Rotary e-Club of Houston Newsletter (October, 2023) (Oct 19, 2023)

Speaker Series - Thursday, October 19 @ NOON

We will have our next Speaker Series at noon on Thursday, October 19, 2023. Please join us for a panel discussion on "Diagnosis: Cancer and the Mental Health Aspects for the Patient and for the Family". We have several club members who will share their experiences and their journey. Listen to how you can offer emotional support for family and friends who receive the diagnosis of cancer. There are different ways to deal with cancer and it is important to discover what works best for each patient to deal with cancer. While cancer is a physical illness, it has a significant impact on the mental health of the patients as well as those close to the patient. We have all known someone who has taken this journey or may be currently dealing with this diagnosis. Invite someone you know to share in our discussion. Guests are always welcome!

http://https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87156335370?pwd=RVFacmRJOEdEaUJCRzV1OHRpa3A1Zz09&from=addon

Community Service

Our Houston E-Club community service theme for October & November is “Food for the Needy & Veteran Support” – Concentrating service efforts to make the lives of those less fortunate more comfortable as we head into fall and the Thanksgiving season. Three areas of specific needs are shown below with connection opportunities to volunteer and help in the Houston area. For those outside Houston look for similar needs and support opportunities in your community …. These needs are everywhere this time of year. Be proactive and represent Rotary wherever you are and please do so often!

Operation Turkey - https://www.operationturkey.com

Operation Gratitude – Care packages for active-duty service and first responders Homepage - Operation Gratitude

Veterans Day Event and support – letters to vets & active-duty service members

Welcome New Members!

Glenda Guzman Macal

HELGA MATTEI

Helga Mattei is returning to our e-club and was a Founding Member of our club. She has returned to Houston and is eager to get back to volunteering as a Rotarian. She loves to travel, and enjoys writing, reading and research. Woodworking and painting are activities she does in her spare time, too. Helga is a Consultant and Life Coach. Welcome back, Helga!

Glenda's Rotary classification is Education - Foreign Language Teacher. Glenda already actively volunteers with our Rotary district committee in Youth Exchange. Glenda is fluent in Spanish and enjoys multilingual education. In addition, she enjoys Zumba, dance, real estate, and yoga meditation. She is the finance of Ruben Santos. Glenda currently lives in Stafford, Texas. She met other Rotarians in the Houston area at our Halloween Party last year. Welcome to the Rotary e-Club of Houston!

Program: How to Design Climate Resilient Buildings

Alyssa-Amor Gibbons designs environmentally conscious architecture that combines a reverence for nature with a sense of human interconnectedness.

Architecture can't ignore the realities of climate change. For time-tested solutions that perform under extreme conditions, designer Alyssa-Amor Gibbons says we should look to traditional buildings. Taking us to her home of Barbados, where the hurricane season is unforgiving and freak storms are becoming more frequent, Gibbons points to the brilliance of endemic designs that are built to work with nature -- rather than against it.

What's Happening

President Stan Edwards and Kim Rogers - Traveling across the USA from Antigua, Guatemala including the Carolinas, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Texas and now unable to return to Guatemala due to political unrest and pro-democracy protests.

Ruby Powers - Attended the American Bar Association Law Practice Division Fall meeting and had a fun night out with tickets to The Beatles Love Cirque du Soleil show.

Brittany Johnson - A fun girl's night at the Christmas in Cowtown. in Fort Worth even. though she already has her Christmas shopping completed.

Adriane Miller - Completed writing a screenplay with Bob Gunner, a paranormal spec screenplay "Eye of the Storm". "A homicide detective is called to a hospice in Corpus Christi, Texas during a hurricane at the request of the mother of a person of interest in multiple missing person cold cases. Only to be forced to shelter in place during the storm which seems to strengthen multiple spirits that are haunting the building."

Robin Charlesworth - Recently elected as Vice-President of ICC USA-Ukraine for a three-year term.

Wind Nguyen - Represented our e-club at the Viet Cultural Fest 2023 - Taste of Vietnam at NRG Center. He was one of the artists in the Art Contest also. PDG Nick Giannone was also enjoying the festivities.

Isis Meijas - Traveled to Greece while continuing to follow her passion for clean water and health issues such as malaria (did you know that malaria has killed more people than any other disease over the course of human history?).

Chopin and Joan Kiang - Optimism and prayers have helped pull Joan through cancer treatment and tests now show all malignant Lobular Carcinoma have been surgically removed and no lymph nodes show any cancer. She is currently receiving radiation treatment for a couple of weeks. Please continue to lift up Joan in your thoughts and prayers. Our club send positivities vibes along with flowers to show support to this always generous couple.

Ukraine Culture & Spirit Program

On September 29, 2023, Rotary District 2232 organized an excellent program to share in the Rotary world. The program is about an hour long, but I wanted to share it for those who would like to take time to view it and learn more about the culture of Ukrainians. Our e-club has hosted two Open World teams from Ukraine with a focus on Energy Security. We also have one member who lives in Ukraine - Valerii Iakovenko.

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Mental Health Summit in March, 2024

Hello everyone in District 5890,

I’m Evelyn Traylor, your chair for Mental Health.
You all may already know that our International Rotary President, Gordon McInally, has asked all of us to “become champions in our effort to illuminate mental health needs near and far”.
In this initiative he also says “we need to advocate for removal of the stigma talking about mental health, help people find better quality care, and support them through their journey to recovery”.

How can we all do this ? Education on this topic is very important, and letting those ( of all ages)
know it’s ok to talk about mental health and to let them know what resources are available to them!

Myself and my mental health committee are planning an all day Mental Health Summit in March of 2024. Your help is needed. We hope to have a member of each club participate and I’m presently talking to the chairs of our Interact clubs and the Interact students themselves on September 30th at Round Up.

The Summit will consist of break out sessions with professional speakers in their areas of expertise in the mental field in the Houston area.
There will also be panel discussions with adults and with students.

We would greatly appreciate your help! Please call me or email me if you are interested in helping:)

Sincerely,

Evelyn Traylor
Rotary 5890 Mental Health Chair
ebtrlr@aol.com
My cell: 281-794-0687

To Do List for Active Rotarians

1. Attend the Speaker Series on October 19, 2023 at Noon CST.

2. Read the OCTOBER newsletter and listen to the TedTalk (counts as a meeting credit).

3. Update your own Biography on ClubRunner. If you have already written yours, please read about another club member to get to know them better.

4. Pay your dues (about 50% have already paid). Dues are $200.

5. Donate to The Rotary Foundation - POLIO PLUS this month.

6. Community Service - Support a food pantry this month or support our Veterans.