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Club Announcements:
The Rotary Club of North Jackson is meeting both in-person and via Zoom.
Zoom meeting invites with the link and password will be sent to all club members on Mondays. If you have any issues connecting to the Zoom meeting, please email Past President Greg Campbell at gregcampbell2@comcast.net.
The June 29 meeting has been changed. We will now meet at The Rickhouse for a "Changing of the Guard" at which we will recognize 2020-2021 President Lee Carney for her year of service and leadership and we will install our 2021-2022 President Dr. Suman Das. Mark your calendars and plan to be there. It'll be a great meeting.
Mark your calendars also for our upcoming event:
Rotary Club of North Jackson 50th Anniversary Gala at the Country Club of Jackson on July 20. The Gala will start at 11:00.
More details are to come on this event. It is listed in our club calendar
Birthdays and Anniversaries.
Birthdays
Gabe Grothe June 22
Rita Sun June 24
Wedding Anniversaries:
Erik Hearon & Marla Harbor June 22
Hugh & Jennifer Johnson June 23
Katie & Shawn Browning June 25
Nick & Lauren Miller June 25
Uriel & Glenda Pineda June 27
Membership Anniversaries
None
Prayer. O God, how good it is for us to include in our time together this acknowledgment that you are our God, the source of all for which we are grateful. We confess our usual obsession with the physically obvious in life, forgetting the spiritual realities which become so easily obscured but are always integrally present in the affairs of every day.
Hear now our thanks for food to nourish us, for fellowship to enrich us, for work to engage us, all in accord with your will to empower us and your spirit to guide us. Amen.
North Jackson Rotarian Steve Orlansky presents the JPD Precinct 4 Officer of the Quarter recognition to JPD Officer Antoinette Clemons during the Rotary Club of North Jackson’s June 15, 2021, meeting. The Rotary Club recognizes a JPD Precinct 4 Officer each quarter to show our support for JPD’s protection of our community and Precinct 4 because it covers most of North Jackson. Officer Clemons was patrolling the Olive Garden area on I-55 and noticed some men gathered behind the restaurant. Upon further investigation, she realized that they were there to steal a motorcycle that someone was selling by test-driving it. One man was arrested on a felony charge of attempted vehicle theft and two other men were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit vehicle theft. Thanks to the quick thinking of Officer Clemons, a suspect was arrested and an attempted theft was stopped.
Shown below from left, front row: Sergeant S. Burse, Officer Clemons, Orlansky, Deputy Chief Tiny Harris, and Commander Barry Hale. Standing from left; Sargent William Wade and Assistant Chief Joseph Wade.
The Rotary Club of North Jackson is working with Spann and Walton Elementary Schools in the Jackson Public School District to introduce some of their students to the game of Chess. The project is being conducted online with FirstMoveChess.org which was developed by America's Chess Foundation. The objective is to Teach Critical & Creative Thinking Skills to students through the Game of Chess. Quoting from the first move website "First Move is targeted to the academic standards of second and third graders, although it can be used across multiple grade levels."
The lessons are taught by The Chess Lady® online with built-in activities and assessment. It was designed so teachers don’t need to know how to play chess to be successful. Students are engaged and actively participate in activities, without realizing how much they are learning. First Move kits were delivered to Spann and Walton on June 7 so that the students can be introduced to the program during their summer camp sessions. The following photos are from the events.
The first photo is at Walton School with North Jackson Rotarian Don Roberts, Ursula (School Resource Teacher), North Jackson President-Elect Dr. Suman Das, and District 6820 District Governor-Elect Mark Anderson. The second photo shows the Chess Lady during a virtual session on First Move. The third photo is from Spann School showing Messrs Anderson and Das with Spann School Principal Dr. Delane Lesh.
President-Elect Das and District Governor Elect Anderson at Spann School.
The Honorable Ashby Foote, Ward 1 City Council Representative to the Jackson City Council spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club’s June 15 meeting. Ward 1 is in northeast Jackson.
In introducing Foote, club past president Wyatt Emmerich, noted that Councilman Foote is the leader of the Republican caucus of the council. It is worth noting that Foote previously said that he is the only Republican on the City Council.
Foote discussed the problems that the Council is addressing and that it has recently addressed. Those include infrastructure, utility billing, drainage, policing, and crime. In discussing drainage, he noted that it is unfortunate that significant development has been permitted in the Belhaven, Eubanks, Hanging Moss, and Purple Creek drainage basins without adequate retention ponds being required by the Department of Environmental Quality or the U.S. EPA.
We thank Foote for his presentation and for his years of service to the city of Jackson. Foote’s presentation and the complete club meeting may be seen at the following link. https://vimeo.com/564160143.
The following photo was taken after Foote’s talk.
From the left, club member Luther Munford, Foote, and Club President Lee Carney.
Hayes Dent, a local political consultant and lobbyist spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson during its June 8, 2021 meeting. Dent spoke about the State Legislative process. The Rotary Club of North Jackson meets at the Rickhouse at noon on Tuesdays. Shown from left, Suman Das, club president-elect; Dent, and Wyatt Emmerich, past club president and who introduced Dent.
Dent's presentation and the balance of the meeting can be viewed at the following link: https://vimeo.com/561047353 .
North Jackson Rotarians donated snacks to summer campers at Spann Elementary School in North Jackson on June 4. Without these snacks, the campers wouldn't have had snacks to eat. The following photos are from the event.
In the front are Rotarians Neelam Goel and James Clay. Rotarian Bill Osborne is on the right in the rear. School Principal Dr. Delane Lesh is on the left in the rear row.
The donation of the snacks to Spann is part of the club’s active projects with Jackson Public Schools. This summer the club is sponsoring the introduction of chess to students at both Spann and Walton Elementary. In addition, for several years, North Jackson Rotarians have been reading to pre-Kindergarten students at Walton as well as donating dictionaries to 3rd-grade students at several North Jackson schools.
North JacksonRotary President-Elect Dr. Suman Das is in the front left in this photo
The following photo shows the snacks that were donated.
The Rotary Club of North Jackson is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of its chartering in 2021.
Garrett McInnis, Executive Vice President, the Skills Foundation of Mississippi spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club's May 25 meeting. The purpose of Mc'Innis' talk was to review the mismatch between the job skills of Mississippians and the skill requirements of available jobs and steps that are being taken to address the shortfall. His data showed a shortage of people trained in technical skills such as computer science, diesel engine maintenance and repair, electrical technology, instrumentation, engineering, and welding, and the available jobs in the state. McInnis cited SB 2564 passed in 2020 by the legislature that created an Office of Workforce Development in the state whose objective is to address the mismatch between worker skill levels and job requirements. McInnis' data showed that Mississippi has an excess of low-skilled workers compared to the number of low-skill jobs that are available.
Quoting from the Foundation's website, McInnis said that
"Growing a skilled workforce is a high priority around the United States, and Mississippi is no different. Large and small businesses across our state have expressed the need for a more skilled workforce in a number of career fields.
The Skills Foundation of Mississippi is a non-profit focused on increasing the skilled workforce in our state. We work to engage private industry, communities, and state leaders for true public/private partnerships to grow the pipeline of skilled workers for the next generation of Mississippians.
By identifying the high-demand careers and appropriate training programs in Mississippi, The Skills Foundation crafts messaging to educate Mississippians about the opportunities available and connect them to a training program in their area.
The Skills Foundation of Mississippi has partnerships with over fifty private companies, public entities, and non-profit organizations. We work with and on behalf of our partners to encourage growth in a skilled workforce, which ensures success not only for Mississippians but also for communities and our state as a whole."
We thank McInnis for his presentation to our club and for his commitment to helping grow the number of Mississippians qualified for the jobs of the future. He is shown in the following photo during his presentation.
McInnis' presentation and the complete meeting may be viewed by clicking the following link. https://vimeo.com/555685892
