Events

40.3 million are enslaved … some less than 4 years old. Get engaged NOW

There are an estimated 46 million, according to Walk Free’s Global Slavery Index. That’s four times more than those taken out of Africa during the 400 years of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Modern slaves, however, are disposable, cheap, and being hidden from plain sight have no human rights. Very young children are now in greater danger than ever before as sex traffickers exploit opportunities arising from natural disasters, deprivation, civil conflict, and mass migration. So let’s Get Engaged.

Ashleigh S. Chapman, JD serves as the President/CEO of the Alliance for Freedom, Restoration, and Justice® (AFRJ), which exists to end human trafficking and protect the vulnerable.  The AFRJ’s key initiatives include: AFRJ® Global Network, which supports over 7,000 anti-trafficking organizations in their efforts; Engage Together®, which helps communities collaborate across sectors and develop comprehensive strategies; AFRJ® Freedom Council, which mobilizes global corporations and business leaders to join the cause; and Justice U™, an online education portal that offers digital badges and certifications for justice advocates everywhere.

Ashleigh has served 18+ years on behalf of the oppressed and vulnerable and travels on average 40+ weeks each year to strengthen the movement.  Prior to founding the AFRJ, she served as: the co-founder and Director of the Center for Global Justice at Regent University School of Law; the Director of a non-profit organization for at-risk children and youth; a Children’s Pastor; and a Court Appointed Spe­cial Advocate for children in foster care.

Ashleigh is a licensed attorney in the state of Virginia. She graduated 2^nd in her class and Magna Cum Laude with her Juris Doctorate from Regent University School of Law, receiving the faculty’s Most Outstanding Graduate award, and Summa Cum Laude with her B.S. from Tennessee Technological Uni­versity.

Williamson County Crime Stoppers is made up of a board of civilian volunteers co-ordinated through the Williamson County Sheriff's Office Crime Prevention Division. It serves all the communities in Williamson County including. Franklin, Fairview, Nolensville, College Grove, Triune, Arlington, Thompson Station and Spring Hill.

Crime Stoppers can be extremely beneficial in combating the crime problem. It is an effective resource in which private citizens join together with law enforcement to solve difficult crimes.

Often citizens do not contact the police with information that could help solve a crime out of fear that if they reveal their own identity they would expose themselves or their family to acts of retaliation by the criminal.

Through Crime Stoppers citizens who have knowledge of a specific crime are encouraged to contact the police with this information. Crime Stoppers allows any citizen to come forward with information and remain anonymous. The citizen is assured that their identity is protected and that any information reported will be utilized. Citizens are issued a code number that will be used to identify them. This code number is used to inquire on the status of the reported crime and collect reward money.

Crimes Stoppers objectives are to furnish law enforcement agencies with information about criminal activity that would otherwise be unobtainable and to motivate public involvement with law enforcement efforts.

Williamson County Crime Stoppers will pay up to $1000 for information called into 794-4000 that leads to an arrest and indictment. Callers will remain anonymous, they will only be known by the code number they are issued.

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Retired Captain Tommy Campsey served the Brentwood Police Department two months shy of 36 years.  He retired in July of 2013.  He held the ranks of Patrol Officer, Patrol Sergeant, Detective, Detective Lieutenant, Detective Captain and Administrative Captain.  While working in the Criminal Investigation Division for over 21 years he worked all types of crimes from property crimes to personal crimes, including all violent crimes such as Murders, Rapes, and one serial rapist.  He also worked and supervised covert operations such as narcotics and prostitution. His awards include the Meritorious Service Award, the Distinguished Service Award, the Lifesaving Award, Department Citations, 2 time "Officer of the Year" by the F.O.P. and a member of the FOP'S Law Enforcement Hall of Fame. He received the Community Service Award from this Rotary Club 2013-14. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's School of Police Staff and Command College.He and his wife, Lisa, have been married for 33 years and have 3 children and 4 grandchildren.  He is a 20 yr. member of Clearview Baptist Church and current Board Member of the Williamson County Crimestoppers.

Families often struggle to care for an aging loved one, feeling overwhelmed and wondering where to even start. A relatively new profession, Aging Life Care Management, allows nurses, social workers,and other healthcare professionals to specialize in navigating families through a holistic approach to caring for these special family members. Gretchen serves as Chair of the Public Policy Committee of the national non-profit Aging Life Care Association and is Past President of the Southeast Chapter.

Gretchen is the owner and CEO of LifeLinks, a premier geriatric care management firm with locations in Nashville and Raleigh. Prior to LifeLinks, Gretchen held a number of administrative and directorial positions in the geriatric care industry. While working as an assisted living administrator and publisher of a resource guide for seniors, she saw how easily aging adults can fall through the cracks of the healthcare system. Gretchen also repeatedly observed that broken family relationships and distance made caring for aging loved ones especially overwhelming. Inspired to improve the quality of life for older adults and their families, Gretchen joined LifeLinks in 2009 and has been developing the company ever since.

The USS Liberty incident was an attack on a United States Navy technical research ship, USS Liberty, by Israeli Air Force jet fighter aircraft and Israeli Navy motor torpedo boats, on 8 June 1967, during the Six-Day War. The combined air and sea attack killed 34 crew members (naval officers, seamen, two marines, and one civilian), wounded 171 crew members, and severely damaged the ship. At the time, the ship was in international waters north of the Sinai Peninsula, about 25.5 nmi (29.3 mi; 47.2 km) northwest from the Egyptian city of Arish.

Israel apologized for the attack, saying that the USS Liberty had been attacked in error after being mistaken for an Egyptian ship. Both the Israeli and U.S. governments conducted inquiries and issued reports that concluded the attack was a mistake due to Israeli confusion about the ship's identity, though others, including survivors of the attack, have rejected these conclusions and maintain that the attack was deliberate.

Through his experiences on and off the field, former Tennesse Titan and Super Bowl champion for the Steelers, Chris Hope, provides practical, inspirational, and biblical answers to show you how to set healthy boundaries with your parents, spouse, children, friends, coworkers, and especially with yourself. In P.R.O.S. Hope shows you how to bring health to your relationships, You’ll discover how to reclaim your freedom to walk as the loving, giving, fulfilled individual God created you to be.

We talk about food insecurity a lot. Over 360,000 Middle and West Tennesseans are food insecure, our feeding programs aid food-insecure families, children, and seniors, and every year we strive to lower food insecurity rates in our community. But do you know what food insecurity means? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), food insecurity is a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Under the umbrella of food insecurity, the USDA differentiates between low food security and very low food security. Someone facing low food security is eating a diet of reduced quality and variety. For example, a family who relies on fast food for the convenience and low price has low food security. They’re eating meals, but those meals are low in quality and nutrients. A person facing very low food security not only has reduced access to nutritious food but also goes through times where there is nothing to eat. This could be a senior whose SNAP benefits run out toward the end of the month, so they go without eating until their next check arrives. In Middle Tennessee, we see a full range of food insecurity. It’s through your support that we can help our neighbors in need and bring the number of food-insecure individuals in Middle and West Tennessee down to zero.

Of the 312 pilots and scientists previously selected as astronauts since 1959, 180 were Scouts at one time. The new STEM Scouts pilot program would like to dwarf this number with astronauts produced by our STEM Scouts program. As you may now be aware, we are well on our way and a have mission to Mars Camp coming up in April of this year. However, before we can get our girls and boys into space we need to teach them how to use existing and developing technologies to build self-sustaining colonies. This requires for example, building self-sustaining energy grids, infrastructure, and micro economies. We believe this is where STEM Scouts comes in.

 Our STEM Scouts program is focused on incorporating new and existing technologies into a curriculum that, prepares the future space travelers of earth,  with a curriculum that focuses on science, technology, engineering, and math while reinforcing the time-honored traditions of the Scout Oath and Law. Moreover, the program is open to both boys and girls in grades 3-12, outside of school hours. Our individual Lab groupings are called "Labs." Our program breaks Lab groups into three categories: elementary (3rd-5th); middle school (6th-8th); and high school (6th-12th). Labs meet weekly for an hour and a half and are led by volunteers (trained by our staff). The students and their two volunteer leaders (Lab Managers) choose the 4-6 week modules they want to study. Modules cover a variety of disciplines through hands-on, inquiry-based learning activities and experiments. STEM will provide most if not all necessary instructions, materials, and supplies for the Lab science experiments. In addition, we work to incorporate STEM professionals as guest speakers.

After building this amazing program over the last three years, we believe that STEM Scouting provides a no-pressure, inquiry-based environment for a wide range of students, their friends, and their parents that and cultivates a passion for STEM sciences. Our Nashville and regional markets have revealed that the local STEM business community itself is acknowledging, and taking action, to involve local youth, especially young women, in the STEM sciences to address the disparity of employees to fill the explosion of STEM jobs in the global economy. Our local STEM Scouts program currently serves over 280 STEM scouts; almost half are young ladies. We are personally very enthusiastic about this amazing organizational mile stone! We hope to explore serving the youth of our planet together! 

Marsha Blackburn was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018, and is currently serving her first term representing the state of Tennessee.  Before her election to the Senate, Marsha represented Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District.  

     Marsha’s public service is dedicated to promoting opportunities for women and making America a more prosperous place to live.  Marsha’s leadership philosophy is based on her experiences in the private sector as a small business woman and author, as well as being a mother and grandmother. 

     Marsha went to college on a 4-H scholarship and worked her way through school selling books for the Southwestern Company as one of their first female sales associates, and later as one of their first female sales managers.  

     She then became Director of Retail Fashion and Special Events for the Castner Knott Company, which was a Nashville-based regional department store.  Later, Marsha founded her own business, Marketing Strategies, which focused on the retail marketplace, as well as electronic and print media.

     Marsha began her career in public service in 1995 when she was named executive director of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment, and Music Commission.  In 1998, she was elected to the Tennessee State Senate.  In the state legislature, she earned a reputation for fiscal responsibility and government accountability by identifying waste and offering realistic solutions to Tennessee’s budget challenges. 

Judy has over 20 years of senior living marketing experience and has been with The Heritage since 2010. She and her staff educate prospective residents on the differences regarding senior housing options in the greater Nashville area. Judy views her responsibility as assisting prospective residents, adult children, and their advisors to understand the various options available. With Judy’s guidance, they can feel confident in their selection of a Life Plan Community, resulting in an exceptional lifestyle, peace of mind, and financial security.

Jack Massari has been a member of the Rotary Club of Brentwood since 1996 and is a former Bob Billington award recipient. Jack has a BS in Engineering from Clemson, a PE and an MBA. He spent over twenty years in the corporate world in manufacturing, mining, engineering, quality and sales in union and non-union industrial environments, and served as President of the North American subsidiary of a global company. In 1995, he founded an Internet business that he ran for 23 years until selling it in 2017. Jack has always been a “car guy.” He became interested in alternative fuel vehicles, purchasing a hybrid in 2015, then a plug-in hybrid and finally an all electric car. He’s received many questions about the experience and thought it might be helpful to share some thoughts with the Club.

Christine Williamson was awarded the opportunity of a lifetime when she was crowned Miss Tennessee on June 23, 2018, at the Carl Perkins Civic Center in Jackson, Tennessee. As Miss Tennessee, FTB Advisors sponsors Christine as she serves as the Governor’s Official Spokesperson for Character Education and travels over 80,000 miles speaking to 50,000 schoolchildren about Character Education. Throughout her year of travels, Christine also serves as Tennessee’s Goodwill Ambassador for the five Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) hospitals across the state. She also holds positions as a National Spokesperson for the Alzheimer’s Association, an Ambassador for the Tennessee Brain Games in partnership with the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability, Honorary Board Member of the Tennessee Respite Coalition Board of Directors, Official Friends of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt Board Intern and as Volunteer Tennessee’s Honorary Board Chair.

Christine is a 23-year-old Graduate Student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga College of Business, pursuing her Master’s Degree, as well as an additional certification in Data Analytics. She was honored with the UTC Chancellor’s Outstanding Service Award for outstanding academics and service this past summer.  Christine is not only a member of the UTC Graduate Student Association, but also serves as Public Relations Chairman.  Christine is a graduate of The University of Mississippi with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism, with an emphasis in Public Relations and a minor in Political Science.  She was on the University of Mississippi’s Dean’s List, was a Founding Member of the Anti-Sexual Assault Organization, was a student member of the lobbying group AiM as well as an iSTAART student member.  

Christine has been awarded over $49,000 in college scholarships from her participation in the Miss Tennessee program.  She received the coveted Miss Tennessee Quality of Life Award in 2018, and was also a Preliminary Lifestyle and Fitness Winner and also a Preliminary Talent Winner as she captured the Miss Tennessee crown.  Additionally, Christine achieved the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Silver Medals. and was Thanks to these scholarships from the Miss Tennessee Organizations, Christine was able to graduate debt-free from the University of Mississippi and is now able to complete her Master’s Degree and PhD!

Dr. Daniel J. Smith the Director of the Political Economy Research Institute and Associate Professor of Economics in the Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University. Dr. Smith was previously the Associate Director of the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy and the BB&T Professor of Economic Freedom at Troy University. He serves as the Book Review Editor for The Review of Austrian Economics. Daniel was raised in Midland, MI, where he also did his undergraduate in economics, banking & finance, and business management at Northwood University. Daniel received his Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University. Dr. Smith's academic research and policy work uses Austrian and public choice economics to analyze private and public governance institutions.

Originally from Texas, Dr. Morrison completed medical school at Baylor University and came to Nashville in 1996 for his orthopaedic residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He completed his training in 2001 and was recognized as an outstanding resident in the education of medical students by the Vanderbilt General Surgery Department.

Dr. Morrison joined Southern Joint Replacement Institute in August of 2002 after completing his Otto Aufranc Fellowship in Adult Reconstructive Surgery at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, MA. This program provides specialty training in joint replacement surgery.  The mission of Southern Joint Replacement Institute is to provide state-of-the-art care in a professional and compassionate environment while honoring a commitment to research and education in the field of joint replacement.  SJRI is fully committed to providing personalized care and developing lasting relationships with patients and their families.

As an author, Dr. Morrison has been featured in many leading joint replacement publications.  His areas of focus are in primary and revision replacement surgery of the hip, knee and shoulder.  He is often sought out for his expertise with computer-navigation techniques and is a frequent guest speaker for orthopaedic groups across the nation and globe.  He is currently the Chief of Orthopaedics at TriStar Centennial Medical Center in Nashville.  He has a special interest in medical mission work.  He currently volunteers with the Siloam Health Clinic in Nashville and has performed joint replacements in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador and India with the Walk Strong Foundation and Operation Walk.  He and his wife Jennifer have three sons and live in Williamson County.   Dr. Morrison enjoys golf and wake surfing in the summer.   He also enjoys high school and college sports.   

Rear Adm. Brian S. Pecha received his bachelor’s degree in 1983 from the University of San Francisco and a medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine in 1988.  He completed residency training in internal medicine at Naval Hospital San Diego, where he served as chief of residents. In 1991 he was assigned to Naval Hospital, Naples, Italy, as a staff internist and department head, and for the final year of his tour was director of Medical Services.  He graduated in 2004 "with distinction" from the distance education program at the Naval War College. In 2010, he completed Phase II of Joint Professional Military Education at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk.

Pecha entered civilian practice in 1994 and re-affiliated with the Navy Reserve the following year.  Since then his reserve assignments have included Naval Reserve Hospital Oakland, Fleet Hospital 9, Naval Reserve Hospital Bremerton, Operational Health Support Unit Camp Pendleton, 1st Battalion 14th Marines, 4th Marine Division, Headquarters Marine Forces Reserve, and Headquarters Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.  During these reserve roles he has served as a training officer, administrative officer, assistant officer-in-charge, officer-in-charge, Battalion Surgeon, Division surgeon, force surgeon, and chief of the Navy Reserve Medical Corps.  From January 2011 to December 2012 he commanded 4th Medical Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group, in San Diego.

In 2002 he was recalled to active duty and assigned as senior medical officer for the Branch Medical Clinic at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.  In 2006, he was recalled with 1st Battalion 14th Marines, deploying to Anbar Province in Iraq as the surgeon for Task Force Military Police, a major subordinate command of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.  In March 2013, he was brought to active duty as the force surgeon for Marine Forces Reserve in New Orleans, and upon promotion in October 2013 was recalled again for a year as the medical officer of the Marine Corps.  From Feb 2016 to Feb 2018 he was recalled to serve as command surgeon for U.S. Pacific Command in Honolulu.

He earned the Fleet Marine Force Officer Warfare Qualification in 2006. His personal decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (three awards), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (two awards), Navy Unit Commendation Medal, Meritorious Unit Citation and various campaign and service medals.

In civilian practice, Pecha is the medical director at Sonoma Developmental Center for persons with intellectual disabilities. He has been certified and recertified by the American Board of Internal Medicine since 1991, and was elected to fellowship in the American College of Physicians in 1998.

Come join us for a day of fun as we celebrate the past and present winners of the Brentwood Rotary Club Scholarships!