Maria is the Marketing Director at Padgett Stratemen & Co's, one of Texas' largest locally owned CPA and business advisory firms.
Maria will be speaking about Padgett Stratemen & Co's program to donate laptop computers twice a year to charities in need of computers. She asked to present to us since we are plugged in to many deserving charities. Maria will explain the program and look to us for help in discovering charities (Boys and Girls Club or Guerrero Eye Clinic for example) that could be worthy recipients of the computers.
- See more at: http://portal.clubrunner.ca/3941/Speakers/6c3c79f5-8be5-416d-895e-7988d4c718b1#sthash.QchAKoBK.dpuf
State Representative Jim Murphy is serving his fourth term in the Texas House, representing District 133 in West Houston. Murphy serves as the Chairman of the House Corrections Committee and is a member of the Ways & Means Committee.
Rep. Murphy is President of District Management Services, a consulting firm assisting economic development organizations. For the past 20 years, he has served as one of the driving forces of Westchase District - the 4.2 square mile business district in West Houston.
Murphy has served on numerous boards in our community including the HCC Board of Trustees, the Houston West Chamber of Commerce, West Houston Medical Center, and the Houston Association of Commercial Real Estate Professionals. He is an active member of the Greater Houston Partnership, the Houston Association of Realtors, and the Urban Land Institute.
Murphy’s community service includes work with the Jaycees -- where he served as local President and as State President. He was named one of the Five Outstanding Young Texans in 1995. He has coached youth sports and served on the pastoral council of St. Cyril’s Catholic Church. He was also a founder and Vice Chair of the Alief Education Foundation and was appointed to the John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Institute’s Advisory Council by the UT Regents.
Murphy grew up in West Houston and graduated from Strake Jesuit and UT Austin. He and his wife, Dr. Kathleen Murphy, have two sons, Robert and Pace. They are active members of St. John Vianney Catholic Church.
Spring Branch ISD’s Mentor staff is speaking about the importance of mentoring this week. If you can donate one-hour a week to be a friend and encourager to an SBISD student, please sign-up.
SBISD provides training year round. You can pick the age group that you want to mentor. We would like to provide at least five mentors from MSB Rotary.
If you won’t be at the Friday meeting and want to mentor, send an email to mlandrum@landrumandassoc.com. Mary Grace will connect you with SBISD. If you are currently a mentor, please let Mary Grace know.
We would like to acknowledge all of our mentors in a future newsletter.
As a reminder, the first Landrum Middle School Lunch for Most Improved Students is November 4, from 11:30a -12:30p. If you would like to join Nugent, Rod, Wayne, Genevieve and Mary Grace, please send a note to Mary Grace at luncheon mlandrum@landrumandassoc.com.
Damien Mander of the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF) provided us with an amazing talk on wildlife preservation in Africa, and his group’s role in this fight.
Damien served twelve tours of military service in Iraq in the Australian version of our Navy’s SEALS. His role was to source recruits for, and train, the Iraqi military.
After leaving the military, Mander spent time touring Africa. That is where he found his calling. Mander discovered that the Game Rangers who protect game reserves in Zimbabwe and South Africa are better trained than, and outgunned by, the poachers who prey on the elephants and rhinos living in the preserves.
Damien began recreating the work he did in Iraq – he recruited new Game Rangers and trained them to work as a military unit. Less this sounds unnecessary, let’s review the state of poaching in Africa.
Worldwide, the money, organization, and brutality of poaching ranks with human trafficking, gun running, and drug smuggling. Some poaching organizations are fundraising fronts for terrorist cells. African poachers have automatic weapons, body armor, helicopters, and the protection of some corrupt government officials. Why? Because a rhino’s horn is worth twice as much as gold: $35,000 per pound – and a single horn can be 20 lbs.
Mozambique is coming out of a sixteen year civil war. They have a population of men who have been trained to fight and hardened by war – and who lack education. With a few jobs available, these men turn to poaching. They are the brutal army of the poacher.
Along with other anti poaching organizations, IAPF has done fundraising and lobbying that has increased the pay, weaponry, and government support provided by Zimbabwe. The situation has improved a little, but not far enough or fast enough to provide the rhinos and elephants the help they need.
IAPF changes the poacher’s calculus. The IAPF’s slogan is, “Wildlife Conservation through Direct Action.” The “direct action” means meeting high level militarized force with high level militarized force. In Zimbabwe, there is a “shoot on site” law where poachers are concerned. While this is not the end IAPF seeks, Game Rangers and their military advisors have been in many fatal fire fights.
Unfortunately, the monetary stakes are so high, many poachers are willing to risk their lives for an elephant tusk or a rhino horn. More funding and support are needed.
Damien Mander visited us as a part of his six week fundraising tour of United States, raising awareness and funds for the fight against poachers and corruption. For more information, visit www.IAPF.org.
Jagdip Ahluwalia,GSE Team Leader, Report on Indian Trip
I am writing to thank all of you for the opportunity to serve as the team leader of the RD 5890 GSE Team to RD 3202 (Southern India)
It was a wonderful experience and I was proud to lead one of the best teams our district has ever selected (Thank you for your selection)
We flew Continental Airlines, arriving into India at a decent time and after an overnight stay in Mumbai took the flight to the entry point into one of the two States we were visiting called Tamil Nadu. The town (Coimbatore) is no longer part of 3202 (was part of the undivided 3200) but we were met by a host of Rotarians and sent off to a beautiful coconut plantation cum resort within the district to overcome our jet lag.
After the rest we were ready for our experience-and what an experience it was for the team. We visited several small towns in the two states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, experienced the best of what their cities/areas were famous for and enjoyed the warmth and home hospitality that the GSE program is famous for.
We shared the lives of the people and visited the places they are proud of. We also had a chance to visit several Rotary projects and one of our members Sonia Azad (Channel 13 TV reporter) has made small clips of some of these projects to be shared with fellow Rotarians. We were the third of 3 GSE teams from the USA traveling across RD 3202 and caught up with the other two teams at the District Conference.
We addressed 9 Rotary meetings, attended the 3202 District conference and attended a special meeting co-hosted by RD 3202 and 3201 at Coimbatore with 5 inbound and 5 outbound GSE teams hosted by the 3201 and 3202 GSE Alumni.
We spoke to Interact Clubs, Rotaract Clubs and College students. The best times, as always, were the time spent with our host families and their friends.
During Vocational days, we each interacted with people for our vocations. I addressed several Chambers of Commerce leaders and our team will share our experience with you all at our visits to the sponsoring clubs and at the District Conference.
The team remembers the food, the spirituality, the closeness of the family ties and the love and affection their Rotary family shared with them. They departed as Ambassadors of RD 5890 and return as Ambassadors of Southern India
To get on the club website, go to: http://portal.clubrunner.ca/3941 Click on the Member Area button, and enter your user id which consists of your first name, a period, your last name, a period and 3941. (gwen.corolla.3941)
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