Rotary Vinings Cumberland

Vinings Rotary was chartered on November 15, 1989 with 37 members.  Four Charter Members are still in the club which currently has 68 members. Smyrna, Sandy Springs and Buckhead helped in the club’s formation.

Our accomplishments include:

Involved in GRSP since being chartered. We’ve had students from 19 different countries.

Only Sweden and Norway have provided 2 students

Had attendees to all District 6900 Conference.

Had delegates to many Rotary International Conferences.

Have been active with local charities each year with amounts raised and donations rising each year.

Have been involved with international projects yearly.

Have provided tutors at Teasley Elementary School many years.  Have worked with adult education and English as a second language many years as well.

In 1995, started a $1000 a year scholarship and in 2001 have given two $1500 a year scholarships.

Have visited at Christmas with the Smyrna Senior Citizens Center and hosted a Senior once monthly at our weekly meeting. Unfortunately, the county closed the center in 2011.

We meet annually at the Calvary Children’s Home, one of our major charities.

We participate in the Adopt-A-Mile program quarterly, adopting Paces Ferry Road from the river to the RR tracks.  We also clean up a historical cemetery every Halloween weekend and in 2010, planted daffodils throughout this property.

We had a family exchange in 1993 with Rosario, Argentina. They visited our club in 1994. We had another exchange in 2005 with Nome, Alaska and they came here in 2006.

Our club was Best All-Around Club at District Conference, three years in a row for Category II clubs. These years included: 2002/2003, 2003/2004, and 2004/2005.

Our club moved up to Category III in 2005/2006 and that year we won Runner Up at District 6900 Conference. We were honored to win this award again in 2011-2012.

Became active with the Wheelchair Foundation in the 2003-2004 Rotary year. To date, we have donated more than 600 wheelchairs.

Became involved with RYLA in 2003-2004 and have sent up to 6 students each year since.

We established our Interact Club at Campbell High School in 2003. This is an extremely active and effective club.

YouthAct at Griffin Middle School started in 2007.

We have a very active program supporting Trinity House downtown.

Our Kilifi project which began in 2006/2007 is a multi-year, highly successful project in Kenya. In 2007, along with other clubs in District 6900, we received a Global Grant of $57,625.

The Vinings Rotary Charity Fund, established in 1994, has contributed more than $485,000 unto numerous local charities. A large percentage of that has been raised by our annual Run for the Kids race, now called the Vinings Downhill 5K.

Fundraising activities over the years have included:

1991/1992-1995/1996  Golf Tournaments
                                   Net $31,000

1996/1997--Spring Ball and Auction—Net $12,000

1997/1998—5K Run for the Animals—Net $1900

1998/1999—2011/2012—Run for the Kids:

          Net $4100 in 1998/90--- Net $60,000 in 2011/2012

Currently 5% of the corpus in our Vinings Rotary Charity Fund is available to each new Board of Directors for charitable purposes. As of 2011/2012, we have currently used over $25,400.

Our Red Badge program for new Vinings Rotarians began in 2006.

We continue to be supportive of the Paul Harris Foundation with all our members being Sustaining Members. We have many Fellows and many multiple Fellows, Major Donors, Benefactors and a five Bequest Society Members.

VININGS ROTARY-- CITIZENS OF THE YEAR

93-94    B.J. Boyes

94-95    Linda Muir

95-96    Winona Crowder

96-97    Judy Kuhn

97-98    Mike Hammer

98-99    Betty Lou Kearney

99-00    Carl Moore

00-01    Frank Gleason

01-02    Margaret Hathaway

02-03    Kevin Link

03-04    Woody Faulk

04-05    Joe Lee Thompson

05-06    Ron Sifen

06-07    Dr. Steve Whittle

07-08    Barbara Limardo

08-09    M.A. Sikes

09-10    Betty Smith

10-11    Bill Voegli

11-12    Rev. Beth Dickenson
 
12-13    Susan Kendall
 
13-14    Anne Cox

15-16    Jane Mitchell
 

VININGS ROTARY—PAST PRESIDENTS
89-90  Short year-chartered in November, 1989.
Leon Rice was our 1^st President

90-91                   Leon Rice

91-92                   Steve Kerr

93-94                   Nancy Schuster

94-95                   Jep Hogan

95-96                   Harry Porter

96-97                   Ernesto Suarez

97-98                   Nicholas Orphan

98-99                   Pam Walker

99-00                   Paul Harris

00-01                   Hermann Gammeter

01-02                   John Collins

02-03                   Ted Propes—Best All Around Club, Category II

03-04                   Bill Thornloe—Best All Around Club, Category II

04-05                   Jim Polk—Best All Around Club, Category II

05-06                   Vince Clanton- Runner-Up Best All Around Club
                            Category III

06-07                   Gant Adams

07-08                   Ken Honeyman

08-09                   Steve Hughes

09-10                   Jim “Mac” McDougall

10-11                   Chelsea “Joe” Bartenfeld

11-12                   Debby Bolt-Runner Up-Best All Around Club
                            Category III

12-13                   Casey Patrick

13-14                   Traci Newman