It was a great day to have a visit from District Governor Felix Smith! President Andrew Cosey reminded everyone of the upcoming September social and service projects. Bill Von Alt announced a fundraiser that the club will be having at the Ghost Pirates in January! Once all Rotary business items were discussed, Todd Freeseman introduced DG Smith.
District Governor Felix Smith started his presentation by saying there are 46,000 clubs worldwide. He gave us an update on Polio, CART, and the new Rotary International Focus of Environment. Felix then highlighted his initiative for this upcoming year which is literary. 37% of Georgia's third grade students are not proficient in reading. At Haven Elementary, only 9% of third graders are proficient. Felix then asked, "what can we do about this?" Read United is a wonderful program that can help! In Perry, Felix and other members of the community volunteered once or twice a week in an elementary school to help children become better readers. Within a year, the reading proficient rate went all the way up to 84%! They also started a Summer Reading Program where books were given to all third grade students so they would have something to read over summer break. Felix said that he is happy to put any RCSE member in contact with the person in our community that is helping with Read United. Felix ended his presentation by encouraging everyone to attend the District Conference in Jekyll Island in April!