(If you have any comments or questions, please contact the editor)
Club Announcements:
The Rotary Club of North Jackson is meeting via Zoom due to the continuing high rate of COVID-19 cases in Mississippi. Zoom meetings will continue until a resumption of in-person meetings is authorized by the club's officers and directors.
Zoom meeting invites with the link and password will be sent to all club members on Mondays. The Zoom meetings will continue to start at noon on Tuesdays with club member fellowship with the meeting starting at 12:15 p.m. If you have any issues connecting to the Zoom meeting, please email Past President Greg Campbell at gregcampbell2@comcast.net.
We reserve the first 15 minutes for fellowship and give our speakers nearly 30 minutes for their presentations.
Birthdays and Anniversaries.
Birthdays
None
Wedding Anniversaries:
None
Membership Anniversaries
Dick Dickerson 29 years, February 1
Prayer. O God of ages past and of every present moment, as rich and varied as our language is, it fails to adequately express our gratitude for the richness of life which we are privileged to experience. As we offer our deeply-felt "thank you," we also pray for help in substantiating what we say by the quality of life we live. Let our gratitude be clearly seen in the pursuit of our vocations, in the integrity of our actions, in our devotion to truth and fairness in our dealings with others, and in our loyal stewardship of the resources which you have entrusted to us.
Thank you, God for the nurturing fellowship we enjoy from week to week. We offer our prayer with humility and praise. Amen.
Fred L. Banks Jr., Chairman of the Board of the Mississippi History Foundation, spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at its January 19 meeting on the work of that foundation, which supports the work of the Mississippi History Museum and the Civil Rights Museum in Jackson. He said a goal of the museums was to educate Mississippi’s students, and he expressed a hope that student visits would be able to resume in the near future. He also said that prior to Covid-19, attendance at the two museums exceeded expectations.
Banks, a Jackson native, is a graduate of Howard University and its law school. He practiced law and then served as a member of the House of Representatives, a circuit judge, and a Mississippi Supreme Court justice before joining Phelps Dunbar LLP as a Senior Partner in 2001. He also chairs the board of the Mississippi Convention Center and is head of the legal committee of the national NAACP governing board. He lives in Jackson with his wife, Dr. Pamela Banks, a Jackson State University psychology professor.
We thank Mr. Banks for his service to the citizens of the State of Mississippi and to our country. He is shown below in the following photo:
The meeting at which Banks spoke can be viewed at the following link.
Caroline D. Kemp was inducted into membership of the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club’s January 12 meeting. Kemp is employed by Regions Bank as a Financial Relationship Senior Consultant - Team Lead in Jackson. She received undergraduate and graduate degrees in Business Administration from Millsaps College and is an 18 year resident of the Jackson Metro Area. We are delighted to have her in our club and look forward to working with her.
The Rotary Club of North Jackson recently donated 70 cases of bottled water to the Billy Brumfield Shelter. The Billy Brumfield Shelter (BBS), a shelter for up to 60 men a night, provides three services. It serves as an emergency shelter for homeless men, offering safe shelter, clean showers, nutritious food, and a supportive community. It also offers a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, supported by AA meetings, group and individual counseling, employment requirements, and a savings program. Shown from left, Greg Campbell, immediate past president; Lee Carney, president and Wilber Logan, BBS director.
Mary Margaret White, CEO of “Mississippi Today”, a digital news outlet for Mississippi, spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the Club’s January 12 meeting. White discussed the changes in the print journalism market due to the sharp decline in ad revenues and a decline in print subscribers as consumers have begun to rely increasingly on digital media. “Mississippi Today” was created to fill the void in the state’s news outlets created by that decline. She pointed out that “Mississippi Today” is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit and that it relies on donations both from citizens and several large philanthropic foundations.
To quote from “Mississippi Today”: “We believe that an informed Mississippi is a better Mississippi. We center readers in everything we do, informing–and engaging–Mississippians through reporting, podcasts, events, and online communities.
Founded in 2016 as the state’s first nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom, “Mississippi Today’s” roots in Capitol coverage have grown to encompass a myriad of beats beyond politics and policy, including education, public health, justice, environment, equity, and, yes sports. “Mississippi Today” is now one of the largest newsrooms in Mississippi, proving that free, nonpartisan news is the antidote to apathy and an essential key to government accountability.”
White said that “Mississippi Today” has an annual budget of $2 million with the bulk of the expenses being for its staff of well-recognized, seasoned reporters and editors.
We Thank White for her presentation to our club and for her work to inform Mississippians. She is shown in the following file photo from Mississippi Today’s website:
