Colonel Greg Baine has served in command and staff positions in the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Kosovo, and in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a Distinguished Military Graduate of Texas A&M University at College Station, Texas.
Colonel Baine served at the national level in the Pentagon. He served within the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a strategic planner for the War on Terrorism as part of the Strategic Plans & Policy Directorate; and as the executive assistant to the Director for the War on Terrorism. Within the Headquarters, Department of the Army, he served as an Investigations Officer for The Inspector General of the Army.
Colonel Baine's military career is extensive and significant and will be acknowledged appropriately by our honorable Mayor Becky Ames as she introduces the Colonel.
We will recognize Rotarians who are military veterans on this auspicious occasion. Veterans are invited to wear any or all of their military uniform that they would like. We are honored to have you with us.
Be prepared for a beautiful sight on Wednesday when volunteers hit the streets early to post the flags for our subscribers. Thank you to all who have volunteered to honor our Veterans in this very special way. You will be recognized for your service at the Noon meeting.
The next project work the Club will take on is "Brush With Kindness" for Habitat for Humanity. This wonderful effort will involve building wheelchair ramps for those people who cannot get out of their own homes due to stairs or steps on the entry ways.
With enough people, it should be a "Done in a Day" project. Good feelings for your work will be priceless and will last much longer than one day!
Chair Shannon Williamson will explain more at Wednesday's meeting but plan now to give "Service Above Self" to someone who needs you.
Watch this video from Lincolnshire on their involvement in the "Brush With Kindness" program. It will convince you to come out and help with our first Habitat "Brush with Kindness" project, rescheduled for a new date in the near future!
That's right. You can personally underwrite the donation of a layette bag for a mother and child in Nicaragua and though you will never meet them, you can know with certainty that your gift is much appreciated.
For only a $50 donation per bag, we will purchase all the required items and see that it reaches someone who needs a hand up.
Make your donation at a meeting and we will supply a card so you can let someone know you made the donation in their honor this holiday season!
The Holiday Party will be Tuesday, December 15 at the Lamar University Reception Center, Mary & John Gray Library, 8th Floor. Social will begin at 6:00, followed by dinner at 6:30 and an entertaining program. Tickets will be $50 per person and are on sale now through the online reservations (click here). Of course, you may also make your reservations and purchase tickets at any upcoming meeting.
As is our custom, the President Nominee will be announced on this special occasion. Mark your calendar now for this "don't miss" event to celebrate the holiday!
That smile just about speaks for itself! After a fun group sing-a-long, Dean of Rotary University Lynn Castlepresented a Bachelors degree and Blue Badge to Monique Sennet. Congratulations, Monique!
In case you are not aware, even long-time Rotarians can earn advanced degrees. Who will be the first in a long while to earn a Master or Ph.D. in Rotary Science?
Interact and Rotaract clubs are joining together to pack toiletry bags for local youth rescued from human trafficking. Please help by saving small personal care items such as soap, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, lotion, ponytail bands, combs, and hairbrushes, focusing on deodorant and mouthwash.
You can bring donations to any meeting or directly to the Rotary office, and we will see that it is given to the youth organizations. We have not collected many items yet so please look in your vanity drawers and cabinets for items you can donate and bring them this week.
The Broussard family will be honored at the American Cancer Society's 2015 Cattle Barons' Ball. We are very proud of Past President James Broussard(left) and JIm Broussard (2nd from left), the club's Centennial Chairman, as they accept this honor.
"The Broussard family has served southeast Texas with impeccable compassion, professionalism and dignity for an incredible five generations through their family-owned and operated business. Built on a solid platform of family tradition, while also maintaining the highest standards of excellence, the Broussards serve each family with absolute care, personal attention and understanding during the most difficult times of life."
photo & information excerpted from The ACS website
This week, we had two speakers from the National Park Service to talk about the Big Thicket National Preserve. The first speaker, Superintendent Wayne Prokopetz, gave us a brief history of our country’s National Park Service. In the US, there are 408 national parks, with one in each State. According to Wayne, New Jersey just recently opened its first national park.
The National Park Service began in 1916 and will be celebrating its centennial next year. The National Park Service has approximately 20,000 employees and thousands of additional volunteers.
After 11 years of lobbying by the Big Ticket Association, the Big Thicket National Preserve started in 1974. It is one of the few noncontiguous parks in the United States. As such, there is no “grand entrance” into the park. In all, it has approximately 110,000 acres and the National Park Service has additional money earmarked to purchase additional land as it becomes available. The Big Thicket is also different because it allows hunting and has active oil wells and pipelines across many sections of its land.
The second speaker was Josh Stringer. He is a relatively new employee and he is charged with being the local Centennial Coordinator for the Big Thicket. He hopes to develop hiking and biking trails and to get more school involvement in the coming years. Many school children in our area have never been to the Big Thicket, or for that matter, any other national park. Josh feels strongly that every child should be given the opportunity to visit a national park.
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