Rotary Club of Sandy Springs

09/25/2026

Leadership isn't something you wait until adulthood to practice.

Our club sponsors Interact clubs at Sandy Springs–area high schools. Interact is Rotary for students: they choose their own service projects, run their own meetings, and raise their own funds. We open doors and then get out of the way.

These are the people who will be running Sandy Springs in twenty years. They are already doing the work.

Together, we invest in the next generation.

sandyspringsrotary.org

09/23/2026

Can a city use AI without it going sideways? Sandy Springs built the scaffolding first — a steering committee and a technical working group that meet every month to decide what gets built, review how it's being used, and set the policy around it.

Keith McMellen, who leads the City's Digital Innovation Initiative, is our guest this coming Monday.

Guests welcome — no membership required, no pressure.

Monday, September 28 — gathering at noon, meeting 12:15–1:15 p.m.
Wyndham Atlanta Perimeter, 6120 Peachtree Dunwoody Road NE, Sandy Springs, GA 30328
Questions: [email protected]

09/16/2026

Most of us hear "AI strategy" and picture a slide deck. In Sandy Springs it looks like an assistant on the City website that answers a resident's question at midnight in more than 100 languages, and a staff pilot the City credits with saving 2,800 hours of work before it went citywide this summer.

Keith McMellen joined the City of Sandy Springs in early 2025 as Director of Data Strategy, Analytics, and AI Integration, after more than two decades in the public and private sectors. He leads the City's Digital Innovation Initiative — the resident assistant, the permitting work now in its first phase, and the governance underneath both.

We invited him because this is the rare technology story that's actually local. It's your permit, your park, your question to the City.

Guests are always welcome — no membership required, no pressure. Just lunch and something worth hearing.

Monday, September 28 — gathering at noon, meeting 12:15–1:15 p.m.
Wyndham Atlanta Perimeter, 6120 Peachtree Dunwoody Road NE, Sandy Springs, GA 30328
Questions: [email protected]

09/15/2026

Two organizations do most of the work keeping Sandy Springs fed. Our members volunteer at both.

Solidarity Sandy Springs began in March 2020 with a plan to feed ten families for two weeks. It now serves hundreds of families every week from Sandy Springs Plaza, running a free-choice market where neighbors shop for their own groceries instead of receiving a pre-packed box.

The Community Assistance Center has been at this since 1987, serving Sandy Springs and Dunwoody with a food pantry alongside financial assistance, adult education and its thrift shop.

Both run on volunteers. Both are worth your time.

Rotarians from our club take shifts sorting donations, stocking shelves and helping neighbors shop. If you'd like to join us, come to a Monday lunch or send us a message — and if Rotary isn't your thing, go volunteer with them directly. They'll take the help.

sandyspringsrotary.org | [email protected]

09/09/2026

Birdwatchers at Morgan Falls Overlook Park have been logging their sightings in the eBird app for years. Now there's a screen at the park that pulls that public data down every hour and shows visitors what's been spotted lately - designed and built in-house by the City of Sandy Springs.

It's a small thing, and it's one item on a much longer list. The City's Digital Innovation Initiative also covers AI-assisted permitting and the assistant answering questions on the City website.

Keith McMellen leads that initiative, and he's our guest on Monday, September 28. More on him in the weeks ahead.

Guests are always welcome at our Monday lunch meetings — no membership required, no pressure.

Monday, September 28 — gathering at noon, meeting 12:15–1:15 p.m.
Wyndham Atlanta Perimeter, 6120 Peachtree Dunwoody Road NE, Sandy Springs, GA 30328
Questions: [email protected]

09/08/2026

Some people leave a mark that outlasts them.

Dan Keels was Chaplain of Northside Hospital and a beloved member of our club. He gave extensively to this community and inspired everyone who knew him through a lifetime of service.

In his honor, the Sandy Springs Rotary Foundation established the Dan Keels Scholarship in 1989. It has been awarded to Sandy Springs students every year since, up to $2,500 per student.

September is Rotary's month for Basic Education and Literacy. Thirty-seven years on, Dan's name still helps local seniors get to college.

That's Service Above Self.

sandyspringsrotary.org

09/04/2026

So what actually happens at a Rotary lunch?

We meet the 1st, 2nd & 4th Mondays at the Wyndham Atlanta Perimeter, 6120 Peachtree Dunwoody Road NE. Doors open at noon, we start at 12:15, and you're back to your day by 1:15. Lunch, a few club updates, and a guest speaker with something worth hearing about Sandy Springs and beyond.

That's it. No mystery, no pressure.

Come as our guest, meet the room, and see if it fits. Upcoming speakers are always on our calendar.

sandyspringsrotary.org | [email protected]

09/01/2026

Here's the honest pitch.

Rotary isn't a networking group that occasionally does charity. It's a service club full of people who like getting things done. In Sandy Springs that has meant scholarships awarded every year since 1989, Interact clubs at local high schools, shifts at community food pantries, glasses for students who need them, and dinners for our police officers and firefighters.

Together, we build a stronger Sandy Springs. One lunch hour at a time.

If that sounds like your kind of hour, come be our guest — 1st, 2nd & 4th Mondays, noon, Wyndham Atlanta Perimeter.

sandyspringsrotary.org | [email protected]

08/28/2026

A student who can't see the board can't learn from it.

Together with Vision To Learn, our club brings free eye exams and prescription glasses straight to Sandy Springs students. Across the life of the program, we've helped put more than 800 pairs of glasses on local kids — 222 of them last season alone.

Thank you to Vision To Learn and to every member and donor who made this year's project happen.

Want to help with the next one? Come to a Monday lunch or send us a message.

sandyspringsrotary.org

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08/26/2026

Thank you to Gabbi Markle, Development Manager at Camp Kudzu, for joining us this past Monday.

For 26 years, Camp Kudzu has given Georgia kids and teens living with type 1 diabetes something hard to come by: time where managing T1D is simply what everyone around you is doing too. Day camps, family camps, summer camp, weekend retreats, and a leadership development program — all built around education, independence, and being with other kids who get it.

Two ways to show up for them:

🎟️ Attend an event — An Evening Under the Stars, the Kudzu Cup FORE! Kids golf tournament, and the Kudzu Challenge Series: https://www.campkudzu.org/events/

💙 Give — including Fund-A-Camper, which sends a child to camp: https://www.campkudzu.org/ways-to-give/

Together, we help Georgia kids grow up living well with T1D.

Guests are always welcome at our Monday lunch meetings — doors at noon, meeting at 12:15 p.m., Wyndham Atlanta Perimeter, 6120 Peachtree Dunwoody Road NE. Say hello: [email protected]

Ways to Give YOU have the power to make a difference today in the life of a child or teen living with type 1 diabetes. Our kids have one shot at […]