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.
"How Does the Census Benefit You and Your Communitiy"
Bridget Johnson
Partnership Specialist
U.S. Census Bureau
"Once a decade, America comes together to count every resident in the United States, creating national awareness of the importance of the census and its valuable statistics. The decennial census was first taken in 1790, as mandated by the Constitution. It counts our population and households, providing the basis for reapportioning congressional seats, redistricting, and distributing more than $675 billion in federal funds annually to support states, counties and communities’ vital programs — impacting housing, education, transportation, employment, health care and public policy."
Rotarian Bridget M. Johnson is a native of New Orleans, LA. However, she has called Beaumont her home since 2013. She is the former Deputy Director of the New Orleans African American Museum and former Executive Director of Institute of Community Development (New Orleans). Bridget attended Tulane University in New Orleans and Colorado State University pursuing a BS degree in Project Management with a concentration in Emergency Management. Additionally, she has certification in Non-profit management from the University of Texas at Austin. As nonprofit management and planning consultant, Bridget has devoted her professional career to community service, advocating the invaluable missions carried out by for- and not-for-profit organizations. At present, she has taken a break from her studies to serve as a Partnership Specialist for the US Census Bureau. She travels throughout Southeast Texas to form partnerships with local government, businesses, non-profit organizations and assist with developing outreach strategies to reach hard-to-count populations in those communities.
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Head Table for January 29
Invocation:
Tony Clark
Rector
St. Mark's Episcopal Church
Pledges to USA & Texas Flags:
Liz Fredrichs
President
Better Business Bureau of Southeast Texas
Introduction of Guests:
Kevin Dodson
Dean, Reaud Honors College
Lamar University
Introduction of Speaker:
Michael Perez
Business Development Manager
Cardinal Financial
Would you like to take part in the weekly meetings in a more active role? Don't wait to be asked. Volunteer for one of the weekly assignments! Choose your role and a date that is convenient. Link to the online signup systemor contact Jennifer Burch, Chair, at409-201-3016.
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We are looking for more volunteers for the positions at the head table at each weekly meeting. The initial response to our SignUp Genius tool was outstanding and the assignments for meetings through the middle of February have been filled. However, we are now needing volunteers from mid-February through June. Please consider serving when you are able. You'll find the link here:
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CALENDAR OF ROTARY EVENTS
(Club events & opportunities for meeting makeups)
JANUARY
28
Board of Directors meeting; 11:45 a.m. at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas (make reservation by Friday, January 24.)
29
Last day to sign-up to participate in Rotary Goes to Work on February 5.
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February 5: Rotary Goes to Work!
No meeting at the Elegante on February 5.
Where will YOU attend YOUR meeting?
Our 1.2 million-member organization started with the vision of one man—Paul P. Harris. The Chicago attorney formed one of the world’s first service organizations, the Rotary Club of Chicago, on 23 February 1905 as a place where professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships. Rotary’s name came from the group’s early practice of rotating meetings among the offices of each member.
In the initial years of the organization, Rotarians learned about one another and the various diverse professions of the members by meeting in the offices, factories, businesses and firms of the club members. How about doing as one of the original members did back in the early 1900s?
DEADLINE TO SIGN UP IS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29.
Please sign up before the deadline to help the hosts with planning food/lunches.
SIGN UP:
HOSTS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5
Tim Sudela
American Valve & Hydrant
3525 Hollywood Avenue
Beaumont
Tour the manufacturing facility at AVH and learn about what they do. Lunch will be served!
Lynn Castle
Art Museum of Southeast Texas
500 Main Street
Beaumont
Lunch and learn about the art exhibits on display at this Beaumont showcase!
Jennifer Burch
Best Hospice Care of Texas
3120 Fannin
Beaumont
Come visit t Best Hospice in the new office complex and enjoy lunch while learning about the services they offer.
Pat Anderson
Jefferson County Sheriff's Department
5030 Highway 69 S
Beaumont
Have you been inside the Jefferson County Correctional Facility? Come take a guided tour with Sheriff Zena Stephens.
Lunch will be provided.
Coby Roberts
Sandy Moschettieri
Primerica
6432 Concord Road
Beaumont
This is one business and one event with two hosts. Come learn about Primerica and enjoy lunch.
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Rotary dues were due by January 1.
If you have not paid yet, please do so this week.
Thank you to those who submitted payment so promptly!
You can easily pay online using the link on your invoice or visit the secure payment page (click here).
If you prefer, mail a check to:
2355 IH 10 South, Suite 213
Beaumont, TX 77705
Please save the office staff and the Board of Directors considerable time and expense by paying your dues now!
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FEBRUARY 12: Club Service Day
Indeed, “Rotary has heart,” and the Rotary Club of Beaumont has a BIG heart, giving time and resources in Service Above Self year round. How appropriate that we designate a date close to Valentine’s Day as our Club Service Day, providing hands-on service to multiple projects and collectively having a BIG impact!
We have plans for several different hands-on service projects to work on and possibly complete on Service Day. The first priority is to assemble 150 Layette bags for women and children of Nicaragua. Everyone will have the opportunity to roll up his/her sleeves and lend a hand to this project, funded in part with a grant from District 5910.
If you sit on a board or work with an agency in Beaumont that has a need for help with a hands-on project to be done that day, please contact Jennifer Gregory or the Rotary office to learn what will be needed to be included. Jennifer can be reached at 409-791-5418 or jgregory@coburns.com.
Plan now to bring co-workers and friends with you to the meeting on February 12 as the more hands and hearts we have working together, the more we will be able to accomplish on this day of service!
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T. Kelsey Lamb, Sr. Award for Business Ethics
NOMINATION INFORMATION: DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 12
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 2019, this prestigious honor was presented to Phil Dunlap.
2019 chair Henry Venta presented the T. Kelsey Lamb, Sr. Award for Business Ethics to recipient Phil Dunlap.
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
Our Club will award the coveted honor at the February 26th meeting, according to this year's chairman, Steve Lucas. Dr. Toni Mulvaney, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Administration and Professor of Accounting and Business Law at Lamar University, has been selected as the guest speaker on the topic of ethics.
The deadline for nomination is Wednesday, February 12th.
If you have not downloaded the ClubRunner app to your cellphone, you will find it a great help when trying to contact fellow Rotarians. The app is available for iPhones, iPads and Androids. Download it to your phone and have the membership directory available, and you are assured it is the latest information. Simply go to the app store you use and search for "ClubRunner" (one word) and the icon is CR.
Please note the ClubRunner app "Club Members" page does not update automatically. To keep current, you need to refresh to get the latest additions and updates to the membership directory because it changes frequently. It only takes a minute to re-fresh by clicking on the arrows forming a circle on the top right of the screen. You will have up-to-the-minute membership records at your fingertips!
There are other stories that can be seen through the app also. If you use the bars at the top left of the app screen, you can see the menu of stories and links. You can read some of the club stories from the website and bulletin and find club events and upcoming meeting speakers listed. You can also check your attendance on the app! (Let the office know if your attendance is not reporting correctly please.)
Please remember the membership directory is for club use only. It is not for distribution to non-Rotarians nor may it be used for any type of commercial mailing or contact list. Thank you.
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Marleen Swerdlow
January 30
Jennifer Burch
February 1
Dana Tucker
February 2
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CELEBRATING
ROTARY ANNIVERSARIES!
Your membership in our Club is important to us!
Gary Moncla
January 27 2016
4 years
Slate Babineaux
January 28, 2009
11 years
Bailey Wingate
January 31, 2018
2 years
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We send wishes for a quick recovery to our friends and fellow Rotarians who are ill, are anticipating or recovering from surgery, or just in need of encouragement, support and good wishes.
Beverly Hatcher
Roy Huckaby
Ray Baker
If you know of others who should be added to this list, please advise the office staff at 409-842-1913.
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PROGRAM REVIEW
January 22, 2020
"Leading the Horse to Water:
The Rule of Law in Afghanistan"
Brit Featherston
Justice Attache for U. S. Embassy in Kabul
Executive Assistant U. S. Attorney
United States Attorney's Office
Eastern District of Texas
by Chuck Heare
Brit Featherston, Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney, was a great last-minute substitute for our Rotary program last Wednesday, and it turned out to be an outstanding experience for us!
After serving the Port Arthur police department for many years, Brit Featherston enrolled in Baylor Law School and after graduating, did a short stint in a private law practice. His true passion though is law enforcement, and after returning to that field, he ended up serving as the Justice Attaché for the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan from January, 2018 to January, 2019. His task there was to work with Afghanistan law enforcement and Justice sectors to improve access to the courts and civil rights for Afghan citizens. He also worked with them to counter narcotics trafficking, corruption and terrorism.
Afghanistan is roughly the size of Texas with a population of approximately 35 million people, which is really just an estimate, as they have never had any kind of a census done. The terrain in Afghanistan is extreme and harsh, and there are a number of different tribes which hate each other and have been fighting each other throughout Afghan history. The tribes represent about 50% of the population, while Afghans represent the other 50%. The Taliban still controls 65% of the country.
Afghanistan's chief export is opium, which is a $60 billion per year enterprise. It supplies 85% of the world's heroin. The Afghans don't accept our way of life, but they go along as long as dollars continue to flow in from US aid. There are four million people in Kabul, a city built for 400,000. Most of the Afghans are just struggling to stay alive, burning tires for heat. A fifteen year old boy in Afghanistan looks forward to a marriage that has been arranged, but beyond that, he really has no plans about how to support his family other than participating in the corruption that is rampant.
The police and people Mr. Featherston had contact with want a better life, but corruption rules at least 50% of the population. The US has spent nearly 19 years and almost a trillion dollars in Afghanistan, but it doesn't seem that they are any closer to becoming a democratic country. The most likely outcome if the US were to just leave is that the Taliban would resume control of the country, and things would be as they were when we got there 18+ years ago.
Please note: A large number of Rotarians commented that we did not allow Mr. Featherston enough time to complete his presentation about his experiences in Afghanistan. We have convinced him to return to the Club meeting on April 29 to continue his presentation sharing more stories about the year he spent in Kabul, what he saw and experienced, and some insight into the future relationship between the U.S. and Afghanistan. We hope you will be present and bring a friend.
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If you have not downloaded the ClubRunner app to your cellphone, you will find it a great help when trying to contact fellow Rotarians. The app is available for iPhones, iPads and Androids. Download it to your phone and have the membership directory available, and you are assured it is the latest information. Simply go to the app store you use and search for "ClubRunner" (one word) and the icon is CR..jpg)
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