Events

Help make the Christmas season a joyous time for children of the Third Ward neighborhood of Blackshear Elementary by volunteering to help.  Share your time, toys, gently used clothing, food and your loving smiles.

Brandin is a seasoned professional with a diverse background in education, data analysis, and community outreach. His experience spans over several years, holding various strategic roles within the Houston based non-profit, OneGoal, where he currently serves as the Senior Director of Data & Learning. Parallel to his role at OneGoal, Brandin also serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Team Catapult, a non-profit organization that seeks to facilitate a lifestyle of health and fitness for physically challenged individuals. At Team Catapult, Brandin works tirelessly to connect these individuals with opportunities, training, education, accessibility, and funding, enabling them to compete at various levels of athletics, demonstrating that disabilities are no limit to an individual's capabilities. Brandin is the vice-president of Freaks Run Club, the largest running group in Houston, who meet every Friday night at a different brewery or bar around Houston, supporting local businesses and introducing people to new places. Brandin mobilizes the run club's large member base to give their time, talent, and treasure to community organizations throughout Houston each quarter.

Prior to his current roles, Brandin amassed a wealth of experience in the education sector, serving as a College & Career Readiness Advisor at Familypoint Resources and as a teacher in Spring Branch ISD and Houston ISD. These roles, combined with his current responsibilities, demonstrate Brandin's dedication to fostering educational and personal growth, both in the classroom and the wider community. With his diverse experience and commitment to service, Brandin continues to make a significant impact in the lives of many. 

And in his spare time he is running every single street in Houston. 

Running every part of it, learning its history, people and places and giving back to it through local non-profits.Brandin is a seasoned professional with a diverse background in education, data analysis, and community outreach. His experience spans over several years, holding various strategic roles within the Houston based non-profit, OneGoal, where he currently serves as the Senior Director of Data & Learning. Parallel to his role at OneGoal, Brandin also serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Team Catapult, a non-profit organization that seeks to facilitate a lifestyle of health and fitness for physically challenged individuals. At Team Catapult, Brandin works tirelessly to connect these individuals with opportunities, training, education, accessibility, and funding, enabling them to compete at various levels of athletics, demonstrating that disabilities are no limit to an individual's capabilities. Brandin is the vice-president of Freaks Run Club, the largest running group in Houston, who meet every Friday night at a different brewery or bar around Houston, supporting local businesses and introducing people to new places. Brandin mobilizes the run club's large member base to give their time, talent, and treasure to community organizations throughout Houston each quarter.

Prior to his current roles, Brandin amassed a wealth of experience in the education sector, serving as a College & Career Readiness Advisor at Familypoint Resources and as a teacher in Spring Branch ISD and Houston ISD. These roles, combined with his current responsibilities, demonstrate Brandin's dedication to fostering educational and personal growth, both in the classroom and the wider community. With his diverse experience and commitment to service, Brandin continues to make a significant impact in the lives of many. 

And in his spare time he is running every single street in Houston. 

Former ABC 13 news anchor Tom Koch will be our guest speaker for this meeting.

Walter Hughes is a White House Champion of Change. He earned Rotary’s
Vocational Service Leadership Award and Rotary Foundation’s Citation for
Meritorious Service. Walter’s team provides clean water and sanitation to 917,277
people in Africa. Walter is a member of the Salem, Virginia Rotary Club in District
7570. Our team’s goal is to reach 1 million lives changed by 2024. Our team
partners with 321 Rotary Clubs in 78 Rotary Districts in 32 U.S. states, 5
Canadian Provinces and 14 countries including Ghana, Mexico, India, Australia,
Switzerland, Taiwan, England, South Sudan, Pakistan and South Africa. He also
partners with Fondation Coup de Couer and many
non-profit organizations. His personal items are in
Smithsonian Museum collections and highlighted
at Rotary International Conventions. His team
built ten schools in Ghana. Lives are impacted by
clean water improved sanitation with Microflush
toilets, new medical equipment and stronger
schools. We are empowering communities to
dream and lead. Micro-credit loans for wells,
toilets, farms and businesses are increasing the
long-term impact of communities in Ghana.
Walter has 20 years’ experience working in Africa. Our early Rotary projects
located wells in communities with the highest incidence of Guinea worm disease in
Ghana and South Sudan partnering with the Carter Center. The World Health
Organization certified Ghana as free of Guinea worm disease in 2014. He traveled
to South Sudan in 2013 and again during the civil war in November 2015 to inspect
Rotary’s clean water project there. Rotary is close to eradicating both Guinea
worm disease and polio from the world.
He worked as the Director of Strategic Technology at America Online. He served as
a New Hope Methodist Church pastor. He’s a long-term missionary. His mission
team built 18 churches in Ghana and Uganda. They’ve baptized over 1,100 people.
Walter and his wife, Lisa, live in Callaway, Virginia. They have six children and three
grandchildren together. Walter and Lisa are members of Franklin Heights Church in
Rocky Mount, Virginia. He enjoys tennis, gardening, hiking and changing lives.
Walter’s Cell: 540-493-4715 Email Address: walterkhughes@gmail.com
Recent Videos of Water, Sanitation, Disease Prevention & Economic Development
Keeping Promises 2023:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTC_pBBnsfg
Rotary Grant 23-38088:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdK64ynpRFw
Rotary Grant 22-29944: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxeHJz7HrAQ
Rotary Grant 21-18484:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK6MqaGQvzg
Rotary Grant 20-11510: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yQrfn3NSEI Done.
RI Video on our Clean Water: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8U3_PgtuV4
Tenis Ses Promesses 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQpNxo8ohoA (French)
Région est du Ghana du projet 21-18484: https://youtu.be/S3rNJ5ayj3U (French)

Joe Barnes is the Bonner Means Baker Fellow at the Baker Institute. Since
coming to Rice University in 1995, he has written extensively on
international economics, with a focus on the geopolitics of energy. In
addition to numerous institute studies, Barnes’ work has also appeared in
The New York Times, the Houston Chronicle, Survival, Oil and Gas Journal,
Energy Markets, the Newsletter of the Royal United Services Institute, the
SAIS Policy Forum Series and the National Interest. He is a contributor to
three volumes: “Energy in the Caspian Region” (Palgrave Press), “United
States Tax Reform in the 21st Century” (Cambridge University Press) and
“Natural Gas and Geopolitics from 1970 to 2040” (Cambridge University
Press).
Barnes is also faculty advisor to the Baker Institute Student Forum. From
1979 to 1993, he was a career diplomat with the U.S. State Department,
serving in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. His last
assignment in the State Department was with the Policy Planning Staff.
Barnes is a graduate of Princeton University.

Tommy McClelland assumed duties as Rice’s Vice President and Director of Athletics on August 14, 2023, coming to South Main from Vanderbilt where he has served as Deputy Athletic Director at Vanderbilt since 2020.
At Vanderbilt, McClelland provided oversight of the transformational Vandy United campaign. The largest athletics fundraising campaign in school history, Vandy United raised over $300 million to support the construction of new and renovated athletic facilities at the university.
McClelland comes to Rice as the Owls embark on a historic new chapter as members of The American Athletic Conference, a role he knows well having guided Louisiana Tech’s transformational entry into Conference USA as the Bulldog’s Director of Athletics from 2013 to 2020.
Louisiana Tech thrived under his leadership, underpinned by his philosophy of building champions on the playing fields, in the classrooms, and in life.

McClelland earned his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern State in 2004 and completed his master’s degree in sports administration in 2005. He walked on to the Demons football team and eventually earned a scholarship. He also competed in the javelin for the Northwestern State track and field team.  McClelland is also a 2012 graduate of the Executive Program of the Sports Management Institute and attended instruction at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business.

McClelland is married to the former Jessica Stokes of Garrison, Texas. They have two sons, Lawson and Grayson.

Jane Shapiro ventured to Houston from the Boston area back in the 1980’s. She received her degree

from Boston College and holds a certificate as an Assisted Living Administrator and is licensed

as a Pre Need Planning Advisor.

She has enjoyed being part of the Houston community for the past 40 years. She’s been

affiliated with several healthcare organizations in providing training/development to

employees, building relationships within the medical and religious community, counseling

families seeking senior living options, to her current role at Houston Jewish Funerals and

Distinctive Life Cremation and Funerals.

She has worked for HCA, US Physical Therapy, Aetna Health Plans, the Alzheimer’s Association,

Brazos Towers and Seven Acres Jewish Senior Care Services.

She takes pride in volunteering at the Evelyn Rubinstein JCC, Seven Acres, WU and Bellaire Sr.

Centers, Weekly YMCA and is a member of Jewish Federation’s Business and Professional

Group, River Oaks Women’s Breakfast Club, Houston Area Continuity of Care, Houston

Gerontological Association, Houston Jewish Chamber of Commerce, Houston Women’s

Chamber, Bellaire Business Association and lifetime member of Hadassah.

Having joined Houston Jewish Funerals and Distinctive Life Cremation and Funerals back in

2018, she was tasked with educating and sharing the importance of Pre Need Planning to

families in our community.

Jane shares, that it’s truly a calling, a mitzvah and a gift to impart her knowledge and

understanding while bringing her life experiences, passion and empathy to those in need.

The Code Academy (Dyslexia School) will be the recipient of 2024's Golf Tournament donation.  Please start planning now to have your golf team participate!