This Week's Meeting
Club Assembly - Celebrate the Good We're Doing!
Please join us this Friday at Flemings for our first full club assembly of the year. We will have a financial update on the club, all good (thanks to some hard decisions made earlier this year by the club on dues and the charitable fund), but our primary focus will be celebrating the good we have done in our community and the world in the last year. We will do this by sharing pictures and commentaries by involved members.
I joined the Rotary Club of Dunwoody 22 years this October, and one of my primary reasons for staying was the ability of Rotary to allow me to make a greater difference in the world through teamwork. Our most recent Club success on October 23 with the End Human Trafficking program at the Ravinia led by Charlie Augello was an example of this. I received the District email about this new initiative in July and knew we needed to help. One of the many ex- Presidents in the club (who have been such a great help this year) suggested I reach out to Charlie and he built and led the incredible team that made this event happen. Now the Club has planted a seed that I am sure will grow in future years to make a real difference in our community.
My personal focus this year has been on sustainability and vocations, and I am excited by the progress we have made on both fronts. Come on Friday and learn more about the difference we have made, and let me know your thoughts on what we can in the future.
I appreciate all you each do to make leading this club such a rewarding experience.
Have a great week and we will see you Friday!
Support GRSP Leadership Weekend
Order Your GRSP Leadership Weekend T-Shirt Now
We are getting ready for the GRSP Leadership Weekend is coming in January and are giving you an opportunity to show your support by buying a Long Sleeve T-Shirt and help subsidize the cost of the students' shirts at the same time. We are selling the shirts for $20 each; student shirts cost us $15 each. You can buy shirts for friends and family, even if you are not attending the event.
Please click here to get to the order form, print it and bring to our meeting on November 22 with cash or a check made out to the Rotary Club of Dunwoody. Darrin Vanderpan will be collecting orders for our club. If you are not able to be there next Friday, please get the form and money to Gainesville Rotarian Bill St. Clair (Gainesville Rotary is our partner in the event) before November 29. His information is on the bottom of the form.
Everybody can participate! If you don't want a shirt, but wish to contribute any amount, there is a spot for that on the form just for you.
Welcome New Member
Meet Darrin Vanderpan
Darrin relocated to the Dunwoody area from Oakland, California in 2019. Darrin is married to Deirdre, an Atlanta native, and they have three older children in various stages of school and careers.
Darrin has an eclectic entrepreneurial background that includes an ice cream business, a web hosting business, and a dog grooming business. He is currently working relocating the mobile dog grooming business (The Grooming Pawlor) to Atlanta while getting settled in their new Sandy Springs home. Darrin also served as a reserve police officer for over 20 years.
In California, Darrin was a member of the Hayward Rotary club, served as a PTA president, and raised dogs for Guide Dogs for the Blind.In all his free time, Darrin enjoys snow skiing and being an extra on TV and movies. Watch for him in upcoming episodes of McGyver!
Darrin is sponsored by Jackie Cuthbert. He is currently working with Jackie on an update of the club website.
Your Ideas Wanted!
Help Us as We Update Our Website
The Club website will be undergoing a major overhaul between now and February - thanks in part to some help I'm getting from one of our newest members - Darrin Vanderpan. Darrin has run a website hosting business in the past and will bring his skills and experience to this project! I'm delighted.
We hope to make the site more engaging - and to make it easier for you to quickly find the information you need there - still working within the District 6900 website platform. We have some ideas but need your help! Please drop me a email at cuthbert@mindspring.com with any ideas for things you'd like to see and the way you'd like to see them organized.
You will likely start to see some changes soon! Thanks for your patience through this process.
Service Opportunity
Welcome the GRSP World to Atlanta in January
From January 17-19, 2020, Dunwoody will join with the Rotary Clubs of Gainesville and Metro Atlanta, and the Rotaract Club of Atlanta Metro to host the GRSP Leadership Conference. This is a 15+ year Dunwoody Rotary tradition, and we expect to have nearly all of the 40 students in this year's class with us for the weekend.
There are a variety of ways you can help - here are two:
1. Be a weekend host family. If you sign up for this, you would provide:
- housing on Friday and Saturday night
- breakfast on Saturday and Sunday mornings
- transportation that includes pick-up Friday night, delivery to Oglethorpe on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and pick-up Saturday from Oglethorpe
You are also invited to participate in a group dinner at one of our Dunwoody Rotarian’s home with your students on Saturday night - and to join us for any part of the weekend you'd like to attend. More details to follow, but take time now to consider the opportunity. If you would like to volunteer as a host, contact Jackie Cuthbert at 770-597-1183 or by email at cuthbert@mindspring.com
2. Volunteer to be part of the welcoming committee at the Atlanta History Center on Friday afternoon. We are looking for volunteers to check students in, be the "host" for one of the 8 groups as they tour the AHC, and/or to take students from the AHC to Breakout Games in Buckhead at the end of our AHC visit.
Also take a look at Darrin's article in this bulletin; you have an opportunity to purchase one of the tee-shirts we'll be handing out. We need tee-shirt orders by this Friday, November 22.
Member Spotlight
Bob O'Brien
I have had the O’Brien Insurance Agency, LLC - a Farmer's Insurance Agency since 2014 - we do personal and commercial insurance and life insurance. I started in the insurance industry in 1988 with Hobbs, Group LLC and have been in insurance most of my career - with a stint at Harley Davidson Killer Creek.
I have been married to Andrea for 42 years and have a wonderful family. My interests include the Uncle Chick Band and Full Circle Band, the Harley Owners Group, the Herring Foundation of Hope and the Dunwoody Country Club.
I have been involved in giving back since growing up in Connecticut. [more]