Stories

Area Flooding Assistance District 5890 and 5910 Rotarians and families with specific needs arising from the widespread flooding may contact Wayne Beaumier (281-923-4085 / wbeaumier@att.net / Rotary Club of Cypress-Fairbanks) for disaster aid assistance. You also may phone 311 to report damage and/or ask for assistance, as well as the Southwest TX Flood Cleanup Hotline (1-800-451-1954) for help cleaning up homes or property only. The Southwest TX Flood Cleanup Hotline will share your information with local agencies, community leaders, and volunteer relief agencies but cannot guarantee assistance or timing. Medical emergencies should be reported to 911. For any other kind of help, please dial 211 for the menu of statewide services available, including benefits and help evacuating property.

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Due to possible inclement weather on Saturday, January 10th, the Huffmeister Road Clean-up will be postponed.  Stay tuned for rescheduled date.

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The following are pictures from the Rotary Strategic Planning Meeting about how to improve our club.

 

 

 

Below are pictures from our monthly CAM Sack Pack. Thanks to Interactors for all of their service!!!

 

Mike Reiland received his Paul Harris +1 Pin from District Governor Elect, Bob Gebhert.

Today's speaker was our District Governor Elect Bob Gebhard.  He spoke to the club about Rotary Fellowships.

Today was Gwen's first meeting as President. Gwen spoke to the club about "What is Rotary?"

Today marks the first day of the club's new leadership. Come join us as we welcome in Gwen Durrenberger as the new President of the Cypress Fairbanks Rotary Club!

William Perone, our exchange student from Brazil, came and spoke to the club about his stay in the United States.

The June Board Meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 14th, 5:30 p.m., at Debbie Youens office, 25250 Northwest Freeway, Suite 250, Cypress, TX.  Since this is the last board meeting for Gary Gray as President, let's all plan to attend the meeting and show our support for the great job Gary has done as President!!

Join Cy-Fair Rotary members in our monthly service project to Cypress Assistance Ministries this Friday, July 15, 2011, 5:00 p.m. at CAM, located at 11202 Huffmeister, Houston, Texas 77065 (old Pizza Hut building).  Spend an hour +/- helping sack groceries for those people designated by CAM as needing assistance.  This is a great time for fellowship and doing something great for the community!!!

The CyFair Rotary volunteers each month at CAM (Cypress Assistance Ministries) sacking groceries for the needy in our area.  Please plan to join us for this event on Friday, June 17th, 5:00 p.m. at CAM, located north of US 290 on Huffmeister @ Fleur d'Lis.  We welcome you!!!

Mike and Sherry Reiland celebrate the birth of their 27th--a colt.

Bear Creek-Copperfield invades Cy-Fair Rotary. Great fellowship from our neighbor. Volunteer needed to take notes for Feb 21 meeting--Keith Peterson to be absent.

Good attendance; good guests; good grief.

Please get registed for the upcoming district conference here in Houston. This conference will revitalize experienced Rotarians and inspire new Rotarians while letting everyone know about the "bigger picture" in Rotary. Rotary is so much more than just lunch with your friends on Monday. Come and learn about what you have chosen to be a part of. Go to www.Rotary 5890.org and register today.

Chip Owens will be our speaker today talking about intellectual property rights. Chip will be talking about a national effort to fight against the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) violations that threaten the health and safety of our communities and various U.S. industries as well as the damage counterfeiting does in the U.S and world wide. The presentation is in a powerpoint format with a portable display as well as examples of counterfeit items such as Dooney & Burke handbags, software, clothing, batteries and various other counterfeit items or example thereof.

Glen and Vicki Rowe attended the Youth Exchange Host Family Appreciation Dinner Sunday evening in at the Humble Civic Center. Each year, Rotary recognizes the families that host foreign exchange students. They were accompanied by Jacob Scheel-Bech of Denmark who has lived with them since September. Wesley Joslin also attended. Wes is the son of the family that will host Jacob beginning next weekend. Adam Mendry was also there accompanied by his host family, the Raes. The program for the event was provided by exchange students who have been abroad and also the ones who are here now as well as one host mom. They shared their experiences and emphasized the vital role played by the host families. Everyone enjoyed hearing their thoughts and sharing their emotions.

The semi-annual clean-up of our stretch of Huffmeister Road was successfully accomplished on January 23rd after several cancellations due to inclement weather. Mike and Lisa Castro did a great job of organizing the project and the participating members did their civic duty with zeal.

Keith informed us of the good news that Mike Hoke has a new job and the bad news that he is no longer able to head up our service projects singlehandedly. Mike needs our help to continue as the Service Project Committee Chairman. Gary, our incoming president, will also be needing a new chairman for next year, so now is the time to step up and volunteer to work with Mike to finish out this year and possibly to take over this avenue of service next year. Please let Keith know if you are interested in this vital position.

Today's speaker told us what needs to happen if you expect to sell a business for enough to retire on. The main reason that businesses don't sell is that the owner overprices the business to begin with. Ms. Adrienne Lee told us that first you need to have an expert value your business and then take steps to assure that it is worth what you need to get from selling it. Sometimes this may involve sprucing up the appearance of the business or cleaning up the accounting methods used. She also recommended that the seller continue to be involved in the business after the transfer to the new owner to assure that the business retains as much of its value as possible. This is most likely to happen if the seller finances the deal. We enjoyed her talk and found out some interesting facts about owning and selling a business.

Keith shared copies of th by-laws with everyone and discussed the need to establish a set number of directors for future board composition. He recommended only one director. The board is composed of officers and includes the past president and president elect as well as current president, secretary, treasurer, and sergeant at arms. With the additional one director there would be seven voting members, so ties would be avoided. Keith also recognized the efforts of Tom Benson and Gary Gray in the smooth operation of the club. Tom, as past president, and Gary as president elect have both been instrumental in helping Keith lead the club this year.

D. Ray Young updated everyone on the layette bags which will be sent to Guatemala in the near future. He told us that the contributions pledged by members will be billed on our next invoice. He also told us that we will have an opportunity to help him assemble the bags.

Both Vickie Botkin and Justin Jenkins praised the Gulf Coast Leadership Institute which they attended this past weekend. They recognized Glen Rowe, who was one of the facilitators, and told us that they recommend this program to any Rotarian who has been a member for fewer than five years and who wants to lead eventually. There will be another institute in September, and we hope that two more members will step up and attend.

Keith, David, and Chris Benson assembled the shelving for CAM this past week. We were able to get a district level grant to help pay for this much-needed shelving.

Next Tuesday there will be a Board meeting at Keith's office. Everyone can attend this meeting. New members are encouraged to do so in order to fulfill their Red Badge requirements.

Keith, Glen, and Vicki decided to visit the Houston Club on Thursday. We were glad we did because when we arrived Houston's mayor, Annise Parker, was standing at the podium addressing the Houston Rotary Club. The club meets at Briar Oaks Country Club in the Galleria area and is the largest club in the district with over 200 members. The setting is very formal with white tablecloths, china, and real silverware. The club leaders sit on a stage draped in heavy blue velvet curtains. The meeting itself is very formal, with none of the shout-outs and razzing common to our club and many others.

Mayor Parker enjoined Rotary to help her make the city a better place. Several times she encouraged the audience to go to the website and find out what boards and committees have openings and "sign up." She discussed the need to bring industry to Houston, which is one of the best-kept corporate secrets because of the big city amenities and low-cost housing. She pledged to work to make Houston the choice for large companies looking to expand. She also talked about the need to improve our schools and suggested volunteering and mentoring in local schools as a way for Rotary to help out.

After Ms. Parker left, the club president, Michelle Bohreer, and the other members who had gone to Haiti just at the time of the earthquake, expressed their gratitude that they had made it back safely and their regret that they hadn't been able to do more for the stricken population. They reported that the experience had been harrowing, and they were most grateful to the people who helped them return quickly and safely.

Keith, Glen, and I got pictures with Michelle and the gnome when the meeting ended. All in all, we were glad we had chosen this week to visit. We hope that everyone will jump back into the gnome project and try to get the rest of the clubs visited. We are only about half way there, so if you can visit a club in the next month, please do so.

Rotary has a leadership training seminar for high school students. Sophomores and Juniors can attend this retreat which takes place the last weekend in February at a camp in Huntsville. We have always tried to send Interact students, but this year we are having difficulty getting students to attend. If you know of any student who is a sophomore or junior in high school who would benefit from a weekend leadership training, please let Keith or Vicki know.

The Rowes received a picture via email from Jacob Scheel-Bech's family. The picture shows his father, Lars, sister, Ida, and his mother, Hanne, celebrating Christmas back in Denmark. They miss Jacob very much, but are glad he is enjoying his stay here.

About 20 of our members and their families showed up bright and early Saturday morning to haul huge bags of into the gym and arrange them in numerical order for needs families to pick up this week. The job was fun and physically challenging. We all used muscles we forgot we had! Everyone commented at the meeting how much fun we had and how rewarding it was. Stan and Debbi Carr were very grateful for our help and gave every participant two Christmas CDs. There's a good chance this project will become an annual one!

The Rotary Emergency Disaster Initiative will hold its 4th Conference & Workshop on Feb 5-6, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Houston, hosted by District 5890.

Are you prepared for the next Hurricane, Tornado, Flood, Wildfire or earthquake? Click on story heading or More to gain access to additional information.

A number of qualified speakers from around the world will be speaking. You will learn disaster operation programs, training, human skill sets, standard protocols and best practices guidelines.

Conference & Workshop Registration fee: $195.00 Room Rates at the Hyatt Regency: $110.00 per night

For more information, event registration and hotel reservations, visit District 5890 Event Manager.

The District Conference will be held April 22 to 24th, at the Hyatt Regency in Downtown Houston. Come see all the activities of District 5890. District 5890 is alive and vibrant. See how to make your club grow and maintain membership. Learn why the Rotary Foundation is important to your Club, District 5890 and the World as a whole.

You can now register on-line and make hotel reservations by clicking on the links on the left side of this web page.

Make new Rotary Friends, reconnect with old Rotary Friends, connect for new projects with other Rotarians and Clubs. See how we help the youth of District 5890 and other Rotary Districts.

Spend a weekend enjoying downtown Houston, enjoying a Murder Mystery Dinner, A Wine Dinner or a couple of hours enjoying the Museums.

For more information contact:

Jack Wallace, District Conference Chair
713 626 7500
Jack@Jackwallace.com

This month will be something of a challenge due to the weather. Our trash pick-up on Huffmeister has been cancelled for Saturday due to the prediciton of heavy rain, so watch for information about when we will do this project.

CAM sneaked up on us this month due to the first being on a Thursday. Our Senior food boxes will need to be assembled Friday, Jan. 15th. Please come to CAM at 4:30. Also, according to their marquee, they need jelly. Often the special diets require sugar free or low sugar jelly, so include some of that.

Justin has some great speakers lined up, so if you haven't been attending meetings, you should try to make the next ones. Next week will be a retrospective on Martin Luther King in honor of MLK Day. The following week we have Danny McGrane to talk about NATO. This is a good time to invite visitors since we do have some great programs scheduled.

We have several prospective members. Larry Cockman has applied for membership. Larry has a shredding business, Texas Security Shredding, and does a great job according to Glen. Debbie Youens is a realtor with Texas Heritage Properties who is currently vice president of Katy Rotary Club, but her business relocated in the Cypress area, so Katy's loss is our gain. Please make her feel welcome. Robert Fugarino is awaiting induction. We had another visitor who expressed interest as well, Kyle Nearhood. If anyone got his email address, please contact him and tell him we look forward to having him visit again. Rich Houser seems to like visiting, so maybe he will be a possible member as well.

The District is encouraging us to participate in the Extreme Makeover Home Edition that is taking place in Kemah right now. If Rotary can collect enough money in the next few days, we can be featured giving the family a check to pay off their old mortgage. This family has been in the Chronicle. They take in foster children and have nine children at the current time including 4 of their own. They truly seem to represent "Service Above Self."

Don't forget about the $20 raffle tickets for the 2010 Prius. The district is counting on us to sell those before District Conference. Glen gave them out two meetings ago.

Vickie Botkin sent out invoices this week. Everyone needs to get those paid so that you can remain a member in good standing. You can pay with a credit card or Paypal, so please take care of this asap.

Our volunteers not only sacked up the bags of food for the Seniors as we do every month, but we also boxed over 300 boxes of food for needy families. We began at 3 pm on Friday and returned at noon on Saturday to get this monumental task done. We were joined by spouses and kids who pitched in and made the job fun. Thank you, everyone, for helping us with this service project. CAM is very appreciative of our efforts. Mike Hoke, project manager, is pictured exemplifying "Service Above Self."

There will be some significant changes in our e-bulletin in the future. Since most of our active members attend our meetings, we feel that what happens at the meeting is redundant for most recipients of the e-bulletin. Therefore, it is the board's decision to change the e-bulletin's function somewhat. More information about Rotary at the district level will be included, and the bulletin will only be sent once a month. It will focus more on upcoming events and district initiatives. We hope that this format will prove more useful to active members.

Any member who wants to write up and post the "Good News" and a speaker recap on the website would be welcome to do so. Articles about projects along with pictures will still be posted on the web site as they occur and can be accessed at any time. We hope this change pleases most people.

Keith announced that the club WILL meet next Monday even though many members may be out of town, so please come if you can. Now is a good time to bring spouses and kids who are on Christmas break as well.

We had a lively meeting with a trio from Bear Creek Copperfield performing Christmas Carols and leading our club in singing along. Visitors included Sandra Peterson, Verna Hoke, Larry Cockman (who has applied for membership), Wayne Beaumier, Sherry Reiland, Stephanie and Rebecca Cervantes, and Jacob Scheel-Bech, our exchange student from Denmark.

The trio was composed of Jim Baker, Doc Green, and Jazz Duarte. They brought along a fan, Scott Streen.

Good news included Jacob sharing that he had visited the smallest town in Texas, gone up in Vicki's dad's airplane, and ridden a four wheeler when we went to Powell for an early Christmas.

Sandra was happy that their dog Annie had encountered a skunk and not gotten sprayed.

Vickie Botkin had a great time on her cruise and is enjoying having her two kids here, even though her food bill is high!

Gwen shared information about the goodie bags for District Conference and Glen passed out the raffle tickets to sell for the 2010 Prius.

Mike Castro reminded us that the date of the road clean up is January 9th. This will be our first service project of the new year. Please sign up online.

Jacob and Adam thoroughly enjoyed the Texans game on Sunday. They were able to attend due to the generosity of Tom Benson who donated the tickets to the fundraiser which the Rowes purchased, and Glen's client, Lamar Burkhalter, who is the music director for the Texans who donated two more tickets as well as taking the boys around with the band to the tailgating. They even got to play along on the tambourine and the cowbell in one of the bands numbers. Best of all, the Texans actually won!

Most of the Good News at the meeting today revolved around the great time everyone had at the Christmas Party at the Reilands. The barn tour was truly special as we all got to greet the "new baby." We had "live entertainment" in the form of the adorable Christmas angel daughter of Robert and Mindy Figurino. Robert has submitted his application for membership in our club.

We enjoyed the delicious chili that Sherry made as our main dish. Everyone's appetizers and desserts were amazing. The gift exchange was as hilarious as ever. Mike told us that the leftover beer was put to good use by his friends the next day, so once again Rotary donated to a good cause! Thank you, Mike and Sherry, for hosting this wonderful party.

We had a great meeting, with two guests who are prospective members in attendance and Dr. Thomas Debauche as our speaker. Guests were Larry Cockman of Texas Security Shredding and Carlos Casanova of Casanova's Signs. Both expressed interest in joining our club, so please extend them a warm welcome at the next meeting.

Keith presented two checks, one to Gabby, the man who sets up our room and cleans up after our meetings, and the other to Stan Carr who accepted the $590 check on behalf of the Salvation Army. This amount brought our Kettle donation total to $1,000.

Mike Castro reminded us to put Dec. 9th on our calendars for the Road Clean Up. You can sign up online for this service project.

Charlie reminded us of the District raffle for a 2010 Prius that will culminate at District Conference. Each member will receive 5 tickets to sell. Charlie told us that they make great Christmas gifts for clients or hard-to-buy-for friends and relatives. There is also a letter that Ed Charlesworth has sent out that you can send with the tickets. Contact Glen Rowe if you are interested in the letter. He will also have the tickets available at the next meeting.

D. Ray Young told us that the interviews for outbound exchange students on Saturday went great and that we have lots of excellent candidates.

Dr. Debauche was the winner of our $5,000 raffle in November, and he generously donated the money back to our club. He is a cardiologist who is a former Rotarian and he truly lives out the "Service Above Self" motto. His presentation highlighted an effort to screen CyFair athletes for cardiac abnormalities. His article "Cost Effective Screening of Athletes in a Large District" explained his efforts to see that CyFair athletes all receive EKGs and further testing if the EKG reveals abnormalities. The primary cause of heart problems in this country is hypertrophic cardiomiopathy or thickened heart muscles that cause the heart to contract and refuse to come out of the contraction. An EKG is the most cost effective way to find out if a young athlete has this condition or any other cardiac abnormality that might be life threatening.

Dr. Debauche is currently working with Senator Dan Patrick to have this test paid for by the state for all athletes in every Texas school district. The EKGs are done by the school's trainers, but are sent via email to a cardiologist who, like Dr. Debauche, volunteers his time to read them. About 10% of EKGs done on high school athletes reveal abnormalities and then an echocardiogram is done to see if there is cause for concern. About 10% of those actually result in diagnosing a dangerous condition. In CyFair, just over 2,000 athletes were screened last year and out of those 11 were ultimately unable to participate in sports because of a heart condition. One student's life was saved by the screening.

Justin Lindstrom suggested that our club explore ways to help in this life-saving effort. Small school districts don't have EKG machines, so currently Dr. Debauche is working with Dr. Anthony, CyFair superintendent, on getting the word out to the surrounding districts. It is great to know that CyFair is on the cutting edge of this process. We all enjoyed Dr. Debauche's talk very much.

Please come on Friday to CAM at 3:00 pm to help get the Senior Food Bags and the Christmas Boxes packed. Bring all the reinforcements you can on Saturday to the Salvation Army at 9:00 am to help with the toy distribution. After we finish that, we will return to CAM to finish the Christmas boxes. It's going to be a very busy two days. If you have any questions, please contact Mike Hoke. See you there!

Vicki Rowe and Keith Peterson took Stan up on his offer to see the Salvation Army Warehouse off Hempstead Hwy. They were amazed at the size of the operation and a little concerned about the empty toy bins. If you would like to see this next Monday, Stan will lead another tour. You can also show up and volunteer, you can drop off new toys, you can shop for the Angel Tree at Willowbrook Mall, or you can write a check to Salvation Army Northwest Houston and give it to Stan if you'd like to help these good folks make Christmas happen for Houston's poor families.

Glen and Vicki took Jacob Scheel-Bech and a friend to Santa's Wonderland outside College Station Sunday night. As you can see, we had a great time.

The December Board meeting was primarily a budget discussion and firming up the slate of officers for next year. The club will be asked to vote on the following officers at one of the December meetings.

President - Gary Gray
President Elect - Justin Jenkins
Secretary - Vickie Botkin
Treasurer - Marilyn Farrell
Sergeant at Arms - Alan Brevard

There are five committees that also help to run the club. They are Club Administration, Membership, Public Relations, Service Projects, and Foundation. If you have an interest in serving on one of these committees, please tell Gary Gray. He will be making the decision about who will head up each committee and who will be assigned to what committee.

The Board decided to make Mike Hoke our CAM liaison and he will work with the Service Project Chairman to be sure that CAM and Reach are covered.

There were some budget issues that were resolved. Our Unicef contribution has been paid. All vendors have been paid for the fundraiser. We now have PayPal available for members to use to pay dues. If you would like to do this, talk to Vickie Botkin.

The Board voted to more than match the monies collected for the Salvation Army last Saturday. We will bring the total to $1000.

A vote carried to make every member a Paul Harris Sustaining Member by contributing the $100 a year for every member. Most of our members opt to pay this amount, but a few do not. The Board felt that it is important to have 100% Paul Harris Sustaining Members, so the board will be picking up the tab for those who can't or don't choose to do so.

The Board also approved sending four students to RYLA in February at a cost of $250 each. D. Ray will contact the Cy Woods Interact students, and Vicki Rowe will let Jersey Village know.

Vicki Rowe will contact the Baytown Rotary president to find out about our commitment to their water project.

At Monday's meeting, we will be presenting a check for $250 to Gabby, the Carl's employee who sets up our room and cleans up after us each week.

Members who are in arrears will be contacted. If they are not able to pay dues, they must be dropped from our roles.

It was decided that Justin Jenkins and Vickie Botkin will attend the Gulf Coast Leadership Seminar at the end of January. The club will pay for this. Gary expressed the opinion that all of our members in leadership roles need to attend this program in the future.

We will begin a campaign in January to get all members registered for the District Conference in April.

Just a quick update on our two exchange students, Jacob Scheel-Bech from Denmark and Adam Mendry from Poland. Both boys are doing well in school and pursuing sports. Jacob is trying out this week for the varsity soccer team at Cy Creek HS. Adam is training to go out for baseball at Jersey Village in the spring.

The boys have become great friends and spent Thanksgiving together at the home of Adam's host family, Lisa McLemore and John Emmott. They enjoyed a Rockets basketball game and a fishing trip with John. They also drove to College Station with the family to see the bonfire, but were turned away by police who said there were too many participants there already. Good to know if you are planning to go there in the future.

The boys are making the most of their exchange and are always up for fun, so if you have any upcoming family trips that you'd like to invite them on, such as looking at Christmas lights, just let Glen Rowe know. They will probably attend our Christmas Party on the 12th, so you may get to visit with them then. They are great kids.

We had three guests, Robert Fugerino, who has applied for membership and Wayne Beaumier and Jeff Adams, both from the Bear Creek Copperfield Club.

This week's meeting was a Club Assembly which included Classification Talks by Alan Brevard and Lloyd Culp. Alan shared information about Farmer's Insurance, his business, as well as sharing the fact that he and his wife Stacy met on a blind date. He has a 10 year old son named Michael.

Lloyd is a an attorney who handles mostly litigation. He also teaches American Government at Lone Star College at Fairbanks N. Houston. He grew up in West, Texas where he met his wife, Susan in 1st grade. His son, Zach attends Baylor, and his younger son, Chase, has the life-long ambition to be a clown. He is a finalist for Circus Smirkus, and you can see his video on You Tube. He is quite talented.

Good news included Justin's not-so-good news that the Cowboys lost, someone broke into his truck in the parking lot last week, and that he and Andrea enjoyed ringing the bell for the Salvation Army on Saturday.

Stan thanked everyone who participated in the Bell Ringing. We collected $410, in the top 5 kettle returns of the day.

Ted and Katharine also enjoyed the service project. Ted commented that the Longhorns won and offered a dollar for D. Ray to lead the fight song.

Ted's offer was immediately countered by several offers of a dollar if D. Ray did NOT lead the fight song.

Vicki shared the news that exchange student, Jacob Scheel-Bech has made the varsity soccer team at Cy Creek H. S.

D. Ray reminded everyone of the Christmas party at the Reilands' house on Saturday. We passed around a sign-up sheet, so if you missed the meeting, you can still attend. Bring a white elephant gift for you and your spouse. If you are bringing a child, let Vicki Rowe know, so that we can have a gift for him or her.

Speaker Derrick Christopher shared four rules to follow so that adversity doesn't get a toe hold on your goals and dreams.

First we must "overcome the lies of self," the self-doubts that derail many people's dreams before they can get started. Second, we must "recognize and expect resistance" even from well-meaning family and friends who don't want to see us fail. Third, when we "realize our resilience," we can proceed with confidence.

Lastly, there is always a need when facing adversity to keep one's perspective. Derrick told us to do this by asking, "Is this clinically significant?" He illustrated this by reminding us of famous people who have been counted down and out only to come back strong within 5 years. (Does this mean there is hope for the Texans?) He called this the 5 year principle and told us that his philosophy is that "there is always a better way." We just have to find it. His overall message is to look at adversity more as opportunity to change and improve.

We were so happy to see Don Endebrock in our midst. Don is a former member who is in the process of selling his house and moving to Dallas to be with his wife, Beckie, who works there. Other guests were Rich Houser, guest of Justin Lindstrom, and our speaker, Derrick Christopher.

New member, Steve Durham, was inducted into the club by Glen Rowe. Welcome, Steve! Stever has an exterminating business called Envirocon Pest Control. We will look forward to hearing about his business when we have our next classification talks later this month.

Good news included Alan's remark that "A&M did not embarrass us" and his news that he took his son deer hunting and killed the largest deer he has ever shot.

Don shared the news that he is trying to sell his house in Black Horse and asked us to refer any friends who want to buy a house to him.

Tom told us about Claire's success in soccer and her upcoming opportunity to play on a Final Four Cup Team tournament that will be attended by 196 college scouts. Good luck, Claire!

Justin's Cowboys won again!!

Marilyn had a great holiday the weekend before Thanksgiving when she met her mom, dad, sister, and brother in New Orleans for her sister's 50th birthday.

Keith bought the RV package at our auction and enjoyed it all the way to Conroe where he had a blowout. The family was "rescued" four hours later and ended up having a great time at Lake Buchanan instead of Arkansas as planned. Good job making lemonade out of lemons, Petersons!

Mike Reiland told us about a Channel 11 survey that named Carl's Barbecue the 9th best barbecue restaurant in the city. He also enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving with all of his relatives as well as reminding us that you can pick your nose and your friends, but you can't pick your relatives!

Glen also enjoyed Thanksgiving Dinner in Dallas at his daughter's apartment. He has requested that she host again next year since she did such a great job.

Our Christmas Party at the Reiland's house on Dec. 12th will begin at 4:30 PM. Everyone needs to bring a covered dish, either appetizer or dessert. We do a gift exchange where each person who wants to participate brings a wrapped gift valued at $20.

CAM Senior Food Bags on Dec. 18th, CAM Christmas boxes on the 19th, and Toy Sorting at the Salvation Army also on Dec. 19th. We decided to meet earlier on Friday to try to get a jump on the Christmas boxes so that we can do the toy sorting on Saturday, so plan to be there by 3 PM if you possibly can on Friday, Dec. 18th. Bring friends and family with you. We'll need all the help we can get on Friday and Saturday.

Our meeting was mainly a recapping of the fundraiser and a discussion of possibilities for additional fundraisers. Our speaker did not make it, so we enjoyed hearing Ozzy Karakas, Rotary Exchange Student from Turkey who was here in 2003 - 2004 tell us about how his exchange changed his life. He was brought to the meeting by Ike Khowdhury of Sunrise Rotary. Ozzy is here for a geophysicists' conference and will be around for a few more weeks. Hopefully, we will see him again. Gwen and Charlie Durrenberger will be in touch with him because Gwen was his counselor when he was an exchange student.

Good news included Glen's happiness at having his wife back home. Justin Jenkins observed that "the Texans didn't lose." Vicki Rowe praised Glen for his dedication to the exchange students. He took a group to the Renaissance Festival on Sunday and didn't make her go along! Lloyd recognized the Cy Fair Band students for their stellar ratings at two contests as well as their amazingly successful food drive and fundraising for CAM.

Vicki thanked Marilyn who was assisted by Tiffany for her hard work on the silent auction. Gwen thanked Vickie Botkin for running the raffle and keeping up with the silent auction proceeds, a huge task.

We all owe Gary and Keith a big thank-you for their joint efforts. Because of the letter campaign that they initiated, we got several big sponsors for the event. John Shirley sold 44 of the 177 tickets that were sold, making him the top ticket salesman again this year. Tom Benson made sure that the drinks were there, a very important contribution! Many people showed up to help set up and others stayed to clean up. Without everyone's hard work, we couldn't have done it.

The winning $5000 raffle ticket was sold by Justin Jenkins to one of his clients who is the CEO of Cypress North Medical Center. Justin will call him and give him the good news.

We also wanted to thank Kim Botkin, who assisted Vickie in the raffle and silent auction, Sandra Peterson, who did the table decorations, and Susan Culp who along with Trenton Peterson played a big part in the success of our fundraiser. The following Rotarians attended and helped make the event a success: Gary Gray, Keith Peterson, Tom Benson, Justin Lindstrom, Vickie Botkin, Stan Carr, Ted Lewis, Tom Benson, Vicki Rowe, Glen Rowe, Marilyn Farrell, Tiffany Moore, D. Ray Young, Mike Castro, Mike Hoke, Lloyd Culp, Gwen and Charlie Durrenberger, John Shirley, Justin Jenkins, Sammy Tao, and David Feldmeyer. Several spouses and mothers contributed delicious desserts. Spouses and kids who attended also made the event special. The high school students recruited by D. Ray helped with the ticket drawing (see picture) and food service clean-up. We also owe a big thanks to Mike and Sherry Reiland who had to miss the event, but supplied the delicious barbeque which makes the event so special. Thanks, everyone, for pitching in.

Thanks to everyone's efforts we grossed over $20,000. You can find more pictures from the event on the website under "Photo Journals." Be sure to check out Sandra and Marilyn getting down to "Ride, Sally, Ride."

Our guests included Lida Woodall, incumbent running for reelection to the school board, Donna Martin, our speaker who works for Heartland Healthcare at Willowbrook, Jack Maxwell, Mike Hoke's realtor, and Ovi Galvan from the Skyline Club. Glen pointed out that Ovi had signed up for our Salvation Army projects even though he is a visitor. That really is Service Above Self. Hopefully, he will invite other Skyline members to help as well.

We had a lot of good news: David was happy that Houston beat the Bills and that it makes 3 in a row.

Mike Hoke was delighted that he sold his house. His realtor, Jack Maxwell, was his guest today.

Marie shared the great news that Salute to the Stars was a resounding success and that our club had helped.

Keith played golf and had 3 pars in row in the front nine, apparently a new experience for him.

Mike Reiland remembered an old friend, Johnny Shulte, who funeral he had attended this week, as exemplifying Service Above Self. Mike found inspiration in the minister's oration.

Justin Jenkins bragged on the Cowboys, who are currently in 1st place. He was also happy to have D. Ray as a visitor at his church this past weekend to hear a special speaker.

D. Ray introduced another project which involves a contribution of money to send layettes to mothers in Chinendaga who are part of "Refugio Belen," an ongoing Rotary international project. If you were not at the meeting and would like to contribute or if you need more information, please email D. Ray at dry@waterengineers.com. He will keep us updated on our progress in this effort.

The holiday season is upon us and there are many more volunteer opportunities out there. Our speaker was from an Alzheimer's facility and she also told us about opportunities to visit nursing homes over the holidays.

Our club has two standing commitments to CAM. One is the Senior food boxes. This event falls on the Friday before the third Saturday each month. We need more people to show up for that because we are increasingly depending on a small core of individuals. This is a service opportunity for the entire club, not just for the "Old Faithfuls." Please plan to be there Friday, Nov. 20th and Friday, Dec. 18th.

We also have a commitment to CAM to get their Thanksgiving food boxed and ready to hand out. Our club has traditionally spent the Saturday before Thanksgiving doing this. This will coincide with the food boxes and make us have to double up. Some people may have commitments that weekend, so please keep CAM in mind. We can't let them down! Mike Hoke will be in contact with you about this event.

Stan Carr asked for our help in December for two projects with the Salvation Army. Many of us signed up to ring bells on December 5th and then to sort toy donations on the 19th.

Sherry and Mike Reiland graciously agreed to host our Christmas party at their place in Hockley on Dec. 12th, so you can see that we have a very full December calendar, and we aren't even there yet! Please put all of these events on your calendar, and make time for "service above self" during the holiday season.

Alan's helpful suggestion to move Christmas further away from deer season met with some interest, but Rev. Justin didn't think it was feasible on such short notice, so we are probably stuck with that conflict. Please make it work!

Our fundraiser is less than two weeks away. Keith emphasized several things at the meeting. Everyone should plan to attend the fundraiser and help in any way possible. You should also plan to stay after for cleanup.

Everyone needs to bring in one item for the silent auction to next week's meeting. You can purchase something and donate it if you aren't comfortable asking for donations. Keith suggested a drill from Home Depot, so don't everyone buy that!

We need people to help set-up around 2:30 in the afternoon at the Jersey Village Civic Center.

You also must try to sell your tickets. If you aren't having any luck selling them, you can buy them yourself and give them to employees, clients, friends, or anyone who might enjoy attending the event. The more people we have at the event, the more we will make off the silent auction. So bring friends and family.

We usually have a kiddie room, so bring your kids, but also bring some toys or games. Our Interact kids and teenagers will babysit the kids, but they need something to work with.

Perhaps the rain dampened everyone's spirits, but only five people shared good news. We did, however, have some excellent guests. Robert Fugarino, Karen Cavallero, and Christopher Keeney were our guests. The first two are prospective members, and Chris was our speaker.

David pointed out that the Texans had won and he got to shake hands with one of the players (I believe #44, but I'm not sure.)

Ted said that he was lucky in a way to be at the meeting because the College Systems Annual Golf Tournament had been rained out. The tournament raised over $300,000, but they had to wait for the insurance company to call it.

Tom described the Salute to the Stars glowingly and said that he felt grateful to have been able to attend on behalf of Rotary.

Mike was happy that Verna had been able to survive the cancellation of Small Steps' golf tournament and having to call all of the participants and tell them it had been called off, a huge job, I'm sure.

D. Ray exulted that TU had "thrashed" Missouri and held on the to #3 position. The Aggies "surprised us all" by beating Texas Tech. (Glen, a Red Raider alum, said he wasn't surprised!)

Keith expressed the hope that people are selling their fundraiser tickets. It would be very good news if everyone would bring in the money for their tickets next week!

We had a good meeting despite the downpour that possibly kept some members away. Announcements included D. Ray postponing the Membership meeting until one week from tomorrow.

Keith described our table decorations for the fundraiser which will be boots decorated to represent sponsoring businesses. He had two examples there, one was covered in play money and the other had dog biscuits glued to it. They are cute and fun. For only $50 you can sponsor a table and have a boot of your own.

There will be a fundraiser meeting tomorrow night at Keith's office at 5:30. Anyone can attend.

Tom reminded us that Texas Bowl has been a strong contributor to our auctions in the past. Our speaker today was from Texas Bowl and had brought a gift bag with him for our silent auction.

Glen reminded us of the upcoming Rotary Foundation Seminar to be held on Saturday, Nov. 7tn at the HCC Campus at 5601 W. Loop S. It starts at 8:30 and lasts until 1:30. Anyone can attend. There is a $10 registration fee which is waived for new Rotarians, spouses, and non-Rotarians.

Our speaker, Christopher Keeney told us the history of the development of the Texas Bowl which used to be the Houston Bowl. He also told us about the future of this dynamic organization which holds five other events throughout the year. Much of the proceeds from these events and the Bowl itself go to De Pelchin, a foster care and adoption agency. He shared the information that this year's game will be the Naval Academy vs. the 7th seed Big 12 team after BCS (Bowl Championship Series). Teams really like to play in this bowl because the organization treats them to so many other activities and events during Bowl Week. They participate in a bowling match, calf-roping, shopping sprees, and luncheons. Chris also told us about the opportunity to be a BowlBacker and guarantee seats at the game for your company employees or clients.

We had a wonderful speaker, Laura Wilkinson, Olympic gold medalist in platform diving. The meeting was well attended and everyone enjoyed Laura's speech about how she fought back from an injury that happened only months before Olympic Trials. Her gold medal, won in 2000, was her reward for years of dedication. She also acknowledged that the support of her family, teammates, and coach were crucial in her success. Laura is a dynamic speaker who allowed us to relive her gold medal performance through her vivid descriptions of the experience. Her overall message to us was never to give up on a dream. She signed autographs and allowed us to wear her gold medal in pictures taken with her. (See accompanying picture of Gwen Durrenburger with Laura.) It was a very memorable program.

Our guests included Ralph Pippin of the Castlerock Rotary Club in Denver, Elaine Combs from Bear Creek Copperfield club, Mark Jones, a guest of Gary Gray, Lloyd Russell, and our speaker Laura Wilkinson.

Good News came from several members:

Justin Jenkins shared the amazing news that his wife, Andrea, is pregnant. He also said something about a church activity, but no one remembered that after the awesome news that the world will have a new Cowboys fan in about six months.

Vickie Botkin's company continues to receive stellar reviews as they passed their I-9 audit with no errors.

Stan told us that the Salvation Army has registed over 700 families for its Christmas program. They will be needing our help to make Christmas a reality for these families in future months.

Ray is happy that the remodeling of their master bath is going well. He also shared that despite a breakin at one of his client's properties, the electicians showed up and replaced the copper wiring quickly and efficiently.

Jim was happy to be back after attending the National Aflac Convention in New York City where he represented Texas well by wearing a Texas tuxedo. Is he going to wear it to our fundraiser in November?

Keith told us that he and Emily will dance their last Brigade father/daughter dance this coming weekend at the football game because she is a senior.

Elaine Combs bragged on the exchange students who attended the George Ranch social this weekend. She also shared her excitement about attending the Guerrero Clinic this month.

Vicki Rowe was grateful for everyone's prayers for her mother's recovery and glad to be back.

D. Ray announced the upcoming meeting of the membership committee to work on a Classification Survey. The meeting will take place next Tuesday night (Oct. 27th) at Ray's office at 5 PM. Anyone can attend.

Tiffany Moore has been getting the e-bulletin out for me in my absence due to my mother's heart attack. I wanted to say thank you to her for the wonderful job she has done. Please tell her how much you appreciate her.

At our next meeting on Oct. 12 we will have guest speaker Vince Ryan, Harris County DA, who will tell us about "Human Trafficking in Harris County". This is a timely issue because a story recently aired on the local news stations about "Massage Parlors" that seem to be proliferating on 1960 - with some near Jones Rd. It is known that many of these illegal businesses are in fact "employing" modern day slaves that they acquire through the human trafficking market. Learn more at this informative meeting.

Our President challenged us to bring a guest to assist the club membership growth. For Monday's meeting, or the next one -where we will have guest speaker and Olympic Diving Champion Laura Wilkinson, invite a friend to enjoy fellowship with you. You might even receive a call from a fellow Rotarian the week before a meeting to remind you of this challenge. You can assist our club with growth and diversity by seeking out associates who have a variety of skills, experiences, backgrounds, ages and ethnicities to be a guest. Thanks for your efforts to build our club membership.

This week's good news seemed a little short in supply but did include:
Keith shared that our speaker, Donna Gysler, inquired about becoming a member.
We hope she continues to show interest in joining our effervescent group.
Glen Rowe told us that Vickie's mother is doing good and he and the boys had been "bachin' it" while Vickie was still away. Rev. Lindstrom offered to bring him some casseroles from the church if they needed it. Glen said they could survive on the "guy" meals they were managing and listed a few. We all agreed that they were not doing too bad from the sounds of the delicious menu Glen listed.
A few other Good News items including Justin Jenkins pointing out that some teams won, and that other teams lost. Please forgive me that I did not note the team names this week. Vickie we need your attention to detail, no rush - but hurry back! LOL

Announcements included:....

Our meeting this week brought us information and a personal real life story about the devastating disease known as Alzheimer's. This unwelcome guest has also visited several members who told us about how it has affected their lives after the speaker, Donna Gysler, told her story.

Our welcomed guest came to us from Silverado Senior Living -a "Memory Impairment" assistance facility. She told us of her own ordeal with her mother-in-law who developed Alzhiemer's and how it affected her life.

By: John Kenny
President, Rotary International

My fellow Rotarians:

There are many service organizations in the world today, but none so old or so successful as Rotary. There are many reasons for that, and Vocational Service is one of them. This year, I wish you to place a special emphasis on Vocational Service, which is sometimes the forgotten Avenue of Service in Rotary.

Good news came from several members:

Vickie announced that her company TPI Staffing is in the final steps of becoming certified with the Department of Homeland Security, an arduous process that will benefit them immensely in the long run.

Gary told us that the Rotary District 5890 Gulf Coast Leadership Institute this weekend was excellent. About 1/3 of the clubs were represented. Gary also praised Glen Rowe's presentation and hoped that he would share it with the club in the near future.

Alan revealed that over the weekend, his son, Michael, turned nine and Alan was relieved that the backyard campout turned out great.

Gwen recalled that we all had fun at CAM Friday and at the Mexican Food Night. See accompanying picture of Gwen and Keith at La Hacienda having a great time. Wish you'd been there!

John shared the news that a customer of his is running for judge, Glenn Devlin, Republican for 313th District Court.

David's niece who had the H1N1 virus is better as is his wife, Mary, who is up and around after her back trouble.

Keith had a great weekend. He and Sandra went to Blanco's and heard a western swing band. On Saturday, he went hunting with his son who said it was one of the best weekends he'd ever had!

D. Ray informed us that the Longhorns played well on Saturday night and offered (for money) not to sing the fight song.

Jim followed up with the news that the Aggies beat the Utah State Aggies 38 - 30. His wife is leaving for Europe while they are moving into their new house, but Jim gets his revenge by leaving for New York when she returns, so she will get to unpack what he has had to pack. Seems fair.

Today's guests included Ken Parker with Edward Jones; Stacy Brevard; Mike Smith, prinicipal at Cy Fair HS who was Tom Benson's guest; Charles Durrenberger , Jr; and our speaker Rose Hong Tran.

Announcements:

David has been trying to contact Lou Palma about our Boys and Girls Country event, but has not heard back

Mike Hoke told us about the Reach Unlimited fundraiser at Berry Center on Oct. 14. It is a luncheon lasting from 12 to 1. The luncheon is free, but they accept donations. Mike remindedus that Reach has 14 houses plus a Learning Center and greatly assists special needs adults in our community, so it is well worth our support. (Picture shows our club at Reach's July 4th Hot Dog Cookout.)

Keith reminded us of a skeet shooting event on Oct. 17th with Westside Rotary Clubs.

Marilyn announced that the silent auction for our Nov. 14th fundraiser needs more items donated. Currently we have only 27 items totaling about 2,100 value. Marilyn urged everyone to collect more items such as restaurant meals or free services, and give them to her as soon as possible.

We had Rose Hong Tran as our speaker. She was introduced by Charles Durrenberger, Jr. Rose has worked with plastic surgeons and neurosurgeons to help lift the face naturally.

This program was started in 2002 and Rose had some pictures to show us the dramatic results of following it. There are 57 muscles above the neck that we don't exercise usually, so our faces can sag due to muscle sagging. Rose showed us before and after pictures and then she demonstrated how to do it. These exercises sharpen the mind, works into the master glands, and generally improve health and appearance. The lion pose tickles the pituitary gland and is used to cleanse various organs. Rose took us through the process of detoxing our face and major organs. She then showed us the Face Lifter pose. She told us to do the exercise for 15 minutes a day, spread over the whole day. She advised us to drink water with lemon for cleansing. She also gave us a pose to help jowls and turkey necks which also strengthens the jawline and helps heal TMJ. We all left feeling younger and happier!

Stephanie Kollister, our club's Ambassadorial Scholar to Lancaster, England, was the guest of Justin Lindstrom. She leaves in 9 days and promised to stay in touch with our club during her year there. Stephanie was the president of the Jersey Village Interact Club for two consecutive years when she was in high school. She is currently a student at Texas A&M. We are very proud of Stephanie and wish her the very best in her year abroad.

Members share Good News!

Astros Night which Rotary is calling End Polio Now because the Astros are donating a portion of each ticket price to Polio Plus is this Sunday. Tom Benson coordinated the event, getting tickets for members and their families. The exchange students that we host, Jacob and Adam, will be there.

We will meet at the ballpark and our seats are together thanks to Tom. This will be an opportunity to have families meet one another. We have a party room where we can hang out in case the game doesn't hold everyone's attention. See you at 1:05 on Sunday. This event also counts as a make-up if you need one, so be sure you tell Justin Jenkins.

Our presence at the Cy-Fair Business Expo gave our members an opportunity to recruit members from the community. The event helped us spread the word about our club and its mission. We garnered a list of about 10 names of potential members. Our membership chairman, D. Ray Young, will be following up and contacting those people in the near future. If they attend a meeting, be sure to give them a hearty welcome. This event is a great opportunity for our club to expand if we follow up on it diligently.

A big thank-you to Dr. Sammy Tao for heading this up, as well as all the volunteers to came to set up and to man the booth. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

If you haven't signed up to work the food distribution at CAM this Friday at 4:30, it's not too late. We need all the volunteers we can get, plus everyone is invited to La Hacienda afterward for Mexican food whether you can make the service project or not. If you want to come to the restaurant, we should probably be there around 6:30, but please email Vicki Rowe (vicki.rowe@att.net) to tell her you are coming, so we get a large enough table. Both of these events count as a make-up if you have missed a meeting lately. See you there!

Jim Kite from the Brenham Rotary Club talked to us about Rotary's work in Nicaragua with the "Children of the Dump" in Chinandega. He told us how Rotarians from the Humble Intercontinental Rotary Club found 800 kids living in the city dump in 1998 after Hurricane Mitch devastated Nicaragua, and how the Rotarians helped a local missionary build a school to feed, clothe, and educate the kids. How today, after 11 years, Rotary has partnered with other relief organizations to build 3 villages that are economically self-sustaining, to feed 1,800 kids a day, to build a school for the blind, to build a shelter for pregnant women, to send kids to college, and to send students abroad as Rotary Ambassordial Scholars. In other words, just another Rotary success story. If you want to know why you are a Rotarian, this is one good example. Please tell your friends and invite them to join us.

Before adjourning the meeting, Keith inducted our newest member, Gwen Durrenberger. Gwen has been an honorary member for some time, but we are delighted that she has decided to join as a full member. She will be an asset to our club, as well as bringing us back to 30 members after the resignation of Sue Needham. Welcome, Gwen!

Gary Gray presided as president in Keith's absence. He reminded us to be selling tickets for the fundraiser. He also informed us that 316 letters have gone out requesting sponsorship for the event and asked if anyone knew of a company or individual who might want to be a sponsor, to contact him.

Gary and Vicki asked everyone to continue with the visiting gnome project. We will try to get a list out of which clubs still need to be visited in the near future.

Tom Benson informed us of a fellowship event. We can all attend the final Astros game of the season with other District 5890 Rotarians on Sept. 27th. If you are interested in going, please sign up online or contact Tom, who will also be contacting you individually. The price of a ticket is $13.00, but some snacks and a private room are included.

Rev. Justin Lindstrom provided a wonderful program about the Five Love Languages, which can apply to all aspects of your life. He told us the five languages are Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Giving and Receiving of Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch. Justin explained each one and showed us ways that the knowledge of your and your spouses preferences can strenthen your relationship. Also, realizing which type of language is most relevant for your fellow Rotarians can facilitate communication within our club. For example, if a member most seeks Words of Affirmation, he or she will be gratified by appreciative words, whereas, if he or she most values Acts of Service, then he or she will feel more appreciated by your participation in a project. Justin sent us home with surveys to complete for us and our spouses. All in all, this was a very helpful and fun presentation.

The last day of August culminated with a number of Good News reports from members.

Gary Gray asked our visitor, Dr. Ricardo Caballero, the veterinarian who owns Cypress Veterinary Hospital, to comment on the much improved medical condition of Jennifer Reed who was injured in a motorcycle accident in Colorado. Cy-Fair Rotary Club members participated in a fund raising effort to help cover some of her medical expenses for which Dr. Caballero thanked us.

Justin Jenkins announced that he had Rotary shirts for those members who ordered them and to see him after the meeting.

Abdul Tamimi and Ted Lewis expressed pleasure that the enrollment at Lone Star Cy-Fair College for the fall semester exceeded expectations with approximately 14,900 students enrolled.

Vickie Botkin mentioned that she and her husband recently returned from Hot Springs, Arkansas, and had purchased some property there for their future retirement--not any time soon though. In addition, she mentioned that her daughter living in Chicago started her new job today.

Mike Hoke indicated that he returned from an enjoyable trip to San Francisco, and admitted that he didn't have any trouble walking up and down those hills.

Vicki Rowe informed everyone that she started a new job as a book rep for Glencoe Publishing Co. today.

Finally, Ray Young mentioned that he has started his vegetable farming project and was counting on the weather to cooperate.

If you have a gnome, please bring him to the next meeting. We need to get back on track and get those gnomes roaming again. Try to make your club visitation this week so we can redistribute them and get going again.

We were able to make a difference at CAM last Friday by packaging school supplies sorted socks and underwear to help CAM get the schoolkids off to a good start this year. Director Joan Christiansen expressed her gratitude to our group for our dedication to CAM over the years. We will continue to help out once a month in the food pantry as well as at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We had 13 members present and most of us went from there to Las Rosas and enjoyed Mexican Food Night with Glen. The picture shows the president and first lady relaxing on the couch with the court jester.

Announcements included Keith's reminder of the up-coming Country Western Dance and Raffle on Nov. 14th. Everyone needs to put this event on their calendars and start selling those tickets and collecting silent auction items. New member Tiffany Moore has already gotten donations from Panera's and Starbucks. Keith Peterson has become a sponsor and will give us more information about this option next week.

Dr. Sammy Tao passed around a sign-up sheet for the Business Expo on Sept. 3rd. If you'd like to sign up, you can do so online.

Tiffany Moore announced Astros Night and Polio Day. This is our opportunity to get together with Rotarians from around the district to see the last Astros game of the season on Sept. 27th. More about this will follow or you can check out astros.com/rotary.

Our speaker Marianne T. Marcus gave a terrific presentation about Mindfullness Based Stress Reduction. This therapy was developed by Jon Kabat Zinn in 1979 and has been used successfully to reduce pain, to help manage addiction, and to help people live longer and happier lives. She developed a program for Cenikor that helps their clients "be in the moment," and deal with their issues more effectively.

Our guests included Don Endebrock, former member, Rich Houser, assistant pastor at St. Aidan's, and Karen and Joe Beraducci, friends of Keith Peterson, as well as our speaker, Marianne Marcus, renowned expert on stress management based on a Zen concept called "mindfullness."

We were all glad to have Don present, and he filled us in on his good fortune. Beckie's job in Dallas is going great, and they have put their house here on the market. They have rented a house in Dallas that has a pool.

Gwen Durrenberger told us that Charlie is much better and expects to be released from the hospital by Wednesday.

Ted Lewis enthusiastically announced that Lone Star College went back to school today with an enrollment of 14,500 students. He also enjoyed shopping with his lovely wife, Katherine, over the tax-free weekend. She looked great in many outfits, according to Ted.

Justin Jenkins' good news naturally concerned the Cowboys' debut in their amazing new stadium. They not only won, but a punter tipped the new scoreboard, not such a good thing, but memorable.

Keith was pumped about our fundraiser. He has gotten the tickets for the raffle ready, so everybody who was there got theirs. If you missed the meeting, try to be there next week or email vicki.rowe@att.net to have them mailed to you.

Justin Lindstrom had a very moving experience at Arlington National Cemetery where he was honored to conduct a funeral service for a parishioner. He also requested our prayers and positive thoughts for his family who lost their beloved dog last week.

Lloyd gave a dollar for the service project last Friday as well as the fellowship shared at the dinner afterward. We wish everyone could have come. His son, Chase, is in band and working harder than he ever has before. Lloyd is enjoying being a "Band-aid" and has plenty of discount cards available if you'd like to support the Cy-Fair Bobcat Band.

Our club was visited by three Rotary exchange students this Monday. Jacob Scheel-bech of Denmark and Adam Minfrey of Poland are being hosted by our club. Caio Soares of Brazil was also there with Wayne Beaumier of the Bear Creek Copperfield Club. These three young men are all fluent in English and all three are jumping in to the American experience wholeheartedly. The picture shows Jacob and Caio and the gnome, of course. Unfortunately, Adam did not make it into the picture, but there will be pictures posted of him and the other teenagers and adults who participated in Mexican Food Night on Friday.

Keith installed our newest member, Tiffany Moore, better known as "The Dog Park Lady" or "The Human Dynamo." She has jumped into Rotary with all four feet, having borrowed two from her furry friends, I suppose! Tiffany has already participated in one district level event, the Membership Seminar, even before officially joining. Since her job has her working with media (she'll tell us more about what she does when she does her classification talk), she will be attending a district seminar on using Facebook to grow your club. She has also volunteered to help Dr. Sammy with PR for our club. We enjoyed meeting her husband, Eric, and their adorable daughter, Leah, at Glen's Mexican Food Night Friday. We are so excited about having Tiffany in the club.

Members shared some Good News at the August 17th meeting. The picture shows Gary and Ou having a great time at the restaurant Friday night. A little "forced family fun," right, Gary?

Today's speaker was our own Marilyn Farrell, assisted by her friend, Rose Ann Bolfing. Together these two gave us a terrific pictorial tour of the Holy Land.

Hola! El Mexican Food Noche this Friday esta at La Hacienda on Calle Telge. Email Senor Glen por favor at hgrowe@sbcglobal.net if you plan to attend. El necessita una cabeza count para obtener a big enough plantilla. Mi Espanol es muy terrible!

If you haven't paid your dues for the first quarter, please hand Vickie Botkin a check at the next meeting or mail it to P. O. Box 2937, Cypress, Tx. 77429. She has also billed those of us to attended the installation dinner, so please get those checks written as well.

Our club will be participating in the Bus Buddies volunteer program through Partners in Education when school starts. Mike Hoke handed out material about the training sessions which will take place next week.

In order to participate, you must go for one hour on either Aug. 17 (9;30 - 10:30 a. m.), Aug. 18 (7:30 - 8:30 a. m.) or Aug. 19 (6:30 - 7:30 p. m.) You will then ride on an elementary school bus on the first day of school in the afternoon from 2:45 to 4:45 to assist young students in getting off at the correct stop. If you want to do so, you can also ride again the next day and the day after. The program lasts for the first three days until the students are comfortable with the bus route. This program was presented to our club by Pam Scott of the Partners in Education Volunteer Program.

If you would like to participate in this project, the training sessions take place at the Berry Center on Barker Cypress Rd. If you need more information about the program, see web address: http://cfisd.net/dept2/pie/busbuddies.htm.

Good attendance and honored guests

Today's meeting with District Governor Ed Charlesworth and his wife (and co-governor!) Robin was fun and informative.

The Membership Seminar was an amazing learning opportunity. The motivational speakers, media presentations, and inspirational panelists gave us a lot of food for thought and plans for action to increase our membership, retain the members we have, and revitalize our club. You will be hearing from D. Ray Young in the near future about our plans for membership in the coming year. If you couldn't come to this meeting, you really missed a great time. The members who were there included Glen and Vicki, Gary, Ray and his daughter, Abby, Lloyd, and prospective member, Tiffany Moore. We all had a wonderful and educational time.

Our gnome project is gaining momemtum. If you haven't gnomed another club, there are still plenty of opportunities. If you have, you know how much fun this project is. There will be a photo journal on the web site soon, so send me any pictures you have that you haven't already sent me. I'll try to get it up and running this week. Keith passed around a sign up sheet, so please visit the clubs you signed up for and return the gnome! He needs to make the rounds to all 61 clubs.

Keith shared the fact that Cypress Veterinary Hospital is having a Wags 'n Wheels Dog and Car Wash next Saturday to benefit one of their employees, Jennifer Reed, who was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in Colorado on July 19. He will be at the Veterinary Hospital on Cypress N. Houston from noon until 4 PM so please join him if you can. The vet, Dr. Ricardo Caballero, has expressed an interest in joining our club, so this is an opportunity to show him what we can do for our community. Call or email Keith with any questions.

Saturday morning is the Membership seminar at Northshore, so many of us will be attending that. If you want to go with us, be at 290 and Jones Rd. at Coaches at 7:15 AM. We are pulling out of the parking lot precisely at that time, so don't be late. Call Vicki Rowe (281-451-4161) if you want to go.

Mike Hoke will be needing volunteers for the 3rd Friday of August for the Senior Food Boxes at CAM. See him at the meeting to sign up.

Dr. Sammy Tao needs people for the Business Expo Sept. 4th. Tell him if you are available.

You can also sign up for these events on our website.

The board meeting was well attended and lively. We got a lot accomplished in the time we spent together.

We had eight guests at the meeting. They were Jerry Calvert, Steve Durham, Susan Culp, Wayne Beaumier, Cindy Deering (guest of Marie Holmes), Tiffany Cady Moore, Trip Gulley, and Deane Hafling.

Many members shared good news with the club.

Keith conducted a club assembly when our speaker was unable to be there.

When our scheduled speaker had to cancel, Keith turned the meeting into a very productive club assembly. We inducted "new" member, Lloyd Culp (see picture). Lloyd is a former president of Cy-Fair Rotary who has been on hiatus. He has decided to return to the club and will be a welcome addition. His wife, Susan, was present also. Susan and Lloyd both helped out the the CAM Senior Food Boxes last month and have faithfully helped with the food boxes at Thanksgiving every year even when Lloyd was not a member of the club, so we are all very glad that they are back in the club full time. They are valuable assets.

Jerry Calvert, our Assistant Governor, gave a brief speech about the necessity of every link in the Rotary chain being strong. It is each member's responsibility to see that our club is stronger at the end of the year and that it becomes stronger in the future as well.

Jerry also shared that his goal is to charter a new Rotary Club in Waller County which will draw members from Waller, Prairie View, and Brookshire. He asked our assistance in this endeavor. Mike Reiland pointed out that he lives in Waller, but we reminded him that his first loyalty is to his job as "Mayor or Cypress," so he won't be switching!

Stan Carr jumped into the breach as well, and gave a presentation about shelter boxes. These are huge tubs that cost $850 and contain everything from tents to eating utensils so that a family of up to 10 people can survive after a disaster. We can purchase these and they would have the Rotary wheel on them. Ninety percent of the money donated actually goes to the boxes.

All in all, the meeting was very informative and productive.

Keith wants to let everyone know that due to the District Governor's upcoming visit, our board meeting will be held on August 4th, a week early. Please register for this online.

Several members shared good news today. Due to my temporary lapse of memory that I am now the "secretary" again, yours may have been lost!

Our program included an interesting speaker and a lively discussion of health care options.

Exchange student, Maria Smotkova from Czech Republic visited Gwen and Charlie.

D. Ray reminded us that August 8th is the Membership Seminar at North Shore HS. We need everyone who can to attend this. Please register for this event online by clicking on the event to the left of your bulletin. The cost is $10 per person. This event is free for new members and non-Rotarian spouses. The district leaders have desinged special sessions for them, so please encourage your husband or wife to attend along with you. The single biggest focus for Rotary this year. Without members, nothing else matters.

This picture shows Charlie and Sammy (and the gnome, of course) visiting the Bear Creek Copperfield Club.

Charlie at the River Oaks Club with Jack Wallace and the gnome!

Program presented by Brian Burke regarding spiritual fulfillment

Help Needed!!

Inspiring meeting speaker, Leslie Martone

The Board met on July 14th to discuss important Club matters.

The Rotary Roaming Gnome is logging some miles!

There will be a membership assembly on August 8th at North Shore High School. Everyone who can needs to attend.

The July 6th session was the first meeting for the new Club officers.

Food, Fellowship, and Fireworks combined to make this an event to remember.

The Club's service project at Reach Unlimited was a resounding success.

Don't forget about the July 4th party at Glen and Vicki's house. If you can, come on by around 5:30 for hamburgers and hotdogs. The address is 12931 King Circle, Cypress, 77429. The phone number is 281-955-5400. Call if you have questions or need directions. Bring lawn chairs for the Race Park Fireworks.

Tom finished out his year as President by awarding the remaining awards to those who has missed the Installation Banquet.

We accomplished so much in such a short time!

One of Keith's new projects this coming year will be for members of our club to visit every Rotary Club in District 5890.

The picture gallery has new pictures from the Small Steps Park Clean Up and the Installation Dinner at Ninfa's. Check 'em out!

Saturday will be a busy day for our club as we have the Small Steps project and the Installation Dinner.

The 2015 International Conference will be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, despite the Site Committee's recommendation that our city be chosen.

Our speaker told us about the acquisition by Lone Star College of the Hewlett Packard property off 249 (see adjacent map).

Today we had a great speaker and lot of good news.

Our club members shared lots of good news this week, but the bad news is that we were down to 67% attendance. We need to get that number back up. Hopefully some of you who were not there on Monday will make up this week either on line or at another club. You can find out when and where clubs meet by checking the links to the left or the download pages at the bottom right on our web site's home page.

Our speaker was Heather Burnett of Noah's Ark, dba Harris Co. Humane Society, a no-kill animal shelter located on 5 acres off Cypress Rosehill. Heather shared the progress of this wonderful facility over the last 10 years. The mission of the shelter is recue, rehabilitation, and care of homeless pets. They take in abused, unwanted, injured, and orphaned animals. They are doing an excellent job in providing a much-needed community service.

We had 2 guests besides the speaker, Wayne Beaumier of the Bear Creek Copperfield Rotary Club and Mark Urbach. Wayne is the incoming president of his club and is doing his homework by visiting other clubs in the area to get ideas for how to improve his club. We will also be visiting his club in the near future to benefit from their successes as well. Be thinking about what clubs you would like to visit in the upcoming year!

The Board held its regular meeting on June 9th.

There will be a gettogether at Glen and Vicki's house on the 4th for hamburgers. The kids can swim in the pool, and then we will go to the Race Park for fireworks. More details later, but plan on it!

Only six members have signed up on the web site for the Trash Pick-up on Saturday. If you haven't registered, please do so by clicking on the event at the left of this e-bulletin. You can even make a clever comment or just read the one Tom made! Wear long pants, gloves, a hat or cap, and bring insect repellent. We'll be done in an hour or maybe an hour and a half if everyone shows up!

Our good news coffers are brimming over with dollar bills once again.

Gary started the meeting off by recognizing the four guests: Mike Hoke's brother, Tim, who came all the way from Africa; Ian Carr, Stan's son, who came from Canada; Chesley Rockett from National Write Your Congressman; and Tiffany Moore from Houston Dog Park Assoc. We were delighted to have so many guests from such varied places.

Tom reminded everyone of the board meeting Tuesday at Keith's office and the Installation at Ninfa's on June 27th.

Mike Castro reminded us of the road clean-up this coming weekend. We will meet at the Cy-Falls parking lot at 8 AM. This project can count as a make-up for anyone who missed the meeting today!

Glen revealed the secret to attaining 100% attendance. If members will attend social or community service events as make-ups, we can have 100% attendance just like the Kingwood club.

Keith Peterson provided an interesting program about negotiation techniques. He taught us how to deal with difficult people and provided a very helpful handout.

Several members have asked that their spouses be sent the e-bulletin. This is a great way to keep them in the loop. If you would like your spouse added to the "Friends" list, email me at vicki.rowe@att.net and give me his/her email address.

The club is gearing up for several events in June. We need to start using the website to register for these events.

The Installation Dinner for our new officers will be Saturday, June 27th at Ninfa's. This event is for all club members and spouses. It is a very important event to attend to show your support and to learn about the goals for the next year.

We also have the highway clean up on June 13th. Mike Castro is in charge of this event and has it all planned.

The park disassembly is June 27th. Mike Hoke will be getting you a map at the next meeting.

Scroll back up to the top of this e-bulletin and click on the event listed on the left side to register. If you find you can't attend, it's simple to "unregister," so go ahead and try it!

We started the summer off right with good attendance and an informative program. We had four guests and two members present who have not been there in a while due to work conflicts. Glynn Knight and Abdul Tamimi were back in attendance, and we were very glad to have them there. Don Endebrock paid us a visit also, catching us up on Beckie's work situation. Other guests were Marilyn Farrell, who has applied for membership, Steve Durham, who we hope will apply soon, and Mike Milheim, who asked for an application as well. We are very happy to have all of you and hope we made you feel welcome and at home.

Our program was an informational one in which Tom led an open forum with each member putting in whatever information he/she had from participating in Rotary programs such as Youth Exchange, Friendship Exchange, Group Study Exchange, and clubs such as Interact, Earlyact, and Rotoract.

The emphasis was on Rotary's image here and around the world. Ted and Abdul shared the positive image that Rotary has in academic circles, Keith reiterated the importance of visiting other clubs, and Tom and Charlie emphasized the value of attending a District Conference. Stan told us that even a small club like ours can have a huge impact internationally if we partner with other clubs here and with clubs in other countries.

Rev. Justin emphasized the value of the friendships that Rotary fosters and the importance of personal connections in retaining members. Gwen and Charlie testified to the emotional effect that being a longtime member can have on you.

Glen Rowe explained the structure of Rotary to the new members and shared the boundaries of our district which stretch from Columbus, located out west on 290, south to Palacios, then east to Brazosport, and finally north to Tomball. If you get out a Texas map, you will see how challenging Keith's idea for us to visit all 60 of the District's Rotary Clubs really is.

Many members and guests eagerly shared their good news with the club.

Stan gave an excellent program about the history of the Salvation Army. It was founded in 1865 by William and Catherine Booth, and first called the Christian Mission. It was a church for converts who were not wealthy enough to worship at established English churches and who were not welcome there by the congregations because of their pasts.

The Salvation Army has operated in the Houston area for 120 years. It has stepped up in all of the major disasters since the Galveston hurricane of 1902. It offers an added component that other disaster relief agencies cannot, and that is spiritual relief. The Salvation Army exists in 118 countries and 145 languages. Many of the tenets under which the Salvation Army operates are very similar to Rotary's Four Way Test. They also took up the mantle and continue to operate Boys and Girls Clubs, a ministry which was started by Rotary. The amazing Harborlight Choir closed our meeting with another song and we got to join in. All in all, we had a terrific time.

Our good news cup runneth over this week!

Thanks to Stan for inviting us to visit the Salvation Army Church; we had a terrific time. We listened to and even sang along with the amazing Harborlight Choir. We ate delicious meat loaf cooked by the staff, and we toured the facility which has a sanctuary, school rooms, a gymnasium, a weight room, a game room, a computer lab, a large dining room and kitchen, and a playground.

They do such a terrific job of meeting the needs of local men, women, and children at this place. It was enlightening, entertaining, uplifting, and just plain fun to visit with Stan and his excellent staff. Thank you so much for having us, Stan!

We had an excellent turnout for the meeting with 20 members and 4 guests. Our guests were Chris Benson, Marilyn Farrell, who has turned in her application for membership, Don Endebrock, whom we all miss and hope will rejoin, and Haddie Hill, Vicki Rowe's best friend and partner in crime! Haddie actually got chosen to dance with the choir and there are pictures to prove it on the web site. Check 'em out!

Tom and Keith worked together to make the May board meeting a transitional one for the club officers as they and committee chairs planned for the new Rotary year.

Glen and Vicki Rowe hosted an orientation for the five new families that will be hosting exchange students this upcoming year. They had five enthusiastic families at their house who cannot wait for the two exchange students, one from Poland and one from Denmark, to arrive. The Polish boy will attend Jersey Village HS and the Danish boy will attend Cy Creek HS. D. Ray Young is the Youth Exchange Officer for our district; he was also in attendance at the orientation. Our outbound student, Candace, was there as well. Her family will be hosting the student from Poland.

CAM has a travel trailer that it uses to house people who need a temporary place to stay. The steps are in rickety shape and David Feldmeyer agreed to check it out and see if he can do something about it. If he needs help, he may be calling on some of you to lend a hand. Thanks, David, for representing our club in this neighborly act.

The best news was having Ted Lewis back, but there was much more that people shared.

We had such a great program last Monday with our speaker, Judy Jarvis, her husband, Richard, and their canine kids, Coco and the other adorable dog whose name I can't remember! They are service dogs that help people who cannot open doors for themselves, pickup objects that they drop, and fetch things that they need even from the refrigerator. It was amazing to see all the ways that a handicapped person can benefit from having one of these animals. They showed a video about service dogs and told us about the website myservicedog.com. These dogs really exemplify "Service Above Self" since they will forego treats and petting to do their jobs. Thanks, Justin, for another great program!

Next week's board meeting will be on Tuesday, May 12th, at 5:30 at Keith's office. It will be the first board meeting of Keith's new term of office, so all incoming officers should attend. Current officers need to be there as well so that we can make the transition smooth.

Please go through the registration process for this as an event on our web site, so that Keith will know how much beer to buy! It's easy. Just go to the "Upcoming Events" link on the top left side of this e-bulletin, click on "Board Meeting, May 12th" and you can register right now.

Keith shared the three venues that are open to us for the fall fundraiser. We have a choice of Juergen's Hall, Jersey Village Civic Center, and the SPJST Hall on Huffmeister. If you have an opinion, Keith would like to know in the next few weeks. He also offered a choice of three dates, Nov. 7th, 14th, and 21st, so speak now if you have a conflict with any of these. Thanks, Keith, for being on top of this!

D. Ray counted up the briskets sold and we are at 45. We need to sell 75, so please sell a few more and fax the orders to him in the next two days, or he may have to break an arm or two. There was some talk of unspecified and unpleasant retaliation. Don't make Ray go there!

Vicki gave everyone a "sweet" incentive to update your profile on the web site. Come on people, just do it!

Stan told us that the date for the visit to his facility will be May 18th. We will meet there and have lunch and our meeting, as well as a brief tour.

Our visitors included Marilyn Farrell, Sherry Worsham, Dale and Sherry's daughter, Whitnie and her adorable son, Rhett. Gary Smith was a guest of Mike Hoke's; Steve Durham came as a guest of Gary and Tom; and Dr. Andrew Garcia was there as Dr. Sammy Tao's guest. We hope to see many of these guests return and possibly join! Other guests included our speaker, Rhonda Bender, her husband, Steve, and Jeff Burden.

We had 22 members and 9 guests at the May 4th meeting. Our speakers were Rhonda Bender, participant in this year's MS 150 and Jeff Burden, a support person in this year's race.

The new address of our club is P. O. Box 2937, Cypress, Tx. 77410. Thanks, Gwen, for taking care of this!

We had lots of good news today!

Click on the thumbnail picture to enlarge it.

There is an icon in the corner of this bulletin that will take you to our website. Click on it and go to downloads on the right to get the brisket sale form. You can look at the photo gallery to see the Small Steps pictures. Any time you need to go to the website, open up an e-bulletin and you can get there from here. If you aren't registered as a user, just go to log in and say you forgot your password. It will email you a temporary password and then you can set your own. Please update your profile while you are there. Thanks!

Keith, Glen, Vicki, Vickie, Sue, and Gary attended the District Assembly last Saturday at San Jacinto College. They learned a lot about Rotary and how to make our club more effective. They will be sharing their knowledge in future board meetings.

Six Rotarians visited the nurturing center on Jensen Dr in the Fifth Ward. They were very impressed with the work this place is doing. The picture shows them in front of the van that took them on a ride through this impoverished neighborhood that it is difficult to believe exists in our city. Other pictures are available in the photo gallery on our website.

Ray Young has provided everyone with everything he/she needs to sell those briskets. Orders must be turned in at our next meeting. Please call your friends and neighbors and tell them about this great opportunity to avoid those crowded restaurants on Mother's Day. If you need the flyer you can get it off our website.

The ones who did not visit small steps had lunch together at Carl's, but no one has reported to me who was there or what they did. I do know that Don and Becky Endebrock were at the meeting and that they shared the good news that Becky has a great new job. The bad news is that it is in Dallas and involves 65% travel. If someone wants to email me and tell me what else happened, I'll send out a supplementary bulletin. Email Vicki Rowe at vicki.rowe@att.net.

We have a split meeting next week.

A lot was accomplished at this meeting.

No good news today.

The April 13th program was about partnering with CFEF.

We will be visiting Small Steps in two weeks.

Ten people shared good news with the club.

Great program by Ivan Butterfield

Keith Peterson spent the weekend in Dallas at the President Elect Training Seminar.

The volunteers who helped out at Reach Unlimited had a great time giving back to the community.

Ten of us were at the airport to greet the selection committee on Sunday.

The site committe was very impressed by the show of strength in District 5890.

Tom called a board meeting after the regular meeting to vote on the pending applications.

Ted Lewis explains the process of selecting Ambassadorial Scholars.

Three students received $1000 checks for their winning essays.

Our club donated 6 converter boxes to Boys and Girls Country last week.

If you haven't gone to our web site and registered, you should do so.

D. Ray Young filled everyone in on the brisket fundraiser.

Glen Rowe shared these facts at the March 16th meeting.

Every member is encouraged to attend this!

Next year's officers and board members have been elected and/or appointed.