Rotary Club of Tucker Receives $25,000 ARP Allocation forCommunity Relief
Rotary Club of Tucker Receives $25,000 ARP Allocation for Community Relief
Funds to Be Used for Mortgage and Rent Relief, School Supplies
Tucker GA (July 28, 2022) – DeKalb County has approved a $25,000 Super District 7
American Rescue Plan (ARP) appropriation of funding from Commissioner Lorraine Cochran-Johnson for the Rotary Club of Tucker to support mortgage and rent assistance and the purchase and distribution of school supplies, for eligible residents of the Tucker-Northlake- Embry Hills community still dealing with the financial impact from COVID. The Rotary Club will partner with NETWorks Cooperative Ministry to handle registration and ultimately distribution of housing funds and school supplies.
“I am extremely proud of the work the Rotary Club of Tucker does in the community,” said Cochran-Johnson. “I count it a privilege to have the ability to help them further their mission of providing rental assistance, diminishing food insecurities and providing educational supplies to those who have a need.”
Cochran-Johnson presented the check during the club’s monthly #ThirdThursday social event, this month hosted at Smoke Rise Country Club on Thursday, July 21.
“We have a long history working with NETWorks to address the food and financial needs of our most vulnerable neighbors,” said Kirk Fordham, Rotary Club of Tucker director of community services. “We chose to work with NETWorks to help distribute these funds because of their history with Rotary, but also because of their proven expertise as the agency chosen by the City of Tucker to administer federal CARES Act and ARP funding.”
Fordham expressed the club’s gratitude to Cochran-Johnson for her continuing support of the club’s commitment to its community. “As people of action, Rotary members want to find ways to respond to COVID-19, and to help people still being affected by it. We are grateful that the
Commissioner listened to our needs, and offered to help us make a transformative impact in our community.”
Rotary Club of Tucker Names 2022 Teacher of the Year
It all begins with an idea.
The Rotary Club of Tucker (RCT), a member club of Rotary International, has named Genevieve Johnson, an English teacher at Tucker High School, as its
2022 Teacher of the Year. Johnson was honored as one of six top DeKalb educators, named by six of the member clubs of the DeKalb Rotary Council. The annual awards were presented during a breakfast held on Friday, March 25 at Smoke Rise Country Club.
Johnson was born and raised in Los Angeles, but headed to the east coast for college, where she graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta before earning a master’s degree of education from Harvard University. She returned to the west coast after graduation, and spent ten years teaching in south central Los Angeles and in a small detention center on the San Diego-Mexican border.
“Returning to these places helped me to shape my pedagogy and learn what students really needed from their teachers: practical knowledge and consistency,” said Johnson. “Students simple need basic tools to navigate this world: how to read, write and think critically so they can think for themselves and form their own opinions.”
In 2006, Johnson moved from California to Georgia and began teaching AP and Gifted English at Tucker High School. She is the school’s ELA (English Language Arts) department chair as well as the staff advisor for the school’s literary magazine Collage. She appreciates the diverse student population at Tucker, and over the years, has traveled globally with students to Peru, Greece, France, Spain, Turkey, England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. She hopes to continue teaching at Tucker High for many years to come. “Tucker High School is a haven of the best of all possible elements. I am privileged to live and work in Tucker, and am grateful to be part of such a warm and charismatic community.”
In her spare time, Johnson enjoys traveling, crafting, and reading. She is an avid knitter and crochet artist and often hosts classes to teach her students how to knit and crochet. “The DeKalb Rotary Teacher of the Year program is a very important initiative, an opportunity for Rotary to put a spotlight on the contributions of our teachers in the county,” said Kellianne King, president of the Rotary Club of Tucker. “Promoting literacy remains one of the most important causes of Rotary International and this is our way of making sure that the teachers in DeKalb know that their work is valued and that Rotary stands behind them.”