May 9, 2006

St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities East End Initiative named “Best Rotary Club Project of the Year”

Thanks to an innovative partnership with St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities, The Rotary Club of Houston was awarded “Best Club Project of the Year” for 2005 for the East End Initiative during the Rotary District 5890 annual conference in Fort Worth, Texas last April.

The East End Initiative is a community development project in collaboration with St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities and the East End Healthy Children’s Collaborative. Activities focus on providing primary healthcare and community-based services for residents on Houston’s predominantly Hispanic East side.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities has invested more than $4.5 million in grants for the East End. Rotary Club of Houston East End Initiative partners also include the East End Chamber of Commerce and other Houston-area Rotary Clubs.

Together with St. Luke's Episcopal Health Charities, the Rotary Clubs sponsor Spiritu de Salud Mobile Health Clinic, a mobile medical clinic from Christ Church Cathedral that serves children at four schools and a service center in Houston's East End.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, the East End Initiative partnered with AstraZeneca, who contributed $120,000 worth of supplies, including personal hygiene items, backpacks and school supplies for East End Healthy Children’s Collaborative partners to distribute to hurricane victims now living in Houston.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities was founded in 1997 as a separate component of St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System in Houston, Texas. It is now the largest charitable organization in Houston devoted to raising community health.