Marietta Rotary President Chris Bethel asked President-Elect Mary Ansley Southerland to organize the club's Valentine's Day social . Mary Ansley’s forté is doing events. Tapping into the theme “Spreading More Love,” she also roped in members of the Rotary Clubs of North Cobb and South Cobb also the Kiwanis Club of Marietta for a huge Valentine’s gala and dance on Tuesday, February 11 at the Marietta Educational Garden Center. There was live music by Melanie Dobbins and the Jazz Jones Legacy. Folks raved over the good will present in this diverse fellowship of Cobb County’s service-minded leaders.

The event’s incredible dinner featured wines appropriately paired with such delicacies as London broil, tortellini, grilled chicken, salads and exquisite dessert creations from Adriane’s Delectables. In a stroke of brilliance, even lowly peanut butter became a headline feature of the evening. How?

Among the honored guests was Melanie Kagan, Director of the Center for Family Resources, a Cobb agency serving over 10,000 homeless and poverty stricken people each year. Melanie announced to all that the peanut butter competition between Kiwanis and the Rotary Club of Marietta last fall generated the most peanut butter ever collected for the CFR since its inception in 1960. Neat! RI’s theme for February 2020—reconciling broken families and assisting abused, young single mothers—is underscored with a Rotary Valentine’s Day social emphasizing service.