The Steel Magnolia Moms Holiday Market: a place for special parents

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 vendors who specialize in hiring people with disabilities – or special abilities, as we like to say – and raffle baskets, great, fun people and even a signature cocktail. Magnolia Moms provides group support for parents raising children with special needs. They are a spectacular start-up in Houston’s Non-profit scene and when you hear about how successful their programs are, you’ll understand why. Go to Www.Steelmagnoliamoms.com for all info!

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
Welcome to Houston, PA, Houston'spublic affairs show. An iHeartMedia broadcast artist.
Claimer says that the opinions on theshow do not necessarily reflect those hell
by this radio station, it's managementstaff, or any of its advertisers.
My name is Lewan. I amthe Texan from France, and we're gonna

(00:27):
talk about baking macaroons. You knowthose beautiful little cookies that you can see
in a lot of stores now.They're not always made very well, but
they're two half shells with some creamin the middle. The strawberry ones are
pink, the pistachio ones are green, or the biscutti ones they're the be
scolf ones. They're they're they're they'regray, they're white. I have a

(00:49):
box of them in front of youbecause the Steel Magnolia Moms are back in
the studio and they always bring agenerous gift for me, which is unnecessary,
but I'm thankful for it, especiallysince I can share these cookies.
They're baked by one of their vendors, Kate Peden. She is one of
the founding members of Steel Magnolia Moms. She was also on the board and
now she's developing this business called Kate'sMissle Macarones, and you can discover just

(01:15):
how good they are. And letme tell you something, if you know
what I'm talking about, you knowthese cookies I'm talking about, and you
like them, You're gonna want totry these because they're among the best I've
had. They're doing this holiday marketon November second, this coming November second
at the Powder Keg from eleven tosix pm. They're gonna have over fifty
vendors, but only one matters,the macarones. They're gonna have raffle baskets

(01:38):
of court food and signature drinks,and even Santa is going to be coming
along. And with Kate are theguests that I welcomed last time for this
show. Elizabeth Elder is the founderof Steel Magnolia Moms, and Tiffany Williams
is serving on their board of directors. Elizabeth, when did you found the
organization? In twenty sixteen, Ihad two children at the time, Annabelle

(02:01):
and Blair, and there were fourteenmonths apart, but both were born with
a very rare metabolic condition called Leesyndrome. It's a mitochondrial condition. And
even though I was from Houston,and I had a wonderful network, supportive
network of family and friends. Itwas just so isolating being a mom and

(02:27):
not having other moms that could thatI could relate to. And so,
you know, as a little girl, you daydream about becoming a mom,
and you think you have an ideaof what that's going to look like.
And my intro to motherhood was vastlydifferent to anything that I had ever imagined

(02:47):
and daydreamed. And so I neededa network. I wanted friends that I
could relate to. And there wasan incident that had happened in a nailsoul
and long story short, I puta post on social media, and before
I knew it, I had somuch feedback that of course, I mean,

(03:10):
the community was amazing and so supportiveand just really lifted me up.
But perhaps what was the surprise ofall that was seeing how many other moms
said that they could relate. AndI was flabbergasted. I was like,
where are these moms? Because Iswear when I go to the grocery store,

(03:30):
I don't see any other kids ina wheelchair. I don't see,
you know. I just I feltlike I was on an island in the
middle of our neighborhood. And itturns out there were tons of other moms
that felt the other way, andwe just hadn't found each other yet,
So people who could talk to youabout what you were experiencing, rather than
the way we do as a society. When we see a child in a

(03:53):
chair, we tend to overlook thechair. We make a huge effort to
just talk to them as the personthey are. I think part of it
comes from the education we get fromTV or just a sense of compassion,
but we don't want to talk aboutthe actual the foundational reason for their presence
in the in the chair, right, I mean, I think I understand
people don't want to seem nosy orthat they're you know, being kind of

(04:16):
invasive and asking these private questions,particularly about somebody's health. I think that
when you're Steel Magnolia mom, thosebarriers kind of go away, and that's
what we do, Like, Hi, I'm Elizabeth, you know are you
here? Yeah? Why are youhere? Tell me about your kiddo.
You know, even though all ofthe moms may have children who have very
different diagnoses, we all have somethingin common, and that is this experience

(04:42):
of being a mom raising a childthat has extra needs and that require you
know, extra effort, extra resources, a lot of worry, a lot
of fear. There's guilt of course, with all this or all the wonderful
things, you know, the joyof being a mom. And we celebrate
our children when they do the littlest, smallest inch stones. We call them

(05:03):
instead of milestones, because some ofour kiddos never even reach those milestones.
My two children, my daughter whopassed away and my son who's now eleven,
they were wheelchairs or Blair still ina wheelchair. He can walk with
an assisted device, but he getsvery tired and doesn't have the balance and

(05:24):
he really prefers his wheelchair. Soanyway, yeah, if any did you
want to add something? No,no, why I was just going to
add that. Like meeting other stillMagnoia moms, you instantly have people that
are literally cheering for those interstones withyour children, right, they get it.
I mean they totally get what abig deal it is for every little

(05:44):
thing like oh, my daughter saida peace sound today and she's never said
a peace sound and she's nine,or you know whatever, and just having
that. When I think about stillMagnoia moms, I think about the word
community and having an instant community ofwomen who cheer you on, cheer on
your kids, celebrate you and wrapyou up when you're you know, having

(06:06):
the hardest times too, so andthey understand you. I mean, you
know, when we all get together, we really are not talking about our
children or a whole lot. We'rereally no, we we may. I
mean, of course people are curious, and it's it's good information to have
and you know, as a referencepoint, but really Steel Magnolia Mom's focuses

(06:28):
on the moms and how we canpositively support their moms, our moms and
encourage their health and happiness. Andso in doing that, we provide you
know, events and programs that bringthese moms together and give them a platform
to really develop friendships. And sowith that it's fun. We're you know,

(06:50):
we have bonded and now you know, Tiffany and Kate are two of
my closest friends, and I knowvery you know, I know a lot
about their kids, and I lovehearing how they're doing. But I also
when I'm with Tiffany, I wantto hear how she's doing. And she
and I have connected on you know, similar interests and you know, passions

(07:12):
and so you know, it's it'sneat. I think that that's one of
the things that's so special about SteelMagnolia moms is the friendships that come out
of it, and that is thissomething that women do better than men?
Is it something that women need morethan men? I'm asking because I don't
know. It's hard to really menneed it too, but they need or

(07:35):
no, you know, I don't. Men certainly don't seek out these you
know, interpersonal We internalize we're supposedto be strung. Yes, And we
actually do an annual event called Dinnerwith Dads where the members the moms will
bring their husbands or their partners andaffectionately call them the Balls of Steel.

(07:59):
It's their official name. Truth is, generally speaking, in my experience,
the women are harder, more hardenedthan we are. Side well we have
the woman's inner strength is exponentially superiorto man's inner strength. And maybe that's
part of why men don't don't dothese things by reflex, we just don't

(08:20):
have that. It takes courage tosay I need help, right, It's
it's a frightening, especially for aguy. I don't know why, but
I can feel it. Psychologically,there's that if I can get away with
doing this by myself, I'm betteroff doing it by myself. Well it's
neat, is I do think thatthe dads have benefited just by being on

(08:41):
the fringe of this experience that themoms have as being a member supported by
Still Magnolia Moms. Because of course, you know what they say, if
mommy ain't happy, nobody happy.I was gonna say, happy wife,
happy life, Yeah, exactly.So you know, I think when the
moms and participate and then they goback home, they bring that positive energy

(09:05):
and that you know, hope andstrength back into the house. And we
have had wonderful feedback from husbands andextended family saying what a difference it has
made and their family unit, theimpact that Steel Magnolia Moms has had on

(09:26):
these moms. And therefore that's kindof a butterfly effect. And I love
thinking about that because it's my littlenod to Annabelle, my daughter who passed
away and who did inspire Still MagnoliaMoms. And now I see Steal Magnolia
Moms as her legacy. And soI had a mom come up to me
at Mom's Camp and she pulled measide, and she said, Elizabeth,

(09:46):
I just want you to know thatbecause of Head to Heart, which is
our programmer, we'll provide therapy formoms. She said, I'm still here
and my family is strong and weare so and so I want you to
remember that your little girl is changinglives. And as a mom, I

(10:07):
can't I can't think of anything thatwould make me more proud than to know
that Annabelle and her eleven years hereon earth has left started a butterfly effect
that is now impacting thousands of livesand just making people's hearts happier and healthier.
So true, so its Mom's Camp. We just every summer we take

(10:31):
a huge group of our moms upand spend a whole weekend and we pamper
them when we do fun, excitingthings. And Elizabeth had put together this
beautiful video montage of little secret messagesfrom our family back home, and one
of the adorable teenage daughters said,I just want to thank all the Steel
Magnollia moms because whenever she goes toan event, my mom comes home happy.
She's found her tribe and people whounderstand her, and it makes everybody

(10:54):
so happy at our home. Sojust to echo what you said, it
it does impact the family. AndI do think our dads have benefited quite
a bit because they form friendships andit's that instant connection of having a common
challenge all on the road of raisinga child with special needs. So nothing
will bring you together like that,you know. And one of the things

(11:16):
I love our Facebook is a hugeplatform for our group. We have a
private page for the moms who canask questions and referrals and oh my gosh,
what does this mean? And Ilove seeing even though it may have
nothing to do with my situation.I love seeing experienced moms like a dozen
do do do, chime in andsay this is what I did. This
is a doctorate that I saw.This did not work for me. So

(11:37):
people aren't starting from scratch. Becauseyou're on this huge journey alone, You've
got to make some really difficult decisions. You're spending a ton of time and
money and energy, and so tohave an instant group of people that you
know and trust can give you adviceand guidance on what they've at least tried,
it's a huge sense of relief.And I'm not doing this by myself.
That's another thing I love about it, And even if it's ination,

(12:01):
just knowing that they're people that understandwhat you're going through and are just supporting
you that right saying I don't know, but just a huge hug, love
to you, love and light.We say that a lot, love and
light and it just it's all verypositive. And what I love about Steel
Magnolia Moms is if you're in theHouston area, we get together often.

(12:22):
We do fun things. We haveboogie nights and goat yoga and goat yoga.
Kate will teach cooking macron classes,and we also have workshops where we
try and give our moms tools tocope to vent. There's weekly workshops and
we have guest speakers come in totalk about some of the hard things like
the insurance and the planning and angerand PTSD and caregiver brownout. So we

(12:48):
are the moms walking this journey,and so when we see a need in
our community, we create an eventor a program or a speaker to speak
about it. So it's very organicand it's just sort of growing or just
a fun I'll say, hey,can you meet me, let's go let's
go now, we have weeks meetsup, and some of our moms have
said, I have adult children,let's have a little coffee meet up once
a week. And so yeah,we were forming these little yeah networks all

(13:11):
around and it's it's so heartwarming.Yeah, you are listening to Houston PA,
Houston's Public Affairs Show. My nameis Laurent and my guests this today
are from Steel Magnolia Moms. ElizabethElder is their founder and Tiffany Williams is
serving on their board of director.And with them is Kate Peden, who
is a founder board member. Shewas on the board but now she's teaching

(13:35):
how to cook the best macarons inHouston. Kate's Missle Macaron is going to
be one of the vendors at theSteel Magnolia Mom's Holiday Market, which is
coming up this week November two.It's at the Powder Keg eleven to six
pm all day. Santa Claus iscoming. Apparently Madame Santa is also going

(13:56):
to come. She's going to bethe real boss of the whole show.
Naturally, because you know, youknow, the list only gets to Santa
if Lady Santah reads the list andapproves of it. This is just what
you should be polite when you askfor your presence. Man. Their website
is steal Magnolia moms dot com,Steel Magnolia moms dot com. Hey,

(14:18):
if you're a dad and you're listeningto this interview and you're thinking that you're
in a situation that is similar,that this would be good for your wife.
Make a date out of going tothe market, do something really fun
for her and and put her input her in touch with these other steel
forged moms. My admiration is ispretty deep. So Steal Magnolia moms dot

(14:39):
com, steal Magnolia moms dot com. Kate, before we talk about your
cooking, how did you come tosteal Magnolia Moms. How did you because
you were you were on the boardright away, right. I came to
one of the early events that Elizabethyou were in OG Yeah, original Gangstery
something w mom and I remember afterone of the events, Elizabeth and I

(15:03):
stayed for a night cap and justwe don't remember, but he was counting,
but I will say we bonded andI left. I was like,
I like her, I want toreally be good friends with her. So
shortly thereafter, she was like Hey, will you be on the board.
I'm like, sure, I don'tknow how to do that, but well
I didn't know what a board didyet, so it was fine anyway.

(15:26):
But I mean, still, myannoying moms has meant so much to me.
When I think about like, theword that comes to my mind is
community. Like I said earlier,just really like having a community of women
who understand what I'm going through,support me as a mom, and tell
us about your kidos. So I'vegot Harper, she's thirteen. She has

(15:46):
a genetic disorder that results in autismand epilepsy. And then I've got a
son, Jack, who is anaspiring Olympic swimmer. Is his goal.
He's eleven, but he's got goals. You can't create that in a kids
in the pool. Yes, he'sa competitive, super proud of both of
my kids. But anyway, Ijust does your daughter have a cool helmet

(16:10):
for her epilepsy? Thankfully, thankfullyshe doesn't need a helmet. Some of
those helmets are genuinely cool, andone way to compensate for those things,
those tools of the technology that thekids can use, you can outfit them
and make them look like something thateverybody wants to wear. I'm I'm serious.
I had this interview with this kidwho said, I have I had
a I had one of those regularhelmets and people would bully me, and

(16:34):
then my dad used balls of woodand basically gave it little horns. It
wasn't very big. It had tobe in school, but it basically became
imagine a Viking helmet, and thebullying stopped instantly. Now, but you
know, so why are you wearingit? Well, I might fall down,
but but it's incredible how those littlethings which are which is exactly what

(16:59):
we're talking about, these things thatmay not seem like they're meaningful in the
grain scheme of things, but justthe idea that you can normalize these things,
just like Elizabeth said a moment ago, absolutely yeah. Well, and
Harper I always tell her she's myray of sunshine because she is just a
positive light in my life and she'sother people's positive lights too, like her.
Her teacher is like, oh mygosh, Like when I'm feeling down,

(17:19):
I just need Harper and she justmakes me feel great about myself.
And she baked, and she bakes, so that's the best way to make
people happy. So exactly. Somethingsweet brings people together. Food is love,
So thinking about steal Magnolia Moms.Harper was a recipient of the Happy
Camper program, which sends kids tosummer camp and it gives respite for the

(17:41):
moms and the families. And Iwas filling out the forms a few years
ago for Harper to go to camp, and I said what does Harper like
to do? And I said,Harper, what do you like to do?
I've got to write it on thispaper. And she said, I
like to bake. I'm like tobake cookies. And so when you have
a child with special needs, youthink what are they going to do long
term for their life? We wantthem to have meaningful work, contribute to
their community. And so when Harpersaid that, I was like, hmm,

(18:06):
wonder how we can make that areality for her life. And so
I took a class to make macaronsbecause I love them and me too.
I like your macarons really well,I will teach you, Oh my gosh.
Anyway, so three kitchen aid mixerslater, we've got, you know,

(18:29):
them, simultaneously unbreakable. What doyou do? You have to have
a lot to make a lot.So anyway, Harper, when she hears
that kitchen aid mixer, She's like, what you know, come on,
I'm gonna help you. And sheshe knows how to make stiff peaks,
and how to make a macaranage,and she knows all the things so sort
of a meringue cake. They youhave to be white eggs. Yes,

(18:49):
you make a meringue and all thethings. I could I could talk for
the rest of the show about baking. But anyway, so the point is
that Harper was then spring to startthis this business, and you know,
thanks to Still Magnolia Moms for helpingus discover kind of what maybe her path
will be. Who knows if that'llbe her path, but you know I'm

(19:10):
here for it. So well,now it's created a business for you.
Yes, yes, we're going tobe a vendor at this event that's coming
up on Siptember. You can comeand get Where is My Mind Thursday second
at the Powder Keg. So wedesignate five vendor boose for our Still Magnolia

(19:33):
Moms because we want to uh yeah, we will. We want to help
them build their business and promote them. And that's actually how the market got
started. Years ago. Another friendof ours. Mirabelle Farish and I were
in a support group and there wasa mom who was telling us that she
had to leave her career because herson was so medically fragile independent that she

(19:59):
couldn't eve them with anybody. Andof course the company that she was working
for, they could only be soflexible. And anyway, long story short,
she had to leave her job.She was at home, but she
also needed to bring income in andso she started selling some of those essential
oils. But she was concerned.She said, I don't know how I'm

(20:21):
going to do this. I mean, I don't even get a chance to
go out the house. I'm alwayshere taking care of my son. How
am I going to get a chanceto go and market this new business I'm
starting? And so Marabella and Idecided that we would host her at our
house, my house and create alittle market. Well then it was like,
well, gosh, if we're goingthrough all this trouble, let's invite
a few other moms and that market. They weren't all steel magnoid moms.

(20:45):
Cassie was the only one who hada child with special needs. But then
we had other women owned local businessesthere at my house, and we did
this wonderful day long event and atthe end of the day, Marabella and
I had her feet up and wewere just recounting on the d and how
wonderful it was, and we said, you know, it would be really
neat next year we should tie thisto some organization so that we could really

(21:07):
give back, this could have aphilanthropic purpose. Well, Love and Behold
had no idea when we're having thatconversation that this little seed of steel Magnolia
Moms. It was like a littletwinkle in my eye. And about two
years after that we started Steal Magnolia. I started still Magnolia Moms, and
Marabella and I looked at each otherwe said, ah, we got to

(21:29):
do the market again. We havethe perfect organization to benefit it. So
that's how it got started. Thisis now our fourth annual and we have
over fifty vendors. As I said, some of the vendors are steel Magnoia
Moms, and then we also havesome vendors that employ individuals with disabilities,
and then we also have you know, vendors, local shops and boutiques and

(21:53):
artisans. So it's a it's awonderful mix and I love that it is
represent native of our community. Youhave people there to support Steel Magnoia moms,
you have Still Magnoia moms, youhave individuals with of all abilities,
and it's just a beautiful way tobring our community together, shop local,
support, steal Magnoia for the holidaysand to kick off the holidays. Yeah,

(22:17):
so it's it's really fun. We'rereally looking forward to it. If
you want one of Kate's macaroon's,you need to be there before before five
p m. I mean there,you're going to run out. I was
trying to day, I was tryingto mix, so it's not going to
last all so that I get them, yeah, I mean I'll try to

(22:40):
make enough for that. But alsothe nice thing is you can pre order
for holidays, so cool. Soeven if I don't worry, yeah these
things, it's it's it's decent advice. If you're going to go to especially
a little holiday markets where you haveindependent producers that are producing these are handmade
items and services. They run out. There's a limit and you're you're going

(23:03):
to regret it if you show uptoo late. But that is the goal.
I mean, well, I don'twant to go home with Macron.
That's why I'm saying you will notgo home with Macrons. I guarantee you
if they even have not been sold, they will be eaten. Yeah,
that's true. What are some ofthe other vendors people can expect to see.
Let's see, we have the HatCheck, which is a really cool
yet you can go and you pickout a cowboy hat and I think she

(23:26):
has some mother styles and then shepersonalizes them so you can like it.
You're initials branded. You can adda you know, neat little feather or
something. So we have Aspire Accessoriesis a really neat little company that employs
individuals with disabilities. I think shemay be an occupational therapist, but she's
a professional that works with these youngadults and it's kind of a training,

(23:51):
a social training, skilled training,and also letting them put their skills to
use and they make a wage,and you know, I mean, it's
just a beautiful concept. And thereare many more of those types of companies
coming up. Biddy and Bow's isa coffee shop that just recently started in
Houston and was started by our goodfriends Kelly and Drews Goggins. It's a

(24:15):
franchise They make a point to say, listen, this is not a charity
like this is about capitalism, becausewe want people to see the value the
value of these workers. They haveskills and we need to put them to
use. You just have to identifywhat they're good at and what they enjoy
doing, and then their gifts andhow can they give back. And everybody

(24:37):
has a wage that you know,right right, So Biddy and Bo's will
actually be their belonged kitchen, willbe donating sandwiches for our volunteers, and
they employ individuals with disabilities and wasactually founded very in a very similar way
as to Kate finding her business.So wonderful wonderful vendors. And then we're
going to have some great rafful backskits. We'll have food, we have

(25:02):
a bar. We have a signaturecocktail, the Magnolia Sprits. As I
mentioned, we love to have fun, so you can expect to have a
good time. What's in the MagnoliaSprits. Yes, it is signature.
You have to come to our event. It is so good. That's a
good hook. Not as strong asthe Macaria. I will tell you this.

(25:25):
It has a bubble topper, soyou have your you have, yes,
exactly, and then at the verylast second you do you just a
little topper of some bubble, somebubbles, which I'm sure you love.
Coming from France, I don't knowwhat you're talking about, so I'm not
judging. I'd have to see it, but we wouldn't steer you around.

(25:45):
I'm fond of chemistry, and well, you know, baking is nothing but
chemistry. Cooking too, although wegot more leeway, but baking is like
chemistry and that you got to getthe ingredients just right. You're gonna mess
it up. Yes, there's lotsof precisions and the humidity he's ever changing
it. Rather, I don't knowhow these macrons. I had to bake
them longer than usual. I'm like, I don't know what's happened. If

(26:06):
you tried cooking up in altitude inthe mountains, everything takes long. I
have cooked in North Carolina. That'sas far as I want. That's not
very high. I know you literallyhave to cook. I mean everything takes
longer. Your pasa takes thirteen minutesinstead of eight. It's all because of
the altitude, and it's fascinating.It was steel Magnolia, Moms Dot com.
Steel Magnolia Moms dot Com is whereyou go to get in touch with

(26:29):
these incredible people. Elizabeth has alreadymentioned that her daughter inspired her to found
this, this company, this thisnonprofit that has touched thousands of people,
and that's exactly what it's about.If we had a thousand more Elizabeths in
the world, you imagine how muchbetter this place would be. But it
really is about just reaching out andhelping your neighbor. They'll in turn help

(26:52):
their neighbor. And I mean,you know, you could hold hands around
the world, so to speak,by doing that. But I think they're
one of the most power message thatthe Steel Magnolia Moms has to give is
that if you go to their website, for example, Steel Magnolia Moms dot
Com, you're immediately going to comein contact with a support group of people
that are not only open minded,but they actually know what you're going through.

(27:14):
And I don't completely relate to thatbecause I'm lucky they don't have to
deal with these colossal injustices in life. But I mean, I imagine that
just being able to instantly connect toto see the recognition in somebody's eyes is
probably one of the most powerful forcesthat the Steel Magnolia Moms is spreading,
and Tiffany mentioned the The Happy theHappy Campers. Are you all in touch

(27:41):
with the Perrywinkle Foundation because they domedicated camps for it's a wonderful organizations that
have them on the show. Rightly, We let the parents pick the camp,
okay, and then we pay forit. Yeah, oh so we
do. We do ask camper ship, so you're like a camp choice thing.
Yeah, choice, they camp choice, You give them a sty We
find the camp that you want,Can't that's appropriate for your kid and based

(28:03):
on their needs and then let usknow how and we have some guidelines,
but we don't do a school ortherapy based camp because we really want to
encourage these kids to go have funand have a typical child summer experience.
And we do prioritize the applications ona need basis and then we will give
there We'll pay the camp directly andcover the cost of their And thankfully,

(28:27):
there are so many camps here inTexas that support kids with special needs,
so like Can't Beloved and beyond CampBlessing, there's just so many places that
really embrace our kids and and sowe've had over sixty kids go through our
campership. We started Happy Campers startedthree years ago. So we've done it

(28:48):
for three summers and we've sent sixtyfour and we're just opening applications now for
next summer. You know, you'rejust You're just a small team of motivated
people and we're just doing this somebig corporate entity. We are by Mom's
fore Moms. That's how some ofthe great nonprofit organizations have started that.
It just starts with a grassroof campaignand a motivated population. And in Houston,

(29:10):
we have that. People here motivatedand they're generous. And that's the
other thing. Houston is so generous. I mean, we could not do
this if it were not for ourcommunity. We have had so many donors,
you know, repeat donors, sponsors, volunteers, and it's it is

(29:30):
so just touching to see how ourcommunity comes around and lifts us up.
They embraced steal Magnolia Moms for sure. It's incredible. I'm continually floored by
the Texas spirit. Coming from France, We're used to letting the government or
the Catholic charities handle a much ofthis stuff, and you come to Texas

(29:51):
and you realize that people like you, small teams of people that are really
motivated, were focusing on an actualgoal instead of vagr dizing their existence,
and the effect is exponentially more powerfuland prosperity explodes. So there you go,
folks. If you have any questionsrelated to Houston, PA, you
can just send me an email Texanfrom France at gmail dot com. I'm

(30:15):
happy to send you a link answerquestions or tech suggestions. A lot of
these shows were coming to me becausesomebody sent an email say hey, I'm
involved with these people. Have youlooked at them? And when I look
at them, I'm impressed and Iget to meet new people. So send
me an email Texan from France atgmail dot com. I want to thank
you for listening and caring about theissues I put on this show. Folks,

(30:37):
my name is Laurent I am theTexan from France and I'm a proud
Houstonian. This has been Houston PA, Houston's public affairs show, Houston Strong