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ROTARY CLUB OF
Dunwoody

LEADERSHIP

In This Bulletin ...

Read about this week's Thirsty Thursday, then scroll down to learn about:

• Our newest Honorary Member, Past President Lang Wooddy
• New and immediate service opportunities in our community
• Eleni Bafas and Sara Etelalahti - and what we learned in their recent member moments
• Our new Rotary International President and his focus for this year

No Meeting Next Week
Join Us August 20 for Thirsty Thursday at East 48th Street Market

Tomorrow night - Thursday, August 20 - we are holding our monthly Thirsty Thursday party - with all social distancing precautions in place -  in the parking lot outside Rotarian Charlie Augello's East 48th Street Market, 2462 Jett Ferry Rd., Atlanta GA 30338! Festivities begin at 5:30 pm and continue until about 7:00 pm. Here's how the evening will work:

• Please bring your chair, a small side table if you want one, and, if you are ordering wine, your own wine glass. Also bring your mask, so we can be safe if talking closer than six feet.
• If you ordered food in advance from the Market's daily menu, you can go into the Market, pick up your food order, select your beverage (including soft drinks, bottled beer and bottles of wine) and pay.
• If you didn't pre-order, you are still welcome! You can go in and place an order and wait for it to be ready.

Note: We are carefully watching the weather. You might want to bring an umbrella.

Opportunities to Serve During the Pandemic
Share Your Gardening Skills with the Communitty

We have some immediate opportunities to get your hands dirty - in a good way - with outside places where we can make a difference for our community and enjoy a little fun while serving together:

• Malachi's Storehouse Victory Garden - Sunday, August 23: Join fellow Rotarians and Malachi Storehouse Director Judi Carlson to tend a garden! We're growing community food this Sunday, August 23, 5:00 PM at St. Patrick's Episcopal Church, 4755 N Peachtree Road, Atlanta, GA 30338. Dress for the garden! Gloves and smiles, please! (And a Dunwoody Rotary shirt if you have one.)  Call Kobelah Svensen Bennah with any questions. (774)-279-3615.
• RCD Nature Center Team - Saturday, September 12: We're building an RCD Nature Team to assist the Dunwoody Nature Center! This opportunity may be open monthly, but we start with one day: Saturday, September 12 from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM at 5343 Roberts Drive, Dunwoody, GA 30338. Dress to get dirty! Bring water, gloves, mask, social distance,  a can-do spirit and a Dunwoody Rotary shirt if you have one! Contact Cathie Brumfield to RSVP with pleasure! (404) 668-6693.
  

Lang Wooddy, Our Newest Honorary Member

At Dunwoody, we have a group of people we celebrate as Honorary Members. Most are former Dunwoody Rotarians who have contributed a lot of time and effort to the Club's success. In July, the Board of Directors voted to recognize Past President Lang Wooddy as an Honorary Member.

Lang is an "almost Charter member" of the Rotary Club of Dunwoody, joining shortly after the club was formed. He served as our President in the 1991-92 Rotary Year; we received the Best Club of the Year recognition that year. We participated in our first Fourth of July parade during Lang's year. He went on to serve as the Chair of the DeKalb Rotary Council.

Lang and Marianne Wooddy are Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation, and were always on hand to help out with projects. For many of our most recent years, the very "dapper" Lang Wooddy inducted our new members.

Last year, the Wooddy's moved to Florida, where Lang is still active in Rotary. We are excited to have Lang in our Rotary family too!.

Member Spotlight
Meet Sara Etelahahti

Sara Etelalahti is a 2016 graduate of Georgia College and State University with a BBA in Accounting and BS in Economics. She is currently working at Aprio, LLP as a Tax Manager in the real estate and construction industry, providing service to developers and owners in land, office, hotel, retail, and residential development, domestic and international investors in US Real Estate, construction companies both large and small, as well as real estate service providers.

In 2018, Sara earned her Private Pilot Certificate, flying Piper Cherokees out of Peachtree Dekalb Airport. She enjoys traveling and volunteering with Aprio throughout the year.

She joined the Rotary Club of Dunwoody in January 2020. As she develops her career, she wants to become a leader in the community that gives back. In Sara's words, "Rotary is a great place to learn how to be a business leader in the community, meet like-minded people, and increase my knowledge and involvement in community service work." She is looking forward to serving on the board as Director for Youth Services.

Member Spotlight
Meet Eleni Bafas

Eleni Bafas has gained a broad base of experience working on a variety of cases in her diverse legal practice. As owner of Bafas Law, P.C. in Marietta, Georgia, she now specializes in estate planning, probate, business, and family law. She greatly enjoys working with individuals and families to satisfy their legal needs. Eleni belongs to the State Bar of Georgia, the Atlanta and Cobb County Bar Associations, and the Georgia Association of Women Lawyers.

Since graduating from Georgia State College of Law with Pro Bono Distinction in 2012, she has worked at a boutique real estate litigation firm and an estate planning and family law firm. Prior to attending law school, Eleni graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with Highest Honors in 2009. A recipient of the prestigious Georgia Tech Stamps President’s Scholarship award, Eleni was actively involved in several student organizations at Georgia Tech and keeps close ties to the Institute to this day. Eleni serves as a Regional Committee Chair and Finalist Selection Committee member for the Stamps President’s Scholarship Program. She is also a member of the Georgia Tech President’s Scholarship Alumni Society and the Georgia Tech Bar Association.

Eleni is active in a number of civic organizations besides our Rotary Club. In Rotary, she serves on the District 6900 committee for Global Grant Scholarships and is a trustee for the Georgia Rotary Student Program (GRSP, Inc.). Eleni also serves on the board of directors for the GRSP Foundation as secretary.

Eleni is also a member of the American Legion Auxiliary. And her passion for service also includes serving as the CEO of St. Nick’s Kids, an accredited, nonprofit adoption agency. Additionally, Eleni works to connect young professional women of Atlanta as founder and CEO of The Atlanta Social Club, through which she also organizes charitable projects. Furthermore, she is actively involved in her church and serves as legal advisor for the executive board of the philanthropic “Philoptochos” organization of the Greek Orthodox Atlanta Metropolis.

In her spare time, Eleni enjoys traveling, cooking, and playing golf and tennis.

Greetings from the Rotary International President

Editor's Note: In case you missed the email, here is a special message from RI President Holger Knaack ...

Greetings, fellow Rotarians and Rotaractors! I am so honored to serve as your president this year. We have important work ahead of us at Rotary, and we are going to have a lot of fun as we do it.

Last year, we launched our five-year Action Plan to build a stronger future for Rotary. We are working to increase our impact, expand our reach, enhance participant engagement, and increase our ability to adapt. The last several months have shown that we — as Rotarians and Rotaractors — can realize these goals as we forge a new path for the future.

Without question, COVID-19 has posed new and previously unimaginable challenges for Rotary. But within every challenge is perhaps an even greater opportunity. And while I could not have known what lay ahead when I selected my theme for the year, Rotary Opens Opportunities has even greater relevance as we begin our new Rotary year.

I am incredibly inspired by how our members have adapted and responded to COVID-19. This global pandemic has made it difficult for many of our clubs to operate as usual, but we persevered, and over the past few months, I’ve enjoyed connecting with my fellow Rotarians and Rotaractors in a new way: by visiting hundreds of clubs from my home. It’s been fun to attend so many meetings virtually. If you haven’t already, I encourage your club to try an online meeting or add an online component, like hosting a guest speaker from a Rotary or Rotaract club located in a different part of the world.

As we build a stronger future for our organization, it’s good that we are reaching out to new people and introducing them to Rotary. It’s important that our clubs reflect the communities we serve. More diverse voices in our clubs and in our leadership will help Rotary stay in touch with a changing world.

So let’s find every opportunity to show we value each and every member. Let’s seize this moment to build on what we’ve learned, to embrace our new reality, to welcome new faces, and to find additional ways to shine. This is how we will have a continuing impact on the world. And if you need assistance along the way,

Rotary offers many resources that can help you reach your goals. Rotary means different things in different parts of the world, but we are all united by our core values and by The Four-Way Test. Rotary may change, but our values remain constant.

I look forward to hearing about how you’re finding new opportunities to engage and make an impact in your club and community. Rotary Opens Opportunities, both for the people we serve and for ourselves.

Thank you.

Holger Knaack

RI President, 2020-21