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 will again help 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.   We need more workers to help Shannon.  You do not have to commit to work the entire day.  Please sign up now.

 

If you can help, please sign up online at: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4aadaf22aafd0-spindletop2 or let Shannon or Jacque know.

 

 

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.

 

Sign up now if you are going to plan to work:

 

Volunteers need to complete two very brief matters of electronic paperwork required by Buckner's:

 

 

2515 Jefferson Drive
Liberty, TX

 

 

In the initial years of this fine 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 and host a group of Rotarians in your workplace on June 8?  We are primarily looking for hosts for the normal meeting time of Noon to 1:00 p.m. 

 

The host has the opportunity to tour the visiting Rotarians around the business and share more about the company's successes and achievements.  Moreover, the host can decide how he/she wishes to handle lunch:  have attendees bring a brown bag, have food for those attending but ask them to pay towards the cost of the meal and drinks, or take care of lunch as a business expense.  It is the host's choice but we need to advertise the detail in advance so everyone knows what to expect.

Please contact Chair Mellie Bevilacqua at 833-5775 or the Rotary Office at 842-1913 to volunteer and provide the number you will be able to accommodate and details on how you wish to handle lunch

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!

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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 member 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.  

The Downtown Trailblazers, one of several Leadership Southeast Texas (LSET) teams from the Class of 2016, held the ribbon-cutting and grand opening of the newest addition to the Beaumont Rotary Centennial Playground, the "Born Learning Trail."  

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 were part of the group who developed the project were Mellie Bevilacqua, René Greenwald, Karyn Hawkins, Derina Holtzhausen, and Rabbi Joshua Taub. Of course, Rotarian Bessie Chisum is Executive Director of Leadership Southeast Texas.  

 

Rotarian and Mayor Becky Ames was on hand for the honors along with Rotarians and Councilmen Get Wright and W.L. Pate.  Other Rotarians spotted in the crowd were Brenda Gray, Becky Mason, Tim Sudela, John Paschall, Leonard Juncker, Rob Glassey, Sheree Pierce, and Dana Timaeus.