The Rotary Club of East Cobb announced this week it surpassed its 2019 fundraising goals for nearly two dozen local charitable organizations and is having a special “Giveback Celebration” event Tuesday evening at the Piedmont Church.
The club raised more than $82,000 (the goal was $80,000), mostly through the Dog Days Run 5K race each August at the McCleskey-East Cobb Family YMCA.
The Rotary started the race in 2005, mostly by members who are running enthusiasts, and it’s grown to more than 900 runners last year.
Among the local beneficiaries and projects are:
- Boy Scouts of America
- Camp Kudzu
- Camp Trach Me Away
- Center for Family Resources
- Cobb Library Foundation
- Davis Direction Foundation
- East Cobb Robotics
- Family Promise
- FODAC – Friends of Disabled Adults & Children
- Georgia Care Connection Office
- Good Samaritan Clinic of Cobb
- Kidz 2 Leaders
- Lekotek
- Loving Arms Cancer Outreach
- MDE School
- Project Mail Call
- Public Safety Celebration—Cobb Co. Public Safety
- Rally Foundation
- REAP (Reading Is Essential for All People)
- Revved up kids
- WellStar Community Hospice
- McCleskey-East Cobb Family YMCA
- AVID Wheeler High School
“Although it’s always satisfying to exceed expectations, what’s exciting is the impact this will have on the receiving organizations,” said Tammy Palmgren, East Cobb Rotary president-election and chairwoman of the Dog Day Run and the Giveback Celebration. “Seeing these connections made in real time always makes the Give Back Celebration quite an emotional experience.”
The East Cobb Rotary distributes funding after receiving applications from local organizations, and evaluation by a grant committee.
The club decided to hold its Giveback Celebration in the evening, instead of during its usual 7 a.m. Wednesday breakfast meetings at Indian Hills Country Club, due to larger crowds and to have more time to spend with the organizations it works with.
“I am hopeful everyone at the celebration will come away from the evening with a feeling of being one hundred percent appreciated and acknowledged,” Palmgren said.
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