The Rotary Club of Southside Corpus Christi would like to extend a warm welcome to our newest member, Julia Stafford. Julia was proposed for membership by Bridget Markwood.
SignUp Sheets: Please continue to sign up for "duties" for our meetings. Sign up sheets will be passed around at each meeting.
Hometown Hero Event: We will be honoring Laura Berry, Chairman of Bay Ltd. at our event this year. Our event now has its own page on Eventbrite where you will be able to make youre reservations directly, as well as buy raffle tickets at a pre-sale discounted price, or even a sponsor table.
The Rotary Club of Southside Corpus Christi "RAMP Champs" built a wheelchair ramp on August 10, 2013 for Susie Rodriguez at her home on Kendall Street in Corpus Christi as part of the club’s ongoing community service Wheelchair Ramp Project. This project was completed with Southside Rotarians, including our newly inducted member, Marshall Johnston, one of our newer members, Tom Molina and his eight-year old son, Ryan, our youngest Ramp Champ ever. The recipient of the ramp told us, “I asked God for a miracle and he sent me angels.” Southside Rotary was able to improve another Corpus Christi resident’s quality of life by providing her with safe access in and out of her home so she will be able to reclaim her independence. The club has been building ramps for over twelve years and builds about six to eight ramps per year for those in need. We were quite excited when KIII-TV News came out to interview Ms. Rodriguez. She told us, “I feel like a Queen.” She went on to tell us, “You gave me my independence back.”http://www.kiiitv.com/story/23101573/changing-lives-one-ramp-at-a-time
If your Rotary Club does not have an active FB page, you might want to think again – the day after KIII-TV News posted the picture on their FB page we had 977 “likes.” To learn more about Rotary International and the Rotary Club of Southside Corpus Christi please go to our website athttp://www.southsidecorpuschristi.rotary5930.org or find us on Facebook!
Pictured front Row (L-R): Marshall Johnston, Ryan Molina, Tom Molina, Susie Rodriguez, Joe High, Dyke Henderson
2nd Row (L-R): LTG - Membership Debbie High, Nancy Foster, Rod Vaughn, Gary Jeffress, Richard Espinosa
Past President Lari Young introduced today's speaker, Dr. Gilda E. Ramirez. Dr. Ramirez is the Director of the Antonio E. Garcia Arts and Education Center on Agnes Street. She worked for over 24 years at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi in many capacities serving students and faculty most recently as Director of College of Educational Development & Research Operations. Dr. Ramirez graduated from Corpus Christi State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with highest honors in 1992. She earned a Master in Public Administration in 1993, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership in 2002, both from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Dr. Ramirez has more than 20 years of higher education experience in fiscal management, grant writing, program administration, student services, and P-20 student success initiatives. She has taught since 1999 at the undergraduate and graduate level, working with students from culturally diverse backgrounds. She is a Leadership Corpus Christi Class 39 graduate, President and Education Co-Chair for the Westside Business Association, Educaiton Chair for the State and the Corpus Christi Chapter of Hispanic Women's Network of Texas and is involved in leadership positions in numerous other community service organizations. She is a member of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and in June 2012 was awarded a Levy Foundation scholarship by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. In 2013, Gilda received the Woman Warrior Award from the Coastal Bend Junior Chamber of Commerce.
Dr. Ramirez stated that she has 1 year of experience at the Antonio E. Garcia Arts and Education Center. The Center is 20 years old and resides in a city building. University students can go to the Center for counseling and service learning. They have a program that allows students the opportunity to visit with community leaders. Students from past years are invited to bring their parents with them to discuss their progress. The Center has an art studio and gallery with many exhibits, a dance group, a children's library, a garden, and a computer lab.
In 2012, over 19,000 people visited the Center. Currnently, there have been over 16,000 visitors for 2013. According to Dr. Ramirez, the Center is planning to have an open house in October of this year.
Dr. Ramirez was presented with a "tax shelter" for sharing her time with our club.
PDG Don Ratcliff presented our first installment "The Rotary Minute." Don accepted to chair our Rotary Foundation committee and launch our new series. This will be done every 2 weeks, in alternance with our Classification Talks. Don encouraged everyone to read the official Rotary magazine, The Rotarian. He said that every Rotarian has a Rotary number, which can be found on the Rotary magazine label. Don also discussed the first Rotary project, a comfort station in Chicago, Illinois.
.jpg)