Lunch will be served beginning at 11:45 a.m., and the program will begin at Noon.  Rotaract members will hear from Dr. Lawrence J. Pijeaux, the President and CEO of the BCRI.  Following his presentation, members will be able to tour the museum.

Members must sign up online in order for our club to give the BCRI an accurate headcount for the luncheon.

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is a large interpretive museum and research center in Birmingham, Alabama that depicts the struggles of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. The Institute is located in the Civil Rights District, which includes the historic 16th Street Baptist Church, Kelly Ingram Park, Fourth Avenue Business District, and the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame located in the Carver Theatre. The Institute opened in November 1992, and had more than 25,000 visitors during its first week.

The Institute showcases a walking journey through the “living institution”, which displays the lessons of the past as a positive way to chart new directions for the future. The permanent exhibitions are a self-directed journey through Birmingham’s contributions to the Civil Rights Movement and human rights struggles. Multimedia exhibitions focus on the history of African-American life and the struggle for civil rights. The Oral History Project, one of the museum’s multimedia exhibits, documents Birmingham’s role in the Civil Rights Movement through the voices of movement participants. The museum is an affiliate in the Smithsonian Affiliations program.

Join Rotaract for a luncheon meeting on Thursday, February 2nd featuring President of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Richard Cohen. You may recognize our speaker from his appearances on The O’Reilly Factor and more recently the Birmingham News. Rotaract meets on the first and third Thursdays at the Harbert Center located in downtown Birmingham. Lunch starts at 11:45 a.m. and meetings begin promptly at noon. Lunch is free for members and $10 for guests. A limited number of recruitment spots are available. If you wish to bring a potential member, please email bhamrotaract.membership@gmail.com. To register to attend, please click here.

About Richard Cohen:
A graduate of Columbia University and the University of Virginia School of Law, Richard Cohen came to the Southern Poverty Law Center in 1986 as its legal director after practicing law in Washington, D.C., for seven years. Under his guidance, the SPLC won a series of landmark lawsuits against some of the nation’s most violent white supremacist organizations. He also successfully litigated a wide variety of important civil rights actions – defending the rights of prisoners to be treated humanely, working for equal educational opportunities for all children, and bringing down the Confederate battle flag from the Alabama State Capitol. Prior to becoming SPLC president in 2003, Cohen served as its vice president for programs, which include the Intelligence Project and Teaching Tolerance.

In 1997, the national legal magazine The American Lawyer selected him as one of 45 public sector lawyers “whose vision and commitment are changing lives.” In 1999, he was a finalist for the national Trial Lawyer of the Year Award for his work on Macedonia Baptist Church v. Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a lawsuit that ended with a record $37.8 million judgment against a Klan group for its role in the burning of a South Carolina church.

So you say you want to see “something new to Birmingham that makes it unique”, huh?  Well, here’s your chance!  The owners of the renowned Trattoria Centrale, which translates into “neighborhood” in Italian, recently opened yet another one of a kind eatery in downtown Birmingham, and it’s Mexican, with a twist.  With the name El Barrio, they’ve also stayed true to what appears to be their developing theme.    

 Located on 2^nd Ave. N. inside a section of the recently renovated historic “Storckland Furniture” building, which was originally constructed almost 90 years ago, the experience offered is only describable through experience alone, words won’t do it justice.  But let’s give it a shot; from reusing the original wooden floors, to uniquely sculpted steel rebar furniture, distressed benches, built in dark distressed wood booths, and a floor-to-ceiling street mural painted by local graffiti artist Shane Boteler,  this place will literally make you take a step back and say “wow, this is exactly what Birmingham has been needing.”

 Hopefully the above description is all you needed to hear to decide to make it to this locally unique socializing opportunity.  But in case you’re still on the fence, the owners, Geoff, Brian and Chris have generously offered all Rotaractors and guests a discount on drinks as well!

Guests are welcome. Register online!

For more information, please contact Jay Saxon (jsaxon@gmail.com)

FROM:  CLAUDIA REACH, ACTIVITIES DIRECTOR ST. MARTIN’S IN THE PINES ASSISTED LIVING

RE:  THE ROTARACT CLUB VOLUNTEER PROGRAM

St. Martin’s in the Pines, Assisted Living, is a better, brighter, and happier “home” because of our incredible volunteers from the Birmingham Rotaract Club.  These young professionals have been so generous, so thoughtful, so kind, so caring…changing and enriching lives with each visit.

As the Wednesday approaches for our evening with the Rotaract Club, my residents begin asking…”Is this the night we play games with all those wonderful “kids”?…Are we going to play dominos with those cute “kids”?…Can I bowl with them?…They ask for certain volunteers by name since relationships have been developed and nurtured.

Now that you are directing activities and events, the Rotaract Club visits have been even more enjoyable for my residents.  There has been more variety in the activities; there have been more Rotaract volunteers; and there have been more residents participating.  Every new idea that you have has had has been a huge success from a Halloween Carnival to a Dirty Santa Party.

We are so grateful for all the generosity from the time shared, the love given, and the gifts contributed. We are so blessed, so honored, so lucky to be involved with our wonderful Rotaract Club.  The men are all so handsome and the ladies are all so gorgeous!  Really!

You lift our spirits, warm our hearts, make us laugh…what fabulous gifts!

Thank you from our hearts.

Claudia Reach

On February 11, 2012 from 10:00 – 2:00 Rotaract will partner with The Community Kitchens of Birmingham to prepare, serve and entertain over 50 guest in need of a hot meal.  We will be cooking and serving spaghetti so we need your help in preparing our kitchen and dining hall,  cooking, and serving our guest at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church.  St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church is located at 1024 South 12 Street in Southside.

Community Kitchens serves a lunch meal 365 days per year from St. Andrews. Annually this amounts to over 95,000 meals served to help stop hunger.  The doors to Community Kitchens are open to all. No one is required to attend a religious service, rich or poor are equally welcome-they only need to be hungry. Those we serve are our ”guests” and we strive to treat them as such.

The club will need to have at least 20 volunteers from 10:00 – 2:00 to complete this service project.  Please feel free to attend for the whole time period but if you would like to volunteer for a split shift please feel free to.

Shift 1:  10:00 – 12:00

o   Preparing the Kitchen and Dining Hall

o   Cooking of Meal

o   ETC

Shift 2:  12:00 – 2:00

o   Completing the meal

o   Serving the meal

o   Entertaining Guests

o   Cleaning up

A recent survey of Jefferson County reported that 80,000 families do not know where they will get their next meal.  Let’s do our part to make sure our guest on Saturday February 11, 2012 get a hot meal.  For immediate information about this project, please contact Wesley Carpenter at Wesley_carpenter@ml.com or at 326-9668. Register to serve online.

Join us for a unique Professional Development Series! Jim Sokol and Lydia Cheney will open their home to 25 Rotaractors who are interested in learning more about collecting art. This special PDS will take place January 24, 2012 from 5:30 – 7:00pm. Space is limited so please register today. Light snacks, beer and wine will be served.

Sokol/Cheney Residence
2920 Redmont Park Circle 500 E
Birmingham, AL 35205

Space is limited so make sure to reserve your spot before it’s too late! Register on our website.

In accordance with the Rotaract motto of learn, socialize, and serve, we as a club are introducing the inaugural Mentor Birmingham Award.
The spirit of this award is similar to the spirit of our club, promoting the well-being of the community and others in our community over ourselves.
We are asking our club members to nominate members of the business community who have taken time to mentor young business professionals in the community. Submissions must be received between January 5th and February 2nd. If you have any questions please contact Laura James at laura.james09@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing your mentor story! 

Are you ready for some football? Join The Rotaract Club of Birmingham in supporting and enjoying one of Birmingham’s largest annual sports tourism and revenue generating events, the BBVA Compass Bowl, featuring the SMU Mustangs and the Pittsburgh Panthers.  Our club’s complimentary tailgate will include warm food, coffee, hot chocolate, beer, and corn hole!!  Pregame fun kicks off at 10:00am in the public parking lot “D” (see attached parking map).  Just before noon, we’ll head to the game with our  complimentary tickets in hand, courtesy of BBVA Compass, and enjoy some good ole’ fashion smash-mouth football!!

Registration: In order to ensure there’s enough food and drinks for everyone, and to secure your complimentary ticket(s), please go to the Members Only section of our website and register.  Be sure to include whether you’ll be bringing a guest or not.  (maximum of two tickets per member).

Questions: Contact Richard Davis:  text/call 205-542-5526; email richard.davis@willis.com

Rotaractors,

I am excited to announce that we have officially opened up nominations for our next Rotaract Board of Directors.   Nominations will be accepted through Friday, Jan. 20th.  Click here to nominate yourself or fellow Rotaractor.  As a reminder, this upcoming Board will serve from July 1, 2012 – June 30, 2013.  Interviews will be held during the month of February,  with final Club approval of the slate in March, which will allow for a three-month transition period for the new Board to plan for the upcoming year.

I encourage each of you to strongly consider running for one of the respective Board positions.  I cannot emphasize enough how much of an opportunity and privilege it has been for me to serve on the Board the past two years.  There is not another opportunity in Birmingham that provides a comparable level of professional and personal growth.  Please nominate any individual that you feel would be an asset to our club by serving in a leadership capacity, including yourself!  All nominations are anonymous, and self nominations are encouraged.

Detailed descriptions of each position can be found by following the link above.  In addition, below is a list of the available Board positions, along with the contact information for those who are currently serving in these respective roles.  If you have any questions about a specific position, or serving on the Board in general, please reach out to any of these individuals, or our Club Chair, Justin Weintraub, who is chairing the Slating Committee (jweintraub@colonialprop.com,  250-8862).

President –  Andrew Case, acase1@gmail.com, 865-300-6488

Vice President – Niki Harris, arharris@southernco.com, 257-3237

Treasurer – John Smola, jsmola@southernco.com, 257-1434

Communications Director/Secretary – Laura Lavender, lauralavender@gmail.com, 492-6377

Service Chair – Wesley Carpenter, wesley_carpenter@ml.com, 326-9668

Programs Director – David Knight, dknight@sec.org, 458-3000

Membership Development Director – Laura Montgomery, laura@thecrittendenfirm.com, 874-8680

Social Director – Richard Davis, richard.davis@willis.com, 868-0233

Membership Recruitment Director – Carly Jane Rullman, cjrullman@gmail.com, 434-825-2519

Last year we had over forty people interview for the Board, and I look forward to having even more do so this year.

Happy New Year,

Andrew Case, President

Join Rotaract for a luncheon meeting on Thursday, January 19th featuring Walt Maddox, Mayor of  Tuscaloosa. Walt will speak to our club about his career, the city of Tuscaloosa and the impact of the April 2011 Tornados. Rotaract meets on the first and third Thursdays at the Harbert Center located in downtown Birmingham. Lunch starts at 11:45 a.m. and meetings begin promptly at noon. Lunch is free for members and $10 for guests. A limited number of recruitment spots are available. If you wish to bring a potential member, please email bhamrotaract.membership@gmail.com. To register to attend, please click here.

About Walt Maddox
Walter Maddox was sworn in for his second term as Tuscaloosa’s 36th Mayor on November 2, 2009. Since his first inauguration in 2005, Mayor Maddox has led initiatives to increase economic development, improve customer service and provide quality pre-k education for academically at-risk children.

Mayor Maddox is a Tuscaloosa native and graduated from Central High School. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and master’s degree in public administration from UAB. While attending UAB, Mayor Maddox was a four-year letter-winner on the football team.

The majority of Mayor Maddox’s professional career has been spent in public education. From 1996 to 2001, he served as an Alabama Education Association Field Director. In 2001, he was appointed Executive Director of Personnel for the Tuscaloosa City Schools. In that same year, he was elected as Tuscaloosa City Councilman for the Sixth District.

Mayor Maddox is married to Stephanie Roberts Maddox. He has two children: Trey (21) and Taylor (9) and his favorite hobby is running. Mayor Maddox has completed several marathons and half-marathons.