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.
On April 8, our club will assemble in a Zoom meeting. Our speaker will be presenting from his desktop to you on your laptop or smartphone. Prepare for this exciting program by reading the article on using Zoom that follows in the bulletin. Be part of the first ever electronic meeting of the Rotary Club of Beaumont! Check in early between 11:30 and Noon and enjoy some social time with other members at the meeting too.
PROGRAM PREVIEW
April 8, 2020
"Training for Life in Space"
Andrzej Stewart
Mission Control Training Navigator
Johnson Space Center
and
Chief Engineering Officer
HI-SEAS IV
NASA
As we personally learn more about social distancing, working from home, and doing more "staying in" than we have ever experienced, our speaker, Andrzej (pronounced An-J) Stewart will tell us about his experience of living in the confining space of a small pod in an isolated "space dome" on the side of a volcano in Hawaii for 365 days!
Andrzej Stewart is an experienced spacecraft operator for a wide variety of NASA missions. He has worked as a spacecraft mission controller for the Spitzer Space Telescope, Juno, GRAIL, and NASA's Mars orbiter fleet. Andrzej now works in Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center, training as a Navigator for the upcoming Artemis missions of the Orion spacecraft. He is also a 1st Lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol, serving as the Texas Wing Emergency Services Training Officer, and also as a Search and Rescue/Disaster Recovery Mission Pilot and Aerial Photographer.
Andrzej earned degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and aspires to be a NASA astronaut. In pursuing that, he has served as the Flight Engineer of HERA C2M2, a two-week asteroid mission simulation at the Johnson Space Center, and as Chief Engineering Officer of HI-SEAS IV, a year-long Mars simulation in Hawaii.
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Are you new to using Zoom? It seems as though every one is using Zoom for meetings now but if you have not yet tried it, you will be amazed that we are able to still meet, see one another and hear an amazing speaker using this great communication tool.
If you click on the image below, the instructions are provided to help you get set up. You do not have to register for an account or sign up for anything. You will simply click on a link that will be provided to you and you will "join the meeting."
To assist anyone who needs help, there will be a learning session tomorrow, Tuesday, April 7 at 11:00 a.m. You will need a computer, tablet, or smartphone that has a camera and audio - either built into the device or an external headphones/mic.
The first time you use Zoom, it may ask to download a file to your computer or mobile device. Please accept or allow the download. Then after clicking on the link, if asked "do you want to join with audio?" please agree. The online meeting should open and you will join the group of everyone joining Zoom for the first time. We will talk through the program and how it works.
A different meeting log-in code will be sent out on Wednesday morning for the weekly meeting that day. The meeting on Wednesday will open at 11:30 a.m. so everyone can accept the invitation and join the meeting before President Joe rings the bell at Noon.
Please attend Rotary!
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Mitch Templeton
April 6
Gary Hidalgo
April 8
Maryam Vasefi
April 8
Norma Sampson
April 12
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CELEBRATING
ROTARY ANNIVERSARIES!
Your membership in our Club is important to us!
Maria Crone
April 13, 2005
15 years
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More than ever, we would like to hear from our members! We would like to know if you are not doing well through this time of crisis and if there is anything we can do to assist you. We have been through hurricanes and floods together, and we can get through this together also!
Please let us hear from you!
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.
As the COVID-19 crisis began to spread across America, the Board of Directors reached out by phone to every member of our Club.
At that time, we learned that every member reported doing well.
Please know we continue to be concerned as the number of people in the county affected by this virus continues to rise. Please let us know if you are in need of assistance that we are able to render. If you need medical assistance, phone your physician or, if you do not have a physician, phone 211 (option 6). For information related to COVID-19 in southeast Texas, go to http://setinfo.org/
If you know of members who should be added to this list, please advise the office staff at 409-842-1913.
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LOOK WHO'S IN THE NEWS!
The meeting held on March 4, 2020 to celebrate International Women's Day drew attention from the media and the women who promoted Vocational Excellence Awards were featured too. (Actually, they spelled out RVEA for Rotary Vocational Excellence Awards not "BRAVE" as the article states, but one will certainly agree they were quite brave!)
Is your small business feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic? Rotarian Ty Coudrain supplied this information that will be helpful to small business owners.
Any small business owner or non-profit director (including pastors) should contact me for details on how to file for assistance related to the CARES Act. There are both loans and grants available to help retain employees and cover expenses during this crisis period. We have the latest information from the SBA and can walk people through the application process. As always, our services are free of charge and completely confidential. I can be reached at 880-2254 or 504-1299 or via email at jlee51@lamar.edu. Those who need to access these funds need to do so soon.
Allegiance Bank is accepting these application and has begun processing. Businesses can apply at www.allegiancebank.com/sba
Other members who are with other local banks are also able to assist you. Use your directory for contact information.
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PROGRAM REVIEW
April 1, 2020
"Preparing for a World Pandemic
- Then and Now"
William Henry "Bill" Gates, III
Business Magnate, Software Developer,
Investor, and Philanthropist
The meeting on April 1 provided Rotarians with an opportunity to see an insightful video Bill Gates recorded as part of Ted Talks in 2015. In it, he said that the next time the United States would experience hundreds of thousands of deaths would not be caused by a war, but rather by a deadly viral epidemic.
The second video, titled "How We Must Respond to the Coronavirus Pandemic" was recorded a short time ago, at the end of March 2020. Mr. Gates was interviewed about his thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic, "discussing why testing and self-isolation are essential, which medical advancements show promise and what it will take for the world to endure this crisis." (from Ted Connects series)
Members who responded to the brief participation survey reported that they enjoyed watching the videos and found them "insightful," "scary," "timely," "appropriate for the meeting," and "spot on."
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Is your small business feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic? Rotarian Ty Coudrain supplied this information that will be helpful to small business owners.