Our program was about the PTSD Foundation of America, presented by DFW Chapter assistant manager Justin Burkett. He presented some sobering statistics about suicides and mental illness after soldiers depart a combat area or are discharged from the service. He also talked about Camp Hope, a place in the Houston area where veterans can go to stay for a short term and get some help.
Darren's non-profit has had great success in Kenya with public service hygiene announcements, both at live puppet shows and on broadcast television. He showed a couple of videos that showcased the work his organization has done.
His immediate concern is getting a long-term supply of the high quality large hand puppets that are used in his presentations, as shown above. The manufacturer in DeSoto is going out of business and Darren is trying to get funding together to buy a lot of their completed puppets.
Eddie Sewell. Eddie talked about his father’s participation as a civilian assigned to assisting the Pacific Fleet in some recovery operations after the infamous sneak attack of December 7, 1941. This involved refloating the USS Oklahoma. Later on, he was involved in cleanup after a classified sabotage act damaged a fuel farm in Hawaii, and couldn’t talk about it for many years later because of the classified label (not wanting the enemy to know the degree of damage inflicted).
Bekah Prince, Executive Director of United Way West Ellis County presented about her organization and the way it collects for and funds various non-profits in our area. Thanks, Bekah - sorry we were in such a noisy location. I've included a copy of the2025 Impact Report below.
We held our 5th Tuesday social on the fifth Tuesday, March 31, at the Bearded Ax Brewery in the Lawson Building downtown. We also had a Pints for Polio fundraiser for The Rotary Foundation's PolioPlus campaign at the same time. We had a good turnout of members, spouses and friends, and had some draft beer, a few other beverages, and some good food at Bearded Ax. Calls for a repeat.
Chief Carl Smith arranged for a program from the Tri-County Auto Theft Task Force. Jose Rodriguez and Brian Gaitor gave some common sense tips for keeping our vehicles from being stolen, and a few ideas to make things more difficult so a thief might move on to something easier.
We had an update from Meals on Wheels North Central Texas on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day. We support MOW both in time (we cover Midlothian route 1 on Tuesdays) and with some of the funds raised through our Flag program. Also individual members contribute cash. The picture shows most members who attended on March 17th.
Our annual Four Way Test Speakers Contest was held on March 10th at the Midlothian Civic Center. We heard six excellent speeches made possible by Midlothian High School teacher and speech coach Kristi Bogy. Speakers are shown above with Mrs. Bogy.
Angela Ewton with Midlothian Plumbing made a presentation on March 3. She talked about “Plumbing Tips and Tricks,” giving us some background on common plumbing problems and consumer mistakes, and enlightening us on that business. Shown above with the honorarium children's book and President John Piper.
Dan Kessler, Assistant Director of Transportation for North Central Texas Council of Governments presented an interesting talk about MOBILITY 2050, a study showing population growth of 3 million people in the multi county area surrounding Dallas and Fort Worth ion the next quarter century. He provided some brochures with some interesting - and sobering - graphics.
Leslie Deen, Executive Director of the Ellis County Children’s Advocacy Center, updated us on the work of the Advocacy Center on February 17th. Leslie started off by mentioning that her son had attended Camp RYLA a few years ago, and how much he had enjoyed that experience. She talked about case load, events and programs and how the Advocacy Center works these things.
Emily Dykes talked about the growth and quality of our hometown hospital, all really impressive numbers, and some things we can expect in the near future. There was a time for Q&A afterwards. Kasey Cheshire came and helped with her media and slide presentation. Very interesting program.
