February 9, 2021:
Our guest this week was Sharon Hollis from the tri-county Council of Governments who spoke to us about the state of rapid transit in the Lowcountry. Don’t forget our Rotary Happy Hour this Thursday at The Tradesman: 5-6:30PM.
Sharon Hollis, Principal Planner with the Berkeley/Charleston/Dorchester Council of Governments spoke to us this week about the Lowcountry Rapid Transit project. This project began in a study phase in 2014 as part of an I-26 Alternatives Analysis to determine ways to utilize mass transit along the I-26 corridor. This study determined a preferred option of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and the project was listed on the Charleston County 2016 sales tax referendum.
BRT uses buses, but they have dedicated lanes and stations that function more like light rail. The vehicles are longer, articulated buses and fees are paid prior to boarding.
Sharon shared the recommended alignment map. The route would begin at a Park-and-Ride lot at the Exchange Park Fairgrounds in Ladson. The route would start in mixed traffic on US 78 and run west towards US 52/Rivers Ave. At Medical Park Drive, dedicated lanes would begin. These dedicated lanes continue onto Rivers Ave and extend about 11 miles south until mixed traffic would begin at Meeting Street Extension. The route continues along Meeting Street to Calhoun and then west to the Medical District.
In addition to the dedicated lanes, a major component of the BRT will be signal technology that can determine where buses are and adjust signals to keep them moving.
The proposed corridor is one of the longest BRT routes being proposed in the country at 21.5 miles. The anticipated travel time is 60 minutes. This competes with the typical car travel along this route and would be faster when traffic is heavy. During peak hours there would be service every 10 minutes. 6,800 daily trips are anticipated.
There will be 20 stations along the route. Each will have wi-fi, weather protected waiting areas, and real-time displays. Another part of the improvements will be adding 16.5 miles of shared use path to connect pedestrians and bicycle riders to the stations. This is especially important along Rivers Avenue which is very heavily traveled and severely lacking in pedestrian facilities.
The estimated cost of the project is $360M. approximately 50% of the funding will come from the Charleston County sales tax. The remainder will be from federal grants. The grant process is very competitive and has several requirements that must be met. Currently BCD COG is in the Project Development Phase. They hope to start the Engineering Phase in September. Construction is planned for 2023-2026.
The next milestones are community workshops this spring where concepts and visualizations will be shared with the public and feedback will be collected. Sharon asked that we participate in these meetings and then she answered several questions from our members.
Go here for a recording of the meeting.
Submitted by Jeff Webb, Keyway Committee
IN OTHER MEETING NEWS
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- Marjorie Hanger gave the Invocation and led us in the pledge.
- President Lisa welcomed all visiting Rotarians and guests and asked that they introduce themselves.
- President Lisa presented Health and Happiness.
- Due to a technical glitch, Sharon Hollis, who is the Principal Planner for the Berkley, Charleston, Dorchester Council of Governments (BCDCOG), introduced herself and gave an update on the Lowcountry Rapid Transit.
MORE IN THIS WEEK’S KEYWAY
February 23, 2021 | Issue 4996 President: Lisa Van Bergen
COMING EVENTS
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- Feb. 23 – Helen Hill, The Impact of Covid-19 on Tourism
- February 25 – Happy Hour @ Tradesman Brewing 5-6:30pm
- March 1 – Deadline for RCCF Grant Applications
- March 2 – New Member Orientation (11 am)
- March 2 – Chief Luther Reynolds, CPD Leadership Development Institute
- March 9 – Todd Lant, Blackbaud
NEWS BRIEFS
COVID: In-Person Reminder
As we go back to attending meetings in person, we wanted to again share the below from the District. Members are asked to keep this in mind.
It has come to my attention that we need to set some ground rules for dealing with Rotarians who contract COVID-19 and how we deal with this in our clubs. First, for the Rotarians themselves. We MUST maintain absolute confidentiality for ANYONE who tests positive for COVID-19 unless they give us permission to share their information. That said, we MUST also ask, even require, that any Rotarian who has been to an in-person Rotary meeting or other function and later suspects they have COVID-19 report this to their Club President as soon as possible. This could be due to being in close contact with a person who tests positive or that they show symptoms. And, they absolutely must let the Club President know immediately if they test positive. Then, keeping confidentiality, the Club President MUST let all who attended that event know that there was someone at the event or meeting who came down with symptoms or tested positive. This will, at least, give all those notified the option of being tested immediately. And, it gives them a warning that maybe they should limit their contact with others until it is proven that they are not infected.
Thanks to everyone showed up for our Adopt-a-Highway clean up project!
And thanks Stavros for organizing!
Rotarian/Non-Rotarian Volunteers Needed To Assist With COVID Vaccine Rollout


Charleston 50
The Charleston 50, a special group of generous supporters who contribute $500 annually to the Rotary Club of Charleston’s community grants program, is almost 50% filled! What a great opportunity to continue our decades-long tradition of grant-making while also building brand awareness and visibility before a group that values local businesses, generous leaders, and community-minded professionals. This group receives exclusive benefits, and all funds will support local charities. Your donation is 100% Tax-Deductible. The group will never exceed 50 donors, and this is your opportunity to join the inaugural class of The Charleston 50! Memberships will be accepted until 50 are obtained, and benefits continue through June 30, 2021. At that point Year Two will start!
Please download and complete the attached Pledge Form, and return it via email to Phoenicia Miracle at [email protected].
As benefits (through June 30, 2021), each Charleston 50 member will annually receive:
- Their logo or name on the website with a hotlink
- Recognition at a meeting (Recognize two at a time)
- Right of first refusal for 2021-22
- a Charleston 50 lapel pin
- A frameable certificate for office
- A decal
- Permission to use The Rotary 50 on their website and email
- Automatic enrollment in and recognition at other Rotary events
- Name association with every good deed Rotary funds
- Special event post-Covid
RCCF Grant Applications Being Accepted Through March 1
The Rotary Club of Charleston Fund (RCCF) is accepting requests for grants. Interested organizations are required to submit a Letter of Inquiry and complete a grant application prior to March 1 to be considered. The application and other details regarding the grant process can be found on our club’s website — www.charleston-rotary.org. For more information, please contact RCCF Chair, David Burt at [email protected].
Share The Warmth – Coat/Warm Clothing Drive
Fellow Rotarian, Joel Cardwell, is coordinating a Rotary “Share the Warmth” coat drive, for the next FOUR weeks!
Donations can include coats, blankets, socks, sweaters, hats, gloves, or any warm clothing our less fortunate brothers and sisters could use to keep warm this winter. Donations can be for men, women or children.
These donations will also be used for outreach in the streets by Slums to Slumber, and Uplift Charleston to help transition those suffering from homelessness into safe housing and care.
Joel will collect items brought to meetings, and is also happy to come to your location to pick up donations. You can contact him at 317.850.0853 or www.joelcardwell.com.
Thank you for supporting our needy neighbors!
February Social at Tradesman Brewing Company
All members and their guests are invited to join us for our monthly Happy Hour on Thursday, Feb. 25 from 5 – 6:30 pm. This month we will be visiting Tradesman Brewing Company, 1647 King Street Extension. This is another wonderful outdoor venue and will be a great opportunity to catch up with fellow Rotarians over a cold beverage. If you know that you are planning to attend, please RSVP to the Evite, so we can have a rough idea of how many people to expect. An RSVP is not mandatory, so if you find at the last minute you can join us, please do!
Annual Dictionary Project
Again this year, our club in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Charleston Breakfast participated in the Dictionary Project. This project lead by Karl Riner and David Neff, Past President of the breakfast club, is normally conducted during Rotary Literacy month in September but was delayed this year due to COVID. Over the past several weeks, Karl and Dave have delivered over 300 dictionaries to six public schools on the peninsular. These dictionaries will be distributed to every third grader at the schools. Educators see third grade as the dividing line between learning to read and reading to learn. The goal of this program is to assist all students in becoming good writers, active readers, creative thinkers, and resourceful learners by providing them with their own personal dictionary. The funds to purchase our club’s half of the dictionaries was made possible by your continued support of the RCCF.
PR Committee Seeking Volunteers
Our club’s PR Team is looking for additional members to join their committee. Specifically, volunteer photographers are needed to take photos at our meetings. If you are interested in serving on the PR committee and helping in this role, please email Mike Sottak at [email protected]. Fancy cameras are not required, an iPhone will do! It would be wonderful to have a couple of volunteers alternating the weekly duty.
Ambassadorial Global Scholars – Volunteers for Selection Committee
The International Committee of our Club sponsors a college student in their pursuit of a $50,000 graduate-level scholarship through the Rotary Foundation’s Ambassadorial Global Scholars program. Over the next couple of months, we will vet a number of students and choose an applicant to compete with other scholars from our Rotary District. Chloe Tonney is our wonderful Rotarian who heads up this effort and is currently seeking applicants from the area’s colleges and universities.
Our Club has not had a winning applicant in the past few years but I have a feeling this year is our year! We are seeking volunteers to serve on our selection committee for our scholar and help prep our scholar for the broader competition.
If you have an interest in helping us out, please email Joseph Tecklenburg at [email protected]
Support The CART Fund
It is easy for club members to make individual contributions and support The CART Fund electronically. The CART Fund has a new portal www.mycartfund.org, which you can easily access. As a Rotarian and a DACdb user, you automatically have an account already set-up in your name. Your user name and password are the same as it is for the DACdb.
Support the Rotary Foundation
The District 7770 Million $ Campaign and dinner will be held on May 5th 2021 at the Francis Marion Hotel. Our own Sandy Morkel is the Chair for that event. $10,000 spread over 3 years or a Bequest gets you an invite.
And do not forget your opportunity to be recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow. Eighty-five dollars a month gets you there. Please reach out to Karl Riner, Club Foundation Chair, to sign up or ask questions.You can also donate to Rotary’s efforts to end polio now: https://endpolio.org/donate.
Our Club is on Social Media
Members are encouraged to follow all of our social media channels and share posts with their followers too! We also need members to send us pictures of anything they do that relates to Rotary – service projects, meetings, events, etc. We would love to keep our accounts full of smiling Rotarians! Photos can be sent to Mike Sottak, [email protected], or Rob Byko, [email protected].
MEMBER NEWS
Our most heartfelt condolences to Amy Riley on the passing of her mother, Gail Ward, in Augusta this past week. Our thoughts and prayers are with Amy and her family.
Proposed New Members
The following membership candidate has submitted an application and signed letter of agreement to the Historic Rotary Club of Charleston:
Robie Scott – sponsor: Past President Sandy Morckel; classification: Media
Jimmy Gorrin – sponsor: Skip Fink; classification: Auto/Sales
In the event you know Robie or Jimmy, please tell a member of the Board how she/he will serve the ideas of Rotary.
Stay safe and continue to stay connected as we help those who are most vulnerable in our community. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to fellow Rotarians if we can help you in any way in the days and weeks to come!
New Member Orientation on March 2nd
If you are relatively new to our club and Rotary and haven’t attended a new member orientation session, please make plans to join Past President Digit Matheny and the membership team for a meeting on Tuesday, March 2 at 11am upstairs at 5 Faber. Over the past year due to COVID, we have been unable to hold a new member education session and know that many of you who are new to Rotary have lots of questions. Attending a new member orientation session is a requirement of new members, so we hope as many of you as possible will attend. New members should also look for an email from Past President Digit with details of the meeting.
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Rotarian: Joel Cardwell
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- JOINED: 2/2/2021
- SPONSOR: Past President Sandy Morckel
- MEMBERSHIP INVOLVEMENT: New Member
- CLASSIFICATION: Real Estate
- PROFESSION: Broker Associate, Brand Name Real Estate
- SOMETHING UNIQUE ABOUT YOURSELF: I won first place in the City Paper photo contest in 2006, and have had my photos published in virtually every local newspaper and magazine in Charleston. I have one of the best collections of Charleston photography around, have had my Charleston photos installed in two local hotels, and sold photo CDs in the visitor center gift shop, the airport gift shop and the aquarium gift shop in the past. I frequently participate in fundraising silent auctions by donating my Charleston photography and photography services to help local nonprofits raise money. You can find my photo galleries on Facebook, or Instagram.
Birthdays
- 2/23 – Don Baus
By the numbers
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- Attendance on February 16, 2021 (In-Person and Zoom): 43
- Not in attendance: Allen, Baggs, Baus, Berry, Bini, Brack, Brady, Clark, Coe, Coghill, Cohen, Cole, Combs, Cook, Coxe, Crouch, Curia, DeGraff, Diminich, Dopp, Drafts, Moring, Oswalt, Palmer, Patrick, Peters, Phipps, Plotner, Ravenel, Raver, Reynolds, Riley, Rust, Savage, Seguer, Shahid, Sidebottom, Smith, H., Smith, P., Sottak, Staley, Strickland, Taylor, Tecklenburg, John, Tecklenburg, Joseph, Teller, Tonney, Uram, Vanek, Wackym, Walters, Ward, Weston, Willey, Williams, Woodell
- Out of Town Make-ups: None
WELLNESS TIP
Get sunlight every day
Vitamin D is one of the most important nutrients for overall health, and sunlight is one of our best sources of it. Aim to get at least 30 minutes of sunlight each day—preferably in the afternoon, and without sunscreen. Not much sunlight in the winter where you live? It might be worth supplementing with a vitamin D supplement and/or other food sources of this essential nutrient.
ARE CLUB MEETINGS
Mondays
- Summerville – Oakbrook: 7:30 a.m., Monday, Westcott County Club, 5000 Wescott Club Drive, North Charleston
- North Charleston: 12:30 a.m., Monday, Hilton Garden Inn, 5265 International Blvd, North Charleston.
- Summerville Evening: 5:30 p.m., Monday, Montreux Bar and Grill, 127 W. Richardson Ave., Summerville
Tuesdays
- East Cooper Breakfast: 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, Cooper River Room at Waterfront Park, Mount Pleasant
- Charleston: 12:30 p.m., Tuesday, Hall’s Signature Events, 5 Faber, Charleston
- Goose Creek: 12:45 m. Tuesday, Gilligan’s, 219 St. James Ave., Goose Creek
Wednesdays
- Daniel Island: 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Daniel Island Club, 600 Island Park Dr., Daniel Island
- St. John’s Parish (John’s Island): 7:45 a.m. Wednesday, 2817 Maybank Highway, Unit 1, John’s Island
- Mount Pleasant: 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, Harbor Breeze Restaurant, 176 Patriots Point Road, Mount Pleasant
- Summerville: 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sticky Fingers, Summerville
Thursdays
- North Charleston Breakfast: 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Embassy Suites, 5055 International Blvd., North Charleston
- Moncks Corner: 12:30 p.m., Thursday, Gilligan’s Restaurant, Moncks Corner
- St. Andrews (West Ashley): 12:30 p.m., Thursday, Bessinger’s BBQ, 1602 Savannah Highway, Charleston.
Fridays
- Charleston Breakfast: 7:30AM Hall’s Signature Events, 5 Faber, Charleston
SOCIAL MEDIA
Our Rotary club actively uses social media — and we encourage you to interact with us through social media.
- We’re on Facebook. Take a look at our page and be sure to “like us”.
- We’re on Twitter. You can follow us @chasrotaryclub.
- We’re on Instagram. You can follow us @ChasRotaryClub.
ABOUT THE KEYWAY
The Keyway has been published weekly as a newsletter for the Rotary Club of Charleston for more than 90 years.
- President: Lisa Van Bergen
- Keyway editor: Don Baus [email protected]
- Executive secretary: Carroll Schweers, [email protected]
- Mailing address: Rotary Club of Charleston, P.O. Box 21029, Charleston, SC 29413-1029
- Copyright 2018, Rotary Club of Charleston. All rights reserved