The following are summaries of weekly club meeting programs in the month of September, 2013. Thank you to participants and contributors!
September 3, 2013: Program – Lee Kallman – Director of Marketing & Communications for Richmond 2015.
David Saunders introduced Lee Kallman who brought us up to speed on the bicycling world championships that will be held in the Richmond area September 15 – 27, 2015.
This international event will have a $160 million impact on the local area over the course of nine days.
The Richmond 2015 organization has been working on the event for over three years. Richmond’s path to the event began with a bid on the event in 2010 and the 2011 announcement that Richmond was going to be the host for the 2015 event. The last and only time this event was in the United States was in 1986 in Colorado Springs.
The event will bring 1000 athletes from 76 countries as well a countless support staff and fans. Over 500 media are expected that will televise the event to 100 million viewers worldwide.
There will be 12 different events over the nine days of racing. In addition to the 2015 event, the 2014 national collegiate championships will be held here in May. This will be a 3-day warm up event to test the 2015 organization.
September 10, 2013: Program – Club Assembly
In addition to club announcements and updates, a new member proposal was presented. Robley D. Bates is sponsored for membership by Chandler Williams and Scott Gore. Robley is the owner/operator of Express Oil Change and ServiceCenter (Classification – Automotive Service). He is a UVA graduate and has an MBA from the DardenSchool.
September 17, 2013: Program – Debra Q. Marlow – Lucy Corr Foundation.
Dave Saunders introduced Debra Marlow, Director of Development & Community Relations for Lucy Corr Village and Executive Director for Lucy Corr Foundation. Debra is also a South Richmond Rotarian.
Debra started out by thanking the Midlothian Club for support of the Student Banquet. She told us how much she appreciated the event when she was the Community Relations Director for Chesterfield County Schools.
Debra explained the services of Lucy Corr Village including independent living apartments and cottages, assisted living, assisted living memory support, short term nursing care, and long term nursing care. She also advised us that Lucy Corr provides more than two million dollars per year in benevolent care.
Recently, they have taken on modernizing the dental care operation at the facility. They have expanded to provide community support for Medicaid and Medicare dental patients with free service for those in need. They have seven volunteer dentists that are now honorary faculty at VCU/MCV, allowing a partnership with VCU for dental hygienist and dental students to work in the clinic. They have recently received three grants that have allowed them to perform the modernization and to add a bedside dental system. They have been recognized in dental journals for this partnership.
Lucy Corr is the recipient of charitable donations from throughout the community. Debra brought brochures for “the Amazing Raise” charity donation event to be held on September 18th and 19th. You may go to www.giverichmond.org to participate.
September 23, 2013: Program – Dr. Debbie L. Sydow – President of Richard Bland College.
Dr. Sydow gave the club an introduction to RichardBlandCollege, the only public two-year residential college in Virginia. RBC, chartered in 1960 as branch of William and Mary, occupies a 770 acre campus south of Petersburg. Richard Bland is still a branch of William and Mary and is governed by the W&M Board of Visitors.
Dr. Sydow told us that Bland is keeping up with changes in the education industry to teach for careers of the future and to prepare students to transfer to four year universities.
The college is very proud of their very low tuition. Their focus on transfers helps keep these costs down. By avoiding programs that require high priced science and laboratory equipment, they are also able to reduce average tuition costs.
The college is also in the first year of a new honors program and interscholastic athletics. Despite these additions, Dr. Sydow does not anticipate any move to become a four-year institution.
Dr. Sydow took several questions from members. She pointed out that RBC does not share faculty with William and Mary. She also answered that Bland is not a part of the state community college system and still reports to William and Mary.
