The 23rd Lunch-4-Literacy event will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 17, at the Oak Ridge High School food court.
This year’s author is Mike Tabor, author of the book “Walk of Death.” This is a riveting, spine-tingling tale of drugs, fraud, murder, and switched identities, a press release said.
Here is a short summary of the book: [Read more…]
Dragon boats at the first Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival on May 31, 2014, at Melton Lake Park. (Submitted photo)
The second annual Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival will be held Saturday, May 30, at the Oak Ridge Marina and Pavilion in Melton Lake Park. The annual festival was launched a year ago by the three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge.
This year, the festival will be preceded by an evening social event and beer garden on Friday, May 29, at the park. For the dragon boat paddlers and other visitors from out of town, the host hotel is Comfort Inn of Oak Ridge.
The festival’s organizing committee is headed by Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, immediate past president of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge. Chairs and members of the steering committee and subcommittees are members of this club, the Breakfast Club, and the Sunset Club. [Read more…]
There is a December 31 deadline for grant applications for work that will improve literacy in Oak Ridge and Anderson and Roane counties.
The application deadline was announced this week by Altrusa International of Oak Ridge and the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club. Applications and award criteria may be found on the Altrusa International website at www.oakridge.altrusa.org/What-We-Do/Literacy.aspx or the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club website at www.orbrc.org.
“Lack of literacy skills continues to be a serious problem in the lives of many of our East Tennessee neighbors and for many throughout the world,” a press release said. “Non-readers and below-grade readers cannot realize their full potential in life, which in turn adversely affects our local and national economies and society in general.” [Read more…]
Kelly Callison
Business executive and community volunteer Kelly Callison is running for Oak Ridge City Council in the November 4 municipal election.
Callison is chief operating officer of Information International Associates Inc. He is also vice chairman of the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission.
In a press release, Callison said he thinks his community, business, and military experience will enable him to bring a cooperative and positive approach to city government. Callison said he will focus on “maintaining our great schools, improving housing, and increasing retail and commercial business.â€
Callison and his family came to Oak Ridge seven years ago and have been active in the community from the beginning, the press release said. Besides serving as vice chair of the Municipal Planning Commission, Callison is a member of the East Tennessee Economic Council, a member of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce Advocacy Task Force, a board member of Contact CareLine, president of the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club, and a member of the Oak Ridge Chapter of the League of Woman Voters. [Read more…]
To the Editor:
What happens when three Rotary clubs in an East Tennessee city work together? In Oak Ridge, a three-club collaboration over the past year culminated in a highly successful inaugural Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Race Festival. The exciting event was launched on Saturday, May 31, at the Oak Ridge Marina off Melton Lake Drive—one of the three best rowing venues in the United States.
The leadership of the event started with Mark Watson, Oak Ridge city manager and president of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge. He met frequently with the presidents of the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary and Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary clubs, and they persuaded their club members to serve on the organizing committee and as volunteers at the festival. Key Rotarians who made the event successful were Leslie England, Keith Kahl, Jim Sumner, and Oak Ridge City Councilman Chuck Hope (who was in charge of logistics and served as a liaison between the Rotary clubs and the city of Oak Ridge).
By the third week in May, 30 teams, including one from Chattanooga and three from Kentucky and North Carolina, had registered. Three teams came from the Oak Ridge School System and three from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). [Read more…]
Thirty boats participated in the inaugural Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival on Saturday at the Oak Ridge Marina at Melton Lake Park.
The event was organized by the three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge: Rotary Club of Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary, and Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary Club.
Organizers were pleased with the participation and turnout, and they’ve already announced that next year’s festival will be on May 30, 2015.
A dragon boat is a long, low boat adorned with a snarling dragonhead at the boat’s front end, as in the Chinese tradition. Dragon boat races have become popular events in many U.S. cities, ranging in size from Philadelphia to Knoxville. [Read more…]
Teams take part in the annual Dragon Boat Festival in Taipei on May 28, 2009. Originally the summer event was a time to ward off bad spirits but now it is a celebration of the life of Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet who opposed the corruption of the imperial court. More than 200 teams from Taiwan and abroad will compete in the three-day race. AFP PHOTO / PATRICK LIN (Photo credit should read PATRICK LIN/ AFP/ Getty Images)
Commit to a competitive sport and community support.Â
That could be the motto of the inaugural Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival, a fundraiser for community nonprofit service organizations that will be launched by the three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge.
Already at least 20 boat teams are being organized, with more expected to register soon at http://oakridge.racedragonboats.com/.
At least 15 companies and organizations have paid or pledged a total of more than $25,000.
The Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival will be held Saturday, May 31, at the Oak Ridge Marina and Pavilion in Melton Lake Park. [Read more…]
Denise Kiernan, author of “The Girls of Atomic City,†is the featured speaker at the 2014 Lunch-4-Literacy luncheon.
A Tuesday luncheon will feature Denise Kiernan, author of “The Girls of Atomic City,” and it will raise money for literacy grants.
Lunch–4-Literacy has been organized by Altrusa International of Oak Ridge and the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club. It starts at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Oak Ridge High School.
“The purpose of the joint effort is to provide grants to help improve literacy in Oak Ridge and Anderson and Roane counties,” a press release said. “Each year, the grants are awarded to selected recipients. In 2013, $23,532.99 was awarded.”
Tickets are $40 each, and they are available from Altrusa and Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club members or they can be purchased at The Ferrell Shop at Jackson Square and Mr. K’s used book store next to Big Kmart in Oak Ridge. Tickets will also be available at the door. All tickets include a catered lunch. All proceeds from the event go to support local literacy programs, the press release said. [Read more…]
The first team to pull out the flag at the end of a dragon boat race in Colorado wins the 150-meter competition. (Jeff Towery, provided by Colorado Dragon Boat Festival)
The three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge, which are planning to launch the inaugural Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival this spring, have announced a change of date for the community fundraiser. The festival will be held Saturday, May 31, 2014, at the Oak Ridge Marina and Pavilion in Melton Lake Park.
In addition, the clubs have announced a new website for the Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival: http://oakridge.racedragonboats.com/.
“The purpose of the festival is to provide a venue for dragon boat races, offer food and musical entertainment, and raise funds for a special project and nonprofit service organizations in the community,†said Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, president of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge.
The boat-racing event, launched by OARS in the Water, will celebrate Oak Ridge’s waterfront and signature rowing venue. OARS stands for the Oak Ridge Association of Rotarians. The other two clubs are the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary and Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary clubs. [Read more…]
Teams take part in the annual Dragon Boat Festival in Taipei on May 28, 2009. (Photo credit Patrick Lin/AFP/Getty Images)
Three local Rotary clubs are launching the city’s first Dragon Boat Festival on May 17 at the Oak Ridge Marina and Pavilion in Melton Lake Park.
“The purpose of the festival is to provide a venue for dragon boat races, offer food and musical entertainment, and raise funds for a special project and nonprofit service organizations in the community,†said Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, president of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge.
The boat racing event, launched by OARS in the Water, will celebrate Oak Ridge’s waterfront and signature rowing venue. OARS stands for the Oak Ridge Association of Rotarians. The other two clubs are the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary and Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary clubs. [Read more…]
Brenda Thornburgh, left, president of Galbraith Laboratories Inc. and past President of Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club, marks a child’s left pinkie with a purple marker during a polio eradication mission in India in 2012, indicating that the child has received the immunization. (Submitted photo).
Brenda Thornburgh, president of Galbraith Laboratories Inc. and past President of Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club, will discuss the worldwide effort to eradicate polio during Lunch with the League on Tuesday.
The meeting starts at noon in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church on Oak Ridge Turnpike.
For most Americans, paralytic polio is a disease of the past, a press release said. However, there has been a worldwide increase in the number of confirmed cases across the world in 2013, primarily in non-endemic countries such as Somalia, Kenya, and the Syrian Arab Republic. [Read more…]
Applications are now available for about $17,000 worth of literacy grants awarded by Altrusa International of Oak Ridge and the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club.
The grants are used to help improve literacy in Oak Ridge and Anderson and Roane counties, and they will be awarded to selected recipients. Applications and award criteria may be found on the Altrusa International website or Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club website. Hard copies are also available at the Oak Ridge Public Library.
Applications must be submitted by Nov. 1.
