Projects
2016 Foundation Ball
The Foundation Ball is both the largest social event of the year as well as the largest fundraiser for the club. This year's event was held on February 27, 2016, at the Cherokee Town Club in Buckhead, with over 310 people attending. The total net proceeds from the ball was $72,000, over twice the amount raised in 2015. Proceeds from the ball help fund the programs of the Club.
7th Grade Basketball League
Since 1965 the Rotary Club of Buckhead has sponsored a 7th grade basketball league for boys. In addition to a financial contribution, the club has continued to provide assistance each week with running the scoreboard and stats for each game.
For the 2015-2016 season, Teams include:
Apple Polishing
The thirty-six year tradition at the Rotary Club of Buckhead of Apple Polishing continued on October 19-20 2015. The focus of the event each year is to express gratitude to educators in Metro Atlanta. The Rotary Club of Buckhead delivered 2,000 apples to teachers and faculty along with a thank you note and a copy of the four way test to within the greater Atlanta area.
Atlanta Area Boy Scouts - Eagle Badge Awards
The Rotary Club of Buckhead is proud to sponsor the Boy Scouts of America. For 22 years we have supported young men of the Atlanta Area Council, who have achieved the rank of Eagle Scout by funding the cost of their Eagle Badges. In addition, we assist in the ceremony honoring these Eagle Scouts. This year there were 634 Eagle Badges earned in the Atlanta Area Council.
Buckhead Rotary Annual Tennis Tournament
For over three decades the Rotary Club of Buckhead has hosted an annual high school tennis tournament for varsity boys and girls teams. Public and private schools from all over the Southeast participate in this spring weekend event. The tournament is known as the largest high school tennis tournament in the Southeast.
Family Literacy Initiative
It has been determined through extensive scientific brain development research that a child’s language abilities at age 3 are highly correlated to a child’s reading success in third grade and that reading level is a very strong predictor of high school graduation and thus career opportunities.
Global Grant Scholar
We search for candidates at Georgia Tech, Georgia State and the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. This year we identified Dillon Roseen, a Georgia Tech student pursuing a degree in Economics and Public Affairs. Dillon expressed interest in focusing on peace and conflict resolution at King's College, London, followed by an internship at a UK law firm and then an international law degree. Dillon was not selected for the scholarship, but was encouraged to apply again next year.
GRSP Foundation
Our club is faithful in giving to the GRSP Foundation. As a club we are on pace to give in excess of $8,000 this year. We were honored to present Jeff Clark with a Will Watt Award.
Horizons Summer Camp at the Atlanta International School
This program is a Summer Camp located in Buckhead for Buckhead students. It will be held at AIS for students in the bottom 25% of grades K-2 at Garden Hills Elementary who are on free or reduced price lunch programs. It is designed to reduce Summer Learning Loss (see link below) and to provide 2 nutritious meals and a snack to these at risk students. The focus will be on helping these students attain 3rd grade reading and math levels by 3rd grade. Research very clearly shows that if this 3rd grade education benchmark is not attained, a student is unlikely to graduate from high school. Horizons is a 501(c)3 which was formed in 1964. Their camp model is used at numerous locations across the USA and in several locations in Atlanta with results showing 94-99% high school graduation by students who attended Horizon programs.
Laws of Life Essay Contest
The Georgia Rotary Clubs Laws of Life Essay Contest challenges high school students to select a “law of life,” that focuses on an important character value, and to write an essay showing how that value applies to their lives. The contest encourages the development of good character and promotes advanced literacy skills in Georgia teenagers.
Polio Plus Project
The Rotary Club of Buckhead has taken its message for support of World Polio Day to streets and highways around metro Atlanta. The club’s World Polio Day digital billboard campaign is posted on six rotating boards on key highways and streets and will be seen hundreds of thousands of Atlanta motorists through October 24th, World Polio Day. Buckhead Rotarian Mark Simonton and his staff at the Atlanta ad agency, Chemistry Atlanta, designed the boards. The billboard space was donated by the billboard company.
Publicity and Public Relations
Buckhead Rotary has an active and ongoing publicity and public relations program. We have placed stories with the Northside Neighbor (our "local" paper,) the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Buckhead Patch and others.
We maintain an active and constantly updated Facebook page and Twitter feed.
Rotaract and Interact
The Buckhead Rotary Club sponsors two active Rotaract Clubs -- North Atlanta and Oglethorpe University -- as well as a new Interact club at North Atlanta High School. Activities included an apple polishing/teacher appreciation day at North Atlanta, a joint WAPI (Water Pasteurization Indicator) project with Oglethorpe Rotaract, books for African project, Gear For Goals Collection, and sponsorship of an AIDS/HT Assembly at the North Atlanta Parent University.
SHARE Pizza Nights with veterans
For many years, RCB has hosted Mellow Mushroom Pizza night with Shepherd’s SHARE Vets. This is a casual outing and an opportunity for the Vets to take it easy and talk to folks not participating in this program. RCB has several military veterans who are the backbone of this effort. Blake Beyer is the chair, and he rarely misses one of these monthly events. Chandler Rudd is a newer addition to our list of RCB hosts for this monthly outing. He works for USAA. He has been able to provide more varied topics of conversation. Major Gen(retired) David Bockel also frequently attends these informal evenings.
The Rotary Foundation
The Buckhead Rotary Club is a generous club and on track to give in excess of $30,000 to The Rotary Foundation this year. 63% of our members give in excess of the minimum required by our by-laws and 5% of our members increased giving to the Rotary Foundation in response to Foundation Month. We have had the pleasure of awarding 11 Paul Harris Fellows and one Major Donor this year.