The Rotary Club of Beaumont, TX, is a large and diverse fellowship of inspired business, professional, and civic leaders with significant community connections that foster the ideals of Service Above Self and high ethical standards.
Entergy offers consumers a variety of energy efficiency programs. Are you aware and taking advantage of the cost savings?
Mark Delavan and Pam Williams both visited the club last year and shared great news about ways businesses can save money. Mark spoke about the incentives for businesses to replace current systems with new and more efficient ones, including HVAC, lighting, and more. Pam told Rotarians about the new advanced metering system and how residential consumers can access their account online and monitor usage.
This year, you can count on learning about other new Entergy improvements that are available to the business or residential consumer. They will give an update to the meter system which is now fully in operation. Pam plans to talk about a few other Entergy initiatives: the Montgomery County Power Station and the new Power Through program. If you have been adversely affected by the COVID pandemic, we will learn how to take advantage of Entergy's deferred payment options.
This will be another interesting and beneficial program that you don't want to miss. Join us on Zoom.
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Virtual Head Table for February 3
Invocation:
Rebekah Maxwell
Marketing Consultant
ReStep Marketing
Pledge to USA Flag:
Jennifer Gregory
Human Resource Officer
Beaumont Housing Authority
Introduction of Guest Speaker:
Past PresidentJoe Domino
Retired
Entergy
If you would like to serve on the head table at a date in the future, please sign up online at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/904054ba5a62fa3f49-head or phone chair, Mandy Clayton at 409-718-7056 or email arclayton@lit.edu
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CALENDAR OF ROTARY EVENTS
(Club events & opportunities for meeting makeups)
For the health and safety of members, CLUB MEETINGS WILL CONTINUE WEEKLY USING ZOOM until further notice.
February
8
Deadline for T. Kelsey Lamb, Sr. Award for Business Ethics nominations
13
Service project: Southeast Texas Food Bank School Tools Teacher Drive Thru Giveaway; 8:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
15
"Show Your Colors" Flag Project for Presidents Day; 5:00 a.m.; Boy Scout Office building, 4650 Cardinal Drive
23
Board of Directors monthly meeting; 11:30 a.m.
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T. Kelsey Lamb, Sr. Award for Business Ethics
NOMINATION INFORMATION: DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 8
The T. Kelsey Lamb, Sr. Award for Business Ethics is presented annually to a Beaumont Rotarian who consistently exhibits the highest ethical standards represented by the Rotary Four-Way Test in his or her chosen vocation.
T. Kelsey Lamb, Sr.
1942-43 President of the Rotary Club of Beaumont
The original criteria for the award explains:
Nominees must be a member in good standing of the Rotary Club of Beaumont.
Nominees will have exhibited high ethical standards in their chosen vocation arising from a specific incident or by their consistent actions over a period of time.
First presented in 1996, the T. Kelsey Lamb, Sr. Award for Business Ethics has annually recognized some of the Club's outstanding members. In 2020, this prestigious honor was presented to Rebekah Maxwell.
Nominator Craig Escamilla presented the T. Kelsey Lamb, Sr. Award for Business Ethics to 2020 recipient Rebekah Maxwell.
An annual tradition since 1996, the Award is named in honor of the late T. Kelsey Lamb, Sr. who served as 1942-43 President of our club and as 1951-52 District Governor. It is presented to a Beaumont Rotarian who consistently exhibits the highest ethical standards represented by the Rotary 4-Way Test in his or her chosen profession.
RECIPIENTS
1996 Thomas K. Lamb, Jr.
1997 Benny Hughes, Jr.
1998 Lum Edwards, Jr.
1999 Douglas E. Steinman, Jr.
2000 Dan Hallmark
2001 Roberta Applegate
2002 Floyd McSpadden
2003 Floyd McSpadden
2004 Charlie Weinbaum, Jr.
2005 Alex Broussard & James Broussard
2006 Jeff Dyson
2007 Earl Hines
2008 Larry Beaulieu
2009 Gerald Condon
2010 Charles "Chuck" Mason
2011 Jerry Carl White (posthumously)
2012 Patrick Anderson
2013 Enrique "Henry" Venta
2014 Tim Sudela
2015 Joe Domino, Robert Turner &
Jimmy Simmons
2016 Becky Mason
2017 Dana Timaeus
2018 Steven R. Lucas
2019 Phil Dunlap
2020 Rebekah Maxwell
Our Club will award the coveted honor at the February 24th meeting, according to this year's chairman, Dana Timaeus. The deadline for submitting a nomination is Monday, February 8th.
The Southeast Texas Food Bank has a great program called School Tools which provides school supplies to those who need them. Because the pandemic has created a situation where parents and students are unable to visit the School Tools distribution site, the Food Bank will be distributing packages of school supplies to the teachers in 40 schools and the teachers will then distribute to the students.
On Saturday, February 13, volunteers are needed to help with School Tools Distribution day, giving supplies to the teachers in 40 local schools or helping with traffic control. The signup site shows they need volunteers beginning at 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. when the teachers will drive through the line and items will be put into their vehicles. This is similar to the SETX Food Bank food distributions we have taken part in, and it is very organized and well-planned. Your valuable time will be respected.
The third Monday in February is Presidents Day and we recognize the national holiday with our "Show Your Colors" flag project. Co-chairs of the project, Pat Anderson and Gary Moncla ask if you will please call or text Pat at 409-782-4057 and volunteer today! Don't be concerned if you have not been a flag volunteer before. You will be paired up with another person who has experience, and you'll find yourself having a good time before you know it!
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Rotarians, we really need you to become a part of the weekly meeting! We need volunteers for leading the invocation and the pledges. Please consider volunteering! Look at your calendar and select a date that is convenient for your schedule. Red Badges are strongly encouraged to volunteer for this opportunity so you can move closer to your blue badge and members can get to know you better too.
People with intellectual and development disabilities (IDD) want to become more independent. Mr. Chamberlain has found it is amazing what these people can do. He explained we need to think out of the box. Many of those with disabilities are dedicated and love their work. This strengthens and adds diversity to a team in the workplace. They are frequently self-motivated and bring a smile to work every day. They want to be there.
Mr. Chamberlain showed a video of three disabled employees, Cole, Clarence and Eric. Each lived in an assisted care facility and had been placed in a job with the help of a job coach. Cole worked twelve hours per week at a Home Depot. He wanted to be there and learned the job quickly. In fact, many of his fellow employees would come to him for help to find something in the store for a customer if they were having trouble locating the item.
Clarence worked as a grocery packer in a Food Town grocery store. His friendly smile and willingness to go above and beyond for the customers resulted in customers waiting in a longer line just to have him help them with their groceries.
Eric came to this country as a non-citizen. He was employed by a Whataburger restaurant and began showing up for work two hours early. They told him that he needed to come later than that and convinced him that thirty minutes before would be plenty early. He loved his job and decided to begin working to become an American citizen. He went through all the necessary steps and recently became a legal American citizen. Mr. Chamberlain is convinced his effort to become a citizen resulted from getting this job and feeling productive.
Mr. Chamberlain said that businesses need to focus on a disabled person’s ability, not their disability. People with disabilities are frequently great innovators because in most cases they must be innovative just to get started each day. Everyday things that you and I take for granted are frequently more difficult for them, so they must innovate to get them done.
Mr. Chamberlain then addressed some of the myths that exist when businesses consider hiring a disabled person. Workers Compensation rates do not go up just because you hire a disabled person. Rates are determined solely by the accident rate of a business. Many businesses believe that disabled workers will be absent more often. In fact, most businesses that hire the disabled person find that the opposite is true, that the disabled workers are the most reliable employees. Businesses may realize a reduction in costs for hiring and training new employees because of the loyalty disabled people have to their job. Furthermore, in many cases, businesses can receive tax credits for hiring disabled people in their workforce.
While not every hire of a disabled person works out, it doesn’t always work out for the population in general either. But when a disabled person is hired for a job where it is a good fit, the rewards to the disabled person and the business can be substantial.
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Link to the Zoom page which includes this and all the recorded meetings for January- March 2021.
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The Southeast Texas Food Bank has a great program called School Tools which provides school supplies to those who need them. Because the pandemic has created a situation where parents and students are unable to visit the School Tools distribution site, the Food Bank will be distributing packages of school supplies to the teachers in 40 schools and the teachers will then distribute to the students.
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