Who are we? The Original Rotary Club of Houston founded in 1912What is Rotary? Rotary is a global network of 1.2 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.Click "Read More" for additional Questions....
Join us prior to meetings at 11:30 a.m.
For our virtual Meet and Greet.
President
President Elect
Secretary
Treasurer
Treasurer Elect
Sergeant-at-Arms
Past President
Rotary Foundation Chair
Director 2018-2021
Director 2018-2021
Director 2019-2022
Director 2018-2021
Director 2018-2021
Director 2019-2022
Director 2019-2022
Director 2020-2023
Director 2020-2023
Director 2020-2023
Director 2020-2023
Director 2020-2023
Director at Large
Club Administrator
Classification Committee
Burnett Bayland
Camp Enterprise
Fresh Start
Distinguished Citizen Award
Interact Rotaract
Interact Rotaract
International Service
Membership Chair
Programs
Public Image
Red Badge
Rotary 101
Veterans Chair
Youth and Education Co-Chair
Youth and Education Co-Chair
Executive Secretary / Director
Member Birthdays:
-
Sally AndrewsMarch 5
-
Ted HirtzMarch 6
-
Charlie EwingMarch 8
-
Rick OlsenMarch 8
-
Richard MeekMarch 9
-
Carl AllredMarch 11
-
David EllerMarch 13
-
Robert EckelsMarch 14
-
Welcome WilsonMarch 17
-
Joe ColangeloMarch 23
-
Mark EnisMarch 28
Spouse/Partner Birthdays:
-
Joni KurigerMarch 21
-
Jane LeeMarch 30
-
Dennis HardingMarch 31
Anniversaries:
-
Dorothy BeelerMichael RuehmanMarch 1
-
Richard MeekPaige MeekMarch 9
-
Sharon Hemphill, JD, LL.M.Stephen King, Ph.D.March 12
-
Robby PykeCrystalMarch 17
-
Paul FrenchMelissaMarch 23
Join Date:
-
Deborah FalknorMarch 1, 200021 years
-
Stephen WilliamsMarch 1, 200516 years
-
Elizabeth JacksonMarch 4, 20192 years
-
Jack OwenMarch 5, 198734 years
-
Thomas MitchellMarch 14, 20183 years
-
Ian HirtzMarch 15, 20174 years
-
Dave BeldingMarch 20, 199724 years
-
Richard MeekMarch 21, 199130 years
-
Syed AhmedMarch 23, 198932 years
-
Stephen CooneyMarch 24, 20156 years
-
Charles FosterMarch 27, 198635 years
Richard S. Lawrence
District 7890 - Chair
Thursday March 18, 2021
11:30 A.M. - 1:00 P.M.
Rick received Bachelor of Building Science and Bachelor of Architecture degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. He was a practicing architect in Manchester, CT for 46 years until his retirement in 2015 when he and Elin made Ft. Lauderdale their residence and began spending summers in Rhode Island.
He joined the Manchester, CT Rotary Club in 1978 and in 2000 received the first of six Paul Harris Fellow awards. For the past six years he has served as District 7890 Chair for Water & Sanitation Projects. In 2014 Rotary International presented him with the “Service Above Self” Award – Rotary’s highest honor and awarded annually to a maximum of 150 individuals throughout the world.
***********************************************
While vacationing in Guatemala in 2006 Rick attended a meeting of the Rotary Club of La Antigua, Guatemala, making the initial connections that resulted in twenty-five sustainable clean water and sanitation projects completed from 2007 through 2020. His presentation today describes the efforts to fund another two villages in Rotary years 2019-2021 utilizing the ninth and tenth Global Grants.
David J. Firestein
President and CEO, George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations
President and CEO, George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations
Thursday April 22, 2021
11:30 A.M. - 1:00 P.M.
11:30 A.M. - 1:00 P.M.
David J. Firestein is the inaugural president and CEO of the George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations (Bush China Foundation) and a founding and current member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Prior to joining the Bush China Foundation, Firestein was the founding executive director of The University of Texas at Austin’s (UT) China Public Policy Center (CPPC) and a clinical professor at UT’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Before moving to UT, Firestein served as senior vice president and Perot Fellow at the New York City-based EastWest Institute (EWI), where he led the Institute’s track 2 diplomacy work in the areas of U.S.-China relations, East Asian security and U.S.-Russia relations; Firestein, who held EWI’s lone endowed chair, remains one of the longest-serving senior executives in EWI history.
A decorated career U.S. diplomat from 1992–2010, Firestein specialized primarily in U.S.-China relations. Among the honors Firestein garnered during his diplomatic career were the Secretary of State’s Award for Public Outreach (2006) and the Linguist of the Year Award (1997). Toward the end of his State Department career, Firestein served as an elected member of the Board of Governors of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), the union and professional association of the United States Foreign Service; in this capacity, he represented and worked to advance the interests of several thousand State Department constituents. He also served as the elected president of the large community associations of the U.S. embassies in Beijing and Moscow.
Prior to joining the Bush China Foundation, Firestein was the founding executive director of The University of Texas at Austin’s (UT) China Public Policy Center (CPPC) and a clinical professor at UT’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Before moving to UT, Firestein served as senior vice president and Perot Fellow at the New York City-based EastWest Institute (EWI), where he led the Institute’s track 2 diplomacy work in the areas of U.S.-China relations, East Asian security and U.S.-Russia relations; Firestein, who held EWI’s lone endowed chair, remains one of the longest-serving senior executives in EWI history.
A decorated career U.S. diplomat from 1992–2010, Firestein specialized primarily in U.S.-China relations. Among the honors Firestein garnered during his diplomatic career were the Secretary of State’s Award for Public Outreach (2006) and the Linguist of the Year Award (1997). Toward the end of his State Department career, Firestein served as an elected member of the Board of Governors of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), the union and professional association of the United States Foreign Service; in this capacity, he represented and worked to advance the interests of several thousand State Department constituents. He also served as the elected president of the large community associations of the U.S. embassies in Beijing and Moscow.
Our weekly meetings have been via Microsoft Teams since March 2020. Recordings are located below.
Gerald B. Smith
Smith Graham Co.
Smith Graham Co.
Click here for Video ----> February 25, 2021 <---- Click here for Video
Crime Stoppers - Houston
Director of Victim Services and Advocacy
Click here for Video ----> February 11, 2021 <---- Click here for Video
Moderator: Stephen L Williams, MEd, MPA, Director, City of Houston Health Department
Dr. David Persse, Health Authority, City of Houston Health Department
Sherri D. Onyiego MD, PhD, Director, Nutrition & Chronic Disease Prevention, Nutrition and Chronic Disease Prevention Division
March 4, 2021 WATCH ONLINE
February 25, 2021 WATCH ONLINE
February 11, 2021 WATCH ONLINE
February 4, 2021 WATCH ONLINE
Schools are closed…water, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper gone…No Rodeo or Sports…
How concerned should we be? How worried should we be?
The Rotary Club of Houston is facilitating a discussion directly from the experts.
The Rotary Club of Houston
Honors
David S. Wolff
2020 Distinguished Citizen Award
What is DCA 2020
Rotary Distinguished Citizen Award is presented annually to someone in Houston who exhibits high ideals, leadership and philanthropy. The funds raised support our on-going service activities. This year we are honored to present the Distinguished Citizen Award to David S. Wolff for his service to the growth and development of Houston.
Since it was first presented in 1962, the Rotary Distinguished Citizen of the Year Award has gone to an impressive array of individual Houstonians and Houston institutions. The Rotary Distinguished Citizen Award is the Rotary Club of Houston’s major fundraiser for its many community service projects.
Meet Our Honoree
The Rotary Club of Houston is a group of business leaders working together collaboratively to impact positive change in our community and around the world, operating consistently with Rotary's motto of Service Above Self. Some of our service projects include:
- Rotary Distinguished Citizen Award is presented annually to someone in Houston who exhibits high ideals, leadership and philanthropy. The funds raised support the club’s on-going service activities.
- Camp Enterprise is an annual activity that introduces business and business ethics to 75 high school juniors. The funds for this event are raised with an annual golf tournament.
- Burnett Bayland Outreach has delivered personal support and mentoring to at-risk children under the jurisdiction of the county. Started in 1919, it is the longest continuous service project of any Rotary worldwide.
- Rotary House across from MD Anderson created as a culmination of a thirty year dream of our club. the successful fun raising reality of a $26 million fund raising reality is the largest project by a single Rotary club in history.
The club also works actively in many other areas including mentoring elementary school youth, giving assistance to ex-offenders, and international projects, including Polio Plus.
From the earliest days of the organization, Rotarians were concerned with promoting high ethical standards in their professional lives. One of the world's most widely printed and quoted statements of business ethics is The Four-Way Test, which was created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor (who later served as RI president) when he was asked to take charge of a company that was facing bankruptcy. This 24-word test for employees to follow in their business and professional lives became the guide for sales, production, advertising, and all relations with dealers and customers, and the survival of the company is credited to this simple philosophy. Adopted by Rotary in 1943, The Four-Way Test has been translated into more than a hundred languages and published in thousands of ways. It asks the following four questions: "Of the things we think, say or do:
1. Is it the TRUTH?
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOOD WILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
AND AS THE ROTARY CLUB OF HOUSTON SAYS
5. Will it be FUN!
We meet In Person
Thursdays at 12:00 PM
Virtual via Microsoft Teams
P.O Box 22027
Houston, TX 77227-2027
United States of America
Houston, TX 77227-2027
United States of America
Phone:
(713) 973-9936
-
Jennifer J. Scott Williams
Mar 11, 2021
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM -
Water & Sanitation Projects
Mar 18, 2021
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM -
Dr. Geovanny Ponce - HISD East Area Superintendent
Apr 01, 2021
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM -
Mary E. Klotman, MD & Paul Klotman, MD
Apr 08, 2021
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM -
District 5890 Conference in Horseshoe Bay
Apr 15, 2021 – Apr 18, 2021
-
David J. Firestein - U.S.-China Relations
Apr 22, 2021
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM -
Rotary International Convention in Taipei, Taiwan
Jun 12, 2021 – Jun 16, 2021
-
District 5890 Installation for 2021-2022
Jun 26, 2021
-
District Conference in Chicago
Oct 14, 2021 – Oct 17, 2021
-
Rotary International Convention in Houston
Jun 04, 2022 – Jun 08, 2022
The Supurunda Water Supply Project in Papua New Guinea has been a successful example of how Rotary is advancing peace and providing clean water and sanitation.
For the Rotary Club of Chiang Mai International, Thailand, virtual meetings were a lifeline.
Here’s how joining a Rotary club helped enhance Ashley Holmer’s work