By David Taylor / Managing Editor
Danna Nino called it one of the things the North Shore Rotary Club does best—hand out checks to area charities. Nino, who became president of the club in July, has already been giving out money to organizations and last Thursday, the club included San Jacinto College, Operation Turkey, and Youth-Reach Houston in their benevolence.
The money was raised by the club at their annual Crawfish Boil and Fish Fry fundraiser back in April which Nino said netted over $300,000.
Each incoming president leads the fundraiser for their year as president. The event attracts several thousand supporters who participate in the live and silent auctions and await the announcement of the winner of the raffle, this year a choice between a Toyota Rav4 or Toyota Tundra pickup truck, furnished by Community Toyota of Baytown.
The club showed their continued support for three organizations that have a direct effect on the community.
“Today we’re giving San Jacinto College North $27,000 for scholarships,” Nino announced. “It’s broken down into four different groups,” she told the North Channel Star.
Approximately $2,400 is being set aside for the new RN/BSN program helping nurses achieve the new bachelor’s degree offered at the campus. Another $8,000 will go to other nursing program scholarships.
“We are also giving $10,000 to the MECA program which is basically the dual credit program at the high schools,” she said. The Modified Early College Academy is a two-year program allowing high school juniors to earn an associate degree simultaneously while attending high school. At the end of the two years, they achieve an associate degree.
The club also gave $6,600 in scholarship money reserved for other vocational programs.
Another check was doled out to Operation Turkey.
“The club continues to support us, and we appreciate the $3,000 check,” said Bob Gebhardt, past district governor for Rotary District 5890.
“Last year we fed 11,500 people in their homes on Thanksgiving Day. We do a tailgate on Wednesday where we smoke approximately 600 turkeys then we take them apart and put together the packaged meals,” he said.
On Thursday morning, Gebhardt explained they have volunteers who come to pick up the meals and deliver them to shut-ins all over Harris County.
“I know we send a lot of meals over to you on this side of town. I want to thank the Channelview High School Interact Club who sends us about 50 kids to volunteer,” Gebhardt said.
One good turn deserves another. While Gebhardt was at the front receiving a check, he pulled out a check for $2,000 to give to the NS Rotary Club, a grant from District 5890 for hurricane relief funds.
“The District set aside $30,000, we received about $25,000 from Rotary International Disaster Fund, and about another $12,000 for Rotary Clubs throughout the state of Texas to help take care of issues from Beryl. Your club applied for the maximum grant of $2,000 and we offer that to you today,” he said.
Bill Palko, past district governor and NS Rotary club sergeant at arms, said they money would be used for Precinct 2 homebound seniors.
“A lot of them lost their food due to the loss of power during the hurricane. We’re going to replace that food, buy it, bag it, and deliver it in sacks to the seniors in the next few weeks,” Palko said.
Every year, Youth-Reach Houston has a line item of $5,000 donated to them from the Rotary Club to help the charity with their mission of assisting troubled young men. This year, the amount was a bit of a surprise.
“We are adding an additional $10,000 because they suffered more than $300,000 in damages to their facility and property,” Nino said.
Founder and Director Curt Williams was appreciative.
“When you pay for property insurance on a commercial level campus as large as what we have out there, there’s just no way to avoid getting slapped by that deductible,” Williams said.
He reported that one building was crushed by a tree and probably can’t be rebuilt. Another building sheltering the boys fell on that home. They also suffered water damage inside properties and tree damage throughout the property.
Once added up, the damages were more than $300,000 and they were facing a $94,000 deductible.
“It might have seemed like a tall mountain to climb, but, you know, with the community we have and praying, putting it before the Lord, He took care of it,” Williams said giving thanks to God.
The club will host their annual golf tournament on October 24 and the community is invited to participate and support the club.
For more information on how to join the club or support their efforts, visit their website at https://portal.clubrunner.ca/3942.
Great work by the Rotary club.