Tomorrow, we'll host our annual Thanksgiving meeting at Vashti. Since our club's founding in 1921, we've supported Vashti in various ways, including this traditional Thanksgiving meeting. Members who choose to do so often make a  contribution to the center for children. 

Rev. Donald Mathis will be out speaker. Rev. Mathis is a member of the board of directors for the Vashti Center, and he will talk to us about the programs offered and the children supported  by Vashti. He completed a five-year program and received a diploma in ministry from Candler School of Theology at Emory University before continuing his education and receiving an associate's degree in sociology from Waycross College. He later graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in social work from Savannah State University, where he was inducted into the National Honor Society. He is also an alumnus of Saint Leo University, where he received a master's degree in social work focused on advanced clinical practice and was inducted into the Phi Alpha Honor Society.

Rev. Mathis has been in pastoral ministry for 24 years and has pastored many congregations. but he is equally active in the community. He has worked with the Wesley Foundation Campus Ministry, the Urban Hope After School Program, and the Board of Missions in Savannah. In Statesboro, he served on the Board of Missions, the Committee of Building and Location, and the Board of Mission for the Statesboro District, the board of Directors for the North and South Georgia Pastor’s School, the Committee of Religion and race for the SGAC, and the advocacy committee for the SGAC. He has interned with Department of Juvenile Justice and with the Department of Family and Children Services in Waycross and 4 Evamor Inc. in Columbus.

For the past seven years, Rev. Mathis has worked with and interned with TEARS Inc. as an intake and outreach coordinator, counselor and prevention specialist. He has been employed with Tuskegee University in the Social Work Department for the pass four years and is now teaching online distant learning social work courses.

Please join us to know more about the programming at Vashti and enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal.