, GA
• May 16, 2026 – Saturday, 7:15pm, Truist Park – Atlanta Braves vs Boston Red Sox

Keep up all the good work - have fun as we Unite for Good!