Former President to be Inducted into Rotoract Hall of Fame

By Anne Ruisi

About a year after she moved to Birmingham, Los Angeles native Brass Bralley joined the Rotaract Club because she thought it would be a good way to get to know more people in the community.

Her involvement in Rotary’s sister organization for young professionals began in 2017 and eventually led to her leading the club as president during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Feb. 25, she’ll be recognized for her service with induction into the organization’s Hall of Fame at the Foundation Ball.

“I was very honored to be nominated,” said Bralley, a Mount Laurel resident who is one of six Rotoract members to be inducted during the ball at the Birmingham Museum of Art.

“Rotaract has played a huge role in my life to just kind of get me plugged into Birmingham and the friendships that I have today in the professional realm and opportunities I’ve had,” she added.

Leading the club from July 2020 to July 2021, as the COVID virus became entrenched across the country, presented a challenge in how to navigate organizing programs for the 300 members and organizing service work when people were in lockdown or gatherings were restricted.

“Having to kind of rewrite the playbook for how to do everything was our biggest challenge for myself and my board,” Bralley said.

Keeping members engaged and from feeling like they were disconnected from each other while stuck at home was a major challenge, Bralley said.

The club’s meetings, where members would mix and listen to a guest speaker, were still held twice a month, but most were virtual.

“I think we had a couple over the course of the year that we were able to do in person,” she added.

Service projects had to take a new tack, focusing more on volunteer work that could be done outdoors. There were a lot of cleanup projects at parks, for example. “We had an event at Avondale Elementary School where we cleaned up outside of there,” Bralley said.

Learn, Socialize, Serve

Rotoract has a three-pillar approach to its engagement. “Learn, socialize and serve is our motto,” Bralley said.

Learning happens at the club’s luncheons held twice a month. Guest speakers, such as industry leaders, will come to the lunches, and professional development events are held for members.

Socializing is another important aspect, with monthly events that support local businesses, such as happy hours and fundraisers.

“We just want to bring people together,” Bralley said.

Service is expressed in projects to help others, sometimes in partnership with area nonprofits. A major Rotoract service project focuses on literacy and academic achievement in local schools.

One of those projects is Ready2Read, a reading comprehension program for second graders in Birmingham City Schools, which also involves club members reading to students. During the worst of the pandemic, when club members couldn’t get to the classrooms, volunteers recorded themselves reading stories, which were sent to the schools for the students to hear.

Bralley lauded the club’s leadership, which is leading members through a return to normalcy.

“It’s been a team effort over the last, you know, three years of getting folks back and engaged” in club activities, she said.

At 31, Bralley will age out of Rotoract when she turns 35, but she remains as active as she can, considering she’s due to deliver her first child, a boy, in just a few weeks.

After her son is born, she’ll be able to take him to events as part of the Junior Rotoract program. Bralley said it’s important because there is a misconception that having children means you can’t participate as fully in Rotoract.

“There’s been a movement over the last couple of years to really keep our new parents engaged,” she said. “I’m excited to get involved with some of that part of our club.”

Rotoract Names 6 to Hall of Fame

The Rotaract Club of Birmingham will induct six people into its Hall of Fame at the Feb. 25 Rotaract Black and White Foundation Ball in recognition of their years of service.

The inductees are Patrick Talley and Brass Bralley, Rotaract Club of Birmingham; Judy Crittenden and John Smola of the Rotary Club of Birmingham; Caleb Rotton, Sunset Rotary Club and Carol Argo, Rotary District 6860 governor.

All proceeds from the Foundation Ball support Rotaract’s main signature service projects, such as Ready2Succeed, a mentorship program designed to provide highachieving high school students in Birmingham City Schools with guidance, encouragement and resources to prepare for the college admissions process.

Another is Ready2Read, a reading comprehension program that provides a classroom library to second-grade classrooms throughout Birmingham City Schools and promotes literacy, reading comprehension skills and a love of reading.