“When Jordan was in elementary school, she raised over $1,000 for the American Heart Association. It was through the Jump Rope for Heart activity. She was the top fundraiser in her school. Based on that, and as someone who shows initiative and good character, she was nominated as a Teen of Impact for our area.

“She’s competing with seven other kids in the Houston area. She gets to run her own campaign. She picked team members, like family and friends, and she’ll be doing events and asking for donations to support the American Heart Association.

“It’s important to her and to our family. My dad had a stroke and then open-heart surgery before he passed. His brother, my uncle, died in his sleep from heart disease. They were both pretty young, still in their 50s. So we have a history of that in our family, and that kind of encouraged Jordan to want to raise money in memory of her papa, David Mourer, and her uncle, Chris.

“It’s also an opportunity for her to do something that a lot of kids her age don’t get to do. She’s 13 and is in seventh grade at Cedar Bayou. And she’s very excited to be doing something that kind of feels adult. Something that can really make a difference in people’s lives.”

— Abbey Mourer

Jordan is active in theater at school, and enjoys playing softball and doing crafts. If you would like to support her campaign, learn more on her Teen of Impact page.

The post Teen focuses on fundraising for heart health appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I came back to the states in January 2020 as tour manager for an all-girl math rock band from Osaka, Japan, named Paranoid Void. Although it was short-lived, it was one of the most fulfilling tours I’ve been on. So many people turned out in Texas and California.

“But by early February, we all realized that because of COVID-19, we were not going to be able to continue the tour. So I came back to Baytown to be with my family, and the band returned to Japan.

“For quite a while after that, I lost touch with a lot of people. Then shortly after the George Floyd incident, I saw the most wonderfully resonating thing on Facebook. The girls posted this video saying that they wanted to help raise money for Black Lives Matter. In the video, you could see the anguish on their faces. Through their words it was like they were saying, ‘We went to the U.S.A.. We met so many people. We love them. We know they love us. We recognize that you are struggling right now. And we want to help.’

“I have never seen an instance like that, where cultural exchange is helping work toward a solution. Right then and there, my life’s work, my dream, was validated. It didn’t matter how much money I made on that tour, which wasn’t much. It’s a matter of what was accomplished.

“For the girls, it wasn’t a political debate or anything like that. It was so simple. It was just them saying, ‘We want to help you.’”

— David Isaac

Prior to COVID-19, David spent the better part of seven years in Japan as a tour manager, booking agent and promoter for various musicians through his company, Dead Foxx. In the post-pandemic world, he hopes to bring more bands from Japan to Baytown.

Through the sale of band T-shirts, Paranoid Void members Yuki (bass), Meguri (guitar) and Mipow (drums) helped raise $455 for a Black Lives Matter support fund.

Related:

• David Isaac: His world is a mix of music and politics

The post Japanese band supports Black Lives Matter appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“We support a private orphanage in Mexico called Amor para Compartir, which means Love to Share. They are pretty much living on donations. These kids range from 18 months old on up. They’re all waiting for their parents to come back from rehab and things like that.”

How did you get involved?
“One of my college teachers had some Christmas cards that the kids at the orphanage created. He said if I would sell the cards, he would give me extra credit. To be honest, at first, I really wanted that extra credit. But after I went down there and saw what they were up against, I was sold.

“My first trip there, it was really shocking to see. There were about 100 kids in the place they lived, with only one or two restrooms. The playground was all concrete. There was no grass at all. Now, because of donations, they have nice gym-style restrooms with a bunch of showers. They have real grass and a soccer field. They’re growing. It’s beautiful to see.”

— Marina Castillo

The post Donations bring A.M.O.R. to orphans in Mexico appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“There are two lowrider clubs in Baytown. The one we’re in is Baytown 281 Car Club. You can invest a lot of money in these cars; as little as $3,500 or as much as $20,000. The more money you invest and creativity you put into it, the more competition trophies and acknowledgement you can get.

“Our club also does fundraising activities for the community. We recently held a toys for tots event. The entry fee was an unwrapped toy or monetary donation. We give them to families in Baytown that we feel might need some help. We’ve been doing it for several years now. There are a lot of families here who really appreciate it.”

The post Lowrider club members help out families appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“We’ve been a local ministry for six years now, and we’re planning to move to a new location.

“What we’ve been doing out here for about the last year and a half is fundraising to help us build our new center from the ground up. A big part of this will be helping to keep kids off the streets through various activities. We want to keep their minds as occupied as possible, so they can focus on doing something positive in the community.”

The post Ministry goal: keep kids off the streets appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I’m in seventh grade at Highlands Junior High. I have a very dear friend, and she was riding with an everyday person. Then an 18-wheeler crashed and she had an accident. It happened a couple weeks ago. She’s getting better. Me and my sister are raising money to help with the medical bills.”

The post Friend helping friend after car accident appeared first on The Baytown Project.