Our speakers this week will be Geraldine Bliss and Talya Emery Silva. Geraldine is founder and president and Talya is vice president of CureSHANK, a research advocacy organization expediting life-changing therapies for Phelan-McDermid syndrome (PMS), a highly disabling neurodevelopmental disorder caused by pathogenic changes to the SHANK3 gene.
Geraldine’s son, Charles, has Phelan-McDermid syndrome, caused by a partial deletion of the SHANK3 gene. His severe form of epilepsy, Lennox Gastaut syndrome, has had a devastating impact. CureSHANK was born from her promise to Charles to help him get better.
A single extra letter in one SHANK3 gene has had a devastating impact on Talya's son, Asa. He is physically healthy, but severely disabled by poor receptive/expressive language; autism; intellectual disability; self-harm; sleep disturbances; and regression. Talya is dedicated to improving quality of life for Asa and all who live with this genetic fate.
CureSHANK’s strategic priorities are projects that help to bridge the “translational research gap” between basic science and successful clinical trials. They identify and fund projects related to drug discovery and design, pre-clinical development, and (one day) early phase clinical trials.
The Rotarian of the Month for February, 2024, will be celebrating his 27th year with our club in September, and his 34th year in Rotary! (Being sponsored by Bob Bilski in 1997). This Rotarian has been the backbone of one of the most important program in our club - the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. The first international youth exchanges date back to 1929, and the current RYE program was created in 1958 to promote global understand, friendships, and peace. This shows how important the RYE program is to Rotary, and club could not have had so many wonderful exchanges without the support of this Rotarian.
And congratulations to this Rotarian for winning the 2024 Forbes "Best-In-State Wealth Management Teams" award! We are all very excited for Ward and his team called "The Math Group", which manages over $1 Billion, to win such a prestigious award. Review this link to learn more about the award the comprehensive methodology used to determine the best wealth management teams in the US. https://www.forbes.com/lists/wealth-management-teams-best-in-state/?sh=2a9b7d4876f2
He has been married to his wonderful wife, Christine, for 34 years - the same amount of time he has been a Rotarian!
The Rotarian of the Month is: Ward Pendleton!
An interesting note: Ward graduated from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida - a technologically advanced business school which I (Mark Heuchert) also attended!
In case you were not at our last meeting for the quiz and answer. How many years has Ward Pendleton been doing International Service? Answer is: 24 years, started in 2000 and still involved
Dates to add to your calendar:
No meeting on 13 mar No meeting on 12 June Mark Heuchert installation dinner - 10 June at 6pm - 9pm at Texas Biergarten Shrimp and Spice 2025 - Saturday - March 22nd at Constellation Field
We are excited about our upcoming major fundraiser for 2024, Shrimp & Spice! It is on May 19th at Constellation field. We have online forms this year so people can buy entry tickets and also a raffle ticket online!
Fact Sheet about the event: Fact Sheet (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SBG094FqlfGRB9XEZzKzaLuo0_7O29KAkFRedLwkfg4/edit)
Read this first! Good overview of what the event is and why we are doing it
Printable pdf: Sponsorship Form (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ffmueIOLvYYr0xve2R72ncLUcjCw6g0q/edit)
Online Sponsorship Form (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdQPgrJctOwqNxMUIpfbZtW6I_5Y0SivTLqQG_SXSnQM2aqBg/viewform)
Entry ticket and Raffle ticket form:
Online Tickets Form to share with as many people as you can! (Pay for tickets and the raffle item online) (https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/0f4a1785-6546-4ba0-8455-4ac4a78f3f2b)
Raffle Items for $100 ticket (pick one of two options):
Raffle Option 1: Full home Generac generator installed by Rotarian Mitch Rahim’s business, Hartford Services (http://hartfordservices.com/) ($12,000 value)
A small group of us has been meeting since Oct of 2023 to start planning for the event. We have already selected the Constellation Field as our venue and developed a baseline plan. I have sent each of you an email and attached the current plan of activities and the identified subcommittees required to execute it.
This is a very labor intensive work and we all chip-in to make it happen and we hope we can get all hands on deck to make it a great success. We have a prime venue that will hopefully bring large crowd.
This is what I am asking you to do:
Review the list of subcommittees in the committee tab of the spreadsheet. Your name is on it
If your name is not there, select the committee you want to be part of
If your name is there please confirm if that committee is the one you want to be in or prefer another one
- if there is no ?? after your name, that means we felt confident about the placement, still we like to get confirmation
- you don’t know what needs to be done? Check the activity column, or the Project plan tab
Subcommittee Chair is the person who will make sure that all work for that committee is under control and being done
Doesn’t mean they are doing everything
We expect them to find the right people that can help
It is important that we identify a chair for each subcommittee, please see if you can chose one
I color coded some subcommittees
Red – have activities that need to be completed in the next 30days
Yellow – have activities that need to be done in the next 60 days
We have time-sensitive work and we need your help
Please review and let me know where you can help. Feel free to email me or call me with any questions.
Our Rotary Club is doing an internal yellow page to advertise all club member’s businesses. It is your option to be added into the booklet. If you want to advertise your business to other club members and guests for free please complete the attached form and email to dean7351@gmail.com to have your information included.
Please complete all requested information on the form and make sure to tell us if you have a company logo by attaching to your email reply or giving us permission to download the logo from your website to add to your listing.
If you are listed in our current yellow pages please see me at the meeting or let me know if you have any changes to make in the new yellow pages.
Deadline for final submission of your company information is Wednesday, February 14, 2024. We hope to have the booklet completed and ready to hand out to club members and guests at the end of February.
Don't miss out on your chance for a discount on your registration for the Cheeseburger in Paradise Conference to be held on April 25th-28th close to home. The deadline for the rate of $350 is Tuesday, October 31st. See the promotional video here: https://youtu.be/bXXy81pKwa0?si=zXLEw2VCvh439HQa
Registration for the conference and hotel can be found at https://rotaryd5890.org/page/cheeseburger-in-paradise-2024-district-conference-2
Our conference committee is busy at work and can use your help - reach out to me if you are interested!
Lisa Pauls District Conference 2024 Co-Chair District 5890
The first attack on the World Trade Center in New York City by Islamic terrorists occurred on Feb. 26, 1993. A truck bomb killed six people and injured nearly a thousand.
"When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear."
The Rotarian of the Month for February, 2024, will be celebrating his 27th year with our club in September, and his 34th year in Rotary! (Being sponsored by Bob Bilski in 1997). This Rotarian has been the backbone of one of the most important program in our club - the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. The first international youth exchanges date back to 1929, and the current RYE program was created in 1958 to promote global understand, friendships, and peace. This shows how important the RYE program is to Rotary, and club could not have had so many wonderful exchanges without the support of this Rotarian.
developed a baseline plan. I have sent each of you an email and attached the current plan of activities and the identified subcommittees required to execute it.
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