Washington Rotary Club

01/24/2026

Washington Rotary Club is hosting a

Collection Drive for used Home Medical Equipment (HME) to benefit the

Friends Of Disabled Adults and Children (FODAC)

Please drop off clean, gently-used home medical equipment-
Wheelchairs
Standers/Walkers
Strollers
Shower supports
Shower chairs
Cane
C-Pap machines

to the Rotary Trailer in front of F&M Bank, 911 E. Robert Toombs

Saturday, February 14, 2026

Saturday, February 21, 2026

Between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm

FODAC provides free or low-cost refurbished home medical equipment and services for adults and children with disabilities to improve their overall quality of life. For more information go to

Assistive Technology Now Available through Creditable Loans LEARN MORE FODAC now serving Savannah LEARN MORE Help Us Keep People With Disabilities Moving! Donate Today Donate now to support our efforts both locally and nationally Donate Today Change a life!DONATE YOUR MEDICAL EQUIPMENT TO FODAC Lear...

01/15/2026

Washington Rotary Club celebrated the New Year today with a special luncheon prepared by Newton and Pam Gunter. President Frank Fullbright and members recognized them for their dedication and hard work all year long, preparing the Club's weekly meal. A post-holiday white elephant gift giveaway and party followed.

01/11/2026

Rotary Club of Washington, Georgia held it’s first luncheon meeting of the New Year on January 8, 2026. Our guest speaker was Jacquin Santillan, Health Safety and Environment Manager at Rekord Tent, LLC Manufacturing and Production Company. He has over thirty years of experience in HSE, beginning with his service in the United States Marine Corps.

At Rekord, he leads their Health, Safety and Environment Department with heart through a culture of respect and genuine caring for every employee and their well-being on and off the job. The company manufactures a broad range of high-quality stressed membrane and custom engineered structures along with various modern design tent and shelter products.

Since 1998, Rekord has established itself as an Industry leader providing the most reliable turkey structural solutions for sports facilities, warehousing, dining facilities, double-decker structures and domed structures for commercial, military and public projects.

Santillan’s most notable achievement at Rekord is that the company has just reached a milestone rating in HSE of no recordable injury incidents in 4 years, equaling 555,000 hours of manufacturing operational safety. Congratulations, Peggy Anderson, Rekord Chief of Staff and Washington Rotarian and Jacquin Santillan, Rekord Health, Safety and Environment Manager. Well done!

12/22/2025

Washington Rotary Club participated in the annual Christmas parade in Washington, GA.

12/08/2025

On December 4, 2025 Washington Rotary Club hosted Robert Smith, owner of Clovis Soil Investigations as our guest speaker. A native of Washington, Robert graduated college with a degree in Forestry and spent most of his early career with the United States Geological Survey. His true interest, experience and further education in soil Taxonomy, Genesis and Pedology led him to establish his own company specializing in soli investigations. Clients include commercial and residential developers, farmers, ranchers and individual homeowners.

Washington, Georgia falls within the Piedmont soil classification area of the state, known for its stable, red granite soils high in iron content. The lower part of the state resides in the Coastal Plains area where soils contain a more sandy composition. Clovis Soil Investigations conducts thorough testing of land to identify where the water table is, the compaction and percolation characteristics of the ground and where it is most suitable for development.

He and his wife, Jordan, are active in the business community of Washington. The name Clovis comes from the first native American tribe to settle in North America.

11/06/2025

Last week on October 30th, The FODAC President, Chris Brand, told the club about FODAC’s work around the state, U.S. and international service with home medical equipment (HME). As a Rotarian himself, he mentioned the work Rotary does with them all over GA and Internationally. Communities and Rotary clubs create volunteer drop off locations for collection of gently used HME that can be offered locally or picked up by FODAC when the space or container is full www.fodac.org/donate/medical/

People in need of HME can contact their main office at 770 491-9014 or by fodac@fodac.org

Find out more at www.fodac.org

10/20/2025

At last week’s luncheon, October 14, 2025, Rotary member Ed Patton gave a lecture on the Geology and Geography of the Eastern Snake River plain in Idaho. The area is an ancient track of the Yellowstone Hotspot and is home to Craters of the Moon National Monument.

The EBR1, (Energy Breeder Reactor) was developed there and powered the first town to be lit by nuclear power in the country.

Hagerman Fossil Beds located nearby depicts fossils of the earliest ancestors to modern day horses, donkeys and zebras. The Equus Simplicidens is the identifying term given to the horse fossils discovered in Hagerman, Idaho in 1928.

And on another significant note, the path of the Oregon Trail runs through the Eastern Snake River plain. We thank Ed for sharing his knowledge of the area with our club.

10/13/2025

Our club welcomed Tom Duggan, a native Washingtonian to speak about the history and significance of church architecture throughout Wilkes County, on October 9, 2025. As a noted local photographer, he has identified 84 church structures in the area with 70 active congregations. (43 Baptist, 10 Methodist and 15 of other denominations)

Washington Presbyterian Church represents the oldest church structure built in Washington in 1825, though the congregation first formed in 1790.
Its style is reminiscent of New England style churches as many of its original members were from that region. Jackson Chapel was the first Black Church built in 1867 by freed slaves.

Tom’s photos featured exterior and interior views illustrating various architectural styles of their time periods including stained glass windows, hand-crafted wooden pews, alters, balcony’s and pipe organs. Bethel Methodist Church and First Methodist Church feature unique curved wooden pews.

Tom opened and closed his presentation with a the Bible verse “Behold how good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity” Psalm 133, v 1-3. Our Church structures provide safe and sacred gathering places.

10/06/2025

Rotarians Pam and Lisa building our Squarecrow for the contest on October 31, 2025.

10/06/2025

On October 2, 2025, Washington Rotary Club hosted Sam Moore, Chairman of the Wilkes County Board of Commissioners, Lisa Dozier, Wilkes County Tax Commissioner, and Janet Parker, Assistant County Clerk. They spoke to the tax relief and reforms impact of HB 581, which established a new statewide “floating” homestead exemption, for Wilkes County residents. The Bill took effect on January 1, 2025 and caps the annual increase in a homestead property’s taxable assessed value at the rate of inflation, preventing large spikes in property taxes due to rising real estate values.
HB 581 also authorizes counties and municipalities to impose an additional local sales tax of 1% to generate revenue to offset property tax relief. This sales tax option requires voter approval through a local referendum. Wilkes County residents will be able to vote on this sales tax increase on November 4, 2025.

09/29/2025

Rotary Club of Washington welcomed Jack Patton as our guest speaker last Thursday. He is an aspiring local entrepreneur assisting in the launch of a new start up business know as Georgia Agri Drone.

Based out of Palmer Equipment Company, they are invested in the latest movement of farming called Precision Agriculture which is done by piloting a DJI Mavic Enterprise surveillance-type drone over agricultural fields. The process involves the use of technological advances in censors, controls, data handling, flight efficiency and payload capacity in the drone for mapping, scouting, and the precise spraying and spreading of crops. Drones are becoming an invaluable tool in increasing farm productivity and food supply.

Jack left us with the message that drones are an ever-expanding part of our everyday life and are turning some industries upside down. For the agricultural sector of the economy drones have already saved farmers billions, and will continue to grow as a key piece of equipment for the farm.

He graduated from St Pius X High School in Atlanta and studied for four years at MTSU, Middle Tennessee State University studying unmanned aircraft systems operations.