Vinings Cumberland Club President Donna Drakes with PDG Ted Propes, DG Jim Squire and Rotarian Race Director Charles Heinz at the starting line

The month of August was amazing for Donna and me as we visited 14 clubs and met so many amazing Rotarians across the District. I had planned to share several stories from my visits, but as I sat Labor Day thinking about my family in Savannah, and the impending Hurricane Dorian, I was concerned about all the help that will be needed in our coastal GA Rotary District 6920 to recover from the damage.

I was reflecting that, as in the past, we would reach out to District 6900 Rotarians for contributions to our 501(c)(3) Rotary District 6900 Charitable Fund Inc. once the extent of the damage has been assessed. There are a variety of ways to do that; you can read all about it in a separate newsletter story on disaster relief efforts. It occurred to me that our members we can all add to the Charitable Fund on an ongoing basis every time we make a purchase at Amazon. If you are a customer of Amazon, instead of keying in www.amazon.com, you simply key in www.smile.amazon.com. At this Amazon site you still enjoy the exact same price for your merchandise, but on your first visit you can select for Amazon to donate a portion of your purchase amount to any of more than one million charities, including the Rotary District 6900 Charitable Fund Inc. Subsequently, if you go the “smile” site when you make your Amazon purchases (as I do) they will donate a few cents of every dollar (to be exact, 0.5% of your purchase) to our Charitable Fund.

As you read this article, Hurricane Dorian has moved through the East Coast - all the way to Canada before leaving the North American shore. Please keep the Rotarians, their families, and their local communities in your prayers for a speedy recovery from any and all injury and property damage. And read the additional article in this newsletter on other ways you can help NOW!