Canton - Evening with the District Governor

Monday 26th April

Sadly it was time to leave the lake house and we all gathered our belongings together, had a light breakfast, cleaned up the house and set off for a look at what Canton had to offer.

Our first stop was at the Funk Heritage Museum which was dedicated to the Native American Indians and we heard all about the 'The Trail of Tears' in which they were driven from their homeland by the US Federal Government between the years of 1831 - 1838.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears

We then got the chance to relax at the YMCA health club where we had free run of the gym, and swimming pool before lunch which was spent in a Mexican restaurant. For the first time we had normal size meals and we didn't have to undo the buttons on our trousers before leaving our seats.

We then visited a place called The Boys and Girls Club. This was an excellent facility in which Anton Zellmann, one of our Rotarian Hosts is on the board of directors. The Club offers a supervised environment that children can visit after school and can stay right up till 8pm. It is semi structed in that the first hour must be spent doing homework and then there are optional sessions such as finance management, life skills and assisted college application workshops followed by free social time when they can make use of th many recreational facilities encompasing sport, music and art.

The Club is open to any chilren at an extremely low cost so can be utilised by families with low income.

Their Promise is -

To provide a quality developmental program that empowers metro Atlanta youth, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances, to become productive adults.

Check out their website at - http://www.bgcma.org/

Outside the club with Anton Zellmann and Kristine Pruss

As we were a little ahead of schedule for the day we took the opportunity to visit the local Walmart store to stock up on some cheap goodies.

Really all that we wanted to do was see a supermaket that sells guns. In the process Andrea got chastised for taking a picture of all the rifles on the wall and was sternly told to erase it immediately.

Andrea's 'Erased' picture of Rifles in Walmart

We were hosted that evening by the Rotary 6910 District Governor Shane Burr and his family and were treated to a fantastic Itallian supper. Italy has a special place in the heart for the Burr family as it's where Shane met his wife Donna and the rest is history.