Travis County Commissioners Court
July 14, 2009,
Item 4
Number 4, receive update on the third annual Travis County sheriff's shootout and present a check to the Austin children's shelter and the wolfe pack boxing club.
i'm reminded of my old boxing days this morning.
>> did you win?
>> no, sir, the one match I lost and I retired.
>> smart man.
>> walk around on the other side of the podium.
>> I didn't know about the no cursing, no smoking, no quitting.
>> good morning.
agreeing hamilton, Travis County sheriff and I want to say thank you to the Commissioners for allowing us to do this presentation here at the Commissioners court.
it's with great pleasure that we have just completed our third sheriff's shootout and we're not talking about gun battle, we're talking about basketball, which includes youth playing in a basketball tournament.
this is our third year of doing this.
we had to miss last year due to some issues that we had as far as getting enough teams.
but this year we have decided that we were giving all of the proceeds to the Austin children's shelter and the wolfe pack boxing club.
we are -- I believe over the last three years we have raised probably about $25,000 or a little bit over $25,000 and none of the money goes to the sheriff's office.
we do this for the youth in our community.
we have with us today, we have to my left gina van osler, executive director over the Austin children's shelter.
to my right we have the community service -- Travis County community outreach unit's director, manager, boss woman --
>> [laughter] -- kelly page.
and to my far right we have ann wolfe, a former professional boxer.
as a matter of fact, she just got back from a boxing tournament with the youth and her daughter is the number 1 in the country.
i would like for her to raise her hand.
don't be shy.
>> [applause] in order for this to be put on, we have to use our staff and our staff is behind me.
if they would raise their hand.
they worked real hard to get the teams, I think we had about 27 teams this year.
it wasn't our largest basketball tournament, but I believe that it was the best organized basketball tournament that we have.
and Friday night before the basketball tournament, we have a celebrity shootout.
this year we had real celebrities.
we had sedrick benson, lima sweet, he was on the super bowl team.
we had michael griffin.
we had a couple of former harlem globe trotters and they should have won this game this year, but this is the third year that the celebrities played law enforcement and I'm proud to say that we kicked their butt once again.
>> [laughter]
>> [applause]
>> in you ended up win -- if they ended up winning, you probably would have put them in jail.
>> that was a threat I put on them.
i want to turn it over to gina and have her tell about her facility and then I'm going to turn it over to anne wolfe.
and I want you to know, I don't know how many of you all have heard of anne wolfe, but I've watched her box.
when she was professional.
and I can tell you that lela ali was scared to fight her and is still scared.
i'm pretty sure she will expound on that.
>> thank you, sheriff.
i wish I had talents like boxing.
i'm so impressed.
i just want to say how much we appreciate what the Travis County sheriffs do to the Austin children's helter.
i've been in front of you before.
things are tight right now.
we're getting ready to move into our new facility but we had to make strong budget cuts because of the economy.
money like this goes a long way to helping us serve more kids.
in addition, I don't know if you all realize how much the Travis County sheriffs does throughout the year for the Austin children's shelter but they take care of everything from coming and talking about gang violence and how to make better choices to bringing pizza and just hanging out with the kids to taking them fishing to all kinds of events throughout the year.
then they also do things like have donation drives for us and really raise awareness within the community about what we do.
they are one of our most beloved partners.
i still remember the first time sheriff ham immaterial ton called me and my first thought was one of our kids was in trouble.
they wanted to know more about us and they've been a real gift.
on behalf of everyone at the children's shelter, volunteers and staff who are here today, I want to thank the Travis County sheriffs and sheriff hamilton.
thank you.
>> [applause]
>> I'm not a big talker.
better fighter.
but I would like to thank the sheriff's department because one thing I can tell about the sheriff, he comes into the gym, he's had dinner with the kids, he comes in his shorts and shirt.
he don't come in with a gun.
our gym, I can say one thing is 90% love, 90% love, 10% boxing.
these children deserve to have an education.
they deserve to have a second chance and they need to know that we love them.
sometimes we're for getting over there and this is the first time anybody has done anything like this for us and we would just like to tell him that we really appreciate it.
>> [applause]
>> we would like to present the check.
I would like for the individuals that actually did the work from the sheriff's office to present the check.
so community service.
and Commissioners, I want you to know that the -- we have a community service unit like none other.
i will tell you that when I go out into the community and describe our community service, I like to say that we've got a community service on steroids.
>> [laughter]
>> I'm going to let pops go ahead and accept this because if it wouldn't be for pops, I wouldn't have the opportunity that I have.
that's why I've done this for so long because all it takes sometimes is one adult to put in time with a child for no amount of money.
pops?
>> tell them who pops is.
>> pops has been volunteering for 30 years.
we pick these kids up all over Austin.
>> come on up front so folks can see you.
>> Commissioners, could you join in on this picture?
we would like for it to be in our five point press.
because without you, we could not have done this.
>> only if you are going to get in the picture too.
>> [applause]
>> [applause]
>> judge, before we leave this item, I would like to personally thank the sheriff for his hard work.
it's back to back to back, just like those back to back home runs, this is back to back to back situations that he has dealt with.
the children's shelter, wolfe pack, I mean this guy is tremendous.
in my opinion, in my opinion now, I might get rocks thrown at me, but in my opinion I think he's the best sheriff in the state of Texas.
that's my opinion.
so he's a great, great, great servant of the people of Travis County.
>> anything else on item number 4?
move approval.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 1:31 PM