The Kiwanis Club of Swainsboro held its weekly meeting Tuesday night, September 5, 2023, at the Rustic Grille at 7 p.m. With President Tammy Allen presiding, there were 25 in attendance, including one guest, Joelle Romanchik-Cerpovicz. The Hersey-Bar cake, donated by Cayla Scarboro and baked by Petite Garrett, was won by Dianna Wedincamp. She shared the cake with everyone after the meeting. The Domino’s pizza, donated by Domino's Pizza was won by Bobby Seamans and Paul Cerpovicz won the bird feeder provided by Wedincamp. President Tammy gave a Georgia District Convention update to include presenting her Kiwanis Club tri-board seen in the photo. Petite also presented the member spotlight for tonight, David Gribbin. Born in Peru, Illinois, David graduated from Chanel High School in Ohio, and has degrees from Illinois State University and Georgia Southern University. He is the Institutional Research Director and Associate Professor of Business at EGSC and will be Treasurer of the Kiwanis club for the 2023-2024 year. David’s favorite candy is peppermint bark. The program for the evening was presented by Kiwanian Wedincamp, the CASA Volunteer Coordinator for this region. CASA is the Court Appointed Special Advocates for children of the court. The volunteer-staffed program is for children who have been taken from their parents or guardians and been placed under the state’s court system. The volunteers are appointed by judges to advocate for the children until their case is closed and they are in a safe, permanent home. They receive over 30 hours of training before they can become a CASA volunteer. There are 46 CASA affiliates serving 156 counties in Georgia, around 2,700 CASA volunteers for 11,000 children, and eight volunteers in Emanuel County. CASA works closely with DFACS and the judiciary system as DFACS determines the placement of children. CASA is not foster care and is not a mentoring program. If you would like to become a member of our Club, please contact membership chair Jane Durden at 478-494-4113 or e-mail her at hsdurden@bellsouth.net. Also, if you would like more information about our Club and the many community service projects theye do each year, go to their Club website at http://www.swainsborokiwanis.org or Swainsboro Kiwanis Facebook page.
