Integrating Drones


Lieutenant Scott Campbell, Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office

The Chatham Rotary Club hosted Lieutenant Scott Campbell, Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office, headlining our noon program.   Scott has been with the Sheriff’s Office since 1998 and his present job duties include the Bureau of Professional Standards and Internal Controls, Human Resources and he is a FAA Certified Drone pilot.  Scott is also an active member of the Danville Life Saving Crew. 

As a trained and licensed Drone Pilot for the Department, Scott gave an overview of the integration of unmanned aerial systems (Drones) into the employ of law enforcement.  His discussions include a short video, and a discussion on the Federal Aviation Administration’s policies and procedures as they relate to the use of Drones by law enforcement and the public.  Scott’s interesting discussion highlighted some of the life-threatening situations he had faced in the past as part of the Life Saving Crew and how Drones could have reduced the dangers to both the rescuers and to the victims.

April 16th Meeting

The Chatham Rotary Club hosted an unusual program presented by Paul Allen, first time book author, with an extremely interesting program entitled When Tobacco Was King. Paul, from Ontario, Canada is a retired Ontario Canada Secondary School Teacher of 32 years and is the son of the former President of the Canadian Leaf Tobacco Company.  

In his presentation he shares his fathers personal records and his own knowledge of the history of tobacco in both Canada and the United States.  Growing growing up so close to the tobacco industry and with family relations in both the Canadian & North Carolina tobacco business Paul has seemingly unlimited knowledge of the evolution of the tobacco industry in both countries.  Paul was hosted by Chatham Rotarian Chris Lund.  A number of Rotarians purchased his book and there was a gracious book signing following the presentation.

Celebrate! (Rotary April 9th)

Chatham Rotarians were treated to an informative program by Don Nodtvedt, Founder & Chairman of Board of Southside Region Celebration.  Don Nodtvedt is a retired Plant Manager of the Danville Nestle Corporation and Former Director of the Boys and Girls Club of the Danville Area.  Don was introduced by Chatham Rotarian Jimmy Barts, also a member of the board for Southside Region Celebration.

Jimmy Barts - Don Nodtvedt

Don’s presentation stressed that Southside Region Celebration, “Celebrate” is an interdenominational, interracial professional music group with a vision of “One Community, One Savior”. At nearly one hundred members strong, with a full orchestra, worship team, and choir, the group has members from over 24 area churches. Don’s passion for “Celebrate” was evident as he spoke to the group.

Don emphasized their strong commitment to create and deliver multiple quality praise, gospel, and worship services to the community and  churches in multiple venues.  Don reviewed the history and organization of Celebrate and expressed the desire for community members who want to be part of such an inspiring group to consider sharing their talents as musicians, choral members, or praise leaders by joining Celebrate.


Interested individuals can contact Don by email: nodtvedt@centurylink.net

Rotary Meeting April 2

The Chatham Rotary Club was treated to an informative program by Amanda Oakes, Prevention Services Director, Danville-Pittsylvania Community Services.  Mrs. Oakes was introduced by Chatham Rotarian Walter Sullivan.  Mrs. Oakes is a local graduate of Chatham High School, Danville Community College, and Averett University and is currently serving as President of the Regional Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention.

The program gave a glimpse of local youth drug culture and trends.  Mrs. Oakes explored the top priorities for Pittsylvania County youth drug prevention as identified by our community needs assessments:  Underage Drinking, Tobacco/Vaping, and Prescription Drugs.  She also shared the programs and strategies being implemented to address these issues.

Mrs. Oakes set up a RASP (Regional Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention) display that featured numerous handouts focused on strategies to address local drug culture and examples of items used by our youth in different trends in our communities.  Rotarian’s were also encouraged to take a home medication lock-box to secure medications in the home and to take advantage of the upcoming community outdated or unneeded medication turn-in upcoming here in the community.

Rotarian Walter Sullivan & Ms. Amanda Oakes

Literacy…and a Storm Chaser!

Chatham Rotary’s February 26 program provided an update on the Pittsylvania County Literacy Program sponsored by the Pittsylvania County Library system.  The program was presented by Phyllis Roach who was named director of the Pittsylvania County Literacy Program effective September 2018. Ms. Roach grew up in Pittsylvania County and attended local schools but worked for 25 years in California as a Science teacher, high school Assistant Principal, and Middle School Principal. Prior to her work as an educator Ms. Roach attended Montana State University obtaining a BS in Earth Science and served three years in Peace Corps Kenya as an Agriculture/Forestry extension agent and volunteer trainer.  She is very excited to be of service to the adults in Pittsylvania County and their literacy needs.

Pictured: Phyllis Roach

Ms. Roach explained that the Pittsylvania County Literacy Program was founded in 1994 to serve adults in need of literacy help. The program has one employee and functions through the generosity of volunteer tutors, grants, and donations. Fundraising is focused on grant writing through local and national programs such as the J.T. Minnie Maude, Dan River, and Womack Foundations, and national groups such as the National Center for Family Literacy, ProLiteracy, and others. These funds provide materials and technology to serve adults in goals they set for themselves such as improving their reading and writing skills, job related literacy, GED tutoring, Math assistance, or any other needs. The program was without a Director for eight month’s so future plans are to reestablish county outreach to organizations like Rotary, HeadStart, community churches, NAACP, Pittsylvania County Retired Teachers, and more. In addition, the program is working collaboratively to attract larger, long-term program grants with the County Library System.

The Literacy Program is currently in need of tutors and will work to attract them and provide training funded through grants. The county provides the program with office and technology support and a small stipend used for salary.

L-R: Lisa Tuite, Phyllis Roach, Phil Mauger

March 5th, the Chatham Rotary Club was treated to an interesting weather related program by George Flickenger, WSET TV Chief Meteorologist.  
Sponsored by Mollie Holmes, Chatham Rotary, George entertained the club members with his enthusiasm and wit as he talked about his experiences as a TV Weatherman and Storm Chaser in Texas and Oklahoma prior to his relocation to Virginia and WSET TV.  

Pictured: Mollie Holmes, George Flickenger

His presentation was timely in view of the recent tornado activity in Alabama and Georgia and he was able to emphasize the dangers and safety procedures if caught in severe weather situations.  As Chief Meteorologist, George directs the operations of the weather center and its team.  He is a graduate of Texas A&M University and has appeared on the reality show Storm Chasers.  Several of his videos of his storm chasing adventures added a sense of reality to what he shared with the Rotarians.

George Flickenger, WSET Meteorologist

Tomorrow’s Leaders Today

This week’s Chatham Rotary Program featured a presentation by Rotarian Robert Adams and two students from Chatham High School INTERACT who participated in the Rotary District 7570 RYLA youth event in December. 

RYLA stands for Rotary Youth Leaders Awards and this past year’s event was held in Blacksburg, Virginia.  The conference was attended by 153 high school juniors and seniors from all over western Virginia and Tennessee.   Also participating were six foreign exchange students. Chatham High INTERACT and Chatham Rotary sponsored Hanna Goins and Elizabeth Triggs and together with Robert Adams they gave an overview of the activities and events of this year’s conference.

Rebecca Parsons, the Chatham High School faculty sponsor for INTERACT also participated in the program today.

Above: Rebecca Parsons, CHS INTERACT Sponsor

Lisa Tuite Speaks to Rotary

The February 12th Rotary Program for Chatham Rotary Club was present by Chatham Rotarian Lisa Tuite.  Lisa has been the Director of the Pittsylvania County Public Library since 2016.

Previously, she worked for Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia in a number of capacities, and prior to that, as an imagery analyst and branch chief at the National Photographic Interpretation Center for the Central Intelligence Agency. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia, Georgetown University, and the University of Alabama. Lisa lives in Gretna with her husband Jim. They have one daughter, Rachel.

In July 2018, the library and an ad hoc committee of interested citizens presented a report to the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors entitled “Expanding the Reach” that outlines the need for additional library facilities for underserved areas of the county. The Board agreed to conduct a feasibility study, which is kicking off in March. Ms. Tuite outlined the community engagement and outreach portions of the feasibility study, during which Rotarians and the public can offer their views on the need for expanded library services in the county.

In addition…

Ben Paris, a teacher at Hargrave Military Academy and one of the main facilitators for the the newly formed Young Life program for high school students throughout the county gave a summary of the progress Young Life is making with area youth.  Chatham Rotary has been one of the sponsors of Young Life since its inception and Dick Camp presented Ben with a Chatham Rotary Check for $1000 to assist in their continued development.

Update on the Pet Center

Chatham Rotary Club was treated to an update by James McLaughlin, Director of the Pittsylvania County Pet Center at the weekly meeting on Feb. 5th

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James McLaughlin was named director of the Pittsylvania Pet Center effective January 1, 2019, when Pittsylvania County assumed operational control of the Center from the Lynchburg Humane Society.  After serving honorably in the US Navy for 20 years, James pursued his passion for working with animals. Mr. McLaughlin was with the  Portsmouth Humane Society for 7 years where he worked my way up from customer service, to the Director of Operations.

He is very excited about the opportunity provided to him by Pittsylvania County, and looks forward to working with the local community to make a difference in animal welfare throughout the county and beyond.

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Also at the February 5th  meeting, Rotarian Dick Camp presented Faith Stamps, Director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Danville Area, with a check of $1,000 from the Chatham Rotary Club. This is a continuation of our club's ongoing community partnership with BGC Danville, and our vision to assist the youth of our region.
Boys & Girls Clubs provide kids and teens in our community a safe place to develop essential skills, make lasting connections and have fun. As a result, Club kids are more likely to:
  • Graduate from high school
  • Be physically active every day
  • Volunteer in their communities

Preparing today’s generation for tomorrow’s success

Chatham Rotary’s noon meeting on January 29th featured an extremely interesting and informative program presented by Mrs. Jessica Dalton, Principal, Pittsylvania Career and Technical Center for the Pittsylvania County Schools.  Mark Jones, a Chatham Rotarian sponsored the program and introduced Mrs. Dalton who is a Chatham, Virginia resident who has worked in Pittsylvania County Schools the past 12 years as a teacher at Dan River High School, Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at Chatham High School, and currently as the Principal of the Pittsylvania Career and Technical Center.

Mrs. Dalton’s presentation highlighted the program at Pittsylvania Career and Technical Center that offers career training in eighteen program areas. These are one or two year programs that offer high school and college credit through dual enrollment with Danville Community College where students can receive college credit as a high school student.  Students from throughout the county high schools travel to the Career and Technical Center located in Chatham daily to participate in their program and have the opportunity to work with state-of-the-art equipment and explore different career pathways through business partnerships.  Some of the eighteen program areas include Automotive Technology, Cybersecurity Technology Systems, Criminal Justice-Law Enforcement, and Cosmetology, Precision Machine Technology, Nursing and Welding.  Information on the Career and Technical Center and other available programs is available at their website: https://pctc.pcs.k12.va.us/home or by calling the Center at 434-432-9416.  The Center will conduct an Open House on March 7th for interested participants.

Pictured below: Jessica Dalton and Club President, Phil Mauger



 

Chatham Rotary Club also inducted a new member at the noon meeting.  Nicholas Ferraco, Sartamor Plant Manager in Tightsqueeze became our Clubs newest member.  Nick was introduced to Rotary and sponsored by Walter Sullivan.  Membership Chair Joe Rogers conducted the induction.  Welcome Nick Ferraco!


Pictured both images (L-R) Walter Sullivan, Nicholas Ferraco, Joe Rogers 



 

Rise Against Hunger

Rise Against Hunger is an international hunger relief non-profit organization that coordinates the packaging and distribution of food and other life-changing aid to people in developing nations.

Participants of the Rise Against Hunger Event

January 26, 2019 a group of about 50 people from the Chatham Rotary Club, the Danville Rotary Club and the Danville After-Hours Rotary as well as students from Chatham High School, Tunstall High School and Chatham Hall came together to organize this event.  There were also several private citizens that participated in this joint effort to package meals destined for Haiti.

This group of 50 packaged over 10,000 meals for the Haitian people!  And we had a good time doing it, knowing that we were helping fight against the world-wide dilemma of hunger.

Below are some pictures of the event. Funny hairnets and beard-nets can’t hide the smile on the faces of our participants!