Events

West U Rotary Club Thanksgiving Social

It's been a tradition for our club to meet before Thanksgiving.
Let's get together for some great conversation and fun!
This time we will meet on a TUESDAY.
Come ready to share what you are thankful for this Thanksgiving

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.

WU Rotary will put the flags out on Saturday, January 13th along University Blvd. for the Houston Marathon, and will then retrieve the flags on Sunday, January 14th after the marathon is completed. Please contact Ned Graber to let him know you are available!

Eileen J. Morris As Artistic Director of The Ensemble Theatre, Eileen has produced over 87 productions which include 8 world premieres and over 70 regional premieres. Eileen was named 2023 Best Artistic Director by Houston Press. She was also named the 2021 Director of the Decade for Fences by Broadway World Houston and awarded the 2020 USITT Thomas DeGaetani Award for her contributions to the performing arts community in Texas. Her most recent Ensemble Theatre directing credits include The Piano Lesson, Chicken & Biscuits, Brother Toad, Love & Southern Discomfort, Single Black Female, The Lawsons: A Civil Rights Love Story, I, Too, Am America, More Than Christmas, School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play and Freeda Peoples to name a few.  A proud member of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers), Eileen holds the distinction of being the ONLY woman in the world to direct nine of the August Wilson Ten Play Century Cycle! www.ensemblehouston.com Eileen J. Morris As Artistic Director of The Ensemble Theatre, Eileen has produced over 87 productions which include 8 world premieres and over 70 regional premieres. Eileen was named 2023 Best Artistic Director by Houston Press. She was also named the 2021 Director of the Decade for Fences by Broadway World Houston and awarded the 2020 USITT Thomas DeGaetani Award for her contributions to the performing arts community in Texas. Her most recent Ensemble Theatre directing credits include The Piano Lesson, Chicken & Biscuits, Brother Toad, Love & Southern Discomfort, Single Black Female, The Lawsons: A Civil Rights Love Story, I, Too, Am America, More Than Christmas, School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play and Freeda Peoples to name a few.  A proud member of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers), Eileen holds the distinction of being the ONLY woman in the world to direct nine of the August Wilson Ten Play Century Cycle! www.ensemblehouston.com 

Eileen J. Morris As Artistic Director of The Ensemble Theatre, Eileen has produced over 87 productions which include 8 world premieres and over 70 regional premieres. Eileen was named 2023 Best Artistic Director by Houston Press. She was also named the 2021 Director of the Decade for Fences by Broadway World Houston and awarded the 2020 USITT Thomas DeGaetani Award for her contributions to the performing arts community in Texas. Her most recent Ensemble Theatre directing credits include The Piano Lesson, Chicken & Biscuits, Brother Toad, Love & Southern Discomfort, Single Black Female, The Lawsons: A Civil Rights Love Story, I, Too, Am America, More Than Christmas, School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play and Freeda Peoples to name a few.  A proud member of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers), Eileen holds the distinction of being the ONLY woman in the world to direct nine of the August Wilson Ten Play Century Cycle! www.ensemblehouston.com Eileen J. Morris As Artistic Director of The Ensemble Theatre, Eileen has produced over 87 productions which include 8 world premieres and over 70 regional premieres. Eileen was named 2023 Best Artistic Director by Houston Press. She was also named the 2021 Director of the Decade for Fences by Broadway World Houston and awarded the 2020 USITT Thomas DeGaetani Award for her contributions to the performing arts community in Texas. Her most recent Ensemble Theatre directing credits include The Piano Lesson, Chicken & Biscuits, Brother Toad, Love & Southern Discomfort, Single Black Female, The Lawsons: A Civil Rights Love Story, I, Too, Am America, More Than Christmas, School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play and Freeda Peoples to name a few.  A proud member of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers), Eileen holds the distinction of being the ONLY woman in the world to direct nine of the August Wilson Ten Play Century Cycle! www.ensemblehouston.com 

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.

Flag Launch for Presidents' Day

Flag Retrieval for Presidents' Day

Family of Rotary All  Club Dinner with special guest first female Rotary International President Jennifer Jones.

Safari Texas Ranch 

The Rotary Club of West U is invited to a private tour of the Holocaust Museum led by docent Robert Westheimer. The event starts at 2pm but please arrive by 1:30. 

The cost is $22 for adults and $16 seniors over 65. You may purchase at the museum or online at http://hmh.org/visit/  Members of the museum may enter for free! Paid parking is available at the museum.

Info Lisa Bunse 713.858.3184

Celebrating NRG Veterans' Day with West U Rotary Flags!

Meet at the storage shed to repair WU Rotary flags.

THIS EVENT IS FULL, SEE YOU NEXT TIME!

Come out and volunteer to support Challenger Division Baseball! 6 to 8 volunteers needed to help with staffing the dugout concession stand during the games and serving sno-cones to some pretty awesome kids. 

Please show up at the dugout at Wallin Field (at the corner of University and Auden) across from West U city hall no later than 1:30 and plan to stay until 3:30.

This is a great chance to be part of a wonderful experience for these kids and to show West U what Rotary is all about.

Contact John Barnes for questions. 713.553.9357 or email him at john@jpbarnes.com

Celebrating NRG's First Responders Day with West U Rotary Flags

The address is 2220 Broadway St. Houston, Texas 77012

THIS EVENT IS FULL, SEE YOU NEXT TIME!

Come out and volunteer to support Challenger Division Baseball! 6 to 8 volunteers needed to help with staffing the dugout concession stand during the games and serving sno-cones to some pretty awesome kids. 

Please show up at the dugout at Wallin Field (at the corner of University and Auden) across from West U city hall no later than 1:30 and plan to stay until 3:30.

This is a great chance to be part of a wonderful experience for these kids and to show West U what Rotary is all about.

Contact John Barnes for questions. 713.553.9357 or email him at john@jpbarnes.com

Get ready for another exciting social event!

Red Lion established in 2003 is a friendly English-inspired neighborhood pub. Along with a unique menu of pub favorites and Indian cuisine, enjoy a thoughtful variety of beer, Scotch, Whiskey, and Wine.

Come prepared to share a funny travel ancedote!

Please RSVP by 3/14. If we get 15 to 20 people to RSVP, they will include light appetizer. The area reserved for us is on the left side of the bar as you walk in!!!

It will be a fabulous event!

THIS EVENT IS FULL, SEE YOU NEXT TIME!

Come out and volunteer to support Challenger Division Baseball! 6 to 8 volunteers needed to help with staffing the dugout concession stand during the games and serving sno-cones to some pretty awesome kids. 

Please show up at the dugout at Wallin Field (at the corner of University and Auden) across from West U city hall no later than 1:30 and plan to stay until 3:30.

This is a great chance to be part of a wonderful experience for these kids and to show West U what Rotary is all about.

Contact John Barnes for questions. 713.553.9357 or email him at john@jpbarnes.com

I'm excited share with you information about Heartstrings: Connection to the World's Children, a new interactive and immersive exhibit curated by UNICEF USA that will bring the global challenges faced by the young to the forefront. This multi-city exhibit will kick off in Houston and run from March 21 to April 7. It is part of a 13-city journey over the next two years that will bring this exhibit to over 200,000 people. The event represents a collaborative effort to connect communities with the realities of kids worldwide. The immersive display will be carried out across eight zones in Post Houston, each dedicated to highlighting core pillars crucial for the success and future of the world's youth. The first part of the exhibit talks about birth to a few years old and what it's like being a child as a way to connect people to the things that are important for children in those first 1,000 days of their lives. Other sections in the show explore themes such as education and the importance of being heard.

Spotlight on Polio Eradication
Rotary’s work to eradicate polio will be prominently featured. A photo and story will depict this life saving work, and we and our partnership with UNICEF will be featured. Rotary along with the Gates Foundation are the only two organizations named in the exhibit, and our logo will also be featured as a partner at the entryway. Our work will be shared with hundreds of thousands of visitors to the exhibit, and we're hopeful that many Rotarians will want to go to the exhibit with their families to take pride in our polio eradication efforts, attend as a special club outing or attract prospective members to join us. UNICEF USA is offering special pricing to Rotarians with 10% in gratitude for our longstanding partnership with a dedicated ticketing page.  The exhibit is family-friendly and available in both English and Spanish.

For timed-entry tickets and more details, click this.

To learn more about what you'll experience during this exhibit, please view the first 1:45 of this video or read more in a recent issue of Houstonia Magazine.

Members of the Rotary Club of West U plan to go as a group on Sunday, April 7, 2024 at 4:30 PM.  All Rotarians and their families are welcome to join us!

Nathan Tollett serves as Vice President, Citywide Convention Sales at Visit Houston where he is responsible for creating long term strategies to maintain Houston’s position as a premier meeting and convention destination. Most recognized for his creative client experiences, Nathan believes in providing targeted and customized solutions for all potential opportunities.

Tollett began his hospitality career as an event manager at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center in 2002. He was the primary point of contact for the facility, assisting many major conventions in hosting and executing successful events. Following that, Tollett accepted a job as a national account executive with Visit Houston, where he booked a variety of significant meetings and conventions in the corporate and association market.

Completing his first tenure at Visit Houston, Tollett then spent nearly two years as a national sales manager for the Las Vegas property, The Golden Nugget. That experience helped him round out the “hospitality trifecta”—giving Tollett the background from the facilities, destination and hotel perspective to better understand all of the aspects of the convention sales process.

Tollett rejoined Visit Houston as Director of Sales in 2009 and for the last eleven years has overseen the daily operations of the citywide sales team.

Meeting News honored Tollett as "Ones to Watch: 30 under 30” and he was also recognized in Connect Magazine as “Future Leaders of the Meeting Industry, 40 under 40” in 2011, and received the 2015 Maritz Global Events Supplier of the Year award.

Tollett holds a bachelor's degree in speech communications from Texas A&M University.

THIS EVENT IS FULL, SEE YOU NEXT TIME!

Come out and volunteer to support Challenger Division Baseball! 6 to 8 volunteers needed to help with staffing the dugout concession stand during the games and serving sno-cones to some pretty awesome kids. 

Please show up at the dugout at Wallin Field (at the corner of University and Auden) across from West U city hall no later than 1:30 and plan to stay until 3:30.

This is a great chance to be part of a wonderful experience for these kids and to show West U what Rotary is all about.

Contact John Barnes for questions. 713.553.9357 or email him at john@jpbarnes.com

THIS EVENT IS FULL, SEE YOU NEXT TIME!

Come out and volunteer to support Challenger Division Baseball! 6 to 8 volunteers needed to help with staffing the dugout concession stand during the games and serving sno-cones to some pretty awesome kids. 

Please show up at the dugout at Wallin Field (at the corner of University and Auden) across from West U city hall no later than 1:30 and plan to stay until 3:30.

This is a great chance to be part of a wonderful experience for these kids and to show West U what Rotary is all about.

Contact John Barnes for questions. 713.553.9357 or email him at john@jpbarnes.com

THIS EVENT IS FULL, SEE YOU NEXT TIME!

out and volunteer to support Challenger Division Baseball! 6 to 8 volunteers needed to help with staffing the dugout concession stand during the games and serving sno-cones to some pretty awesome kids. 

Please show up at the dugout at Wallin Field (at the corner of University and Auden) across from West U city hall no later than 1:30 and plan to stay until 3:30.

This is a great chance to be part of a wonderful experience for these kids and to show West U what Rotary is all about.

Contact John Barnes for questions. 713.553.9357or email him at john@jpbarnes.com

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

Please download the flyer found on the left of this page.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SPONSORSHIPS, PLEASE CONTACT GEOFF LANCELEY AT 713-400-8005 OR GLANCELEY@WEALTHENHANCEMENT.COM

To pay via check, please make check payable to the West U Rotary Club Foundation and mail check and payment form to PO Box 272727, Houston TX 77277

To pay online, please visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wu-rotary-golf-tournament-2024-benefiting-the-code-academy-dyslexia-school-tickets-841655192337

To pay via phone, please call Melissa Ramon at 281 726 6167

Greg Funderburk currently serves as the Minister for Pastoral Care at South Main Baptist Church. Before this, he practiced law in Houston for 21 years. Greg is the author of  The Mourning Wave, a historical novel about the Galveston storm of 1900, which was named as one of Kirkus Review’s best debut novels of 2020. He’s also the author of Let It Be Said We’ve Borne It Well, a series of hopeful essays written during the pandemic, and published in 2021, and Hurdles: An Authentic Pursuit of God in a Post-Pandemic World, published in 2022. His fourth book, Following Creation: A More Sacred Path from Monday and Sunday will be published in May 2024 by Smyth-Helwys. Greg and his wife, Kelly, who works as an attorney for Bank of America, celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2023. They have two sons, both raised in West U. After graduating from HSPVA, Hank attended USC and now works for Disney in Los Angeles. Charlie attended Strake Jesuit and is now a sophomore at Baylor University studying media and communications. 

On Apr 19, 2024, at 10:00 AM, Mike Woods <

Flag Launch for Memorial Day