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Club Announcements:
The Rotary Club of North Jackson is meeting via Zoom due to the continuing high rate of COVID-19 cases in Mississip-pi. 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
Christopher Brantley March 6
Wedding Anniversaries:
None
Membership Anniversaries
Mark Green 36 years, March 1
Charlie Johnson 28 years, March 1
Charles Lindsay 28 years, March 1
Edley Jones 22 years, March 2
Rich Sun 11 years, March 2
Trost Friedler 13 years, March 4
Stanley Simpson 13 years, March 4
Great and gracious God, whom heavens cannot contain, whose sovereign will our human way-wardness cannot thwart, the depth of whose sacrificial love cannot be fathomed, we are grateful for every evidence of your love and mercy in our lives, and for every evidence of your awesome power in the world.
Bless all aspects of our meeting today and then go with us afterward that our labor may be fruitful and our behavior acceptable in your sight. Amen.
The Rotary Club of North Jackson recognized four Paul Harris Fellows at the club’s February 23 meeting. Those recognized were Marisa Davidson, Immediate Past President Greg Campbell, President-Elect Suman Das, and Bill Osborne. Paul Harris fellows are people who have donated or have had donated in their name $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation. People who have donated or have had donated in their name multiple thousands of dollars are named multiple Paul Harris Fellows. People who have donated $10,000 or more are called Major Donors. Members who agree to donate $1,000 annually are members of the Paul Harris Society.
The following are photos of the members who were recognized:
Marisa Davidson Suman Das
Greg Campbell Bill Osborne
The recognition ceremony was organized by Club Foundation Director Neelam Goel; and Club Administrative Secretary/Treasurer Don Roberts.
We thank Marisa, Suman, Greg, and Bill for their support of the Rotary Foundation and we thank Neelam and Don for their work developing the recognition program.
Owen Mullen and Esper Delgado of Hope Hollow Ministries spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club’s February 16 meeting. Hope Hollow Ministries is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization developed for the purpose of ministering to children and adults with special needs and their families. It provides inclusive and integrated programs that are designed to provide year-round opportunities to experience fun, fellowship, and growth.
Hope Hollow Ministries began in 2008 by three families of children with special needs. The founders realized the need for a program where children like their own could gather with peers and experience the joy and fellowship of camp. As the children of the founding families grew older, the programs developed further to include people with special needs from 5- years old through adulthood.
Hope Hollow is located on Catlett Road West of Canton, MS. The camp accommodates 80 campers annually and focuses on giving those campers a fun experience in a day camp environment. Four different programs are offered: summer camps, weekend retreats, after-school programs, and vacation/holiday camps.
We thank Mullen and Delgado for bringing us the information on Hope Hollow. The Hope Hollow presentation and the complete meeting can be viewed at the following link:
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the Club's February 9 meeting. The subject of his speech was an update on the status of the City of Jackson. He started by stating that when he took office nearly 4 years ago, the City was in crisis. It had a $6 million annual fund deficit, employees were on furlough, its school district was about to be taken over by the state, and its water system was unable to bill its customers in spite of a $90 million project to upgrade the metering and billing systems.
Today, the City has a $12 million surplus, it is paying 100% of the health insurance for its employees, its bond rating has improved, no employees are on furlough, and the school district rating has improved. In addition, the City received the largest settlement in its history for the failed water measuring and billing system from the prime contractor and the bus system has been upgraded. The City has also hired a program manager to overhaul the water billing system. For the first time in 18 years, property valuations in the city have increased.
The City is not without problems though. Crime is a major issue. It is being addressed by both traditional and new tech approaches to improve policing. A camera network is dispersed throughout the city and the police Department is being equipped with license plate readers to help identify and locate stolen vehicles. The Mayor is meeting with Millenials in a Mayor and Millennials Roundtable. People are moving into downtown in newly constructed or renewed housing units
We thank Mayor Lumumba for his speech and for his service to the City of Jackson. The complete meeting, including Mayor Lumumba's presentation, may be viewed at the following link: https://vimeo.com/510822462.
Also, here is a photo of the Mayor during his speech:
David Turner, developer of the Belhaven Town Center (BTC) in Jackson spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club’s February 2 meeting. Turner has developed a number of residential neighborhoods in the Jackson Metro Area including Lost Rabbit and Fondren Green.
BTC had been Turner’s dream for over 9 years and it is finally coming to reality. He is working with Baptist Medical Center, The Greater Belhaven Foundation, and the Belhaven Improvement Association to bring the project to reality. The following photo shows the currently completed part of the project, which includes Campbells Donuts and Elvie’s Restaurant. The current work is to build a three-story mixed-use building with 12 one-bedroom studio apartments and retail or office space on the first floor. That part of the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2021. Earthwork is in progress as shown in the following photos:
BTC will also include repurposing of the abandoned Baptist Hospital Laundry into a craft brewery and some other retail venue yet to be determined, perhaps a bike shop. The project will include installing a landscaped open space in the front of the building. The following is a photo of the laundry building today:
Turner commented that the entire project, including the existing buildings, includes repurposing buildings and the installation of a camera-based security system linked to the City of Jackson’s city-wide camera system operated by the Jackson Police Department. In addition, the project includes constructing a dog-trot configured building to the west of Elvie's. To those not familiar with the dog-trot configuration, it has an open center hall between two rooms, one on either side. I recall going to one in North Louisiana on a hunting trip with my father when I was young.
We thank Turner for his presentation and for his dedication and commitment to our city. The following is a link to the meeting, including Turner’s presentation:
The Rotary Club of North Jackson honored Sgt. Stephanie Burse as the Jackson Police Department’s Precinct 4 Officer of the Quarter at the club’s February 2 meeting.. Sgt. Burse was honored for her ability to catch a carjacking suspect by using the “Find my iPhone” app from the victim’s phone that was left in her car to track and arrest the carjacker. . Shown from left, Precinct 4 Commander Obie Wells Jr., Steve Orlansky, club member and committee chair, Sgt. Burse, Sgt. Mark Hodges, Deputy Chief Tiny Harris, and Assistant Chief Joseph Wade.
