Members of the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville enjoyed a vocational tour of Junior Achievement’s Biztown and Finance Park located on the new Discovery High School campus on Old Norcross Road. Senior Associate of Operations, Laura French, conducted the tour on January 25. While Rotary members enjoyed a Chick-Fil-A lunch, she provided some background about the facility and the service provided to students. The program grew out of the Junior Achievement experience and now reaches 165,000 students from kindergarten through high school. Volunteers man the “shops” and “businesses” and help the students with their activities. The Biztown experience helps sixth graders run their own companies. They go from interviewing for jobs to running their businesses, including handling salaries, taxes, and bills. Students experience marketing a product and reporting on the status of their companies. At the Finance Park eighth-grade students learn about personal finances. They are assigned a certain salary and certain life situations, such as being a parent with two children or being a single person, and then have to handle their budgets. They learn about the expense of child care, about paying taxes and buying insurance, and about living on a budget.   Rotarians marveled at the beautiful building and were impressed with the life skills that the carefully planned activities provide for the students of Gwinnett County.

At the Monday, January 4, meeting of the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville, the District Membership co-chairs, Pepper Pettit and Scott Yochum, presented the group with ideas for increasing membership in the club.  They emphasized that their suggestions and ideas come from visiting numerous Rotary clubs and borrowing ideas to share.  Since less than 10% of members ever sponsor a new member, there is much room for improvement in recruiting.  The first step is a commitment from members to “grow” the club. A simple reality is that if each member brings one new member, the club membership is doubled quickly.  Scott talked about developing relationships from connections by learning about the other person’s life.  Pepper recommended holding a Rotary Rush Party, a strictly social event where potential members get acquainted with one another and with club members.  He also recommended linking a potential new member with a specific service project.

The Chief of Police for Gwinnett Public Schools, Wayne Riker, spoke to the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville on December 14.  He began by reminding the group that statistically the safest place for a child to be is at school, but the goal is always to be prepared.  He reviewed his training as a police officer and assured that only the “best and brightest” were hired by the school system.  He discussed the three aspects of the policeman’s job: (1) enforcing the law, (2) teaching about crime prevention, and (3) mentoring and establishing a trusting relationship with the students.  As for law enforcement, he admitted that parents create most of the problems when they do not follow the rules.  As for teaching, he described the clusters designed to progress with students from kindergarten to the 12th grade.   His force works on safety issues with the schools, develops drills, and strives to assure teachers, parents, and students of their safety.  He concluded by describing two initiatives started last year, Public Safety Notification and the Visitor Management Program.

Beatty McCaleb serves as Youth Services coordinator for the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville and as a Trustee for the Georgia Rotary Student Program (GRSP).  On Monday, November 30, he presented a program to the Club informing the group about the purpose and goals of GRSP.  After a brief introduction defining the program, he presented a film created to promote GRSP.  In the film some historical background was given and former GRSP students testified to the positive effects of the program on their lives.  The role of the Board of Trustees was described, as was the function of the annual Conclave held to introduce students and host families.  The goal of the group from its inception has been to promote peace and communication among citizens of the world.  The social, cultural, and educational advantages offered by the experience are numerous and make GRSP a program of which Rotarians in Georgia are very proud.

Beatty McCaleb introduced Monday’s speaker at the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville as “the epitome of a Rotarian.”  Rich Panyik, of the Rotary Club of South Gwinnett, spoke to the group on the subject of the Rotary Foundation, an apt subject since November is Foundation month.  He described District and Global grants, detailing the grants given to District 6910 in the past year.  He encouraged application for the district grants by the May 1, 2016, deadline. Global grants go to new international projects of $30,000 minimum, to sustain prior ones, to Vocational Training Teams, and to scholarships.  He explained how the funds derived from Paul Harris Fellows, Foundation Sustaining Members, Multiple Pin contributors, and Major Donors (+ $10,000) are apportioned to the Annual Program Fund, the Endowment fund, and the End Polio Program.  Last year annual giving amounted to $123 million.  He concluded with an update on the End Polio Now campaign (52 cases reported in Pakistan and Afghanistan) and a reminder of the 100th anniversary of the Foundation to be celebrated at the International Rotary Conference in Atlanta in June of 2017.

Attorney Robert Thomas, of Andersen, Tate & Carr, spoke to the group in his capacity as a member of the Advisory Board of the Gwinnett Reentry Intervention Program (GRIP) on Monday, November 9.  He opened with statistics about the recidivism rate in Georgia and in Gwinnett County, pointing out that 1 in 13 in Georgia come under some kind of state control and  that 2/3 of those arrested are  re-arrested and 50% of those re-incarcerated.  Inmates  cost $48/day, resulting in a $50.8 million cost to the County. He talked about who is being incarcerated:  50% of men and 85% of women being non-violent offenders.   These statistics explain why GRIP was created.  He showed a video entitled “David’s Story” which focused on one successful case and showed how the system works.  The cycle GRIP tries to defeat is arrest, release, homelessness, desperation, and re-arrest. GRIP attempts to break that cycle by providing help in re-assimilating into the community with a job and a place to live for those who express a desire to participate in the program.  He believes the program is working.  A sure sign of success is a 68% reduction in recidivism in the County for those that are not mental patients.

Speaking to the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville and their guests at Monday’s meeting was Congressman Rob Woodall.  Woodall serves the 7th district of Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives where he is on the House Committee on Rules, the House Budget Committee, and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.  He focused on the bipartisan work taking place in the House which the media does not cover.  He showed a slide demonstrating the bipartisan work done for dismantling Obamacare and pointed out bipartisan bills in the past.  He commented on the Reconciliation Bill and the Transportation Bill, which the House passed and moved along this week.  He maintained that a lot of good does not make it into the newspaper and praised his colleagues, Republican and Democrat, as many good people.  He fielded questions about the upcoming presidential election and about the Speaker of the House selection process.  He praised Boehner and McCarthy for getting out of the way when the focus shifted to them rather than issues.  He emphasized attitude by saying, “If you think it is broken, it is broken.  You have to believe you can make a difference.”

On October 19 The Executive Director of the Community Foundation of Northeast Georgia, Randy Redner, spoke to the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville.  He described the function of the Foundation as “connecting people who care with causes that matter.”  Over the past 30 years the Foundation has given over $55 million in grants and funds to non-profit organizations in northeast Georgia.  He discussed the donor side of the process and then the non-profit side, with the goal being to match people and funds with the needs in the community.  They help with funding, staffing and volunteers, education, and marketing.  He promoted the use of Charitable Giving Accounts for individuals to enhance their charitable giving.

Speaking at the October 12 meeting of the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville was Danny Porter, District Attorney for Gwinnett County.   Reflecting on cases he has handled over the years, he asserted that he had learned that he can’t say “I’ve seen it all.”  There are surprises all the time.  The most fascinating parts of his job currently are dealing with social media and utilizing the capabilities of Smart phones.  He said it’s amazing what some criminals decide is appropriate for a Facebook or Instagram picture.  With search warrants and court orders, his office can get lots of information starting with a site on social media.  70% of cases involve cell phones, social networks, or computers.  He raised questions about our reasonable expectations of privacy, recounting an example of his wife searching out the location of a thief by starting with his Instagram pictures and working through geo-tag, and Zillow to locate an address.  During the question period at the end of this talk, he voiced concerns about technological vulnerabilities and about sophisticated techniques used to push along drug money via games.

On September 28 members of the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville participated in a vocational tour of Creative Enterprises, Inc. at 701 Hi Hope Lane.  This was a follow-up program to the talk given at our January meeting where we learned about Creative Enterprises.  Leigh McIntosh reminded the group of Creative Enterprise’s mission: “to assist adults with disabilities and others with barriers to employment in maximizing their potential.  They offer a variety of programs and services to help these individuals obtain an optimal level of social, vocational, and economic independence.”  Leigh introduced Karl Heinlan and members of the CE Board that were present.  Then the group toured the Thrift Shop, the workshop, and the greenhouse.