HOUSTON – From now until Super Bowl 50, the entire Houston community is working together to feed the estimated 60,000 Houstonians who are hungry every day.
This week on Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall are the leaders of this year’s Souper Bowl of Caring. Clara Cooper is the president and CEO of the Souper Bowl of Caring. “One in six Texans struggles to put food on the table, she said. That’s why Souper Bowl of Caring is the way, a campaign that everyone can get involved.”
Rodney Dickerson is the president of the Montgomery County Food Bank, which he says is in critical need. “We do have over 76,000 food insecure residents in our county alone and 40 percent of those food insecure individuals are children,” he said.
Scott McClelland, president of the Houston division of HEB represents the three major grocers in the region who normally are fierce competitors. He says this effort is important enough to put competition aside. “It’s not a big effort by everyone. It’s everyone doing one small thing,” he said. Buy a bag of food for $5 or get a tear pad. One dollar, $3, $5 and it’s everyone in Houston doing a little bit but together we make a huge difference.”
ALSO this week, Richard Helmey, chairman of the West Houston Economic Development Summit, planned for Feb. 12, talks about what’s in store. At a time when oil prices are still heading South the topic is a key one for all of Houston. Helmey said a preliminary survey of West Houston businesses yielded surprising results. “Those who answered we plan on increasing our employment was 38.9, almost 40 percent,” he said.
On the sixth year anniversary of the death of former Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher, his wife Mica talks about the challenge of finding triumph over loss through her book “Racing Forward.” “In my case I took up race car driving but for someone else maybe they’ve always wanted to paint, they’ve always wanted to learn a musical instrument,” she said. “Life is short and this is the time to go at something you have a passion for.”
Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall, every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. right after "Meet the Press" on KPRC Channel 2.
More Information:
• Clara Cooper, president & CEO Souper Bowl of Caring, 713-358-7687 www.souperbowl.org
• Rodney Dickerson, president, Montgomery County Food Bank, 936-539-6686, www.mcfoodbank.org
• Scott McClelland, president Houston HEB, 281-364-5200, www.heb.com
• Richard Helmey, chairman, West Houston Economic Development Summit, 713-785-4922, www.hwcoc.org
• Mica Mosbacher, ;author, Racing Forward 713-599-1271, www.theprboutique.com