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December is Disease Prevention and Treatment Month

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December 16th Meeting Recap

Our "make up" meeting, held on December 16th at Alpharetta City Hall was a great opportunity to reconnect with everyone after Thanksgiving and before Christmas. Our lunch was catered by Never Enough Thyme and members seemed to enjoy the chicken piccata. 

President Erik began the meeting by giving an update on the situation with our regular meeting location, Brimstone. The restaurant was recently sold and is no longer going to be open for lunch. After subsequent meetings with members of the board and a face-to-face meeting with the new owner of Brimstone, we plan to continue meeting at Brimstone at this time. Although the restaurant won't be open for lunch, the new owner does want to continue our relationship and will have staff there for lunch during our twice a month meetings. 

Steve Cory led our Happy Dollars today and our members were in a giving mood! Doug Higgins started things off by announcing the exciting news that he will become a grandfather this summer - his daughter Ashley is expecting her first child!  Steve Siders shared some exciting professional news and James Marosek shared that he and his wife Van were able to travel to Vietnam. It was a very meaningful trip for both of them. In total, we raised $345 in Happy Dollars and this is going to the Children's Development Academy (CDA).

Member Andy West "graduated" to his white badge! We certainly appreciate the way Andy quietly and steadfastly serves our club and community, from the significant time spent on our CPR/AED project to the many hours he spent painstakingly revitalizing our Peace Pole at North Park. 

Foundation Chair Doug Higgins gave out some meaningful recognitions. President Erik is now a Paul Harris Fellow +3, and Dan Jenkins is a Paul Harris Fellow + 1. Doug also reminded everyone that points can be used to bestow Paul Harris Fellow status on a member and he did this by donating his own points so that two of our members, Steve Cory and Marc Gelber, could become Paul Harris Fellows. Doug was moved to do this based on Steve and Marc's work on our CPR/AED program and because he lost both of his parents to heart disease. It certainly was very impactful! 

We also had some club business to conduct, namely, voting on our 2026-2027 board and the financial report. Surprising no one, everyone on the ballot was approved for the 2026-2027 board! 

2026-2027 Board for Rotary Club of North Fulton:

President: Dan Jenkins

President Elect: Jonathan Stelling

Treasurer: Erik Bykat

Secretary: Steve Siders

Community Service: Amie Blanton

Membership: Jeff Esterkes

Public Image: Lisa Gelber

Foundation: Doug Higgins

Fundraising: Rick Clark

Interact/Youth: Joy Manbeck

Companion Club Chair: Staci Sanders

Finally, our Treasurer, Mike Mudd, gave a report on the state of our club's finances. There was quite a bit of detail shared, but in short, the financial status of the club is very good. Thank you for such a comprehensive report, Mike! Please reach out to Mike if you have any questions. 

First Tuesday Social: January 6th

We are rebranding from First Thursday socials to First Tuesday socials in 2026. (Many members mentioned conflicts with other group events on Thursday evenings.) Please join us at Voodoo Brewing on January 6th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. If you have any questions, please reach out to Mark Hutchins at mhutchins75@gmail.com.

Voodoo Brewing, 1010 Mansell Road, Suite 180, Roswell 

Next Meeting is January 13th at Brimstone

Our next meeting is January 13th at Brimstone. Our guest speakers have a special story to share with us. Our very own James Marosek, and his wife Van, will be sharing about their recent trip to Vietnam. Van is from Vietnam and left as a child (during the Vietnam War) on the next to last plane. She and James have long wanted to visit Vietnam and the trip was an emotional one for them. Please join us at our first meeting of 2026 to hear this story! 

MLK Day of Service at the CDA

Members, please get ready to roll up your sleeves to help us clean the classrooms at the CDA on Monday, January 19th from 10 am to 12 pm. We need 15 volunteers to help tackle this assignment. Keeping the classrooms clean is so important at the CDA. When a child gets sick, their parent must miss work to stay home with them and the loss of wages is very detrimental to their households. 

Please sign up on the link provided by the CDA:  Clean the CDA Classrooms

Peace Pole Installation at Wellstar North Fulton Hospital

On a cold, early December morning, members of Rotary Club of North Fulton gathered together to install a Peace Pole at Wellstar North Fulton Hospital. Past President Rick Clark led the group and the work was efficient, possibly because of the cold and the promise of a hot breakfast afterwards! Thanks to our members, Steve Cory, Doug Higgins, Richard Matherly, Thomas Nolfa, Brad Serff, Jonathan Stelling, Cliff Wilcox and of course, Rick Clark. 

NFCC Toyland

Our toy drive for NFCC was a success! Thank you to all who donated a toy (or two, or three, or four!). We were able to deliver 3 wagons full of toys for parents to "shop" for their children. 

Operation Christmas Child

Submitted by Joy Manbeck

I would like to thank all of you who so generously donated Operation Christmas Child gift boxes! Thanks to you, an additional 26 children around the world, who would most likely not receive any type of Christmas gift (or any other type of gift for that matter) will be able to enjoy these wonderful boxes full of treasures! My sincere thanks and may you and your family have a very blessed Christmas.

Companion Club Update

Reminder that our companion club meeting is January 15th at Thrive, 44 Milton Avenue, Alpharetta (located above Minnie Olivia Pizza) at 6:30 pm. 

If you have any questions, please reach out to Joseph Powell, (912) 662-2246. 

Here is a photo of some of the members who were able to attend the holiday party at Mac Magee's!