Collaborating for a DAY OF SERVICE!
September 11-17 of this year is Celebrate Community Week. John Hewko, the General Secretary and CEO of Rotary International wrote, “we’re encouraging Rotary and Rotaract clubs to partner with local Kiwanis, Lions, and Optimist clubs on a service project that will have a long-term impact in your community.”
The Rotary Club of North Atlanta (RCNA) and the DeKalb Rotary Council got a head start on August 5th.
For the past ten years, the RCNA has hosted a used medical equipment collection day for FODAC (Friends of Disabled Adults and Children – a local non-profit that gathers, refurbishes and distributes wheelchairs, hospital beds, and other medical gear large and small to those in need). This year we were joined by a local Lions club as well as many other DeKalb Rotary Council Clubs and Rotaract clubs.
Volunteers at the event teamed up to drive to locations in the greater metro area. A total of 57 volunteers consisting of representatives from seven Rotary clubs (North Atlanta, Dunwoody, Brookhaven, Emory Druid Hills, South DeKalb, Stone Mountain and Atlanta Metro), the North DeKalb Lions Club, and Rotaractors from Atlanta Metro and Sao Paulo, Brazil comprised ten teams. These teams accomplished a total of 35 pickups gathering home medical equipment and supplies from the very generous donors of Atlanta.
Jon Yaeger, current Club Program Chair and past president of the RCNA, and former chair of the DeKalb Rotary Council joined the local Lions Club in 2019 in-part to foster opportunities for the two volunteer organizations to collaborate and partner on projects. He is serving as president of the North DeKalb Lions Club this year. This project is the first collaboration of the year between RCNA and the ND Lions.
According to Yaeger, “partnering with other Rotary clubs and volunteer organizations is an excellent way to bring new energy into a club, as well as to multiply the good we can do through service projects. It also helps to recapture some of the energy and enthusiasm that dissipated during Covid, while exemplifying the Rotary 4-Way Test.” and motto of Service above Self.
