How exciting to have our District Governor Van Lankford attend our E-Club to hear about our goals, achievements and service projects for the Rotary 2023-24 year. We are so grateful for his support and that of Assistant Governor Edwin B. Owens!

Originally from Ohio, Jim joined the US Air Force after college and completed 28+ years of active duty, serving as a navigator/crew member and senior manager. He completed tours in Southeast Asia, the UK, and Germany as well as numerous stateside locations before retiring in 1993. Jim then joined TYBRIN Corp, an engineering services firm, as their first HR Director where he developed a fully integrated Human Resources staff to support company growth from 245 employees to over 1100. Jim has been a Rotarian for almost 20 years and is currently a member of the Jonesboro Rotary Club of Sanford. He discovered ShelterBox, a UK charity that provides shelter to disaster victim world-wide, through Rotary. Since 2006 Jim has served as a recruiter, response team member, and ambassador for ShelterBox and deployed to Nepal in 2008 and the Philippines in 2013 to deliver aid to disaster victims. Jim has been a member of several professional and service organizations to include serving as an elected Commissioner of a Fire District in Florida for three years. Most recently, he served as an elected Trustee for an Electric Cooperative in Florida. He has completed two Master Degrees in Business Administration and Public Administration. Jim and Donna love to travel and visit their grandchildren

Donna leads both the Chapel Hill and Durham geographies of the Community Empowerment Fund (CEF), working to cultivate opportunities, assets, and communities that sustain transitions out of homelessness and poverty. CEF’s work is grounded in recognition of the detrimental impacts of systemic racism on Black and Brown members of our communities.

Our guest speaker is one of America's leading Executive & Life Coach masters-- JEFF BRIGHT. This is an incredible one-off coaching opportunity. Everyone has a personality type that determines how they perceive the world, set goals, make career choices and communicate effectively with others. Jeff Bright will help our audience discover their inner 'animal' personality type. Understand how others see you-- as wise as an owl, as confident as a lion or something completely different?

Patricia Perkins is founder and executive director of Worldstouch, the organization she founded in 2004 to promote world peace through deep intercultural understanding and communication. She uses Salesforce as a database for good, supporting the humanitarian and peace-building work of international and domestic charities and nonprofits. She is a Trailblazer Community co-leader and a Salesforce MVP. In her spare time, she's a world traveler, certified yoga teacher and avid reader.

Meet Patrick Eakes, from the Crescent Club in District 7690, who will be the new Rotary International Director (one of 17 in the world) representing Zones 33 and 34. He will share his thoughts on “Creating Hope in the World.”

Writer Ananya Vahal and illustrator Carlos "Loso" Perez will discuss their recently released book, “The Ambiguously Brown Couple,” based on their humorous slice-of-life comic series about a couple going through awkward life experiences from being ambiguously brown. The comics are produced by Prime Vice Studios, founded by Loso Perez and co-founded by Ananya Vahal.

Seema Anand, a gifted education specialist, is going to talk about her adventures with GO Global NC Zimbabwe. Go Global NC has an impressive alumni network of thousands of leaders in policy, government, education, business, and communities across North Carolina. Many share the belief that learning to navigate a changing world is essential to North Carolina’s progress.

Club Secretary / President-Elect Michael Jerome will talk us through our Club's Strategic Plan. It's very exciting as we have created goals to move our club forward into the new Rotary year.

Educator Freda Sherman, advisor to The Asian Student Association of Cox Mill High School, will introduce us to club members. Hear from the club’s founder their vision for its inception, purpose, and mission. Other members will share why they joined the club and its impact on their personal lives, at school and at home.

In this meeting of the global trekkers, incoming club president Michael Jerome goes over his experiences, recollections, and take-aways from the Carolinas' P.E.T.S. 2023

In this meeting of the Global Trekkers we are pleased to present Elijah Lawrence as he goes through his journey as a young, up and coming, science researcher and goes over some of the science projects he's been doing as part of his schooling.

Get to know Melinda Lowrence, one of our new members. Ms. Lowrence, an entrepreneur, president of the Henderson County chapter of the NAACP and active volunteer, has been described as an "unflagging dynamo." Join us as she describes not only her activism but also explores the history of POC activism of days gone by till the present.

Meet our newest member Kathaleen McClintock Trost as she goes over her work practicing and ministering her faith through art and exploring the connection between spirituality and the arts.

Melissa Thompson details her journey to live her childhood fantasy and eventually landing a job training all sorts of animals at Disney and beyond.

Former rotary club president Ray Pifer gives us a presentation on the how and why Rotary does the practice of Happy Dollars at the beginning of our meetings.

Peter first came to the US from New Zealand in 1973 to pursue post-graduate studies in law at the University of Virginia as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. After a career in private legal practice, Peter took up a position with the World Bank as a senior international attorney. He was inducted into Rotary in 1976. Peter has served Rotary in many capacities. He has been involved in Rotary Peace Fellow activities and has chaired numerous Rotary Peace Centers Committees. He served as the Dean of the Rotary Representative Network (United Nations, UNESCO, World Bank and more) and became an Rotary International Director for 2020-22 in Zones 33 & 34. Peter currently serves on the RI Executive Committee. He has received the Global Alumni Service to Humanity Award together with the Service above Self Award and the Citation for Meritorious Service.

In this meeting we have the pleasure of having Cookie and Kathy sharing with us an old 19th century recipe for homemade mint candies.

Born in Rochester, England, Jeremy Hurst relocated to the Cayman Islands in 1988. He owns and operates the IRG group of companies, providing a range of property services to the Cayman Islands and other Caribbean markets. Hurst joined Rotary in 1988 and he has served as a member of the RI Membership Development Committee and of the Joint Committee on Partnerships, and has been an RI president's representative multiple times.