HAO Names Honorees for 53rd Awards Dinner

Celebrating the 80th anniversary of the University of Houston, the Houston Alumni Organization will host its 53rd Awards Dinner on Thursday, September 20. The momentous evening will honor an outstanding group of alumni and friends for their extraordinary professional achievements, significant contributions and dedicated service.

All former and current members of the UH System Board of Regents and Board of Governors will also receive special recognition to commemorate their leadership over the past eighty years.

This year’s award recipients are:

Distinguished Alumni Awards Gerald McElvy (‘75): President of the ExxonMobil Foundation The Honorable Martha Wong (M.Ed. ‘76, Ed.D. ‘83): Former Texas State Representative Distinguished Service Awards Margaret Bock: Community Volunteer Sonny Messiah-Jiles (‘74): Publisher and Owner of the Houston Defender HAO Chair’s Awards Jim McIngvale: Owner of Gallery Furniture Bill Moffit: Former Director of the UH Marching Band and Cougar Brass Outstanding Volunteer Award Cynthia Oliver Coleman (‘71): Retired ExxonMobil Engineer and Community Volunteer.

The 53rd Awards Dinner will be held at the Hilton Hotel – Houston Post Oak at 8 p.m. and will be preceded by a cocktail reception beginning at 7 p.m.

The event supports many of the alumni organization’s programs that benefit the University of Houston, including 85 annual scholarships, legislative advocacy programs and community service initiatives. Individual tickets for the awards dinner can be purchased at a cost of $175 and various levels of sponsorship are also available. For more information on the event, contact the Houston Alumni Organization at 713.743.9550 or visit www.myCougarConnection.com/awardsdinner.

Operation School Supplies Kicks Off

The 17th annual Operation School Supplies (OSS) campaign began on July 11 with a kick-off event at the H-E-B store in the Gulfgate Shopping Center. The program, which runs through August 8, was originally created by the Houston Alumni Organization and the Houston Coca-Cola Bottling Company as an effort to support youth education and provide assistance to those students who lacked the essential supplies for school.

Since its inception in 1990, OSS has raised over $3 million and expanded its outreach to serve 30 different districts. In 2006, more than $200,000 worth of school supplies were collected and over 22,000 elementary students representing 235 schools benefited from the program. This year, after all the collected items are sorted at the UH Athletics and Alumni Center, they will be delivered to over 325 area schools.

H-E-B joined the annual school supply drive as the retail partner in 2001 and currently accepts donations at over 45 area locations. Other partners include The United Way, the Houston Astros, the Houston Zoo, Houston Public Libraries, Houston Community Newspapers, FOX 26/My20, Mega 101, Sunny 99.1 and 211 Texas.

Those interested in participating in Operations School Supplies can purchase $1, $3, or $5 donation coupons at H-E-B cash registers, buy Coca-Cola products at H-E-B stores from July 11- August 8, or drop off cash donations or basic school supplies at the following drop-off locations: July 21 – Houston Zoo, July 26 – Astros Game at Minute Maid Park, or August 1 – H-E-B (Gulfgate).

Through August 17, donated items can also be dropped off at the UH Athletics/Alumni Center located at 3100 Cullen Blvd.