All posts by asutt

Nicole Hendrickson: Gwinnett County Community Outreach

Nicole Hendrickson is the Community Outreach Program Director for the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners.  She has been in the role for only 6 months and she shared some exciting new initiatives that will help the ever more diverse residents of Gwinnett County feel included in the workings of their county.  Ms. Hendrickson described the new Citizens Academy, a 10 week program where business owners, county residents, and others come together in a class of 30 to learn more about how the county government works.  Meeting from 6 – 9 pm on Thursdays, they learn about a new branch of county government each week, from public safety to transportation to water resources.  She also described the International Diversity Festival, designed to bring together public safety officials and community members who may be from countries where there was no trust of those officials.  The goal of the program is to help residents understand how public safety works in the county and to build trust between the community and officials.  Despite being a one-woman office, Ms. Hendrickson described several initiatives that will help county residents understand their county government better and participate in it more effectively.

President Art Kleve: Club Assembly

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At their May 18th meeting the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville held a Club Assembly.  President Art Kleve began by reporting on the awards won by the club at the recent District Conference.  First was a Gold Club Award based on these areas: administration, public image, community service,  GRSP, vocational service, and youth services.  Additionally, there were a Public Image and a Presidential Citation Award.  He announced the new leadership team: Freya Myers, President; Russ Weekley, President-Elect; Richard Steele, Secretary and President-nominee; and Josh Voisine, Treasurer. He called on committee chairs Beatty McCaleb, Richard Steele, Carolyn Bagheri , Nancy McGill, and Tim Golden for reports and mentioned some of the club’s projects for this year: road clean-up, reading at Lawrenceville Elementary School, the Laws of Life contest, Spring Green, and Christmas donations.  Al Hombroek completed the program with a detailed report on the upcoming GRSP Conclave to be held August 27-30 at Georgia Gwinnett College.

Elliot Brack: Get Outta Gwinnett — and enjoy a long vacation!

Club Meetings

Rotarian and journalist Elliott Brack shared stories of his travels with the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville at the noon meeting on May 11.  He has traveled widely around the world and in the United States and shared his experiences and advice.  Admitting that his least favorite aspect of travel is packing and unpacking, he recommended some ways to “not pack”: reserve a house or apartment for a long stay (His experience in Florence, Italy, provided a good example.); use VRBO to reserve a place (His experience was in Brooklyn and New Orleans.); or take an ocean or river cruise (He has enjoyed an Alaskan cruise and a Hudson River cruise.).  He highly recommended a visit to the Channel Islands and to Ireland/England/ Scotland.  In the United States he recommended Arkansas for the Arkansas Derby, Maine and Prince Edward Island in the summer, and Vermont in the winter.  He covered many U.S. cities and ended praising Georgia’s mountains and St. Simons Island.

P.K. Martin: “Georgia Senate Recap-2015 Session”

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P. K. Martin, State Senator from the 9th District, spoke to his home Rotary group at their noon meeting on May 4.  He opened by presenting Marshall Boutwell with a Senate Resolution recognizing Marshall’s multiple contributions to the credit union movement in Georgia and congratulating him on receiving the Moses C. Davis Lifetime Achievement Award.   Senator Martin then talked to the group about his experience as a freshman senator, describing the learning process and his first impressions.  He has been stuck by  the helpfulness of his fellow Senators and their commitment to doing the right thing.  He went over a list of important legislation passed this session, including SB1 improving insurance coverage for children with autism, HB1 approving cannabis oil for medical purposes, bills breaking down bureaucratic barriers for high school students, HB 502 ensuring our students are taught founding principles, and HB170 providing for transportation funding.  He discussed SB 108, his bill requiring additional risk management for large insurers, and the five House bills he sponsored.  He has been selected to participate in a national leadership program as one of 27 new legislators who show leadership potential in the Republican Party.