Good morning and I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. This week is our last meeting for the month of October, but there are more things happening!
Important things to remember for this month;
The Polio walk on Saturday, October 24. This event is open to all but you need to sign up online or reach out to Terry Ziegler, Polio Czar. This event will double as our social, so the walk to and from the Water Wall is as wild is it is going to get this month!
Our man Jack Wallace has organized a Rise Against Hunger event for Saturday, October 31st. He emailed the sign-up information on October 6th. Please sign up! This is a fun event where many hands make lighter work and you get to chit chat with lots of folks. Again, this event is open to all but registration is required.
Our West U Rotary Board of Directors meeting is Tuesday October 13th at 7am, via Zoom. If you're a Red Badge and haven't attended a board meeting, come on down!
Many thanks to Brennan Riley, Youth Exchange Officer, and Rachel Mills, Youth Exchange Counselor, for an informative presentation of what it takes to operate the very successful Rotary Youth Exchange Program. Thank you, Lisa Dobey, Country Chair for suggesting the presentation. As he will tell you, it is the reason Past President John Thornton joined Rotary, as one of his daughters wanted to do an exchange.
We were saddened to learn that our member Gordon Lane passed away last week. Our condolences to his daughter Sarah, who is also a club member. As we have more details, we will pass them along.
Lastly, RAH had their meeting last week with a very interesting speaker from the Rescued Pets Movement. This speaker was suggested by new member Gabrielle Ramaiah - thank you, Gabrielle! RAH is looking for a new venue for their meeting, starting in November. If you have thoughts, reach out to Anthony Covington to share.
Thanks to our members who participated in last week's blood drive. Roldan got a pic in action as he helped save a life with his blood donation. Appreciate all of our Rotarians who continue to give- even when it hurts.
Our pop up grocery with Second Servings at the Cavalcade YMCA was a great success. We unloaded, sorted, staged and distributed over 2,200 lbs of food to approximately 100 shoppers. Special thanks to our friends from the Houston Rotary Club who joined us for the event.
The service honoring Jack Hardin was lovely, and the special music by Jay and Lisa reminded us of Jack's kind spirit. Janice found the perfect selection of photos, awards, accomplishments and (of course) Jack's guitar and bass to share with attendees. Memorabilia photos below if you weren't able to make it to the celebration.
Don't forget-
The West U Rotary Club Foundation would like to honor the memory of our friend Jack Hardin, a long-time committed Rotarian and former president of the Foundation. We hope to fund this memorial gift through donations from club members and other individuals who may also wish to honor Jack.
Should you wish to contribute to honoring Jack's memory, you may send a check to The West U Rotary Club Foundation at P.O. Box 272727, Houston, TX 77277, or contribute via Zelle using foundation@westurotary.org. If you would prefer giving cash or have any questions about how to donate, please contact Sharon Williams at sw324houston@gmail.com or Foundation Treasurer Cathy Graber at cwmgraber@gmail.com.
Thank you to all those who donated to the Refuel Station to ensure that the athletes participating in the event stayed ready. WURC member Roldan De La Guardia was our representative at the event, and he shared that by 1:24 pm Saturday, Covenant House had raised $210K. Participants were also hyped and ready with the Heights High School drum corps leading the warm up. Thank you Roldan for repping WURC and sharing this update.
This year, we will be celebrating World Polio Day on Saturday, October 24 by Walking The Walk. This will also serve as our October social!
Rotarians and their families and friends from all over our District will be walking from the Galleria (Dillard's parking lot, 4925 Westheimer) to the Waterwall Park (roundtrip distance one mile) in support of our END POLIO NOW effort. Meeting time is 9:30 AM.
Each Rotarian is asked to donate $100+ to Rotary's Polio Fund between now and 10/24/26 to participate in the walk. Please donate even if you are unable to participate in the walk. And please donate more than $100 if you are able as the Gates Foundation will be matching our Polio donations with $2 for each $1 we donate again this year!
Our club is making your Polio donation extra easy this year. Just make your $25 Rotary Foundation donation as usual with your upcoming West U Rotary Club dues invoice and it will go to the Polio Fund and will be matched by our club Foundation. Or you can increase your dues invoice donation to $50 and have that matched for a total of $100. You are also welcome to donate by logging on to your account at MyRotary.org. Just click on the Donate tab at the top and specify that this donation is for Polio. You can always also give me a check (made to The Rotary Foundation) or cash and I'll send it in for you.
One last match - if you donate between $100 and $500, your donation will be matched with Rotary Foundation Recognition points to make you a Paul Harris Fellow or next level PHF sooner. The points match does not apply if you are already a Major Donor.
Please wear your End Polio or Rotary shirt to the Walk if you have one. Terry Ziegler, Rotary Regional END POLIO NOW Coordinator, will give you an END POLIO NOW shirt (X-tra large size only) to wear if you need one for the walk.
Early detection of cancer is critical to the success of most treatments. There are many laboratory tests intended to detect cancer, but how reliable are the results? In this talk, we will explore the world of “tumor markers,” or blood tests that are used to detect cancer before it causes physical symptoms.
Roger L. Bertholf, Ph.D. is currently the Professor of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine; the Professor of Pathology and Genomic Medicine at Houston Methodist Hospital Research Institute and the Medical Director of Clinical Chemistry at Houston Methodist Hospital. He earned his B.S. (Chemistry) from James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA in 1977; his M.S. (Chemistry) from University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA in August, 1981 and his Ph.D. (Biochemistry) from University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA in January, 1985. He completed post-doctoral fellowships in Clinical Chemistry and Neuropathology Research before accepting an appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at University of Florida College of Medicine in 1988.
After nearly 30 years on the faculty at University of Florida, Roger moved to Houston in 2017 to become the Medical Director of Clinical Chemistry at Houston Methodist Hospital. He holds professorships in the Houston Methodist Research Institute, Weill Cornell College of Medicine, and Texas A&M College of Medicine. He is author or co-author of over 60 peer-reviewed papers in the scientific literature and over 40 book chapters, and he has edited two books. Since 2012, he has served as Editor in Chief of Laboratory Medicine, a biomedical journal published by the American Society for Clinical Pathology and Oxford University Press.
