BEAR the Load Luncheon
The eighth annual BEAR the Load Luncheon was held on March 6th, 2008 at River Oaks Country Club. The sold out crowd of over 450 were inspired and touched by the featured speaker Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle. BEAR honored former board member Hardie Morgan, who made sure CPS kids had great bikes to ride and counts CPS caseworkers as his heroes, with the Catherine Mosbacher Founders Award. The Laura Bush Award for commitment to children was awarded to: Accent Wire Products, a company who has donated more than $70,000 to BEAR and the employees of Harris County Precinct 4-Jerry Eversole who have shown us everyone can make a difference $1 at a time, United Space Alliance, for bringing joy to hundreds of children each Christmas and Waste Management, a company whose employees support and contribute to every part of BEAR.

Luncheon co-chairs, Lisa Meacham and Becky Eisenberg deserve a huge thank you for their tireless efforts which resulted in our largest fundraiser to date! Lisa, Becky and their committee members Keli Luce, Christy Rowland, Laurie Sanders, Stephanie Shindler and Kenna Whitehead helped raise more than $168,000 to benefit BEAR. Thank you to all of them for a job well done.

The 2007/2008 BEAR Guild co-chairs, Katherine Tower and Bethany Hughes helped recruit more than 200 new guild members during their tenure as chairs. Katherine and Bethany are wonderful supporters of BEAR and their leadership has started a momentum that will certainly make a difference to the thousands of children we serve. We owe a great debt of gratitude for their commitment and hard work which has produced an amazing result. The 2008-2009 co-chairs for the BEAR Guild are Melissa Bynum, Jill Deutser, Candace Dickerson, and Pepper Edens. If you are interested in joining the BEAR Guild please contact Mary Green at 713.940.3073 or mary.green@dfps.state.tx.us