The Volunteer Center of Lubbock is pleased to welcome First Lady of Texas Cecilia Abbott as a special guest at the upcoming Service & Leadership Symposium: Igniting Creativity taking place Thursday, September 15, 2016, at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center.

This year’s symposium features keynote speaker Scott Sherman. Scott is the Executive Director of an award-winning social enterprise, the Transformative Action Institute (TAI). Sherman is an expert on the most effective ways that people succeed in their attempts to change the world – whether working for public health, the environment, or economic prosperity. Over the last decade, Sherman has taught courses on social entrepreneurship and social innovation at numerous universities, including Yale, Princeton, and Johns Hopkins. In 2005, Sherman won the international Echoing Green competition, which recognized him as one of the world’s “best emerging social entrepreneurs.” His curricula and workshops have been used at more than 50 campuses across the United States from Texas and Harvard to Stanford and UCLA. His programs have also been used in dozens of nations around the world from Europe to Latin America, and from Africa to Asia.

In addition, the Volunteer Center is thrilled to have First Lady of Texas Cecilia Abbott join us as a special guest. In January 2015, Mrs. Abbott made history by becoming the first Hispanic First Lady of Texas. She has been a teacher, vice-principal and principal at several Catholic schools across Texas, and she has also worked in senior health care services. But Cecilia hasn’t only devoted her professional life to helping others – she has done the same in her personal life. She serves on the board of several educational organizations and is a member of numerous philanthropic organizations. At the Service & Leadership Symposium, Mrs. Abbott will share about her new Texanthropy Initiative, an initiative to promote volunteerism and service to others throughout our great state.

The Service & Leadership Symposium is an event designed to celebrate everything the Volunteer Center of Lubbock is about – inspiring community engagement by helping people find their purpose and act on it. Participants have the opportunity to get inspired by outstanding speakers, gather resources, and discover ways to take action.

The 2016 Service & Leadership Symposium: Igniting Creativity will take place on September 15, 2016, at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center. Registration begins at 8:15 a.m. The day’s events will conclude by 1:00 p.m.
This year, the Volunteer Center of Lubbock is proud to partner with the OneStar Foundation as a part of the Texas Nonprofit Summit Series.

The Volunteer Center would like to thank our event sponsors: the Volunteer Center of Lubbock Helen DeVitt Jones Education Endowment, The CH Foundation, the J.T. & Margaret Talkington Charitable Foundation, the Lubbock Area United Way, the OneStar Foundation, United Supermarkets, the Marsh & McLennan Agency, the Metropolitan Lubbock Rotary Club, Rip Griffin Companies, and Studio West.

For more information, contact Sabine Wohlschlag at (806) 747-0551 or swohlschlag@volunteerlubbock.org.

(News release from the Volunteer Center of Lubbock)