MINUTES: August 18, 2015

President Sean Priebe presided over the meeting. Thanks to Brian Moore who gave the invocation and to Bill MacLauchlan who led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Thanks to Gene Owens and Maura McLaughlin who served as our greeters today.

 

Sean asked that all Rotarians keep Bill Hughes and his family in their thoughts and prayers. Bill lost his son recently.

 

Jaclyn Adams then introduced today’s visitors. Gene Owens has Sam Hogue as his guest today. Valencia Williamson has Amber Chancelor as her guest.

 

Sean asked Amber Chancellor and Valencia Williamson to come forward. He thanked Valencia for recruiting Amber as our newest member. He also welcomed Amber into the club. She is the Palliative & Supportive Care Coordinator at Forrest General Hospital. She is also a Registered Nurse and was recently Nurse of the Year at Forrest General. We are delighted to have her as a new Rotarian.

 

Our Mystery Rotarian is Brian Moore. He was born on Friday the 13^th. He’s been employed since he was 14 years old. He claims to be distant cousin of the club’s Executive Secretary, Lamar Evans. He won a Jr. College Tennis tournament in his younger days and he had a low-rider with loud speakers to cruise around in.

 

Jennifer Payne reminded members that the Bike-a-Thon is coming up October 10th. A volunteer sign-up sheet will be available beginning with next week’s meeting. Volunteers will be needed for the pre-event on Friday evening and most of the day on Saturday. We still need sponsors for the event. About 25 riders have signed up so far.

 

Sean then asked Lucy Parkman to come forward. Lucy was presented with her Paul Harris Fellowship certificate and pin from Rotary International. Sean thanked her for supporting the work of Rotary International noting that some of the money give through our club will make its way back to our club in three years. In fact, he noted that we received a $600 District Grant check today that will support our literacy program. 

 

Sean also reported that an anonymous donor made a $2,500 sponsorship gift to PCS in Rotary’s name.

 

Jaclyn then introduced our guest speaker, Christie Brady, the Executive Director for TIDE school. Christie is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi.

 

According to Ms. Brady, “at TIDE, we believe every student deserves to be taught in the way he or she best learns. Our goal is to provide a safe, nurturing coeducational learning environment. Tide is a special purpose coeducational college preparatory school for middle and high school students with Dyslexia or other specific learning disorder such as ADHD and Anxiety Disorders. The school is now accepting students in grades five through nine. They began with a goal of having 24 students enrolled. Today they have 14 students.

 

Christie says traditional school settings typically are not equipped to fully address the unique combination of educational, social-emotional, and behavioral needs these students may have. The faculty and staff are specially trained to foster emotional/behavioral health and they have counseling and behavioral support from the University of Southern Mississippi’s Psychology department.

 

It is estimated that just in the public schools districts of Forrest County, FCAHS, Hattiesburg, Petal and Lamar County that 453 to 1,355 students are diagnosed with Dyslexia. About 815 suffer from ADHD and 725 with Anxiety.  The need is great, the program has an excellent basis, but funding and support are a challenge. Tide tuition is $9,950 for each school year. That represents 28% of the median household income for residents of Forrest County. Donations are greatly appreciated and go directly to provide student scholarships. Tide is also looking for a building in the area that someone might donate.

 

If you want to help or if you know of someone who needs Tide, visit their website at tideschool.org or call Christie at 601-909-6605.