The deadline for submitting your Club’s District Grant Final Report has been extended to June 1, 2020, to support clubs whose projects may have been delayed or impacted by Covid-19. You may use either the pdf or Word version available on the District website.(website tab "Service" and "District Grants" on drop-down menu.) Please remember to attach copies of supporting documentation including receipts, invoices, bank statements or canceled checks (remember to redact bank account numbers), and photographs showing “Rotarians At Work” on your project. Scan and email your report and supporting documentation to Bobby Chapman < bobbychapman.5910@gmail.com > by June 1, 2020. (If you are not able to meet this deadline, please submit a letter of explanation to Bobby Chapman.)
District Training Assembly Sessions Are Well Received
Our first ever virtual district training assembly sessions have been going quite well. The feedback has been very positive – once we got past the initial hesitation and resistance to online engagement.
Special thanks to all of our facilitators who have put in an incredible amount of time and preparation to make the sessions informative and meaningful!
The remaining sessions are still open if you’d like to register. Click the link below each session to register.
Tuesday, June 2—Membership 7:00 pm to 9: 00 pm
Facilitator District 5910 Membership Chairman Bunny Pratt
Recommended for Membership Chairs, President Elects/Nominees
Rotary Leadership Institute is a golden opportunity for you – and during this time period, it is being offered online! Parts I, II, and III are designed to be taken in succession, and each prior Part is a prerequisite for the next part. We look forward to having you join this exciting program!
Since our district is in the process of becoming an official member of the Lone Star Division of RLI, when in person meetings are being held again, we will be able to host sessions within our district instead of driving long distances to participate.
Rotary Leadership Institute . . .
offering leadership and Rotary
education training for Rotarians!
Rotary Leadership Institute is designed for those Rotarians who have the potential and willingness to engage in future club leadership (not necessarily as club presidents) to provide them with a quality education in Rotary knowledge and leadership skills so important in voluntary organizations. The leadership skills you will obtain at an RLI event will help you not only in your Rotary career, but will apply to your leadership efforts professionally as well.
Current course offerings and registration links can be found at:
If you’re looking for a good speaker for your club meeting, you can now find suggestions for both in person speakers and virtual programs.
Click on the “speaker at the podium” graphic on the bottom left of the home page
of our district website: rotary5910.org
If you would like to recommend an outstanding speaker who would be available either in person or virtually, please share those ideas with AG Cecily Kelly (cecilyk@aol.com).
As your Club begins to consider transitioning back to in-person meetings, a document with professional expertise and opinions will be helpful. It is shared with District 5910 Clubs by the Rotary Club of Galveston.
Angelina Rotary Club held a Work Day on Saturday, May 16 as part of their District Grant at the Department of Family Protective Services in Lufkin to complete our District Grant project. Rotarians and family members assisted with installing furniture, storage shelving and organizing to improve the programs ability to serve children in the foster care system in east Texas. Sleeping furniture and cots were provided for overnight stays with case workers while children are waiting on home placement, shelving units and closet organization helped ensure the children’s belongings were carefully stored, and items were added to make family visitation visits more comfortable.
There are a great number of residents of Jefferson County who suffer with what is called "food insecurity" normally and the pandemic has only exacerbated the problem.
The Club Board of Directors learned of the great need of the Southeast Texas Food Bank to supply food to those in need and took action to assist by making a major donation. President Joe Domino and a group of Rotarians met at the Southeast Texas Food Bank on Friday morning, May 15 and presented the Food Bank with a check for $10,000 from the Beaumont Rotary Foundation, Inc. (including the relief money received from the District). With the purchasing power of the Food Bank, the money will provide 30,000 meals to those in need.
President Joe Domino presents check to Southeast Texas Food Bank CEO Dan Maher while a group of Rotarians looked on.
After the check presentation and again on the following morning, Rotarian volunteers volunteered at the Food Bank and helped to pack 1,200 food boxes.
Since March, many business throughout the Cleveland area were deemed non-essential, a tornado destroyed many homes in Onalaska, and a church in Tarkington was providing food for at least 3000 a week. So, how could Rotary District 5910 and the Rotary Club of Cleveland do their part?
We received $500+ from Rotary District 5910. We asked our club members to make recommendations on who would receive the funds. Our members came up with 3 worthy suggestions: Center of Hope Polk County, Rural Shad Baptist Church, and Good Promotions.
Center of Hope Polk County: Jim Mayland – money would be used to assist those whose houses were either destroyed or badly damaged due to the tornado – approximately 40% of households in Onalaska were uninsured.
Rural Shade Baptist Church – Tarkington: Pastor Brad Dancer – gives food to those that live in the Tarkington area. They plan to use the money to build pantry building – they feed at least 3000 per week.
Good Promotions: Kristi Harris, owner, decided to create a t-shirt program to help businesses that had been deemed non-essential. She sold over 300 shirts with $10 per shirt and 30 non-essential businesses received $100 each.
On Wednesday, May 20, the Rotary Club of Cleveland presented each with a check for $500.
L-R: Gabe (Good Promotions), Kristi Harris (Good Promotions), Pastor Brad Dancer (Rural Shade Baptist Church), Rotarian Ernestine Belt, and Jim Mayland (Center of Hope)
ROTARY CLUB OF CLEVELAND RECOGNIZES STUDENTS OF THE MONTH(S)
Last September, the Rotary Club of Cleveland began to recognize student of the month from Cleveland High School and Tarkington High School. Because of the COVID-19, we were not able to meet in March and April, but did start meeting again on May 6, and, on May 20, we recognized the following students for the months for March, April, and May: Hailey Good, Jorge Hernandez, Colby Goodman, Savannah Davis, Tatiana Jones, Jesse Whitten, Micah Hare, Madison Willis, Brianna Mattis, Cameron Baker, Shilo Bradford, and Richard Guzman.
New Generations Chair Ernestine Belt presented to those present with a certificate and a framed copy of the 4-Way Test. She will contact the others and get their certificates and 4-Way Test to them.
March
April
May
THE ROTARY CLUB OF CLEVELAND
SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS FOR 2020-2021
The Rotary Club of Cleveland names the following as recipients of the Rotary Club of Cleveland Scholarship for 2020-2021:
Cleveland High School: Isabella Buckley, America Cruz, Martha Espinoza, Hailey Good, Tatiana Jones
Tarkington High School: Juan Espinoza, Anna Claire Lambert, Macie Moore, Gabrielle Williams, Madison Willis
Each will receive a scholarship in the amount of $1000.
The Friendswood Rotary Club, in conjunction with Friendswood Youth Baseball and the City of Friendswood, provided prepared meals to people in our community over a 2 month period beginning in March. Over the course of those 2 months, more than 6100 meals were provided. Those receiving meals included families in need, healthcare workers, senior citizens, residents at local retirement communities, and first responders.
This program also served as a means of supporting local businesses in Friendswood. All meals provided were purchased from local restaurants. This was purposeful support to help these businesses keep their doors open and keep employees on the payroll. The cost for each meal averaged just under $10.00 dollars, and as such, we were able to put a little over 60,000 dollars into the community.
Alyssa Tjagen from Friendswood Youth Baseball adds “We know Friendswoodians have big hearts, and we hope that this program will succeed in helping those in need, as well as be an opportunity for people who want to help serve others during this crisis.”
The program was started with an initial infusion of 30,000.00 dollars from the Friendswood Rotary Club Foundation. An additional 30,000 dollars was collected since March from local individuals and businesses. Major donors included Hometown Bank of Friendswood, Texas-New Mexico Power, Texan Bank, Shell, and AllState Insurance. This project could not have been a success without the support of the local community.
Dedicated volunteers spent approximately 3 hours per day, 3 days per week receiving the meals from restaurant vendors, preparing the packages to be handed out to drive-up folks, and delivery drivers, and then handing out meals to drive-up folks who picked up their meals at Renwick Baseball Park.
A secondary part of the program was to make a 5000 dollar donation to the Food Pantry at Mary Queen Catholic Church. As noted by Club President Robin Hall, “That institution is often the provider of last resort for struggling families and people who have specific food requirements that our meal program can’t accommodate. We want to help keep the pantry shelves full.”
Our weekly meeting have through Zoom - complying with the Social Distancing. Our speakers primarily have been our club members. Each member has been giving an update on what they have been doing or working on.
Pat Prein spoke on Dolly Parton Imagination Library, Gary Parker spoke on his Shattered Lives Indie Movie Project. Deanna Voitle spoke on the Paycheck Protection Program Loans. Pam Tipton will be speaking on market conditions. As a club we have been trying to do things to keep the members engaged and spirits up - with a few fun games on Facebook.
Even with the COVID-19 pandemic, Rotary Club of League City continued to distribute food to those in need. In the month of May our volunteers included Keller Williams Red Shirt Day, The Lions Club, Amoco Credit Union and many community Volunteers.
Rotary Provides Lunch for frontline heroes
With support from Rotary District 5910, the Rotary Club of League City provided lunch for the staff at Regent Care Center, League City, a nursing home that has been caring for several COVID-19 patients.
Six Finalists, Three Rotary Clubs and Clear Creek Independent School District Celebrate Teachers of the Year
When the Annual Teacher of the Year Luncheon could not be held due to COVID-19, Clear Creek Independent School District and Rotary Clubs of League City, Seabrook and SpaceCenter came to together and planned a parade, complete with posters and noisemakers to surprise the six finalists. Superintendent Dr. Greg Smith presented each one with a check from the three Rotary Clubs.
Mark Browning (right) of the Bryan Rotary Club presented a check for $1,312 to Livingston Rotary Club President Lee Hon (left) for tornado disaster relief in Polk County. A number of Rotary clubs in District 5910 have made donations to the Livingston Rotary Club for disaster relief. On April 22, a large wedge tornado destroyed 173 homes and damaged at least 306 homes in the Onalaska and Seven Oaks areas of Polk County, Texas. 33 people were injured, and 3 lost their lives.
The Rotary Satellite Club of Palestine – Evening organized a food delivery for their May service project. Five Palestine food banks were the recipient of various canned goods, flour, beans, canned meats and fish. The $5,000 project will serve as humanitarian aid during the Covid 19 Pandemic. Rotarians are proud to assist in this effort! Special thanks to William George Co. Inc. for assistance with delivery!
Hope Station Food Bank
Front Row: Rotarians Nancy Lavinski & Sloan Shuffler Back Row: Diane Davis & Brandon Green
St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank
Rotarians (Far Left) Linda Walton & (Far Right) Rachael Johnson. (Center) Staff from St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank
Multi-Cultural Center
Rotarians Jean Mollard and Carol Herrington Staff at Center and William George Co Driver
Storehouse Ministries
Kurt Stone - Manager
Court Street Community Food Bank
L-R: Palestine Rotary Club President Leon Willhite, Satellite Evening Club Chair PDG Brenda Walker, William George Co. Frank George, Jr and Driver Matt Mosley.
Spindletop Rotary is thriving while following pandemic guidelines and meeting on Zoom. Each week draws a bigger crowd than the one before thanks to the creative genius of Rene Latiolais and Heather Kugler who have made every meeting something to look forward to. Programs have ranged from how to cut your own hair to gardening tips and an update about the U.S. Census. For fun, we have participated in living room scavenger hunts, Cinco de Mayo recipe swaps and trivia games. Spindletop members have focused on fun and camaraderie, while looking out for our individual members during this time.
We even inducted 4 new members at one meeting through a virtual induction ceremony, a new club record.
Several members have been participating in online district training in order to learn how to face new challenges. As a group, we are stronger than ever and look forward to facing the future head on.
The Vidor Rotary Club met to put up flags for Memorial Day, and even had a future Rotarian on board! It was a family affair, and we were happy to see each other in person.
The deadline for submitting your Club’s District Grant Final Report has been extended to 
District Training Assembly Sessions Are Well Received
