Welcome to the Rotary Club of Kerrville!
Service Above Self
We meet In Person
Wednesdays at 12:00 PM
The Kerrville Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center
201 Holdsworth Drive
Kerrville, TX 78028
United States of America
Kerrville, TX 78028
United States of America
Satellite Club Meeting--SECOND THURSDAY of every month
5:15 p. m. Meet and Greet, 5:30 p. m. Meeting
Security State Bank & Trust Community Room
1130 Junction Highway, Kerrville
Kerr County Sherriff Department Captain Carl Arrendondo provided the program on Human Trafficking at the meeting last Wednesday. According to the State Attorney General's website, there are approximately 79,000 victims of trafficking at any given time in Texas. There are several categories of this crime including adult sex trafficking (those forced into prostitution), children under the age of 18 sex trafficking, and both adult and children labor trafficking.
Those who are most susceptible include victims of abuse, runaways, kids in foster care and those with a juvenile record. The traffickers themselves can come from various backgrounds including being an intimate partner of a victim, bosses, and owners or strip clubs and massage parlors. Trafficking is described as modern day slavery. The most important thing citizens can do to help is to report suspicious activity- if you see something, say something.
Past District Governor Doug Whinnery gave a brief history of the Rotary Foundation, which was established in 1927. Paul Harris awards were created in 1957 to recognize individuals who donated $1000 (often over time) to the foundation. Our club continues this tradition and presented the award to a number of Rotarians who have either given $1000 or multiples of this over time.
Wayne Uecker, John Lang and John Forister received their Paul Harris +3.
Robin Miears and Jimmy Hutto received their Paul Harris +8.
Wayne Uecker and Stockton Williams received their PH +2.
Tammy Prout and Marta Diffen received their PH +4.
Roy Boudreaux was honored with his Paul Harris award.
Jeff Talarico and Bryant Truitt received their PH + 5.
Long time Rotarian John Grimes passed away on January 18th. Please keep Johnny, Stacey and the family in your prayers.
Trey Atkission was wearing his Rotary pin when his name was called, so he won a bottle of wine.
Click on the link below for the Zoom Replay of the Jan 12th meeting where Jessica Mendoza talked about the new location in San Antonio for the K9's for Warriors Program!
Clint introduces our guest speaker Jessica Mendoza
Jessica is Development Manager, Major Gifts at K9s For Warriors.
She noted that K9s for Warriors is the largest trainer of Dogs in the US.
All dogs used are rescue dogs. If for any reason the dogs are untrainable or don't get along with the veteran then they find a home for the dogs.
Dogs are trained in 5 to 8 months. They learn phrases like, got my 6, meaning to check out what's behind the veteran. They also are trained to wake up the veteran if they are going through night terror.
One veteran was able to attend his son's high school football game with the service dog by his side. Dogs help with PTSD.
Only mid sized dogs are used for the program as some vets need to lean on the dogs for support. After training then comes the bonding of the dog to the vet. This takes around 21 days.
The waiting list to get a trained dog is now out to 2026.
K9s are connected to the paws act
Puppies Assisting Wounded Servicemembers Act of 2021 or the PAWS Act of 2021
This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to implement a grant program for the purpose of pairing service dogs with eligible veterans. Organizations that receive grants must provide veterinary health insurance coverage, hardware, and travel expenses for each service dog and veteran participating in the program.
Eligible veterans are those who (1) are enrolled in the VA health care system, (2) have been evaluated and treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but remain diagnosed with PTSD, (3) may benefit from a service dog, and (4) agree to successfully complete training provided by an eligible organization. Veterans are required to see a VA health care provider at least once every six months to determine whether the veteran continues to benefit from a service dog.
Eligible organizations are nonprofit organizations that
- provide service dogs to veterans with PTSD,
- meet publicly available standards set forth by the Association of Service Dog Providers for Military Veterans,
- have expertise in the needs of veterans with PTSD,
- agree to cover all costs in excess of the grant amount to guarantee the benefits of the program,
- agree to reaccept or replace a service dog provided to a veteran, and
- submit an application to the VA.
Any improvement in PTSD symptoms as a result of the provision of a service dog shall not affect the veteran's eligibility for any other VA benefits.
The Government Accountability Office must report on the grant program.
Several vets have reported that since they got a dog they went completely off all meds that they were taking for PTSD. They got there first Vietnam vet in the program last year.
for more info https://k9sforwarriors.org/program/
Across US Vets that have received dogs
Vets in Texas
Rebecca Peterson Administrator of Hill Country Quilt Guild
She was a guest and told us about the Guild.
Hill Country Quilt Guild
The Hill Country Quilt Guild is a 501C 3 charity, based in Kerrville, Texas. We Support quilting education and fiber based charitable donations for our community.
On January 1, 2020 we were an organization of 241 strong. So far, we have lost over 100 members to health concerns and the pandemic. This huge drop in women-power, we were still able to donated 278 quilts to the community in 2021. We also donated 125 hand made Christmas stockings to the Hill Country Youth Ranch along with 113 adult shirt protectors for the Alamo Hospice.
Our guild is the nationally licensed Quilts for VALOR RESOURCE for Kerr County. During 2012, we draped 27 veterans with newly created quilts.
The Hill Country Quilt Guild is a diverse group of women including nurses, educators, professionals, construction managers and military veterans. One member is currently completing her bachelor’s degree and another has recently graced the stage at the Cailloux and The Point theater. By the way, watch for the production of “Blyth Spirt”.
We our donations come from a simi annual quit show. We invite you to experience “Alonge the Silk Road”, a fantasy of the sights a d sounds experienced by the explores and merchants who traveled the earth’s longest active trade routes.
Our show is February 18-19 at the Hill Country Youth Event Center (Happy State Bank Expo). Please join us..
Thank You!
Hill Country Youth Guild
Click on the link below for a Zoom Replay of the Club's Mtg on 1-5-2022 featuring Judge Rob Kelly.
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly provided updates on our county last Wednesday. Rob has been the judge since 2018, and is running unopposed for another term. Here are a few of the highlights he spoke about at our meeting:
Five candidates are running for the Precinct 2 commissioner position.
The county accepted 10.2 million from the American Rescue Plan of 2021. Half of it is in the county's hands now, and the county has until 2024 to commit to using the funds. They will need to be spent by the end of 2026.
Kerr County is contemplating a Bond Issue for capital improvements. A committee toured county facilities, and received input to determine what the funds should be used for. The plans include a new West Kerr County Annex to be built in Ingram, a courthouse annex on Earl Garrett, a new Animal Services Facility, a new Storage facility for County records, upgrades to the Hill Country Youth Complex, and other projects. The approximate value of the bond will be announced soon.
Growth is a hot topic of discussion in Kerr County. Domestic water and sanitary sewer / septic facilities are being discussed, both for individual projects and for long term availability of water and treatment of waste water in our area.
The Subdivision Rules for the county are being rewritten to comply with recent state level changes to subdivision requirements. These requirements, encouraged by the developer lobby, provide a very short timetable to review final plats proposed by anyone who wants to develop their property. The preliminary plat process was eliminated, so when a developer submits the plat to the county for approval, it is usually the first time the county engineers have had a chance to review it. They can approve, disapprove or approve with comments, but only have one month to do so.
Jeff Harris welcomed our newest member, Jessica Belschner. She transferred to our club from the Valley.
Kristy Vandenberg has started a new tradition of telling us a little about a member of the club. This week she gave some fun facts about our President, Jeff Harris.
Jeff is a senior VP at South Star Bank in Kerrville. His wife is also named Kristy, and they have two cats named Simon and Garfunkel. His hobbies are golf and fishing. In addition to being our club president, he has a big heart for veterans, and recently became a member of the Kerrville Planning and Zoning Commission, at the City of Kerrville.
Happy New Year! I hope 2022 holds great promise for us all! One way that we can ensure that we are able to serve our community and bring a little joy and promise, is to have a successful Main Event and raffle. The Main Event is Saturday, February 5. Tickets are available at our club meetings and have been packaged in groups of four to sell for each active member of Rotary Club of Kerrville Noon Club. And, I have extra raffle tickets available for Satellite members and others who expect to sell more than the initial four.
Tickets are $100 each and the prizes are:
Grand Prize: $10,000 gift card (with $2.500 allotted to the IRS for tax purposes)
Jill Reno ladies pendant valued at over $1,500
Ashley HomeStore gift card valued at $1,000
Paul Harris Fellow
Taste of Kerrville restaurant gift cards valued at $350
The Main Event will be at the Hill Country Youth Event Center. The theme is Viva Las Vegas and this will be an event to remember! We will have a buffet meal starting about 6:30 pm, 7 gaming tables, wine and whiskey pull, etc. Remember, we are asking members to donate one bottle of wine or whiskey to the pull. You can bring your donations to any of the January Wednesday meetings or drop them off at Amber Thomason's office on Thompson Drive. Our goal is 75-100 bottles.
See you soon!
Marta
A running photo slide show of Rotary people and events will soon appear on the screens before our noon meetings. If you have photos of Rotary events, please send to Jeff Wendling. (Wendling.j@gmail.com)
Wine is Fine, and Tim Cooney was wearing his Rotary pin when his name was called, so he won a bottle of wine.
Blue Santa was a big success again this year. Each family got 3 of the red bags loaded with food and a turkey including roasting pan plus bags of apples, oranges and potatoes. We provided food for 39 families at Ronnie Bock’s RV place and 40 at Doyle Community Center. Thank you to all who participated in this event.
Merry Christmas to all, and a big thanks to all who rang the bell for the Salvation Army this year.
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