Saturday, August 22, 2009
Twenty-one members of the Smyrna Business Association, Smyrna Golden K Kiwanis, Smyrna Rotary Club and the Smyrna Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce joined forces to clean several hundred street signs across Smyrna. The Saturday, August 22, 2009 event was a historic first for Smyrna and perhaps even Cobb County or Georgia as it is the first time on record that the various community service groups have united for a joint project. The project was organized by Keep Smyrna Beautiful’s director Ann Kirk.
Above Photo L-R: Alan and Helen Wilgus (K), James Day (SBA), John Cole (SBA), Jim Duelmer (SAC/SBA), Lee Whitehead (K), Allan Lipsett (K), Ron Davis (K), Kirby Winters (SAC), Joe Bland (K), Ann Kirk (KSB), Russ Lutterbie (SBA), Mike Terry (K), Ty Cobb (R), Henry Ahola (K), Ruth Frederick(K), Olivier Havette (R), Rhenna Rice (SBA/R), Buddy Purvine (SAC/SBA), Peter Wasserman (R), Leo and Nancy Misita (SBA). Photo: Narayan Sengupta (R/SBA). Organization affiliations as follows: (K) Smyrna Golden K Kiwanis, (SAC) Smyrna Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, (SBA) Smyrna Business Association, (R) Smyrna Rotary Club, (KSB) Keep Smyrna Beautiful.
Getting the various groups together for large community service projects was done by SuperSmyrna. SuperSmyrna Chairman Jim Duelmer was excited about the event saying “It was thrilling to see the various organizations working together for a great cause. Smyrna is a wonderful place to call home and SuperSmyrna is a vehicle in which our organizations can make a greater impact in the community.”
Alan Wilgus, who is head of the Smyrna Golden K Kiwanis Club, and was able to get nine volunteers to come added: “For our first joint project I thought it was a great success and shows what we are capable of achieving when we pool our resources.” The SBA’s Russ Lutterbie said “The city’s associations and service clubs have always had a strong sense of civic duty and pride on an individual basis, but to see them come together in a unified manner is something long overdue.” Chimed in Narayan Sengupta of the Smyrna Rotary Club: “I thought it was an outstanding start to what I hope will be a long list of hand’s on SuperSmyrna projects that our clubs can do together for the good of our beautiful city. It is also a great way for us to start to get to know each other better so that we can let each other know about and cooperate on subsequent projects.”
Other exciting projects including the formation of a Subject Matter Expert database for people in the community who are interested in speaking to classes Smyrna area schools have either been started or are currently being lined up.
For more information contact Jim Duelmer at jduelmer@viningsmortgage.com.
