Volunteer of the Month: Dr. Allen Kerr

CCI is thrilled to introduce you to our first Volunteer of the Month, Dr. Allen Kerr from Columbus, Georgia. Dr. Kerr is a charter member and past president of the Muscogee Rotary Club. A naval officer in the Korean War, Dr. Kerr was a printing salesman for thirty years before becoming a psychologist in 1988. He retired from psychology in 1999.

Dr. Kerr first became aware of CCI and the Productivity Enhancement Program in 2002 as a guest at a meeting of The Rotary Club of Minnetonka in Minnesota. Interested in the program, he returned to Georgia and introduced it to the Muscogee Rotary Club. His club agreed and ended up hosting a delegation of Russian private medical clinic owners in the spring of 2003. As Local Coordinator for the delegation, Dr. Kerr helped to coordinate the training program and home hosts for the Russian delegates. The program exposed the Russian visitors to many innovative ideas, including means to free doctors from administrative duties and the value of professional associations, while at the same time introducing them to American culture.

"I wish to express my profound thanks to Dr. Allen Kerr, he showed me what real Southern hospitality is." -- Dmitry Bulanov, delegate from Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia

Dr. Kerr's personal attention to all aspects of this delegation was extraordinary and ensured the program's success.

"Dr. Allen Kerr is an incredible person. He drew on all his past experience to arrange and lead our program. Each day he had a 4-5-page script, where our movements and meetings were detailed minute by minute. He attended all educational meetings and evening functions, without exception. Every night until 2 AM he wrote thank you letters to the organizations that had hosted us that day." -- Matvei Finkel, PEP Delegation Facilitator

Not long after, Dr. Kerr agreed to help CCI as a Volunteer Area Coordinator; working with PEP to reach out and find new clubs to host delegations. He is outstanding in this role, helping civic clubs experience the unique benefits of hosting a PEP delegation.

"[PEP] is such an exciting program. If you are looking for a way to jumpstart your Rotary Club, I could not recommend an international/vocational program that will garner more awareness and recognition in your community." -- Dr. Allen Kerr

Most recently, Dr. Kerr developed a plan to use PEP as a way to celebrate the Rotary International Centennial. Working with local clubs in Columbus and with Natasha Chavez at CCI, Dr. Kerr organized three simultaneous PEP delegations to travel in April 2005. This ambitious project is mobilizing much of his area. The delegations will train in banking, casual dining and human resources. Again giving the project his individual attention, Dr. Kerr personally drafted the training schedules for two of the groups.

Dr. Kerr has volunteered an enormous amount of time and expertise to help train Russian entrepreneurs in business management and in building civil society. His efforts have promoted understanding and friendship between our two countries and helped extend Rotary's values of civic service to Russia. Because of his proactive and outspoken support of the program and his enormous contribution in creating awareness about PEP in the American Southeast, we are proud to highlight Dr. Allen Kerr as our outstanding PEP Volunteer of the Month. Thank you, Dr. Kerr!!