THOMASVILLE- The Rotary Club of Thomasville continues to support the Georgia Rotary Student Program (GRSP) at the highest per capita giving level for clubs of similar size in District 6900.
For the 14th year in a row, the Rotary Club of Thomasville was honored with the Jake Cheatham Award at District Conference, the club said in a press release. The award recognizes the Thomasville Club as the number one club in per capita giving for clubs in its membership category.
GRSP was founded by Thomasville Rotarian William A. Watt in 1947, the club said. Watt served in the military in Europe during World War II and saw the destruction war causes. He founded GRSP to help promote world peace by bringing college age students to Georgia to study in Georgia colleges and universities for one year and funding their studies. The Rotary Club of Thomasville is the “home club” of GRSP.
Each year the Thomasville Rotary Board of Directors sets the goal for GRSP funds to be raised by the club. The membership of the Rotary Club of Thomasville exceeded the $25,000 goal — raising a total of $25,577 as of Feb. 22, 2024. This resulted in per capita giving of $228.37 based on a membership of 112. Year-end giving totaled $28,077. Since the 1987-1988 Rotary year, Thomasville has raised $641,023 in support of GRSP, the press release said.
This Rotary year, a total of 23 club members and two non-members were recognized for reaching new or first donor levels for giving to GRSP as follows: Teri Hurst White was recognized as a Frank Bentley Sr. Fellow, the first in the club and the first person in GRSP to receive this recognition since fellow awards began to be presented. Fran Milberg was recognized as a Kendall Weisiger Fellow. William (Bill) Dickey and Rebecca Chubb Strickland were recognized as Hue Thomas Jr. Fellows. Janet Liles was recognized as a Will Watt Fellow. Copper Comita and John Comita were honored by the Past Presidents’ Club and Peggy Rich was honored by Scott Rich as Will Watt Fellows in recognition of their service to the club and GRSP by serving as host parents for the 2023-2024 GRSP student scholars. Harry T. Jones III was honored by Richard Vann with a Will Watt Fellow.
Receiving Governor’s Associate recognitions were: G. Willcox Brown III, Adrian Burns, Julie Carter, Pat Choice, Susie Shin, Kurt Stringfellow, Dawna Bicknell Tanner, Barbara Williams-Anderson, and Lorraine Williams-Rahming. Receiving Sustaining donor recognitions were: Sharon Edwards, Michael Jones, John Kepler, Meka McCaskill, Tom Shaw, Brigit Smallridge, and Arthur Wigfall.