It's a new month and it is all hands-on deck this week! We've been quiet in the meeting department for the last couple of weeks, but it is back to work starting this Thursday. Don't sleep in because we will need your vote to make a quorum for the changes to our Rotary bylaws, which were sent out on October 19th via Clubrunner. If you have questions about any of the changes, please reach out to Ned Graber or me. We will be voting this week at our meeting!
We had strong turnout at this past weekend's Rise For Hunger food packing event. West U Rotarians and others packed 11,000 meals. Thank you, Jack Wallace, Committee Chair for International projects for organizing this event.
In 2015, our club hosted Maciej Aniukiewicz (Bydgoszcz, Poland) as our inbound Rotary Youth Exchange student. We have remained in contact and are happy to share that he graduated from Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin and is now practicing dentistry in Bydgoszcz. Congratulations Maciej! Fun fact, our outbound students that year were Rob Sanford (Paraguay) and Elias Ormsby (Sweden).
For our Rotary After Hours (RAH) members, there are new digs for the Thursday, November 12th meeting. We are now at On the Kirb, across the street from Lakewood Church, Timmons at Hwy 59-north side of the street. Plenty of parking and an easy location to access. Big thanks to Lisa Bunse, West U Board member and Anthony Covington, RAH Committee chair for sorting this out. Remember, if you have got buddies who would like to be a Rotarian, but breakfast time is not their gig, send them to RAH!
Did you see John Barnes' email? He sends a big thank you to the many members of our Club who have kindly volunteered to help out on the 10th, but says there's still room for a couple more.
Date: Tuesday, November 10th (the day before Veterans' Day)
Location: West University Community Center, 6104 Auden (@ Rice Blvd), in the John Neighbors Room
Schedule of Events:
11:15-11:30: Drinks and Welcome Guests
11:30-12:00: Serve Food and Eat (Rotary eats, too)
12:00-12:15: Guest Speaker and Service Branch Recognition
Veterans offered a time to share stories.
Rotary President can address guests at this time, too.
12:15-12:25: Sing-Along
12:25-12:30: Closing
PLEASE wear some Rotary-branded gear (your vests will work) and it would be ideal if volunteers can show up at or a few minutes after 11:00, to help with set up, and stay to closing.
Even if you can't make it to the holiday party this year, you can still join one of our WURC Foundation grantees, Operation Love, as they gather, wrap and distribute holiday gifts for underserved kiddos at Blackshear Elementary in Houston's 3rd Ward.
If you're short on time, bring those new in packaging toys, games, science and book sets to the WURC holiday party as announced above. If your schedule has the room, you can join the fun that comes with sharing time, mission and good cheer for a great cause while sorting and wrapping all of the presents. Always a great way to spend an evening, with two date and location options below.
Houston Public Library--West U Branch--What's New!!
Fresh out of high school, John Harbragh didn't know what he wanted to do. A friend suggested getting jobs at the library where John discovered the coolest job ever, librarian. After getting married, a Bachelor's in English Literature from the University of La Verne, a Master's in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University, and a move from Los Angeles to Houston, John finally achieved his goal. Now with 16 years of library experience working at each position within a branch, he manages the West University Branch, a Harris County Public Library. (www.hcpl.net/locations/WU)
