Rotary International is an international service organization whose stated purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian service and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. There are 34,282 member clubs worldwide, representing 200 countries and 1.2 million members.

RI President-elect Shekhar Mehta's theme, Serve to Change Lives, urges Rotarians to become more involved in service projects, saying that caring for and serving others is the best way to live because it changes not only other people's lives, but also our own.

Upcoming Program: Anna Roach, Executive Director - Atlanta Regional Commission

Anna Roach is the executive director of the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), the agency which facilitates community and development strategies to enhance the Atlanta region’s growth and competitiveness. She has been a highly effective and collaborative leader during her more than two decades in the public and private sectors.

Prior to joining ARC in 2022, Roach served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer of Fulton County, the most-populous county in Georgia, where she oversaw 4,500 employees in 38 departments with a budget of $1.2 billion. In this role, she administered the county’s COVID-19 response plans and led efforts to transform the county’s major industrial corridor. Roach also served as Fulton County’s Chief Strategy Officer and Assistant County Manager.

Prior to joining Fulton County, Roach worked as a management consultant, focusing on operational and business process efficiencies. Her clients included the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, the State Department of Aging, and the City of East Point.

A lawyer by training, Roach has held several key legal leadership positions during her career, including Assistant Deputy General Counsel for the government of the District of Columbia and administrative law judge in the City of New York. She also worked as an appellate counsel for the Legal Aid Society of New York.

Roach is a current member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta and the American Bar Association, serves as an advisory board member at Tyler Technologies and AvenuInsights and Analytics and was past board chair of the March of Dimes, Atlanta market.

She holds a Juris Doctor from St. John’s University and a Bachelor’s of Arts in political science from the State University of New York, College at Cortland.Roach resides in the City of South Fulton with her husband and three children.

***Please note, the option to attend meetings virtually has been discontinued***


Upcoming Programs - Be sure to visit the DACdb calendar to see all upcoming events.

May 31st - Dell Spry, Former FBI Agent
June 7th - Rony Delgarde, Founder & CEO - Global Paint For Charity

Recap of Last Week's Program
This week, we heard from Garrett Langley who is the Founder and CEO of Flock Safety. Several years ago, Garrett and his neighbors were victims of organized gang crime where more than 100 cars were broken into one night, in his Buckhead neighborhood. Having an engineering degree and technical background, Garrett took action and recruited one of his former colleagues who built a makeshift camera which was then positioned in an area to capture photos of cars and license plates. Little did he know that his ingenuity would lead to the arrest of these criminals and in turn, he launched Flock Safety to help other communities fight crime.

Today, Flock Safety cameras are in two thousand cities across the nation, from Dallas, Texas to Dallas, Georgia and they capture on average, one billion cars images per week with 3.5% of all crimes are solved through their products. The company's mission is to eliminate crime through objective policing, and not subjective bias, meaning these cameras capture cars and plates; not faces. The results show that burglaries are down ten percent and car break-ins reduced by twenty-eight percent.

Looking ahead, Garrett shared that he plans to work on the aspect of personal safety, and working with local authorities to place cameras in local parks as well as working with Explore Gwinnett to place cameras in hotels. The company comprises 500 employees and to keep up with Flock Safety's growth and client needs, they are adding 100 positions every 90 days.

Thank you, Garrett, for a very impressive and engaging presentation and conversation!

Classification Talk & Blue Badge Alert
Joe Sorenson gave his classification talk this week. A Missouri native, Joe loves the Chiefs and Royals but certainly loves his Georgia Bulldogs, Braves and even the Falcons. Married to his high school sweetheart Andrea, the two eloped six months into their Freshman year of college and have raised twin sons. Joe said that his hobbies are raising his sons, but he does love to fish, hunt, etc. but his newfound passion and hobby is photography.

Joe is Director of the Gwinnett County Department of Communications. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and began his public relations career with Gwinnett County in 1991. Since 2000, he has led the County’s communications efforts, overseeing creative services for other County departments and agencies: public relations, research, writing, editing, media relations, photography, video production, event planning, and audiovisual system consultation and management. If you need help navigation local government, Joe is happy to help.

Congratulations Joe on receiving your official blue Rotary badge!




Important Dates - Mark Your Calendars!
Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 11th and join us to celebrate another incredible Rotary Year! Originally set to take place at Wally's Party Shack, we will now be gathering around the pool and pavilion at the home of Slade Lail who has graciously offered to play host. Be on the lookout for a sign-up genius link to RSVP soon.

Club Meeting Program Change: The Club is looking to host Jere Morehead, president of UGA on Monday, June 27th at 630pm at the 1818 Club. This special meeting/event will be in lieu of our normally-scheduled Tuesday, June 28th meeting. More information to come soon once details have been finalized.


Rotarian Families In Action-NEW!
Do you have children who participate in extracurricular activities? If so, this is an excellent time to share it with us. We are taking fellowship beyond our monthly social gatherings and would like to support your son and/or daughter in the things that they are currently participating in. From baseball, basketball, soccer and track/field meets to theater, dance and other competitions, our goal is to join you in cheering them on. If you would like to share their upcoming game/meet schedule or any other event they are participating in, send that information by noon every Friday to Schelly Marlatt - smarlatt@gwinnettcb.org, and she will share the information on our private Facebook page. This will give us the opportunity to not only have great fellowship with fellow Rotarians, but support your child(ren) in the things they do!

Covid19 Policy
Please keep in mind that if you don’t feel well or are exhibiting any signs or symptoms of illness, please stay home. When attending in-person, please be mindful of the personal comfort level of each individual to interact and engage by checking which color sticker is located on their badge.·

• • Green Sticker Means - I’m okay with hugs and handshakes
  • Yellow Sticker Means - I’m okay with elbow bumps
  • Red Sticker Means - I’m keeping my distance with a smile

• notify Wayne Ellison as soon as possible
• per the CDC, isolate for 5 days and if you are asymptomatic or your symptoms are resolving (without fever for 24 hours), follow that by 5 days of wearing a mask when around others to minimize the risk of infecting people you encounter.

While we are all exhausted from managing this pandemic, please keep the four-way test in mind as you move about the community. Should you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Wayne Ellison.

The Jim Steele Environmental Education Scholarship
Elliott Brack, in talking with Adele Steele, the widow of our former member Jim Steele, reported that so far people have contributed $15,000 to the Community Foundation of Northeast Georgia to the Jim Steele Environmental Education Scholarship. If you have not remembered Jim in this way, consider such a contribution to further such scholarship. The donation link: https://cfneg.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create?funit_id=2320


CART Fund
CART is Change for Alzheimer’s Research Trust, an organization founded by Rotarians and operated by Rotarians. One hundred percent (100%) of donated funds go to cutting edge research to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Thanks to your support CART was able to provide $1,000,000.00 in Grants again this year.
Individuals who would like to make a CART Contribution and get Tax or personal Credit: you can go to Login Form (mycartfund.org) and using your DACdb credentials to log in. once you are logged in click on “Make a Contribution” on the left-hand side of the page. Not only will you get credit, but so will your Club.