Sisters Amy Benton (Incoming PTC Club President on the right) and Mandy Timmons (D6900 PI Chair and PTC Club Secretary)

Along with over 115 other participants, Rotary Club of Peachtree City President Amy Benton participated in her first "official" event of the new year with the 50th Annual Peachtree City July 4 Parade! While a majority of the participants are decked out in red, white and blue golf carts for the three-mile route, PTC Rotarians ride in and walk alongside two of our Dragon Boats!

The club is ready to kick off our new year! DG Andre challenged each of her presidents to choose a music genre to represent their club and/or community and to help share the theme through the next year as we “Amplify Rotary”. In order to share our story of the oldest and largest service organization in our community, President Amy Benton has chosen to focus on 1967 – our charter year!

The year 1967 delivered a rainbow of innovative music, movies, art and fashion, leading to the huge “Summer of Love” gathering across multiple cities. Music fueled much of the spirit of the times and brought HOPE to the youth of America. Eight years after the founding of our beautiful town of Peachtree City, leaders in the community and with support from the Rotary Club of Newnan, chartered the Rotary Club of Peachtree City on November 13, 1967. This started an era of service to those in our community and a membership like none other of like-minded citizens and business leaders. Fifty-six years later and 116 members strong, we continue to “Create Hope in the World."

With this in mind and the fact that DG Andre will be visiting our club in early July, we are kicking off our year with the theme of “Amplifying Rotary since 1967”. President Amy has already begun the year with some kick-start ideas and opportunities. Our club has been awarded the first collaborative district grant and the largest funding ever received in our district - $30,000 – to support a program with Midwest Food Bank in partnership / collaboration with the Rotary Clubs of Barnesville, Fayetteville, Griffin, Griffin Daybreak, Lake Spivey/Clayton County, Newnan and Tyrone! President Amy also implemented our new application process for Community Grants to help us make better decisions on local non-profit organizations to partner with throughout the year with our funding as well as hands-on projects. We have already received approvals from Booth Middle School to charter a new Interact Club this fall and will be implementing the Be THE Voice program here as well.

We are also kicking off two new fundraising efforts this year (on top of our 16th annual Dragon Boat festival) – the 1st Annual Bourbon & Bow Ties, Pinot & Pearls (cocktail event) scheduled for Thursday, November 2, 2023 on the Great Lawn at Town of Trilith (focused on fundraising specifically for the Rotary Foundation) and the 1st Annual PTC Half Marathon planned for January 13, 2024 to be held on the golf carts paths of Peachtree City.

Looking forward to next year as well, our District Conference committee has already started the planning events and are looking for a record turnout at Jekyll Island in March! Stay tuned to our website – peachtreecityrotary.org or follow us on social media (@peachtreecityrotary) for more information on these events and to see the great things we are doing in our community throughout the year!