Dear Club Member:
 
I hope I find you well today - have you heard the news?
 
It would seem that through a series of meetings featuring our own Bryant Stone, Tony Howard and Sharon Wright, in conjunction with a rather large local grocery store chain, we very likely have secured most, if not all, of our school supplies for our second annual Rally for our Kids Backpack Project.
 
The grocery representative has made a verbal commitment, and all concerned, feel confident it will indeed happen.  (I should go to Miami more often)
 
While initial estimates were that up to 600 backpacks would be donated from our friends at the Leesburg Costco, we realize that the final approved amount by the Regional Costco will be anywhere from 200 to 600.   
 
Smile a little larger this week knowing that, regardless the final number, there will be full backpacks going to the LCPS in the fall of 2016 for at-need students.
 
Please join me in thanking the members of our club mentioned above (when you see them next) for their time and effort put forward to making this happen.  It's a bit of a Christmas miracle, so job well done.
 
Keep pushing everyone! 
 
And Another
 
It looks as if our club effort struck a chord with our Loudoun Sheriff Mike Chapman.
 
After the success of our inaugural event (which highlighted the community need /desire) our contract PR representative Sharon Wright campaigned to the Incumbent Sheriff, and it seems that Loudoun will be reinstitution funding for training local sheriff's deputies for car seat safety checks in our county.  Sharon stated that the need we exposed was too great to ignore and that she leveraged her daughters Girl Scout Troop project to help make this change a reality.
 
The training will be taking place in the spring for our county so that the newly certified deputies will be ready for the fall of 2016. A Policy shift, check, go Rotary Club of Ashburn!
 
There will also be an opportunity for training for five non-law enforcement types as part of this spring effort.  Therefore, if you are interested in volunteer training, please let me know so that I may direct you to Sharon Wright.
 
As an FYI, Linda Watkins at INOVA Trama has been kept in the conversation as well and is very excited about this opportunity and our spring event.
 
As a club, we are on slate for a second effort (I believe in May 2016) in conjunction with our friends in Prince William. After my term as President, it appears we will have options between Loudoun and Prince William moving forward.
 
Great job and special thanks to Justina Dee, Mary Maguire, Sharon Wright, Linda Watkins (and INOVA Trama team), our dedicated volunteers from Prince William County and all our Rotary Volunteers from the Inaugural Car Seat Safety Check!
 

Yours in Rotary Service,

 

Christopher J. Little 

Ashburn Rotary Club

President