2009-2010 Rotary Club of Houston Humanitarian Footprint District 5890 March 24, 2010 Dear D.G. Ed, I write this letter realizing that my time as President will soon end. I have had such an amazing opportunity and I stand grateful for being able to serve; my life has been forever changed. The Rotary Club of Houston has embraced this year’s presidential theme, “The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands.” Our Club, through altering its meeting schedules, has been able to attract more members (including some of our own that hadn’t been attending) that simply cannot commit to a standard lunch meeting in the middle of the week. Addition- ally, we have expanded and increased the visibility of our service efforts. Our Service Thursday campaign touches hundreds of lives every month, not to mention how the service has touched each Rotarian that uses his or her hands to feed those in need, to box food, or to sort and box medical supplies. The humanitarian footprint of the Rotary Club of Houston is vast and we are proud to be “Big Foot.” This year, our Club members traveled to Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemi- sphere. Our Haiti mission began with our installation ceremony, as you will recall, and we were able to raise much needed funds with the goal of participating in the drilling of a well and with the placement of bio sand filters in a medical clinic and in an orphanage. Our planned efforts during our trip were to include assisting in a hospital and orphanage in addi- tion to doing ground work to insure that the citizens of Haiti and, in particular students, have access to clean water. Upon our arrival, a 7.0 earthquake led us to a different mission and purpose. We have now shipped a mobile medical clinic, are in the process of readying an ambulance to ship and are speaking to raise awareness and money for Haiti. t Our Rotary Lombardi XL celebration stands as a shining star in Rotary’s crown. More than n sixty-four (64) Rotary Humanitarian in Motion public service announcements have been aired on Fox Sports since December 23, 2009 as part of the “Forty Blocks of Granite” cele- e bration of the 40 years of the Rotary Lombardi Award. For more than 2 months, over 200 d yellow cabs drove through the streets of our community with signs proudly announcing the i Rotary Lombardi Award. The name Rotary has been in newspapers across the country as s the world celebrated our winner, Ndamukong Suh. It was indeed the pleasure of our Club to host Rotary International President-Elect Ray Klinginsmith at this amazing event. e r Our Club has already fulfilled the criteria needed to obtain the Presidential Citation and, yes, we have even achieved our net increase of at least 1 new member, an increase which P we are not going to allow to disappear. Our membership activities are exciting and we will continue to gain members through the exposure of Rotary by virtue of the works being e done. In this book, we are providing you with information and reports with respect to each of the committees of the Rotary Club of Houston and our amazing activities. On February h 23, 2010, we honored First Lady Barbara Bush as our Distinguished Citizen. What an amaz- t ing event. This event received wonderful media coverage with articles appearing in the Houston Chronicle and the Examiner as well as TV coverage on Channels 13, 11 and 2. m One week later we filled River Ridge Golf Club with our Golf Tournament benefiting Camp Enterprise. On March 25-27, we will host Camp Enterprise with approximately 100 o high school juniors, teaching them the importance of leadership and skills in entrepreneur- r ship. Our Club will show up at District Conference in full force and we will be making our f contribution of food, hopefully in record amounts, being donated from the Rotary Club of Houston Biggest Loser Contest. From January 1 through April 15, days before District Con- ference, members of our Club will donate pounds of food for each pound lost and will be e receiving sponsors in their quest for wellness. g The Rotary Club of Houston accepted the challenge of President Kenny, the Future of Ro- a tary is in our Hands! s s Very truly yours, e E. Michelle Bohreer, President Rotary Club of Houston 2009-2010 M Presidential Citation Membership Goal (Required) The Rotary Club of Houston began this Rotary Club year with 229 members as of July 1, 2009. As of today, we have 235 members, which means that the Rotary Club of Houston has currently satisfied the net increase of at least one member required to obtain the Presidential Citation. The Rotary Club of Houston has met the requirements for a Presidential Cita- tion. The club has a net increase in membership of 6 as of this report and we have engaged in projects meeting the criteria. Though the Presidential Citation requires clubs to undertake and complete one activity from three of the categories listed on the Presidential Citation, we are pleased to have accomplished an activity in each of the categories reflected in RI’s strategic plan. Expand Membership Globally At least 20 percent of the Rotary Club of Houston members have brought a potential candidate for membership as a guest to a Club meeting. In the first six months of our Rotary year, the Rotary Club of Houston has had 582 guests attend our meetings. n o Eradicate polio i The Rotary Club of Houston made a matching grant of $1,200 for polio plus as of December 31, 2009. In addition to our Club contribution in excess of t $1,000 based on the grant, we are endeavoring to raise funds to eradicate po- a lio. One of our members, Angie Jimenez, purchased an iron lung and gladly t allows the District and all Clubs within the District to use the iron lung pub- i licly to help raise awareness and to raise funds to eradicate polio. C Advance the recognition and public image of Rotary The Rotary Club of Houston has been featured in an article in the Houston l Chronicle regarding social networking. Each week in the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Business Journal our meeting time, location and topic are a published in the Business Section; our Club, through the Rotary Lombardi i Award, has provided significant radio, television and print recognition of Ro- t tary, with perhaps the greatest exposure being 64 Humanity in Motion public service announcements broadcast by Fox Sports as part of the 40 Blocks of n Granite program regarding the 40th Anniversary of the Rotary Lombardi Award. One of our members, Linda Boggess, served on the District Public e Relations Committee, and meetings are posted on Facebook and maintain an d active following. Still further, the name Rotary was proudly displayed on i approximately 200 yellow cabs and vans beginning October 1, 2009 and run- ning through the Rotary Lombardi Award, December 9, 2009. s e r P Presidential Citation continued Increase Rotary’s capacity to provide service At the beginning of the 2009 – 2010 Rotary year, our Club listed our community and conducted a community needs assessment throughout several non-profits including those represented in our club as well as others. The Rotary Club of Houston estab- lished community service projects volunteering over 500 service hours on the fourth Thursday of each month, called Service Thursday. On the fourth Thursday of each month, the Rotary Club of Houston members serve lunch at three Star of Hope loca- tions, serve lunch at two Salvation Army locations, sort and box food for Target Hun- ger and sort and box medical supplies at Medical Bridges. Additionally, the Rotary Club of Houston provides mentoring and goals education to students at Yes Prep Pub- lic Schools East End Campus (which would be the Rotary Club of Houston’s most interact club). In addition to our community work, the Rotary Club of Houston has partnered interna- tionally with Pure Water of the World to provide bio-sand filters to a medical clinic and orphanage in Haiti. Additionally, the Rotary Club of Houston has joined with the Bellaire Southwest Rotary Club to provide much needed funds to drill a water well for the Jela School in Limba, Haiti. Members of the Rotary Club of Houston traveled to Haiti to see the well site, as well as to work in a hospital, orphanage and medical clinic. Further, the Rotary Club of Houston partnered with the Willowbrook Rotary Club, the n Brazosport Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Karachi, Pakistan on an Artificial Limb Project. This project received a matching grant from Rotary International. o Emphasize Rotary’s unique vocational service commitment i The Rotary Club of Houston, as part of the Service Thursday, is providing youth men- t toring to YES Prep Academy. Additionally, our Burnett Bayland Committee provides personal one on one mentoring and tutoring with respect to vocational skills and ca- a reers to at-risk children between the ages of 10 and 17, sent to this county-run residen- t tial placement facility. i Rotary's Burnett Bayland Committee works in tandem with the BBH and BBRC staff C and counselors by providing resources such as field trips and community service pro- jects as well as tutoring and role models through the SAW (Success at Work) teaching l series. a The Rotary Club of Houston’s Fresh Start committee seeks to make a positive differ- i ence in the lives of offenders and ex-offenders through several programs and activities t such as mock interviews at Career & Recovery Resources, Inc., life skills messages, Distance Learning Pilot Program, and educational scholarships.