Page 2 ~ THE VILLAGER/October 14, 2016 THE COMMUNIQUÉ www.theaustinvillager.com

Seventh AnnualWounded Warriors Leap

of the Heroes, FridayOctober 14th

For the past six years,the Travis County SheriffOffice (TCSO), Skydive SanMarcos and Irene MendezElementary School havepartnered together to hostthis very unique event, pro-viding tandem skydives toWounded Warriors and aunique opportunity to behonored by elementaryschool students and thelocal community.

At approximately9:00 AM, a mile long po-lice escort of the WoundedWarriors and their familieswill travel from the SanMarcos Police Depart-ment to the Irene MendezElementary School, 1805Peter Garza Drive. At theIrene Mendez ElementarySchool, the warriors willbe met by about 500 stu-dents, waving Americanflags and, “Welcome toour Heroes,” banners. Atapproximately 10:00 AM,students will put on a pre-sentation to honor all

branches of the UnitedStates military. Studentswill also present theWounded Warriors withhand-written cards andletters.

At the completion ofthe school presentation,the police escort will takethe warriors to Skydive SanMarcos, 517 AirfieldRoad, Hwy 80 South,Fentress, TX. where theywill be treated to tandemskydives. The warriors andpolice escort will arrive atthe drop zone at approxi-mately 11:20 AM and theopening ceremony willbegin at approximately11:40 AM. All event at-tendees will be served abarbeque lunch which willbe provided by the awardwinning TCSO Possebarbeque team.

The event is fundedsolely by donations frommembers of TCSO, TravisCounty elected officialsand community sponsors.

AUSTIN DISASTER RELIEF NETWORKINVITES AUSTIN COMMUNITY TO FILL18-WHEELER WITH RELIEF SUPPLIES

Austin, TX – AustinDisaster Relief Network(ADRN), a network ofmore than 170 greaterAustin churches, ispartnering with local Aus-tin businesses, Tito’s Hand-made Vodka and C3 Pre-sents, to load an 18-wheeler with cleanup sup-plies and toiletries to hur-ricane survivors in St. Au-gustine, Florida. ADRN in-vites the people of Austinto contribute to the reliefeffort by donating the

items listed below.“We’ve endured four

disasters in the Austin areain the last 16 months, in-cluding two of historic pro-portion,” said DanielGeraci, Austin DisasterRelief Network ExecutiveDirector, “so the people ofAustin understand theemotional, spiritual andphysical impact of disas-ters. The Austin DisasterRelief Network is honoredto partner with T ito’sHandmade Vodka and C3

Presents to serve hurri-cane survivors in St. Au-gustine by supportingtheir cleanup efforts andbasic needs as they beginthe long-term recoveryprocess.”

“It’s our responsibil-ity to lend a hand to thosein need,” said Amy Lukken,Tito’s Handmade VodkaJoyologist, which is provid-ing the 18-wheeler. “Wehope to lift the spirits toall those effected by Hur-ricane Matthew in Florida

and other countries.”C3 Presents is also

donating several pallets ofwater for survivors in St.Augustine.

ADRN previously re-sponded to historic disas-ters outside of the five-county greater Austinarea, including the historicflooding in DenhamSprings, Louisiana, and2013 devastating tornadoin Moore, Oklahoma, andthe 2013 fertilizer plantexplosion in West, Texas.

SUPPLY COLLECTION:ADRN invites the Austin community to contribute to the relief effort in St.

Augustine by donating supplies that will be distributed directly to hurricanesurvivors impacted by the severe flooding.

- DATES: Monday, October 10 – Saturday, October 15- TIME: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.- LOCATION: Hope Family Thrift Store (part of Austin Disaster Relief

Network), 1122 East 51t Street, Austin, Texas 78723- ITEMS NEEDED:o New undergarments (all sizes, children and adult)o New socks (all sizes, children and adult)o Toiletries (ie: shampoo, facewash, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc.)o New bed pillowso New blanketso Cleanup supplieso Black trash bagso Mops and bucketso Utility kniveso Leather work gloveso Inflatable mattresseso Hand sanitizero Box fanso Clothing is not needed – ADRN will distribute the abundance ofpreviously-donated clothing to survivors.

$20 Million Wong Gift LaunchesLeading-Edge Eye Institute at

Dell Medical SchoolAUSTIN, Texas - The

Wong family of Austin iscontributing more than$20 million to create theMitchel and ShannonWong Eye Institute, a lead-ing-edge center to trainfuture ophthalmologistsand provide patients withthe best medical and sur-gical eye care possible.

The institute will fur-ther research into the im-provement and preserva-tion of vision. And it willallow for a new focus onophthalmology at the DellMedical School, helpingthe school achieve its mis-sion of transforminghealth care around betteroutcomes, improved pa-tient experiences andlower costs for individualpatients and the commu-nity as a whole.

“The Wong family’smedical contributions toAustin go back decades,”said Gregory L. Fenves,president of the university.“Their transformationalgift to the Dell MedicalSchool ensures that thefamily legacy will extend

for all the generations tocome.”

“The Wong family’sstory is Austin’s story —we’re honored that they’llbuild part of their legacy onDell Med’s campus,” saidinaugural Dell MedicalSchool Dean Clay Johnston.“The Eye Institute will con-tribute much to our schooland the way we train physi-cians. But it’s also a fabu-lous metaphor for thehealth care transformationwe’re trying to help accel-erate in Austin — it’s help-ing us all to see moreclearly what the worldlooks like and how we canhelp make it better.”

The institute isnamed for father-and-sonophthalmologists who arewell-known physicians andphilanthropists in Austin.Mitchel Wong’s familymoved to Austin in the1930s and opened a gro-cery store on Red RiverStreet. He enrolled at UTin 1957 and graduated in1960, trained at BaylorCollege of Medicine, andreturned to Austin to open

Austin Eye in 1969.His son Shannon also

grew up in Austin, return-ing to the city after collegeand medical school to joinhis father’s practice in 1997.The Austin Eye clinic has twolocations in Austin.

Shannon Wong saidthe creation of an eye insti-tute at the medical school,which welcomed its firstclass of 50 medical studentsin June, represents “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity toleave a legacy for futuregenerations. It helps every-body. It helps the commu-nity. It helps our immediatefamily because it sets anexample for our children. Ithelps us pay it forward tothe next generation.”

“To have a medicalschool at The University ofTexas, it ’s going to begood. It’s going to be oneof the best medicalschools in the country be-cause The University ofTexas will not tolerate sec-ond class,” Mitchel Wongadded. “We’re starting offon the ground floor. Longafter I’m gone, this willenhance the future of eyecare and research in ourcommunity and beyond.”

AUSTIN, TX - TheGreater Austin BlackChamber of Commerce isworking hard to extend itsreach into the communityby engaging new leader-ship within the city. “Weare thrilled to have Dr.Burnette join our team andbring her experience in in-formation technology andhigher education to our or-ganization” says GABCPresident & CEO, TamHawkins. “Her humbleleadership and deep com-mitment to student suc-cess are vital extensions ofour mission as we work toinspire, promote, and de-velop Black economic suc-cess in the Greater Austinarea.”

“Developing leadersand ensuring that our stu-dents are the pipeline intothe business world throughcorporate, small business,or entrepreneurial oppor-tunities are major compo-nents of Huston-TillotsonUniversity’s mission” saysDr. Burnette. “It is an honorfor me to serve on theGreater Austin BlackChamber of CommerceBoard of Directors whosemission incorporateswords such as ‘develop-ment’ and ‘expansion’.This provides me an oppor-

tunity to serve the commu-nity through initiativesthat will enhance eco-nomic growth for all resi-dents and maintain con-nections between Huston-Tillotson University andthe business environ-ment.”

Dr. Colette PierceBurnette joined Huston-Tillotson University asPresident and Chief Execu-tive Officer July 1, 2015.She is the institution’s sixthPresident and Chief Execu-tive Officer, first femalepresident of the mergedHuston-Tillotson Univer-sity and only the secondfemale president in theinstitution’s 140-year his-tory. Her experience in-cludes serving as interimPresident at Pierce Col-lege in Puyallup, Washing-ton; the Vice President for

Administration and ChiefFinancial Officer at Cen-tral State University inWilberforce, Ohio; VicePresident for InformationTechnology and Servicesand Chief Information Of-ficer at Central State Uni-versity; Dean of Informa-tion Technology at PierceCollege in Lakewood, Wash-ington; and Manager ofConsulting and ProjectManagement Services atthe Washington State De-partment of Transportationin Olympia, Washington.

A strong proponent ofcivic and community en-gagement, Dr. PierceBurnette hosted the “NoRisk, No Reward: TakingThe Risk To Do What YouWant With Your Career”panel discussion duringthe 2015 Texas Conferencefor Women.

Tam Hawkins Dr. Burnette

The GABC Board of Directorsare excited to welcome

Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette