[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 40 (Thursday, March 8, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E485]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E485]]



                       IN HONOR OF HAZEL JOHNSON

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 7, 2007

  Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, this Saturday, March 10th, the Happy 
Hairston Youth Foundation, Inc. of Bay City, Texas, in my congressional 
district, will honor Ms. Hazel Johnson, the Executive Director of the 
Economic Action Committee of the Gulf Coast. I am pleased to join the 
Happy Hairston Youth Foundation, Inc. in honoring this remarkable 
woman.
  For the past 17 years, Ms. Johnson has devoted herself to serving the 
residents of Matagorda County. The Economic Action Committee was 
created to ensure Matagorda County's homebound elderly and disabled 
citizens receive nutritional meals. Under Ms. Johnson's leadership, the 
Economic Action Committee has not only continued to fulfill its 
original mandate of meeting the nutritional needs of the elderly and 
disabled, but has expanded its function to deliver other vital services 
to Matagorda County's senior citizens.
  Under Ms. Johnson's leadership, the Economic Action Committee began 
providing Matagorda County's low income seniors and citizens with 
disabilities with air conditioning, heating, refrigeration units, and 
cooking stoves. Without the efforts of Ms. Johnson, many of these 
seniors and disabled would not have safe appliances in their homes. 
Perhaps Ms. Johnson's most significant accomplishment is making sure 
that Matagorda County's low income seniors and disabled residents do 
not have to go without air conditioning during the hot and humid Texas 
Gulf Coast summers. Anyone who has spent a summer in the Texas Gulf 
Coast knows that air conditioning is a necessity. In fact, for the 
homebound, access to air conditioning can literally be a matter of life 
and death.
  It is therefore my privilege to join my friends at the Happy Hairston 
Youth Foundation, Inc. of Bay City, Texas, in saluting Hazel Johnson 
and her efforts to improve the lives of the people of Matagorda County.

                          ____________________