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May 2025
Volume 25 Issue 5
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Remembering
Edsel Wilkinson
1944-2025
Edsel Augustus Wilkinson, 80, of Manakin-Sabot, Virginia, passed away peacefully on April 21, 2025. Born on August 6, 1944, in Richmond, VA, he was the son of Eddie and Beatrice Wilkinson of Manakin-Sabot. Edsel lived a full and vibrant life, marked by warmth, humor, and an extraordinary ability to connect with everyone he met.
A proud graduate of Goochland High School and a dedicated member of the school's marching band, Edsel's deep roots in his community were evident in all that he did. He was an active member of the Rotary Clubs of both Richmond and Ft. Lauderdale. A man of many passions, Edsel loved collecting vintage British and German cars, appreciated fine firearms, enjoyed cooking for friends and family, and found great joy on the water, especially boating. Professionally, he first owned and operated the Historic Kent Store in Fluvanna County, VA, before building a successful career in the insurance industry. His natural charisma and sincere care for others helped him forge lifelong relationships with clients and colleagues alike. Known for his quick wit and unforgettable stories, Edsel had a rare gift for lighting up a room and making everyone feel welcome.
Read in full here.
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ReWork Program Members
Attain Greater Stability
ReWork utilizes a crisis to thriving measurement and methodology approach to assess stability progress for each of their program members. The focus areas are on housing, employment, income, education, childcare, and transportation. The model assigns numerical value to key categories and measures across the stability continuum from in-crisis to thriving.
For 2024, a 40% increase in stabilization was realized across all categories for all program members who have participated for a minimum of 12 months. This continues the outstanding progress that ReWork has experienced with their program model year over year.
The two key ultimate outcome measures for the program members are attaining stability in their lives and earning a sustainable wage.
Our Rotary Club partnership with ReWork is time, treasure, and talent focused. Now in our fourth calendar year partnering with the ReWork program, and joining our ranks of veteran volunteers, we recognize and thank Travis Bjorklund, Kyle Morrissey, Martine Richardson, Ryan Boyce, and Jim Davis for giving of their time and talent.
Read ReWork’s Comprehensive Crisis to Thriving stability metrics HERE.
| | The Rotary of Richmond Golf Tournament | | |
Thank you to all of our sponsors, teams and volunteers!
All proceeds support grant funding to local non-profits in our community.
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Celebrate Navy Week with your favorite Rotarians May 12 - 18 in Richmond.
Events include a FREE concert at the Virginia War Memorial Carillon at Byrd Park on May 16 at 5:30 PM. In addition Rear Admiral Todd E. Whalen, US Navy, will address The Rotary Club of Richmond, on May 13. His will speak about "The Navy's Contribution to Virginia" as part of the Navy's community outreach program.
You may find more information on Navy Week HERE.
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Bring a friend and your business cards and join us for Rotary Means Business May 21, 5:30 pm at Atlas 42, 4032 Cox Road, Suite A, Glen Allen, VA 23060. This Rotary Means Business is sponsored by Mike Jones with Transworld Business Advisors of Richmond VA and the Midlothian Rotary Club.
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End Polio Now Baseball Game at the Diamond
Batter up! May 1, 2025, is the End Polio Now Baseball Game at the Diamond. The Flying Squirrels play Somerset at 6:35 pm. This is a family friendly fundraiser to end Polio. $2 from each ticket goes to End Polio Now. Make sure you have your tickets!
Church Hill Garden Installation and Tree Planting - Saturday, May 3
Join Capital Trees and the Church Hill Association in updating James Christian Jr. Memorial Place, a neighborhood pocket park located in Church Hill on Saturday May 3rd! Capital Trees specializes in collaborative urban greenspace development and maintenance. We work to create and maintain outdoor spaces that enhance both Richmond's community and environment.
Volunteer Duties & Responsibilities:
Volunteers will assist with new installations and maintenance around James Christian Memorial Park (Chimborazo Blvd & P St.) including:
- Garden installation
- Tree planting
- Mulching
- And more
- Come learn about best practices while giving back to the community!
Satellite Club Meets May
Satellite Club is holding its next meeting on Tuesday, May 6 at 5:30pm. We have submitted 12 members and are now able to move forward with chartering the club. The meeting space is the Kelleher office, 1301 School Street, Richmond, VA 23220.
Crab Festival
Craving a beautiful fall day, The Crab Festival is set for September 13, 2025 at the fabulous ChildSavers on lookout point, same place as last year. The Rotary Club of Richmond will have the Wybros play (William Cabell's dad's band). More information to come this spring!
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Project Warm
Please keep an eye out for wood ready to be brought and split at the wood lot to prepare when the weather turns really cold weather and we deliver wood to individuals who depend on wood only for their heat source.
Contact Joe Kelleher via email with questions or if you know of a good lead!
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Volunteer Opportunity:
Meals on Wheels
Grab a buddy and/or make a new friend! Meals on Wheels is in need of drivers and runners Thursday mornings. This is a two person volunteer opportunity! Sherry Peterson is heading up this effort. Sign-up sheets are always available at our meetings. Drivers and volunteers are needed for May, June and July! Make new friends and make a difference in our neighbors' lives. Reach out to Sherry directly at sepete@verizon.net.
Please note the new location:
8020 Villa Park Drive
Richmond, VA 23228.
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Volunteer Opportunity:
Rework Richmond
Volunteer opportunities range from resume preparation for employment consideration to financial coaching with participants.
Contact John Purnell via email, purnelljc@comcast.net, or Charles Layman via email, laymanc@comcast.net, and Todd Martin via email, todddmartin@comcast.net,
and let them know how you can help.
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Volunteer Opportunity:
Project Homes
Build a ramp and join your fellow Rotarians for a morning of fun and community service. Accessibility is critical for safety and quality of life. Paul Shively is heading up this effort. Reach out to Paul directly at pshively@cbcllc.net.
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Volunteer Opportunity:
Blood Drive
Thank you all for supporting the Rotary Club of Richmond Blood Drive March 20 at Willow Oaks. We engaged in a friendly competition with our friends at the Rotary Club of South Richmond and are delighted to announce our club was the victor by "three arms"!
Our next blood drives are scheduled for June 26 and September 2, 2025. Mark your calendar and look for signup details.
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Tuesday, May 6
Andrea Starr, Executive Director & CEO. Forward Foundation Virginia
"Empowering single parent families to move forward!"
Andrea has served as a nonprofit leader for the last 11 years. She is a vibrant leader, advocate, and relationship builder who is passionate about creating change through nonprofit community leadership and partnerships. Collaborative and positive, Andrea excels in engaging target audiences to support a strategic vision or goal.
Andrea was selected to develop and lead the charitable arm of Cobb Technologies, “Imprint” in 2014. In 2019 an opportunity presented itself to build another nonprofit from the ground up; one which offered support and resources to single working mothers. Andrea’s journey with Forward Foundation VA as their Executive Director and CEO began in 2019. Her personal journey and challenges faced being raised by a single father and becoming a single parent herself to (3) daughters, is the motivating factor that drives her to advocate for single parent families in need.
Andrea has played an integral part in serving her community through various roles. For nearly two decades she served as a mentor and volunteer tutor for special needs children. Her community involvement includes serving as an officer on two nonprofit boards, steering committees, strategic planning roles, and keynote speaker. Andrea has been recognized for her philanthropic efforts and was selected as the “Community Leader of the Year” award recipient for NAWBO Richmond’s Women of Excellence Awards in 2022.
Andrea and her husband Ken have a blended family of six children and two precious grandsons.
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Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Rear Admiral Todd E. Whalen, US Navy
"The Navy's Contribution to Virginia"
(Celebrating Navy Week in Richmond, May 12 to 18 as part of the Navy's community outreach program.)
Rear Admiral Todd Whalen is a third-generation naval officer from Virginia Beach. He graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and was commissioned via the Navy ROTC program. He later earned master’s degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in naval architecture/marine engineering and civil/environmental engineering.
A nuclear-trained surface warfare officer, his assignments at sea include tours as communications officer on USS Normandy (CG 60), machinery division officer on USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), operations officer on USS Thorn (DD 988), reactor electrical assistant on USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), and executive officer on USS Gonzalez (DDG 66).
Whalen commanded USS Rodney M Davis (FFG 60), served as reactor officer on USS Nimitz (CVN 68), and commanded Destroyer Squadron 9. As Commodore, he led eight DDGs in four homeports and deployed as sea combat commander for Nimitz Carrier Strike Group.
Ashore, he served as officer in charge of Commander, Naval Air Forces Maintenance Training Group in Yokosuka, Japan and as an operations research analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation. Most recently, he served as Chief of Staff to Commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic.
Whalen is the 70th President of the Board of Inspection and Survey and is responsible for assessing the material readiness of the Fleet.
He has earned various personal, unit, and campaign awards. He is a recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award, holds licensure as a professional engineer, and is a nationally certified youth soccer coach.
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Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Michael Phillips, Founding Editor, The richmonder.org online news outlet
"Bringing Richmond Together Through Storytelling"
Michael is the founding editor of The Richmonder, which launched in Sept. 2024, and is a nonprofit news outlet focused exclusively on the Richmond region. The Richmonder provides quality, unbiased reporting that connects the community. We started in Sept. 2024 and have seen immediate growth. I'm proud to lead a team that tells Richmond's stories every day.
Before that, Michael spent 17 years at The Richmond Times-Dispatch, beginning as a sports writer and including a year as the interim executive editor.
He has also taught at VCU, written for a number of local publications, and hosted a radio program. Michael graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor’s in journalism.984 with a BA in Sociology.
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Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Lunch & Tour
FEED MORE
8020 Villa Park Drive, Richmond, VA 23228
(Meet at 12:30; Box lunch & meeting; FeedMore tours)
Feed More collects, prepares and distributes food to bring hunger relief to neighbors in need throughout Central Virginia and has been serving this community for over five decades. Meals on Wheels program was established in 1967 with just eight clients, while the Central Virginia Food Bank was created by 60 local churches and charities in 1980 to address growing hunger and poverty in the region.
In 2005, the Central Virginia Food Bank and Meals on Wheels came together to build a Community Kitchen to cost-effectively prepare made-from-scratch meals for neighbors in need. This led to the formal merger of the Central Virginia Food Bank and Meals on Wheels, and on July 1, 2008, Feed More was born.
With nearly 100 employees, more than 400 distribution partners and over 200 volunteers a day, Feed More provides health and hope across 34 Central Virginia cities and counties with a fleet of over 20 trucks and 100,000-square feet of combined storage space allow us to deliver more than 35 million pounds of nutritious food to neighbors in need.
| | THANKS TO OUR PAST SPEAKERS | | Thank you to Amy Strite, President/CEO, The Span Center/Area Agency on Aging for Central Virginia for speaking to The Rotary Club of Richmond! | | We extend our thanks to DJ Stadler, Executive Director, Virginia Passenger Rail Authority, for presenting to The Rotary Club of Richmond. | | Our appreciation to Victor Branch, Richmond Market President, Bank of America, for addressing to The Rotary Club of Richmond. | | We thank Brent Schneider, CEO, First Tees - Greater Richmond, for speaking to The Rotary Club of Richmond. | | Colleen Curan, Features Editor with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, was gracious enough to visit The Rotary Club of Richmond. | | Jenny Cubitt welcomes new member Phil Freida to The Rotary Club of Richmond. | | | | | |
THE TABASCO CONTENT DEADLINE
The Tabasco is sent monthly.
The team requests all content by the 15th of month prior.
Email Katie Hellebush at katie@hellebushconsulting.com.
| | Whether you are relatively new to the club or a long-serving member, the Rotary Club of Richmond has been serving Richmond for more than a century; do you have your copy of this history? Copies are now available; $20 soft copies; $30 hard copies. | | Birthdays and Anniversaries | | Let's wish our fellow Rotarians Happy Birthday and congratulations on their Rotary Anniversary! | | | Member | Birthday | | Wilson, Mary Ann E.G. (MARY ANN) | 4-May
| | Coreth, Charles Ernest (CHUCK) | 7-May
| | Boggs, Wayne C. (WAYNE) | 15-May
| | Worthington, Michela (MICHELA WORTHINGTON) | 17-May
| | Miller, Esson McKenzie Jr. (E. M.) | 24-May
| | Miller, Hugh C. (HUGH) | 29-May
| | | | Member | Start Date | Years | | Boggs, Wayne C.(WAYNE) | 5/1/1998 | 26
| | Gordon, Reginald E.(REGGIE) | 5/3/2011 | 13
| | Crocker, Jacob Alan (JAKE) | 5/3/2016 | 8
| | Boyko, Marc Alan (MARC) | 5/10/2011 | 13
| | Davis, James M. (JIM) | 5/25/2021 | 3
| | Hellebush, Katrina K.(KATIE) | 5/25/2021 | 3
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