Club History

ROTARY CLUB OF MARIETTA-METRO

The First 25 Years                Meeting Places                    Publications                    Club Presidents            Fundraising                Community Service

Club Service                         Vocational Service             International Service       GRSP                          

Club Presidents List    Charter Members                District 6900 Honors and Awards

The First 25 Years  

The Rotary Club of Marietta Metro was chartered on May 18, 1978 .  Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Marietta, under the guidance of Sidney Clotfelter, the club consisted of 39 members, several of whom remain active.

 The Rotary world in the years since 1978 has witnessed significant changes, including the PolioPlus program; the admission of women into Rotary; the advent of the Internet and widespread use of electronic communication; the expansion of Rotary into the countries of the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, and the Asia/Pacific region; HIV/AIDS education and prevention programs; an emphasis on literacy; projects and programs to improve the environment; and the Rotary Peace Programs.

 In the past 25 years, the Rotary Club of Marietta Metro has been a microcosm of both our community and the Rotary world.  Locally, the intervening years have brought about rapid growth of both Marietta and Cobb County , the addition of five new Rotary clubs in the county, formation of the Cobb Rotary Council to facilitate communication among the seven Cobb County clubs, and new emphases to address the needs of our changing community.

The First 25 Years  

The Rotary Club of Marietta Metro was chartered on May 18, 1978 .  Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Marietta, under the guidance of Sidney Clotfelter, the club consisted of 39 members, several of whom remain active.

The Rotary world in the years since 1978 has witnessed significant changes, including the PolioPlus program; the admission of women into Rotary; the advent of the Internet and widespread use of electronic communication; the expansion of Rotary into the countries of the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, and the Asia/Pacific region; HIV/AIDS education and prevention programs; an emphasis on literacy; projects and programs to improve the environment; and the Rotary Peace Programs.

In the past 25 years, the Rotary Club of Marietta Metro has been a microcosm of both our community and the Rotary world.  Locally, the intervening years have brought about rapid growth of both Marietta and Cobb County , the addition of five new Rotary clubs in the county, formation of the Cobb Rotary Council to facilitate communication among the seven Cobb County clubs, and new emphases to address the needs of our changing community.

Club Presidents

Leadership of the club has been outstanding.  Our presidents have served with capable and dynamic presence at the podium, guiding us with the help of competent directors and committee chairs through exciting and successful community, club, vocational and international service projects.  As such, they have been instrumental in our prominence as a leading club in the district.   Club Presidents List

Fundraising

Fundraising projects through the years have included softball tournaments, barbecues, bed races, used book sales, wine tastings and golf/tennis tournaments.  Through these efforts, the club has been able to contribute more than $176,000 to Tranquility, the WellStar hospice center.  As well, we have contributed to numerous local, national and international charitable causes.   

Community Service

The club continues to participate in many worthwhile community projects.  We have held blood drives for the American Red Cross; collected sports and duffel bags for the Department of Family and Child Services; supported Cobb Christmas with donations for needy families; judged Boy Scout Jamborees; assisted at the Georgia Special Olympics; played in the Tommy Nobis Golf Tournament (to benefit the vocational rehabilitation center for disabled adults); collected goods and funds to assist with hurricane and flood relief; helped build Habitat homes; and contributed our pocket change once a month to the Coins for Alzheimers Research Trust.   In addition, we donate toys to the annual Toys For Tots program, support MUST Ministries, and participate in various other endeavors within the community.

In 2001-2002 we received a Community Assistance Program (CAP) grant from The Rotary Foundation to provide carpeting to a first grade class at Park Street Elementary School .  In 2002-2003 we received a second CAP grant to provide recreational equipment to the George Hartman Center for at-risk youth.

As part of our Preserve Planet Earth effort, the club assists annually in a clean-up of Lake Allatoona, clears litter from a designated section of Roswell Street on a quarterly basis as part of Marietta’s “Love the Loop” program, and participates every year in the “Bring One for the Chipper” Christmas tree recycling program.  In past years, we also have assisted in the city’s spring and fall recycling collection.

Our club sponsors two very active Interact clubs: one each at Pope and Lassiter High Schools .  We also provide RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) scholarships to selected high school students to enable them to participate in leadership training.

AIDS awareness/education programs have become an important part of our community service efforts.  In conjunction with AIDS Atlanta, our club sponsors such programs each year in several Cobb County high schools.

With the 100^th anniversary of Rotary’s founding less than two years away, we are now laying the groundwork for what will become our Rotary Centennial Project, slated for completion in the spring of 2005.  Toward that end, we are working with the Department of Juvenile Justice to determine how we might assist with their plans to construct and furnish a new education wing at the Marietta Regional Youth Detention Center.

Club Service

Club Service directors and chairs have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to provide the kinds of solid internal support functions that are crucial to an active and growing club. 

Among their many initiatives has been creating a new tradition of donating a book to a student at Park Street Elementary School in honor of guest speakers at our meetings.  Toward that end, the club recently has purchased a large number of books authored by Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice President Richard Cheney.  Entitled “An American Primer,” each book contains a specially designed bookplate signed by the author.  Each guest speaker also is asked to sign a book, which then is given to a student at the school.

Vocational Service

By way of Vocational Service, the club presents an award to an exemplary employee of the Tommy Nobis Center each quarter.  Each year we also recognize outstanding Marietta police officers and firefighters.  Our key employees are honored at an annual Employer/Employee luncheon and club members participate in vocational days at Marietta High School .

Our literacy endeavors have included not only the books for students at Park Street Elementary School , but also shipments of books to schools in Africa .  Proceeds from our semi-annual book sales fund our literacy projects.

International Service

The club’s participation in International Service projects has markedly increased through the years. Working with the Rotary Club of Coban, Guatemala and several other partner clubs, we were able provide a handicap-accessible van to EDECRI, a school for disabled children in Coban.  We also undertook a cooperative effort, along with partner clubs in the U.K. and South Africa , to build and furnish Makaphutu Village , a home for AIDS orphans in Bothas Hill , South Africa .  Currently, we are working with our Makaphutu partner clubs to establish smaller care centers for AIDS orphans in tribal villages surrounding Bothas Hill. 

Along with the Rotary Club of Quito Occidente, we now are in the early phases of a project in Quito , Ecuador that will assist indigent residents of that city to grow fruits and vegetables for their own sustenance, utilizing vacant city lots.  We also have formed a “Sister Club” relationship with the Quito Occidente club, not only for the purpose of joint cooperation on service projects, but also to enhance our communication, exchange Rotary-related information, and strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two clubs,

On behalf of our International Service efforts, we have received Carl P. Miller Discovery Grants to send small teams of our members to Coban, Guatemala , and Quito , Ecuador .  As well, we have received several Matching Grants from The Rotary Foundation.

Our International Service endeavors also have included hosting several Group Study Exchange teams and sponsoring an outbound GSE team member.  In addition, we have sponsored one outbound Ambassadorial Scholar.

Through our World Coins for AIDS program, we plan to place coin collection boxes in airports.  Passengers returning from international destinations will be able to contribute the unusable foreign coins brought back into the U.S. as pocket change.  These monies then will be used to fund our AIDS-related projects in other countries.

Club members are generous donors to The Rotary Foundation.  Many are Paul Harris Fellows, several are multiple Paul Harris Fellows and a few are Foundation Benefactors and Bequest Society members. Nearly 100% of our members are Paul Harris sustaining members.  In 2002-2003 the club pledged more than $18,000 over a three-year period to the Polio Eradication Fundraising Campaign.

GRSP

Our participation in the Georgia Rotary Student Program (GRSP) began in the club’s second year by sharing a student with another club.  A few years later, we were able to fund a scholarship for one student without the assistance of another club.  We have hosted a student nearly every year since then. 

The club also has supported the GRSP Endowment with proceeds from our wine tastings, weekly raffles and personal contributions, along with meeting a five-year $16,500 pledge.  In 2002-2003 we completed an additional three-year pledge to the Endowment of more than $26,000.  Several of our members have become Will Watt and Hue Thomas Fellows.

Rotary Club of Marietta Metro

Club Presidents

1978-79    -  Fred Aiken             1979-80  -  Ron Howren              1980-81  -  Wallace Montgomery     

1981-82  - Jim White               1982-83  -    Hap Smith               1983-84  - Bill Dykes, Jr.      

1984-85  - Ron Galloway          1985-86  -  *Paul Payne              1986-87  -   Tommy Manner

1987-88 - Ben Northcutt          1988-89 - Cecil Fike                  1989-90  -   *Bob Harper

1990-91 -    Ed Bonn                 1991-92  - *Harrison Williams     1992-93 -  *Ted Hayes

1993-94 - *Roger Rozen          1994-95  -  *Bill Kelly                 1995-96 -  *Stewart Carlin        

1996-97 -  * Bill Hilley             1997-98 -  *Michael Crace           1998-99 -   *Bob Thomas

1999-2000 -  *John Elliot         2000-01 -  *Rosemary Martin       2001-02 -  * Phil Medlin

2002-03 -   *Robert Donovan     2003-04 - Jim Kirby                 2004-05 - * Sally Platt                    

2005-06 - * Mike White         2006-07 - * David Beam           2007-08 - Pat McBride

President-elect for 2008-09 is Sam Ainsworth

 *   Denotes current members of the club.

1978 Charter Members

V. Fred Aiken             *Franklin D. Leiter            Julian F. Andia            William F. Mann             A.L. Adkins           

Thomas A. Manner     *Chester A. Austin           Jimmy May                   Richard B. Best          Dennis P. Merton        

*William E. Callaway, Jr.   George T. Mims         Larry Carithers            Wallace M. Montgomery, Jr.                           

William E. Dykes, Jr.  *J. Ed Mulkey                    John J. Elliott, Jr.  Jack D. Park        Cecil W. Fike             

John Potter          Ronald D. Galloway   Edgar T. Rambo   *Ross H. Howard, Jr.

W. Gayward Rogers   Ronald Hugh Howren   *A. McKoy Rose , Jr.     William L.  Huggins

Earl Smi              *David F. Hunter        Hansell L. Smith   John H.P.G. Jones 

William P. Thompson  Robert W. Kelly   R. Hiram Webb    *Donald B. King                                 

Don White           Harold L. Lea                  James K. White            James T. Willoughby

  * Denotes current members of the club.

Partial List of First Place

District 6900 Honors and Awards

       1986-8        Best Bulletin

1989-90                     Best Bulletin

1989-90       Presidential Citation

1991-92       Community Service

1992-93                     Best Bulletin

1992-93                     Best Scrapbook

1992-93                     Best All Around Club

1993-94                     Governor’s Award for Bulletin

1993-94                     Governor’s Award for Scrapbook

1993-94       Presidential Citation

1994-95       Community Service

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