Austin Sertoma Club

TSD 2009 "Partner of the Year"

May 5, 2009

TSD’s 2009 Partner of the Year – Austin SERTOMA Club
(Pictured L-R) Del Lippard, John Hodnett, Jim Hull, Dee Logan-Hodnett, Dawn Kidd, Keena Miller, Dana Stoddard

The Texas School for the Deaf (TSD) proudly named the Austin Sertoma Club its’ 2009 Partner of the Year. The club was honored, among other notables in the community, at the Austin Partner’s of Education (APIE) Salute at the downtown Hilton Austin on Tuesday May 5.

Each year at Salute, TSD participates with A Community of Heroes, APIE, Austin Independent School District, and the Austin Chamber of Commerce to honor the teachers, volunteers, business partners and community leaders for their outstanding gifts of time, resources and energy to our schools. One of several clubs in the Heart of Texas district, Austin Sertoma has been a friend to TSD for almost 30 years providing scholarships and assistance for deaf and hard of hearing students in Texas. Since 1963, the Austin Sertoma chapter has been dedicated to providing support and sponsorships to individuals and groups in the community who need assistance.

SERTOMA. A curious word until three very important words come together in unison: SERvice TO MAnkind. Sertoma’s primary mission is assisting people with hearing health issues. Sertoma is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, and is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit civic organization with community-minded members in service clubs all across North America. Every year, Sertomans contribute more than $20 million to local communities through service projects, grants and scholarships - and they have lots of fun doing it while building life-long friendships.

Each year, the Austin Sertoma Club holds fundraisers and supports ongoing commitments to assist TSD with a variety of service projects - an annual Pancake Breakfast held at the school is a fun event with live music and all-u-can-eat full breakfast; the club furnishes travel expenses for TSD’s MathCounts team to compete against other schools for deaf in Rochester New York; a National Heritage essay contest provides the winning middle schoolers with savings bonds for college each year; Sertoma sponsored TSD’s live production of GREASE in 2009, in partnership with DeafACT, Inc. – these are but a few examples of the club’s dedication to TSD.

In 2008, with proceeds from these and other fundraisers, the club broke ground on TSD’s campus to install a sate-of-the-art golf practice green for the school to reestablish its’ golf program. With all new Nike golf equipment donated by Texas singer/songwriter Pat Green and his longtime friend, Tom Kelly, the school now boasts an entire setup to get students exposed to the game of golf and launch a golf team in 2009-2010.
TSD is proud to call the Austin Sertoma Club its 2009 partner of the Year!

Golf Green Dedication – February 2009

2009 National MathCounts Champions

TSD’s Past Partner Awards:
2008 - Time Warner Cable/New 8 Austin
2007 - Austin American-Statesman
2006 - AT&T