Houston P. A. hosted by Laurent

Sonja Gee is the President & CEO of Memorial Assistance Ministries (MAM). They never dropped the ball during the pandemic. They kept their doors as open as legally possible and continuing their services uninterrupted. They are launching a new program: the Innova Community Business Academy, designed to to empower entrepreneurs and small businesses in poor communities. Their first graduating cla...

Neha Agrawal is a clinical pharmacist at Legacy Community Health and Jose Romero is their Director of Therapy Services. Legacy Health Community Health provides mental health assistance from prescriptions to psychotherapy. Patients are followed and connected to the right providers. We also discuss the misuse diabetes drugs like Ozempic, which people are taking to loose weight. We also discuss the g...

DeJuana Jernigan is the CEO of Arms Wide and this time, she brought some friends. Laura and John Preble are foster parents for Arms Wide and they are living examples of how rewarding fostering can be. They also explain that with the help of Arms Wide, becoming a foster parents is doable for any couple. You just need to want to do it and Arms Wide will help you. The Prebles share their moving stori...

Samantha Anchia is the Development Director for Northwest Assistance Ministries, one of our non-profits that never stopped serving the community, even at the height of COVID lockdowns. They kept their Meals on Wheels rolling for our seniors – they deliver over 900 meals every day!. They are currently helping people with the rent and mortgage assistance program, programs for our veterans and helpin...

Kaitlyn Dougherty is the Exhibits Development Coordinator for the Children's Museum of Houston and Keith Ostfeld (aka Mr. O), is their director of educational technology and exhibit development. As they do every year, the museum installs their Season of Sharing exhibit, a series of little houses you can visit to learn about the Holiday traditions around the world. They’re also doing an awesome gro...

Erin Mills is the Education Manager for Houston Botanic Garden and Justin Lacey is their director of communications. Houston Botanic Garden is a beautiful and diverse series of biomes created to take visitors on a journey through our local flora but also take a look at plants from around the world. We discuss the right way of planting and caring for non-native species but we emphasis that for most...

Elizabeth Elder is the founder of Steel Magnolia Moms, Tiffanie Williams is serving on then board of directors and Kate Peden is one of the founding board members and a vendor at their upcoming Magnolia Moms Holiday Market. She is a master baker and I know because I got to try her macaroons and so can you, just by going to the event on November 2nd from 11-6 pm at The Powder Keg. There will be ven...

Rachel Poysky is Joel’s mother. Joel is living with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and she is raising awareness about this rare genetic disease which affects boys. There has been some progress in the past decade but a lack of awareness of the disease means there is great need for funds and new research. Current progress show that with research, a cure could be found and we talk about the quality of l...

Retired Lieutenant General Doug Owens is the CEO of the Lone Star Flight Museum, one of the most fun museums in town. Their regular exhibits are beautiful Warbirds and machines from the Space age (in the new Space Gallery) and they’ve acquired a new MaxFlight flight simulator you can “ride.” It’s on a Gimbal and will twist and flip you around as you control an airplane or ride a roller coaster. On...

Chris Brown is a member of the board of directors for the Bayou Preservation Association . They work to celebrate, protect, and restore our bayous and waterways. They’re running a water quality testing program including training. Anyone living near one of our 40+ bayous can learn how to test the water and help identify problems. They also celebrate this awesome natural resource which could be a lo...

Kevin Hattery is the president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston and Tobi Shonowo is one of their Club Directors. Registering only costs $10 for the whole year and Tobi explains the mountain of awesome opportunities available to campers. 25 clubs in the Houston area are open everyday after school where they feed all comers and don’t take roll! Parents can bring their children on...

Dr. Paul Gerson is the founder of the Periwinkle Foundation and Doug Suggitt is their executive director. They are celebrating 40 years of serving children who are fighting cancer. They’ve built an amazing camp for these special kids and their families. It’s a full-fledged medical facility as well, allowing campers to continue their chemo or receive whatever care they may need while enjoying a mos...

Dr. Robert Hilliard is the CEO of Legacy Community Health and Chinelo Nweke is their operations director for senior care. Senior care is one of the expanding areas of services Legacy Community Health has been deploying lately. Expansion is in fact the name of the game as they will also open 3 new clinics in schools. Dr. Hillard also explains how they are implementing value-based healthcare which i...

Keith Ostfeld, aka Mr. O, is the director of educational technology and exhibit development for the Children's Museum of Houston… at least officially. He’s really their resident mad scientist and he’s hellbent on thinking up of fun ways of teaching kids. That’s the best thing about the Children’s Museum of Houston: it’s a ton of fun, it’s the biggest, most awesome playground in town but it’s first...

Walter Ulrich is the CEO of Medical Bridges (and a US Marine) and Akinyi Adoyo is their marketing manager. Medical Bridges has clinics built inside of shipping containers! These awesome portable clinics have plumbing, beds, and the tech necessary to perform all sorts of medical exams and procedures. Built by Texas A&M students, they are then shipped to poor communities to serve people who woul...

Oli Mohammed is the founder and executive director of The Houston Furniture Bank. You should visit their second hand store where you can buy furniture from major brands at unbeatable prices. It helps to fund their programs. 300,000 kids in the Houston area don’t have their own bend and countless are literally sleeping on the floor. The Houston Furniture Bank helps to bring a little comfort and dig...

DeJuana Jernigan is the CEO of Arms Wide. They provide adoption, post adoption and fostering support to families in the Houston area. We discuss the long processes of adoption and foster care and the consequences to the children in the system. Open Arms helps to protect the children by supporting them and their family and that include partnering with other Organizations. We discuss post-Adoption a...

Kenyetta McGowens is the Program Administrator for Civic Hearts and Marcus Brewer is their development director. Previously known as Change Happens, they help at-risk youth excel in school, stay out of jail and get into great jobs. They also help families deal with hardships like HIV treatment (and prevention) and connecting folks with mental health professionals. They have been successful at help...

Brian Carr is the chief advancement officer for Northwest Assistance Ministries. They currently have a record number of people in need of their services. Homelessness and hunger have become much bigger problems in the past few years. They help people with rent and mortgage assistance and offer learning and vocational training. They also serve over 900 meals a day to our elderly neighbors through t...

Kevin Hattery is the president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston. They are gearing up for the best summer camps available to Houstonians. Not only is it just $25 for the whole summer, it’s convenient because of all their locations and you’re free to drop in and out of the programs. Going to visit Grandma for a few weeks? Drop back into the program when you get back! We also disc...

Dirk Van Tuerenhout is the Curator of Anthropology for the Houston Museum of Natural Science where they have re-opened the John P. McGovern Hall of The Americas. This ever-evolving exposition explores the history of all America’s people and we discuss how we know that they walked to the Artic over coastline which don’t exist anymore. We also talk about how much of our indigenous history is lost wh...

Allison Rosen is the director of project Echo at the American Cancer Society. She is also a survivor of colorectal cancer and she is a member of the Colon Cancer Coalition and the Colorectal Cancer Alliance. She is spearheading Project Echo which collects evidence-based strategies to improve cancer outcomes. All their resources are available to free online and they will even help you connect to do...

Jacque Daughtry is the CEO of Literacy Now and we talk about how we are hopeful that great teachers and increasing awareness will solve the monumental problem of illiteracy in Houston. Only 3 out of 10 3rd grade students can read at their grade level. Those who are already behind (70%) are not likely to ever catch up and far more likely to end up as dropouts and convicted criminals. Literacy Now s...

Lisa Tynan is the marketing and special events specialist for Houston PetSet. They lobbied our state government to improve the lives of pets but changing the minimal legal requirements for care. We discuss what those changes are. They also organize “pet transports” to northern cities that have empty animals shelters, thereby giving Houston strays a new life with good families. Go to www.houstonpet...

Claudia Gee Vassar is the president & general counsel for Houston Botanic Garden. They opened during the pandemic and are still one of the best kept secrets in Houston. You can walk around the beautifully designed biomes of The Global Collection Garden. Discover 3 acres of themed tropical, subtropical, and arid zones where you can admire plants from around the world that flourish in Houston’s...