A Season for Giving

Everyone knows that the season for giving begins in November for Thanksgiving and continues in December with the Christmas holiday. More money is spent on gifts at this time than any other time in the year. Many folks also become very generous by giving to charities, the homeless and people in need of food during the holiday season. Large companies and individuals alone will take time out of their day to volunteer to feed people holiday meals, or give large donations to charitable causes. While these are honorable things to do during Thanksgiving and Christmas, it sometimes appears that we forget about actions like these once the holidays are over.

Whether we accept it or not, there are people around the world, around the country and right in the city we live in who are in desperate need of help every day.  Many people that we may help feed Thanksgiving dinner will not have anything at all to eat the very next day.

There are several non-profit organizations that assist in caring for homeless, sick and hungry people; however, their funding is limited and the resources that they require can be overwhelming. One of these organizations is the Houston Food Bank which provides non-perishable food and meals to people in need around the city of Houston. This organization requires quite a bit of support and thrives on volunteers and donations to exist.

A few years back, I took time out of my day to volunteer at the Houston Food Bank. It was quite an experience! I sorted food and helped prepare care packages for needy families. I felt good about the idea that I was actually working first hand towards helping someone who needed support.

I am very fortunate to work in such a prosperous industry - Oil & Gas. I am very thankful for the opportunity every day. I network with many professional people that, like me, are blessed to have a solid career and foundation to support their families and live a happy life. However, I feel that we can do things that can support those in need. Several large oil companies hold impressive events each year that raise money for charities. I always try to support events like these. I think they are excellent ideas.

Since I work in oil and gas sales, I have had the opportunity to network with many people on golf courses. Golf is a great game and even if you are not a good player, you can enjoy the outdoors and have a great time relaxing and even discussing business on the course.

A few years ago, I decided to step out and see if I could make more of a difference for hungry people in Houston.  I came up with an idea for Pegasus Vertex to host a charity golf tournament that would raise money for the Houston Food Bank. Fortunately everyone at PVI was excited about the idea. The Oil & Gas Charity Golf tournament is a way for companies and individuals in our business to take one day and help make a difference. We also have a food drive at the tournament and collect non-perishable items to donate to the organization. Several companies have supported our cause and helped us sponsor this event.

PVI Golf Tournament

This year’s tournament is held at the beautiful Augusta Pines Golf Club, right outside The Woodlands, Texas. The event will be held on Monday, May 12, 2014, the week after the Offshore Technology Conference. To sponsor or play in the event, you don’t have to be a part of the oil and gas industry. You don’t even have to be a golfer – you can simply sponsor a hole or give a donation. We still have openings for players and sponsorships as well.

It doesn’t have to be Thanksgiving or Christmas to give to someone. You can make a difference at this event and you can also have a lot of fun!

For more information on the Oil & Gas Charity Golf Tournament, please visit www.pvisoftware.com.

Golf is Not My Cup of Tee

Golf is a game played with a series of thin sticks that are bent at one end. With those sticks, a player hits a tiny ball down a beautiful grassy area, dotted with trees and bodies of water. Those beautiful trees move and the sparkling water expands while your head is down so that your ball will be sure to hit one or the other.

When this happens, you muster up as much indignant rage as you can (without being thrown off the course) to get your ball back on the grass. If you’re lucky, the tiny ball will go flying around the tree or out of the water. And with even more luck, it will land on the nicely groomed grass around the tiny cup someone dug in the ground.

Unfortunately, this is very hard to do because someone thought it was a great idea to stick a flagpole in the tiny cup to block any chance of the tiny ball actually going into the cup. Occasionally, someone who is really, really lucky will get the tiny ball into the tiny hole on the first whack. They call this an ace or a hole-in-one. My golf game is more like a hole-in-the-head.

Most people think golf originated in Scotland but the earliest mention of a game similar to golf was in 8th century China. The game “Chuiwan” literally means, “striking a small ball.”

Golf is also called a sport of kings. It definitely is because only a king would play a game that requires someone (not the king) to carry his sack of sticks around on their back for four hours while the king rides around in a cart and drinks beer.

With that being said, I want to invite you to attend the First Annual Oil & Gas Charity Golf Tournament on Monday, April 22, 2013 benefiting the Houston Food Bank*.

PVI_Golf_Tournament_Brochure

Playing golf should not only be fun, it should also get you out of a day’s work and benefit a great cause. Our cause is the Houston Food Bank. The Houston Food Bank serves the greater Houston area, including neighboring Montgomery, Brazoria and Galveston counties. They provide an estimated 50 million meals every year! And that number has grown in these tough economic times.

Don’t forget to bring several bags of canned food with you to check-in. If you’re lucky, you might be able to convince someone you’re the king and they’ll carry your clubs and canned food in from the parking lot for you.

We are also looking for sponsors, so if you are interested, please contact Jerry Murphy at 832-284-2955 or email him at jmurphy@pvicom.com  For more information or to register go to: www.pvicom.com/2013_PVI_Golf_Tournament/

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* About the Houston Food Bank

Since 1982, the Houston Food Bank has served 137,000 hungry people a week by distributing food to 500 food pantries, soup kitchens, senior centers, homeless shelters, women’s shelters and other social service agencies in 18 counties in southeast Texas. That translates to 50 million meals a year! They distribute fresh produce, meat and non-perishables items, as well as, hot and pre-prepared meals for homebound seniors, veterans and children. They give out backpacks stocked with food for schoolchildren who come from food insecure families so these kids will have food over the weekends and during the summer months.

And all this happens with the help of 259,000 volunteers! Did you know the Houston Food Bank is a private non-profit? That means they receive no money from United Way or the government. That means it all has to come from people like you! You can even donate without playing golf.

Meat and milk are absolutely essential for good health and yet are the most under donated foods at food banks. Please consider bringing canned milk (not powdered) and meat, such as, tuna fish, salmon, sardines, chicken, ham, roast beef or sausage, but go easy on the Spam! Let’s make this golf event the meatiest donation the Houston Food Bank has ever seen!