Hurricane Relief

Service
Above
Self

Immediately after the passing of Hurricane Katrina in late August 2005, the members of the Rotary Club of Sharpstown sprang into action to offer relief to their Louisiana neighbors.

Rotarian Arif Saleem arranged for his company, Affordable Insurance of Texas, to donate the use of a large RV to provide transportation of personnel and supplies into the disaster area.

Club members Chuck Monteith, Karen Blakemen, Sultana Kazim, Chuni Vyas, Bill Landers, John Naidu, Chris Rogers, Archie Wilcox, France Sullivan, Ken Burgess, David Daniel, Jon King, Greg Gregory, Jerry Hobby, Lee Larkin, Ken MArsh, Jeff Novy, Rory Olsen and Bola Stephen donated cash, clothing, medical supplies, hygiene supplies, food, water, paper goods and their time in support of the relief effort. As unusual as it may seem – 100% of the club members had some measure of involvement in providing relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Several other Rotary clubs donated supplies and cash to purchase needed items for this effort. A Rotary Club in South Africa and the Rotary Club of Space Center donated $1,000 each – which was used for purchase first aid supplies, bleach and cleaning products, underwear and other needed supplies. The Hilton Houston Hotel Southwest donated a large container of sheets which were transported to Louisiana for use in refugee centers there. The Rotary Club of Bellaire Southwest Houston members arranged for delivery of an assortment of materials that included children’s games, water, canned foods, snack bars, hygiene supplies and more.

Arif Saleem and Chuck Monteith, in company with Height Rotary Club member Tim Roland loaded up Saleem’s RV with assistance from other club members and set off for Louisiana on Saturday, September 3, 2005. Destination – Baton Rouge and the hospital and refugee center set up on the SMU campus.

On this trip, and another made a week later, the RV and its 3-man team delivered two loads of needed supplies to the Baton Rouge refugee centers and to other centers in the area serving the needs of refugees and first responders rotated out of New Orleans for some R&R.

The photos here are but a few from the two trips made by the RV Trio (also shown here when they were applauded for their service by their fellow Rotarians several weeks later.

During this same period of time, from September 1st through September 15th, many of the club’s members were assisting in meeting the needs of Katrina refugees by volunteering at the many centers setup throughout Houston by the City, the County and area churches and other groups. The donations of time, materials and money were most certainly “Service Above Self”!