April 27 will be the exciting, invigorating celebration of Rotary Youth programs.
The Interact Clubs at Kelly and West Brook will inspire with the many projects they have successfully completed this year. We will honor students with the Youth Service Above Self Awards and honor two Scholarship recipients.
It's going to be a great day! Come celebrate these young people and their many accomplishments!
* * * * * * *
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
(and meeting make-ups)
April 26
Board of Directors meeting; 11:45 a.m. at the Beaumont Club
April 26
Ribbon-cutting of Born Learning Trail at the Beaumont Rotary Centennial Playground, 4:00-6:00 (see article below)
MAY
May 14-15
Spindletop Soap Box Derby Pit Crew in action; two shifts (breakfast & lunch); sign up online
May 21
Service Project for Buckner's FYI Center on the Lamar campus; sign up online
May 21
District 5910 Assembly and Seminar for 2016-17 Leadership in Liberty
May 30
Flag Project for Memorial Day, 5:00 a.m.
- - - - - - - -
LOOK
WHAT'S AHEAD!
Curious minds want to know: what are predictions for the 2016 Hurricane season in Southeast Texas? On May 4, we will welcome back our favorite weather forecaster, Chris Hebert, TropicsWatch Manager with StormGeo of Houston.
On May 11, up to "bat" as guest speaker will be Jim Gilligan, Lamar Baseball coach. Gilligan has a successful record of accomplishments to reflect upon as he makes his presentation. Gilligan will retire after this season. Come hear about favorite highlights of his long career.
* * * * * * *
An Invitation
The Downtown Trailblazers, one of several Leadership Southeast Texas (LSET) teams from the Class of 2016, will host the grand opening of their community service project from 4 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 26 at the Beaumont Rotary Centennial Playground. The free event is open to the public and will feature a 4 p.m. ribbon-cutting by Beaumont Mayor Becky Ames.
The “Born Learning Trail” promotes learning for young children by focusing on motor skills, creativity and critical thinking skills through an interactive, fun and visually engaging educational experience. Funding for the project was provided by the United Way of Beaumont and North Jefferson County and the Foundation for Southeast Texas.
Rotarians who are members of the Downtown Trailblazers team are Mellie Bevilacqua, Foundation for Southeast
Texas; René Greenwald, Creative Corrections; Karyn Hawkins, United Way of Beaumont North Jefferson County; Dr. Derina Holtzhausen, Lamar University; and Rabbi Joshua Taub, Temple Emanuel.
* * * * * * * *
Ready, Set, Go!
Hear those engines revving? The youngsters have been preparing and they are ready to participate in the Spindletop Rotary Club's Soap Box Derby on May 14 and 15.
Our club helps the Spindletop Club by serving breakfast and lunch for the workers of the event so they can focus on the children, the cars, and the race action!
We are grateful to Gerald Condon for again providing his wonderful cooker and equipment. Shannon Williamson is chairing and recruiting volunteers to serve the food and drinks during the morning and lunch hours on Saturday and Sunday.
The next quarterly service project scheduled will be on Saturday, May 21 at the Buckner FYI Center on the campus of Lamar University where we will do some indoor painting for the students' community center. Cindy Cherry, Chair, will tell us more about it at upcoming meetings but, meanwhile, save the date and make plans to join in the fun.
Continue until you receive a confirmation from Buckner International of the paperwork
* * * * * * *
Attend the District Assembly and Prepare for 2016-17 Rotary Year
Saturday, May 21
8:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
Liberty Middle School
2515 Jefferson Drive Liberty, TX
Rotarians are invited and those who have accepted leadership positions for next year are strongly encouraged to attend the District Assembly to prepare for the 2016-2017 Rotary year. Committee Chairs and Club Officers should make every effort to attend and participate. Cost to register is only $15 (for lunch and all program materials) and can be paid when you register at: http://rotary5910.org/event/66de4ce1-e8ff-404e-a9b8-d108b43487e7/
* * * * * * * *
Need an idea for a Mother's Day gift?
Does your wife, mother, sister, friend already have everything she could want or need for Mother's Day? Would she appreciate the thoughtful idea of knowing a layette bag, donated in her honor, will help a newborn baby in Nicaragua get a better, healthy start to life?
For a $50 tax-deductible donation to the Beaumont Rotary Foundation, we will provide you with a gift card to present to your loved one, and we will add a donation card to a bag we assemble and send to Nicaragua. Make your "purchase" of a layette bag at any weekly meeting or use the online payment page for the Beaumont Rotary Foundation. We are happy to help you with your gift shopping and will even mail a card if your loved one is not in the area. Call the Rotary office (409-842-1913) and let us help you make this a special Mother's Day!
* * * * * * *
Sponsor Needed
As outgoing President, Chad Blanchard gave a gift to every Rotarian - a "Rotarian at Work" shirt. They have been put to really good use! They are bright and easily seen as members take part in outdoor work projects. With only a few (very large sizes) of the initial order remaining, it is time to order more so every new members can also become a "Rotarian at Work!
We can reorder the same shirt at a very reasonable price, and would love to have an underwriter or sponsor so we can devote all our resources to the projects. Your firm or business will be promoted in the RotaryGrams and on the website as well as at our weekly meetings on the pre-meeting photo display. We can even discuss adding your business logo to the shirt.
If you would like to become our "Rotarian at Work" shirt sponsor, please let Jacque hear from you right away.
* * * * * * *
Congratulations to
Rotarian
W. L. Pate!
At-large City Councilman W.L. Pate, who is serving his second term as president of Texas Municipal League (TML) Region 16, was elected second vice president of the Texas Association of Mayors, Councilmembers, and Commissioners at a recent meeting of Texas elected officials.
We send wishes for a quick recovery to our friends and fellow Rotarians who have been ill, had or are facing surgery, or just need our thoughts and prayers. We hope you are better soon!
Sam Fazio
Lee Freeland
Connie Szuch
Cheryl Williams
Michael Wolf
- - - - - - -
Please let us know if you or another Rotarian should be included in our weekly good wishes article!
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Michael Stankovich
April 26
Stephen McDonald
April 27
Bill Clark
April 29
Ranika Prince-Gilliam
April 29
Don Thompson
April 30
- - - - - - - -
PROGRAM REVIEW
April 20, 2016
"Getting to Know the Latino
Immigrants in Our Area"
Jesus Abrego
Hispanic Ministries
by John Neely
Our speaker today was Jesus Abrego, Director of Diocese of Beaumont Hispanic Ministries. Jesus was introduced by Rotarian Dana Timaeus. The speaker's PowerPoint presentation shown today was entitled, “Getting To Know The Recent Latino Immigrants In Our Area.“
Jesus prefaced his remarks by warning that some people might be offended by his comments since it is very difficult to talk about culture without offending some people.
First-generation immigrants are hard-working and family-focused. In contrast, 2nd and 3rd generations reach back to their home country’s culture for their identity. Mr. Abrego stated that there is a vast difference between U.S.-born Hispanics versus Immigrants. He stated that in Latino communities the trust-factor has a different structure for Hispanics.
Most Hispancs get their information from these 3 sources:
1. The priest
2. The Mayor
3. The teachers
Since teachers have a more consistent influence, teachers ARE one of the primary sources for information and its assimilation for Latinos.
In U.S. communities. this presents a path for potential solutions, and yet, it also presents several significant challenges.
So what happens when Hispanic-parents look to the teachers for critical information regarding their children,
when the parents do NOT speak the primary language of the educators? Since there are so few bilingual educators in our region, communication becomes a major problem. They rely on the interpretation skills of their children, and what could POSSIBLY go wrong with that?! Imagine in a parent-teacher conference, a parent asking their teen (in native language) to ask the educator how well their son/daughter is doing in class. Let’s face it: teens want parents to know as little as possible.
This population is growing rapidly, yet competent bilingual teachers are lured OUT of our region by our neighbors to the west who provide additional compensation, some to the tune of an additional $14,000 per year, if an applicant is bilingual.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.JPG)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
