Home Page | Rotary Club of West U (Houston)

Helping Those Who Help Others

Sometimes our help is with our hands, sometimes with our funds. We have recently given financial support to several organizations who do the actual work of helping their constituencies. Our help has included:

$2144 to Challlenger for scholarships for players. Thank you, Judy Faulkner, for leading the event that earned the funds.

$6000 to Have Shear Will Travel (our District grant) to help her grow her grooming business for the homeless. Thank you, Cecile, for coordinating the grant process with Barbara Goodson.

$4000 to Caring Friends, Inc. for inner city schools who are always in need of funding. Thank you, John Collier, for being our conduit to help.

And thanks to ALL members whose generous contributions make these donations possible.

Meet Our Newest Members

In the last several weeks we have added three new members and one application is in the queue now. Our newest Red Badge members are Jack Hardin (spouse of Janice Stooksberry), a transfer from the Galleria club, and Christine MacMillan and Dr. Ahmad Jan Durrani. We look forward to getting to know them better and serving alongside them. Liz Wilder is back from summer travel and will be inducted soon. Thanks to all who recruit new members, serve as sponsors and serve as mentors.

Hello Enea & Eva, Ciao Trinity

Lots happens in the fall as school approaches. Among those things are the arrivals of our inbound exchange students and the send-off of our outbounds. This year we welcome Enea from Italy, who is currently hosted by the Lesters, and Eva from Taiwan, currently hosted by the Reillys. Thanks to all who came out to IAH to welcome them, esp. Eva's group, as she arrived around midnight! Eva is attending St. Agnes Academy and Enea is attending St. Thomas Episcopal School. Please help make them feel welcome.

Eva, third from left.

Enea, right behind his name on poster

And going out, we have Trinity Reilly, who is heading off to Northern Italy on exchange. We wish her the best and look forward to reports from her and Brennan about her experience. RYE is a great leap of faith for these youth. Kudos to them!

Trinity says her "Ciao" and gets banners for exchanging in Italy.

Backpacks Project Help Hundreds More

Our annual Backpacks Project changed a little this year with Chad Spencer obtaining fully loaded backpacks, eliminating our need to fill them ourselves. Plus he was able to grow it by an additional 360 packs! Disbursing so many took lots of volunteers. Thanks to all who came out to the various locations to help us sort and deliver and disburse the hundreds of backpacks at locations around town. They include: Jane Richardson, Potu Rao, Brennan Reilly, Kimberly Phipps-Nichol, Janice Stooksberry, Jack Hardin, Joe Rivers, Margarita Hernandez, Frank Parrilla and Chad Spencer.

Below see our collaboration with Houston Area Urban League's back-to-school event.

Margarita and Frank assist Spanish speaking clients at Emergency Aid Coalition event, while Cecile, Serena and AJ help distribute.

Thanks to ALL who came out to help students arrive to school prepared.

Visitors From Around the World

We are fortunate to be located near downtown and the medical center. As such, we get a good amount of international visitors. Recently we met Flossie from Ghana and Victor from Bangalore.

Whenever you travel, consider visiting the local Rotary club and exchange banners with them. We have many available. Thanks to all who warmly welcomed our visitors!

Newest Club Couple

Welcolme to Jack Hardin, husband of Janice Stooksberry, who became the newest member of the club! Jack transferred over from the Galleria club. Welcome, Jack!

Pop Up Pizza Social at Will's

A last minute social had an excellent turnout at new member, Will Gruy's pizza place in the heart of West U. Pizza Motus was bustling at the soft opening. It's sure to be a popular spot among the locals!

New Prez Clyde Hays Take the Helm

July 1 marks the beginning of the Rotary year. A new team, led by President Clyde Hays, will guide the club in new and established ways. At his first meeting, Clyde presented a donation to The Fulfillment Project, a local charity helping famlies on the north side, who we met doing post-Harvey relief work. We have already collaborated with them with supplies, turkeys and bicycles. We look forward to collaborating more in the future.

(L-R: Gerard Simon, Pastor Jamail Johnson, Prez Clyde, Joe Rivers, Natasha Johnson)

Also in his first meeting, Clyde gave George a new "crown"... the Past President West U Rotary ball cap.

Thanks to Clyde and all who agreed to serve on the board this year.

Our First Rainy July 4th Event

Despite torrential rain, the parade and the fundraiser went on. Judy Faulkner's team of dedicated volunteers ran the checkout while Jamie's served the food. The city hired face painters, balloon artists and caricature artists so the few stranded customers had something to do. The rain was a first in our history; we hope the last!

All proceeds will go to Challenger baseball for scholarships.

Flag Launch, Parade, & Concessions

The new Rotary year kicks off with a trifecta of service! Everyone puts out flags, some march in the Kazoo Band (world renown!), and some work the concessions at the pool fundraiser that benefits Challenger Baseball. We need everyone who can to help out! Wear your red, white and blue or Rotary t-shirt and come out for a fun morning of service and fellowship.

President George Says "Thanks"

At the last meeting he would chair of a club meeting (bc he went to RI convention), George recognized the many who helped him significantly in his year. Many members prefer to assist in the background, and 100% of the members are vital to the club.

The Harvey Relief honorees.

The team that makes the club and meetings run smoothly (Administration).

See the photo album for more pictures.

Rotarian & Rookie of the Year Announced

It's never easy to pick the winners of these awards; so many are deserving. This year George selected Margarita Hernandez as the Rookie Rotarian of the Year, and John Collier as the Rotarian of the Year.

Congratulations to them both, and thank you for your above-and-beyond service this past year.

New Board and Prez Installed

Congratulations to the incoming Board of Directors installed at a lovely event put on by the Social Committee at Maggiano's.

George Adams was a phenomenal leader; Clyde will no doubt be one as well. Thanks to all who served last year and to those who agreed to serve this year.

The incoming board is the following:

President: Clyde Hays

VP/Pres. Elect: Stacy Brevard

Pres Elect Nominee: Gerard Simon

Treasurer: Jim Waters/John Barnes

Secretary: Wendy Heister
Directors: Terry LeFebvre / Joe Rivers / Margarita Hernandez / Jane Richardson / A J Karian / Bob Owen / Lisa Bunse / Suzanne Diecks / Sachin Chowdhry

Past Pres: George Adams

Making 25,000 Meals in a Morning

On Saturday, May 19, our club joined with several other clubs to create 25,000 meals for shipping to needy areas of Honduras. Rise Against Hunger's efficient system means this all happens in under 3 hours time!

Thanks to all who came out to help, especially the Wallace's, Jack, Anne and Becky, who coordinated the event for our club.

Pancakes Make Seniors Feel Loved

Diners at the semi-annual pancake breakfast for West U seniors lavished appreciation on us for serving them tasty food, but also for the warm fellowship we shared. Thank you, Judy Faulkner, for creating this event and leading it for the third year. Thanks to all the cooks, servers, decorators, and cleaners for your selfless service at this event.

Helping Our Rotary Brother

Charity begins at home for our club. This time it's a wheelchair ramp for Ray Schutter. Ray and Cecile have been bulwarks of our club from the beginning and we are glad to be of help to them. Thanks to all the carpenters who came out to help.

Care Package Give Seniors a Chance to Serve

Sheltering Arms seniors assisted our club in creating approximately 100 toiletry bags to be disbursed to veterans living on the streets. In addition to giving us a place to do the project, SA seniors helped by loading the items into the sturdy insulated bags and staff will take to the homeless veterans around town. Thanks to all who came out to help us help two often-overlooked groups.

Special thanks to Chad and Rebecca Spencer for coordinating all the pieces.

New President & First Lady Honored at Conference

Every year at District Conference Saturday night honors various Rotarians. Foremost it honors the incoming presidents and their spouses or significant other. Our own Clyde and Katy Hays marched down the aisle to hoots and hollers from our members around the room. We look forward to another great year under Clyde's leadership and appreciate Katy sharing him with us. Pictured with incoming District Governor Carmen Cuneo.

Golf Tournament a Big Success

For the 22nd year in a row, Geoff Lanceley and Bob Geary orchestrated a successful golf event benefitting our selected charity. This year we repeated PEP (Prison Entrepreneurship Program) as the beneficiary but the funds are dedicated to a new initiative of PEP -- PEP in a woman's prison in Lockhart, TX. Thank you, Geoff, Bob, Dee, and Kandy Glover and the numerous volunteers who helped that day, for a lovely time of fellowship on the best day of the year.

The colorful Vaughan/Spencer team, which came in 1st place. Chad was also the winner of the putting contest.

The foursome of Bert Smith's (grey t-shirt), outgoing CEO of PEP.

Other winners were Kerry Bloom for longest drive, closest to the pin was Muddy McDaniel, and straightest drive was Bob McEniry.
A number of PEP graduates volunteered and also golfed. We hope you had a chance to visit with them.

Thanks everyone for a wonderful day!

Harvey Victims Get Furniture

Our club, with the assistance of The Starfish Project of Adore Ministries, was connected with families who still need help after Harvey. Five families who needed new furnishings were granted $1500 each to select new and gently used furniture from The Furniture Bank. Thanks to John Collier who connected us to the organizations who work at street level with those in need.

George shown with members of two families who got furniture using our funds.

Vocational Award Winners Recognized

Congratulations to the 2018 Vocational Awards winners recognized at the April 19th meeting. Also, thank you to the Nominating Committee of Fritz Beich, Mary Nelson, and Bob Fry for your service making this event successful.

The Rotarian award winner was Bob Owen, for his assistance locating, negotiating and tailoring our new venue (again) as well as his ever-ready help whenever the AV tools rebel.

The non-Rotarian winner was Mike Schneider, Jr., attorney and judge with a long history of service including as the City of West U's Presiding Judge (pictured here with Nominating Committee member Fritz Beich and nominator David Redford).

Our educator award went to Rebekah Tee of Spring Woods High School for her tireless dedication to her students at SWHS and other schools, including KIPP. Rebekah also received a $1000 award to use as she pleases (pictured here with Nominating Committee member Mary Nelson).

Reunion Meeting Brings Back Old Friends

In the inaugural Reunion Meeting several past members of West U Rotary returned as our guests. Chris Spofford, Roy Lund, Gene de Laveaga (a past president), Bert Moser and Richard Lazear were present to see our new venue and meet many new members. We and they had a great time reconnecting. Thanks to the Membership Committee for organizing this event that we plan to repeat annually.

Bikes Collaboration Completed

On Saturday, April 7 our club collaborated on a project with D7980 in Connecticut and PDG Bob Gebhard to supply bikes to kids affected by Hurricane Harvey. Over 110 bikes were picked up and delivered to our partner, The Fulfillment Project, to disburse to the kids in the Aldine area. Thanks to George, Terry LeFebvre, Joe Rivers, Gerard Simon, Kevin Lanier for helping out with the literal heavy lifting!

Unfortunately, in the process of unloading the bikes George and Terry took a tumble. Terry took the worst of it, breaking bones in his elbow joint requiring surgery installing metal plate and pins. Ouch! So sorry, Terry!

Play Ball! Serve SnowCones!

Spring means baseball and for West U Rotary it means opportunities to help Challenger Baseball by running the concession stand for their games. Thanks to all who have come out so far. Dick is still looking for helpers for the upcoming Sundays. See an email from him to sign up.

Hospitality As Service with PEP

Upon release from prison, PEP graduates can go into transition housing that offers continual support. Opportunities to bring dinner occur once a month, at three locations.

The Diecks recently brought dinner to a downtown location and last Monday, they were joined by Judy, Paul and Carol L, in bringing dinner to a different group on the north side of town. Consider being part of a future dinner event by contributing a dish and sharing the meal with the guys.

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Celebrating 23 Years of Service to the Community and World.

#1 Giver to The Rotary Foundation 2015-16, #1 Giver to Polio 2015-16, Best Large Club 2012-13

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