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About

Club Executives & Directors

 
  • President
    Norman Jetmundsen
  • President Elect
    Jonathan Cross
  • Secretary
    Ryan Gordon
  • Treasurer
    Willis Meriwether
  • Vice President Club Service
    Jonathan Cross
  • Immediate Past President
    Counce Drinkard
  • Co Director Communications
    Justin Nelson
  • Co Director Communications
    Dan Monroe
  • Director Community Service
    Austin Creel
  • Director Vocational Service
    Jay Herndon
  • Director International Service
    Jesse Zora
  • Chairman Fundraising
    Beth Wilder
  • Plaza Project Committee Liaison
    Andrew Edwards
  • Chair Membership
    Jake Reiss
  • Sergeant at Arms
    Kevin Fouts
  • Co-Directors Social
    Anne Langdon Elrod & Austin Creel
  • Director Rotary Foundation
    Sandy Bean
  • Executive Secretary
    Janet Ellis
 

A Club that Breakfasts Together Changes the World Together

Since 1986, The Rotary Club of Birmingham – Sunrise, or Birmingham Sunrise Rotary Club, as it is more commonly called, has worked together to solve educational problems, to help children, and to work towards providing clean water to our community here in Birmingham, and communities as far away as Quito, Ecuador. Often referred to as “The Best Breakfast in Birmingham,” Birmingham Sunrise meets most every Tuesday morning at 7:00 to share fellowship, an interesting and sometimes unusual slate of speakers, and a hot southern breakfast of eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, potatoes, fresh fruit, cereals, and toast (along with plenty of good hot coffee to pry the eyes open). Our weekly meetings are intellectually stimulating and well worth the early hour. But, you really see the Birmingham Sunrise Rotary Club come to life at times other than our legendary breakfast.

You will see our club excel when we meet to clean up a section of the Cahaba river, helping to ensure clean water for Birmingham residents. You see us at our best when we’re out at the Hoover Met, setting up tents for the annual Pig Iron barbecue, which benefits Children’s Harbor. We are our finest when we’re sweating and tired, having blazed new sections of trail for Birmingham’s Red Mountain Park. And when you see individuals from our club spending time from their busy days to help tutor children for the Cornerstone Schools, you can sense our commitment to service above self.

Friends, Colleagues, oh… and Business Contacts

If you’re looking to join a Rotary Club just to do your business networking, more power to you. You will certainly find that at Birmingham Sunrise, and in spades. But, don’t be frustrated with us if your membership also provides you with lifelong friends. There’s just something about how we work hard together, striving to live that hard promise of service above self, that brings us together in a stronger way than just business networking. And, like friends, we frequently meet in social circumstances.

Once a year, we enjoy our annual fundraising event, The Gridiron Gala. In conjunction with the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, we gather for an evening of food and drink in the company of some of the greatest Alabama and Auburn coaches and players ever to stand on the field opposite one another. This much anticipated evening raises tens of thousands of dollars for local charities in support of children. Even better, it gets us all together for an evening.

Frequently, we enjoy off-site meetings. Before Birmingham’s exquisite Lyric Theater opened, we were introduced to the good work truly unbelievable renovation being done there. We’ve been known to meet at Region’s field for a night of baseball, beer, and hotdogs. We’ve been seen as a group at local breweries having a taste of the hometown suds. And our holiday party every winter is not one to be missed. All this to say, Birmingham Sunrise is more than just another Rotary Club. We are friends. We are colleagues. We are business contacts. And we have a good time with each other.