August 2016 Club Meeting

Kandice Cabets started off the meeting with a prayer by Frank Parker and the pledge of allegiance to both the U.S. and Texas flags. Kandice then mentioned several upcoming events that our club might want to get involved in.

 

The first event was the "Stop Hunger Now" event taking place on Saturday, Sept. 17th from 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. at Magnolia High School. The Magnolia Rotary Club and the Interact Clubs along with other community volunteers will be packing 10,000 meals for "Stop Hunger Now" (www.StopHungerNow.org). This will be a great way to help make a difference in global hunger. Within the two hours, we can make a difference in the lives of thousands of people. We need about 50 volunteers to help with the assembly line to create the meals. Please share this post and let us know if you can be a part of this event.

 

The next event is the "Food Fair" to be held on December 10, 2016 from 7:00 am until 9:00 am in Willis Texas. All District 5910 (our District) Rotary Clubs are expected to participate. The specific location is still TBD. We will discuss next week when more people are in attendance.

 

Frank Parker then spoke about the "Colonias" in Texas. The Office of the Secretary of State defines a "colonia" as a residential area along the Texas-Mexico border that may lack some of the most basic living necessities, such as potable water and sewer systems, electricity, paved roads, and safe and sanitary housing. However, according to the S.O.S. and the MISD school system, there may be "Colonias" in Montgomery County that could use our help. Frank Parker agreed to talk to both the MISD and S.O.S. to find out what we can do to help these people and report back at the next meeting where we discuss this again. Frank also spoke about a "kit" that can be purchased at Academy for about $20 that can treat many gallons of non potable water for people that do not have access to clean drinking water. According to their website, the Sawyer Mini Water Filter is great for outdoor recreation, hiking, camping, scouting, domestic and international travel and emergency preparedness. The filter removes 99.99999% of all bacteria, such as salmonella, cholera and E. coli and 99.9999% of all protozoa, such as giardia and cryptosporidium. The product sells for $19.99 and can filter up to 100,000 gallons. It weighs 2 oz. and is made in USA.

 

The last discussion at the meeting was about the school scholarships that our club gives out every year. Last year, we gave out $6,000 in scholarships and expect to do the same again. Real stated that we really need to define the criteria for what scholarships we provide. Although there was not enough members present (only 9), the group decided to put together a list of things we felt were important and then provide that list to the entire membership for a future discussion and decision. Kandice indicated that we need to do this as quickly as possible in order to provide information for kids who might want to apply for our scholarships. The results of that discussion were as follows:

 

1. Scholarships should be for both academic and vocational needs.

2. Give one $1,000 scholarship to the MISD student with the most community service hours for this school year (2016-2017).

3. The remaining $5,000 will be split between Lone Star College ($2500) and any 4 year college ($2500).

4. It is hoped that the Lone Star College system and local businesses can match all or some part of the scholarships we give out.

5. The scholarships are open to all MISD senior students including the Alpha Academy.

6. Interact students and students who have attended RYLA should be given a higher priority.

7. Except for the community service scholarship, all other scholarships will be split between the first and second semester. The 2nd semester part of the scholarship will not be given out if a student drops out of college. The criteria for what constitutes a successful completion of the first semester still needs to be defined.

 

Carl Gerhardt agreed to send out the above list to all members to be used as a discussion list at the next meeting where we have a majority of our members present.