Robson Ranch resident and Rotarian David Ford spoke on teaching leadership.
Karen McDaniels
Even during this pandemic, Rotary clubs continue to look for ways to help and serve in our communities.
Rotary isn’t just a club for people to join, it is an invitation to endless opportunities. Rotary International’s President, Holgar Knaack recently commented, “Everything we do opens another opportunity for someone, somewhere.”
Each week, at our Pilot Knob Rotary Club meeting, we hear from a variety of speakers, on noteworthy topics. Often, it is through our speakers that we learn of some of the greatest needs in our own backyard.
This is what happened at our Dec. 11 meeting when our speaker, Christine Mann, Development Director for Refuge for Women shared information about sex trafficking in north Texas.
Women being trafficked for sex just in the DFW area is a $99 million a year business. Texas ranks number two in the nation for calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888.
Rotary clubs are working to raise awareness of human trafficking in our communities and are providing financial and volunteer support to local organizations working to end it. We know that to end human trafficking we have to prevent it from happening in the first place. So, Rotary’s focus is:
* Raising awareness
* Educating youth and adults
* Reducing risk factors that make children vulnerable to traffickers
* Stopping the demand
Refuge for Women works closely with local, state, and federal agencies to place girls (some as young as nine years old) and women who have been trafficked into a three-phase program to prepare them for returning to society. They receive counseling, training, and structure as well as group housing for 12 months.
Pilot Knob Rotary donated a holiday basket of $10 gift cards to Refuge for Women to help with their needs during the holiday season.
Our last speaker of the year was Rotarian Dr. David Ford, Management Professor (Emeritus) of Organizational Studies, Strategy, and International Management in the Naveen Jindal School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas. A world class speaker, Dr. Ford has studied leadership extensively. The title of his talk was “Leadership Can Be Taught.” Many leaders in our Denton community are Rotarians, so this topic was highly anticipated and appreciated.
On Jan. 30, Pilot Knob Rotary will partner with Carter BloodCare for our quarterly Blood Drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Robson Ranch Clubhouse parking lot. Contact Jack Kearney, drive coordinator, for more information at 214 274-9189.
Pilot Knob Rotary Club meets each Friday for lunch, fellowship, and a speaker at the Wildhorse Grill at noon. If you would like to attend a meeting or learn more about Pilot Knob Rotary, please contact us at [email protected] or 512-577-6149.