Rotary clubs in Georgia are divided into three districts, roughly analogous to the federal courts system: Northern, Middle and Southern. Our Rotary District 6920 stretches from Augusta through Macon to Waycross, and over to the coast, comprising some 60 clubs in cities and towns across that area.

Some are large (300 or so), others are small (2030). They all subscribe to the same basic principles of Rotary International, but may focus on different projects. Many are supportive of education and literacy, health, and environment, and generally require personal involvement, not just financial contributions. The projects we undertake are many and varied.

Several of the ones my wife and I have supported over the years are in education and literacy. One is a speech contest for high school students, sponsored by individual clubs, with winners at the club level then advancing to zone level. There are three zones in our district, and winners at each zone level win a $1,000 scholarship to the college or technical school of their choice.

Students are eligible to compete all four years of high school, and may win more than once, which is rare, but does sometimes happen. Anne and I have both served as zone coordinators, arranging and moderating the competition between a dozen or more club winners in our area – roughly Effingham County to Waycross, and points in between.

I will never forget two contestants who competed during the half-dozen years I served as Eastern Zone Coordinator. One was a young man from Effingham County, a club winner for all four years of high school – and zone winner every year too! A remarkable young man, he went on to enroll at Cornell University in New York.

The other was a student from Brunswick, who was a club winner and zone contestant for all four years of his high school career. His freshman year he was the weakest, but that was to be expected; it was his first time. I made it a point to tell him afterward I thought he would get better, and I hoped he would be back the next year. He was, and the next two years after that as well. His last year, he finally won the zone competition – and went on to become the STAR student for his school that year! I was glad he persevered.

Another program we have been very supportive of is also geared towards high school students, the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards program, or RYLA.

This is a four-day weekend leadership training program, and was held for many years at South Georgia College in Douglas. Next year it is moving to the Coastal College of Georgia in Brunswick.

I got involved when my original Rotary Club sponsored a student from Jenkins High School in Savannah, who was nominated by a former club president. Marty was supposed to provide transportation for this student, as her parents both worked and could not take time off for the five-hour roundtrip drive. But then Marty herself had a last-minute schedule conflict, so called me to ask if there was any way I could take the student instead?

Fortunately, I was able to do so. So the girl’s parents brought her to the club’s breakfast meeting that Thursday, and we left for Douglas afterwards. I then drove back down Sunday morning to bring her home when the program ended.

Douglas is about 100 miles from Richmond Hill, and the best way to get there is to take U.S. 17 to U.S. 84 to Hinesville, on through Ludowici and Jesup, and then on county road 32 just north of Patterson, through Alma and right into Douglas. I have family and business ties to that area, and know the roads, so it was a no-brainer for me to do.

When I picked the young lady up that Sunday, she was so excited about the program that I got my club to sponsor her for a second year, the next summer. (She later earned an engineering degree from the University of Alabama, and is now working as a project engineer for a firm out of Nashville.) I also began offering transportation for our RYLA students for several years after that, and all were very appreciative. Especially their parents.

One of the last times I did that, one of the two students I took was from Richmond Hill, and had been a competitor at the speech contest zone competition that spring. I told the two of them that we were going to take “the Dairy Queen Trail” to Douglas.

They looked at me funny, until I explained that there were Dairy Queens in Richmond Hill, Hinesville, Ludowici, Jesup, Alma and Douglas; and that we would stop for lunch at the one in Douglas, across the street from South Georgia College.

They had a good laugh, and the girl’s parents surprised me with a DQ gift card when I brought them back that Sunday! She obviously had told them about that “trail.” But the kids got to see rural areas of the state they had never seen before, so it was an eye-opening experience in more ways than one. And they learned a lot.

I was glad I did it.