This Week: Atlanta West End Rotary to Visit Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home on June 12, 2026
The Rotary Club of Atlanta West End’s June 12 meeting will be a special site visit to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home (OLPH), a skilled nursing facility operated by the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne. The visit will include a tour of the Home and a presentation of the club’s annual donation to the sisters.
About Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home (OLPH)
- OLPH provides palliative care for persons afflicted with incurable cancer.
- The Home serves persons who cannot afford needed care and operates as a free home for those individuals.
- OLPH is operated by the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne.
- The Home is funded solely through voluntary donations from the public; it accepts no payment from patients, families, insurance companies, government agencies, or other third parties.
The Rotary Club of Atlanta West End’s support
The Rotary Club of Atlanta West End maintains an annual donation relationship with OLPH. The club’s donation supports the work of OLPH and the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne.
How the club funds the donation
The bulk of the club’s annual donation is raised through the club’s meeting icebreaker trivia game, Tasse Trivia. At the start of club meetings, members play a trivia game where wrong or humorous answers are encouraged. Each wrong answer generates a $1 contribution from the person who answered incorrectly. Those dollars are collected over time and aggregated to form most of the donation. The club then uses additional club funds to top off the donation so that the final check amount is a clean, round number.
Event details
- Date: Friday, June 12, 2026.
- Format: Special site visit meeting at OLPH (this is not the club’s regular Friday meeting location).
- Includes: A tour of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home and the presentation of the Rotary Club’s annual donation to the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne.
The club looks forward to connecting with the sisters and learning more about OLPH’s work in providing compassionate, free palliative care to those in need. This site visit underscores the Rotary Club of Atlanta West End’s ongoing commitment to supporting local organizations that provide essential services to community members who lack the means to pay for care.
We highly encourage you to join us in person for the tour. The meeting portion in which Zoom will be set up is unlikely to begin precisely at the usual start time of 12:15pm.
JOIN ONLINE: Zoom Link - Click here Meeting ID: 874 0116 4307 Passcode: Service | One tap mobile: +13052241968
KeyWay Report: Brandon Teal on YMCA Programs and Social Determinants of Health
President Elect Chris Hempfling led the Meeting and introduced Mr. Brandon Teal, as our speaker. Brandon serves as Associate Executive Director for the Morehouse YMCA and Good Samaritan YMCA in the West End and West Side of Atlanta.
He presented much about his life, notes about his education in North Carolina, and career at the YMCA of Greater Atlanta. He began his presentation with a summary of his formal education which has included an undergraduate degree from North Carolina Central University, a Master’s in Business Administration from Liberty University, a Special Education Degree from University of North Carolina and Chapel Hill, NC where he also worked in health care for 4 years, a special education program manager which including work focused on the social determinates of health (SDoH) - How factors such as food access, transportation, shelter, and medication affordability affect overall health outcome. He noted that NC health disparities are exceptionally high. Brandon attended North Carolina Central University (NCCU), an HBCU in Durham, North Carolina, where he majored in Behavioral Social Sciences. He later earned a Special Education certification through UNC Chapel Hill and taught special education (K–3) for five years, qualifying for full student loan forgiveness through a Title I teaching program. He subsequently earned a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Executive Leadership from Liberty University in 2022, motivated in part by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brandon has worked with the YMCA of Greater Atlanta in teacher and in special education instructor in summer special education programs. Regarding the YMCA, Brandon mentioned that the YMCA of Metro Atlanta operates 19 locations, is the largest Head Start provider in Georgia, and serves communities across Metro Atlanta and surrounding Georgia counties, including early childhood education program in Augusta, Richmond County.
Generally, about the Y, Brandon stated YMCA's three core pillars are Youth Development, Healthy Living, and Social Responsibility. The BYMOC (Boys and Young Men of Color) program was created to address low high school graduation and college enrollment rates among young Black males. The Good Samaritan YMCA location was developed as a holistic SDoH model, integrating healthcare, fitness, and a community garden to address food deserts and chronic health conditions. YMCA membership is income-based, with scholarships available; the minimum membership observed is approximately $20–$25/month.
Brandon's prior work at UNC Healthcare involved COVID-19 mobile testing and vaccination units, community health worker certification programs, and closing thousands of healthcare gaps across North Carolina communities. He also said he’s an avid traveler: having visited all six inhabited continents at least twice, with Japan (particularly Okinawa and Tokyo) and Nigeria as personal favorites.
Brandon said he joined Rotary Atlanta West End specifically because of his geographic responsibility for the West End and West Side of Atlanta, and to contribute to and build community.
Brief AWER Member Survey: Help Shape the New Rotary Year
As we begin the new Rotary year in July, we are asking all members to complete a brief membership survey to help us take the pulse of the club and better understand your experience as a member.
The survey includes six short rating-scale questions and one optional comment box. It should only take a few minutes to complete. Your feedback will help inform our Membership Action Plan and guide our work around meetings, service opportunities, fellowship, communication, and overall member engagement.
Please complete the survey by June 26th.
You may complete the survey in either of two ways:
Link: https://forms.gle/ByuiLvKzb5QpgGR88
Scan the QR code:
Responses are anonymous and will be reviewed in aggregate. Please do not include your name in the optional comment box unless you choose to identify yourself.
Thank you for taking a few minutes to share your honest feedback and for helping us strengthen the Rotary Club of Atlanta West End.
Calander, Agenda, Connections, & Four-Way Test
Never a Bad Time to Catch Up (ON DUES)!
District 6900 has updated to a new Stripe ACH payment process. The new method is more convenient and more secure. If you pay your dues via ACH (and you should!), go to YOUR PAGE on our club website (Click here) and use the Setup ACH button to relink your account. Should you encounter any problems, click the Contact Webmaster link in the page footer.
