Dolly Parton's Imagination Library &
The BOGO Light

Ivan butterfield of the Oyster Creek Rotary club visited with us this week and talked with us about two projects his club is involved with.

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is a literacy project designed for preschool children ages birth to 5-years old. It is a 60 volume set of booksbeginning with the classic The Little Engine That Could™. Each month a new, carefulloy selected book is mailed in the child's name directly to their home. Best of all with this progrma the books are FREE to the children receiving them. There is no cost or obligation to the child's family. The Oyster Creek Rotary Club is offering this program to all preschool aged children who are residents of Stafford, Texas. Learn more here

The BOGO Light project is offering solar powered flashlights on a "Buy-One-Give-One" basis with the donated lights going to poeple in need around the world...with Haiti being a major recipient right now.

Why does light matter?
Two billion people living in the developing world rely on kerosene lanterns, candles, and single-use battery flashlights for light at night. Not only are these options expensive, dangerous, and harmful to the environment, they also negatively impact health, education, and security.

Literacy and Education
BoGo lights provide an opportunity for children to read at night and to extend school hours. This is especially important in developing countries where most children spend all day tending crops, taking care of livestock, or working in cottage industries. Kerosene is increasingly expensive, especially given the recent rise in the price of petrochemicals, so many families cannot afford it. Flashlights are even more expensive, and candles do not provide adequate lighting to read. As a result, many children will never learn to read and will be trapped in a life of poverty. BoGo lights give them a chance at a better life, thus education is one of the strongest pillars in our vision to light the world.

The BoGo Light
The BoGo Light is a scientific, eco-friendly breakthrough that is making an impact worldwide. From Cairo to Cape Town, from the Caribbean to the Amazon, it is improving the lives of individuals, families, and entire villages by replacing costly kerosene, candles, and disposable battery flashlights with an affordable, long lasting, solar flashlight. BoGo means Buy one, Give one. BoGo lights to benefit the less fortunate; therefore, with each light purchased in the developed world, a second identical light will be donated to an organization that will distribute it in the developing world with our direct financial support. Give the Gift of Light, and Help Change the World! Learn more about the BoGo Light here.

Guests Visitors & Other Good News

Visiting with us this week from the West U Club was Johnny Miller. Johnny is becoming an "adopted member". Come any time Johnny!

Fuju (Frank) Ha introduced his guest, Charles Hu. Charles is a businessman working at business development beween china and the USA. Welcome Charles! We hope to see you with us again soon.

Johnny Miller and Wayne Staton	Charles Hu and Frank Ha

Terrence Thompson, our newest club member, was formally presented with his memebrship packet and name badge by Ken Marsh. Terrence is an Interior Designer and has volunteered to assist Karen Blakeman with the U.S. Vets Project.

Annual Wine Tasting Dinner & Silent Auction

April 17th - Dinner and Silent Auction, 6:30 PM at the Hilton Houston Southwest
This is our big fund raising event for the year and it needs to be successful to enable the club to fulfill many of the service projects planned for the coming months. All members should try to find items for the auction...small, medium or large...just something that people would like to bid on and own. All information on the items for the auction needs to be given to Ken Burgess or Jeff Novy. Click here to download the item info form. Click here to make reservations.

Thus far we have a DVD Player with remote control ($90 value), Pass for four to play golf at Sharpstown Golf Course ($100 to $200 value), a beautiful boxed set of polished wooden puzzles ($50 value) and a rolling TV table stand ($20 value), some incredibly beautiful jewelry from India (values from $100 up), an assortment of pashminas and scarfs from India (values from $10 to $50), a vibrating/massage seat cushion ($100 value), a one-hour flight school test flight and a number of restaurant gift cards. A fuller list of items is posted on the club's website at www.strotary.org.

TUESDAY, APRIL 13TH, IS THE FINAL DATE FOR RESERVATIONS.

Coming Up At Rotary