Projects
Coat Drive
The Rotary Club of Griffin held a coat drive this past year. We announced the drive at our weekly meetings and in the Griffitarian. We collected 75 coats from Rotarians, their spouses and members of the community. The Rotaract Club at Southern Crescent Technical College collected an additional 150 coats. We donated the coats to the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army took the coats to the House of Hope shelter and distributed the coats to their clientele there.
Destination Graduation
The Rotary Club of Griffin collaborated with the Griffin Spalding County School System for a new project this year: Destination Graduation. The project is designed to promote all students to graduate. The Rotary Club held pinning ceremonies at Spalding County’s two high schools. Every ninth grader pledged to stay in school to graduate and received a pin. To kick off the project, ninth grade students competed in an art contest to design the pins. A winning concept from each school was chosen.
Dictionary Project
Each year, the Rotary Club of Griffin provides dictionaries to every sixth grade student in the Griffin-Spalding County School System. We label Each dictionary with a Four-Way Test sticker. Education committee chair Matt Rahn enlists the help of Griffin High and Spalding High Interactors in labeling the dictionaries. Volunteers from the club visited all four middle schools in Spalding County to personally hand out each dictionary to the children.
Education Celebration
The Rotary Club of Griffin helps sponsor Norcom’s Annual Education Celebration and Free Store for Teachers. Norcom is a local manufacturer of school supplies whose president is Rotarian Hal Rahn. Other sponsors include Griffin Wal-Mart, managed by Rotarian Scott Owen.
Griffin Spalding Humane Society Chili Cookoff
The Griffin Spalding Humane Society holds a chili cookoff as its annual fundraiser. Each year, a Griffin Rotarian has offered his or her culinary skills to serve chili to Griffinites who come out to support the Humane Society. The Rotary Club of Griffin is one of approximately 30 community organizations and individuals who come together each fall to support the Humane Society.
GRSP Student
The Rotary Club of Griffin sponsored its first GRSP student in 1949 and every year since. This year's student, our 87th, is Paola Fetiti from Madrid, Spain. She is attending the University of Georgia and studying communications. Rotarian Chuck Copeland and his wife Teresa are hosting Paola for the year. They have a daughter who is also a student at UGA.
Laws of Life
The Rotary Club of Griffin has for many years sponsored the Georgia Laws of Life Essay Contest. Members of the club volunteer to judge essays and the club financially sponsors the contest at a local high school.
The Laws of Life Essay Contest asks students to select a saying that is a "Law of Life" and to use that saying to examine and write about key life lessons and core character values such as honesty, generosity, courage, compassion, and perseverance. The contest reflects Rotary's emphasis on values, high ethical standards, and service to others.
Light Up Rotary at Business After Hours
The Rotary Club of Griffin and Griffin Daybreak Rotary co-hosted a Light Up Rotary event at the Griffin Spalding County Chamber of Commerce's Business After Hours. Approximately 80 Rotarians from the two clubs attended along with approximately 50 community members and leaders.
New Teachers Luncheon
The club sponsors an annual luncheon for all new teachers in the Griffin-Spalding County School System. The new teachers have the opportunity to meet Rotarians and enjoy lunch during their orientation week. This welcome provides a great first impression of our school system and community. This year, we welcomed over 100 new teachers.
Partners in Education
The Rotary Club of Griffin has served as a Partner in Education with the Griffin-Spalding County School System (GSCS) for many years. The club assists the school system in achieving many of its strategic goals.
GSCS has a goal of increasing student and stakeholder engagement by recognizing student achievement, increasing the number of students seeking more challenging opportunities that are more challenging and increasing the number of parents involved in school. The Rotary Club helps the school system achieve this goal in many ways.
Reading to Third Graders
The Rotary Club of Griffin is involved with all students in the Griffin Spalding County School System throughout their academic career. Our involvement begins in the third grade, when Rotarians read books to every third grade class in the school system in the Spring.
Red Cross Blood Drive
Every January since 2004, the Rotary Club of Griffin has collaborated with the American Red Cross to sponsor a blood drive. On January 8, 2015, Griffin Rotarians once again rolled up their sleeves to give the gift of life. It is impossible to quantify this contribution!
RYLA
The Rotary Club of Griffin sponsored three students to attend RYLA: Ryan Hall, Emily Beeland and Lauren Hensley.
Salvation Army
The Rotary Club of Griffin annually supports the Salvation Army by donating money and time to the Kettle Drive and the local Distribution Center. Rotarians, Interactors, family and friends staffed the kettle at the Griffin Kroger from November 21, 2014 through December 23, 2014. Salvation Army committee chairs George Granade and Wayne Gardner solicited volunteers from club and community to ring the bell.
Salvation Army Community Center for Boys and Girls
The Rotary Club of Griffin used a district grant to fund weekly tuition for five children from low income households to attend the Salvation Army Community Center for Boys and Girls afterschool program for the 26 week school term. The community center identified five qualifying children and awarded scholarships beginning with the start of the current school term.
Senior Games
Each year the club participates in the annual Spalding County Senior Games. The club has provided financial and volunteer support for the games for the last 16 years.
Sombrero Dash
On Saturday, May 2, 2015, the Rotary Club of Griffin will present its third annual Sombrero Dash 10k road race. Last year, the race raised approximately $4,000.00 for local charities, including Together We Can food drive, Young Life, Tomorrow’s Woman, Griffin Choral Arts, Boys and Girls State, the Flint River Council of the Boy Scouts of America, World Harvest Mission, Abundant Life Soup Kitchen, Griffin Ballet Theatre, the Pine Valley Council of the Girl Scouts of America, the Griffin-Spalding Chamber of Commerce, the Ferst Foundation and Partners in Education, among others.
The Griffitarian
Rotarian and Past President Wayne Gardner does a fabulous job with our weekly newsletter. He sends it out each week by email and provides hard copies at each meeting.