Dorothy: [00:00:00] This man is not afraid of taking a risk. After all, he won the best Eighties costume contest when he came to our Shrimp Boil, dressed up like Slash of the Guns and Roses band. That wasn’t the only thing he took a risk on that day. You’ll hear more about it in this episode. Of course, we have other reasons for liking Michael Bland. He is the Capital Project Stewardship leader at Celanese. And he is the influencer of that company’s corporate giving. We were amazed when Celanese reached out to us. They wanted to help and help they did. Their donations to the Shrimp Boil are providing chemo kits for our patients, are just two examples of their community support.
And if this episode inspires you, then please consider sharing with your employer. Businesses of all sizes have supported and continue to support our mission. Go to therose.org to learn more.
Let’s Talk About Your Breast, a different kind of [00:01:00] podcast presented to you by The Rose, a breast center of excellence, and a Texas treasure. You’re gonna hear Frank discussions about tough topics and you’re gonna learn why knowing about your breast could save your life.
Michael, thank you so much for being with us today and we are so pleased that, uh, your organization has really embraced The Rose, your company. And I want you to tell us just a little bit about Celanese. Tell me what you do. Now, I looked you up and I’ve heard and all these kind of things, but what is your job there?
Michael: So I am actually, uh, a people program owner, which really kind of equates to, I work with the safety program and help with the environmental health and safety of our site. And one of the amazing things that I think, uh, is important about my job and what I do there is I really work for every single person at our [00:02:00] site to serve them, to make sure that we have the very best safe, uh, safety, health, environmental record possible, not just for our people, but for our community and the folks around us and to just be a good partner. And I love that about my job. I really do.
Dorothy: Oh, yeah.
Michael: And so I’ve been doing that. I’ve been at Celanese since 2018. And, uh, working, uh, at the site there in Clear Lake. And I just, I love Celanese. I, it’s one of the, the most amazing places I’ve ever worked for. And I would say probably because of the amount of community investment that they do with, uh, working locally and allowing us as employees to really have the, the latitude to find, seek and, and decide and determine which causes and where we put our, our money locally to help support, uh, which causes are important to us. Uh, so I love that about our company.
Dorothy: So tell us about Celanese. You know, this podcast is heard throughout us and also [00:03:00] internationally, so there may be people who have never even heard of it. Not around here. But.
Michael: Right. Yeah. Right, right. So Celanese is one of the leading chemical manufacturing companies in the world. Uh, based out of Dallas, Texas. Uh, so we’re very fortunate here at Clear Lake to be close to our, our headquarter home office. And, uh, we really work around the world providing, uh, some of the very best base materials for everything that you could imagine. Anything from uh, ingredients to, uh, the diet soda, uh, to sportswear to, uh, any kind of medical plastics and devices that, uh, you could imagine that we use in the medical field. Automotive. Uh, construction coatings. Uh, we provide some of the, the very best base materials in the world for, for, uh, for those manufacturing, those products. And so we’re really proud of that. We’re really proud of that.
Dorothy: Should be my goodness. So, so go back to what you were saying about how [00:04:00] they are very interested in their community and I’m not sure that you knew this part, but we had the Celanese people reached out to us, which is so rare. I mean, usually we have to go to a corporation with a proposal or something and say, you know, would you, would you help us with this project? And we really needed those chemo kits are patients who are uninsured. Most of the time do not have the funds that are needed to get those extra things when you’re going through chemotherapy. And it’s, it’s just products that will help them be able to be more comfortable. So we were in need of those. Your company said, we’ll help, and that was, that was what we remember as our first introduction to Celanese. So.
Michael: I, I love hearing that, but I honestly, I’m not surprised to hear that because what makes Celanese amazing? Is the amazing people that work at Celanese. And that’s what [00:05:00] makes our company great. Amazing in leaders in the industry. Uh, but I’m not surprised to hear that. Somebody locally within the Clear Lake area, hears the need. And, uh, comes out approaches to, uh, to try to help. And, uh, so not surprised at that at all. I think the, the next question would be, you know, how do we continue to keep helping and how do we build and, and not just stop it? Helping to provide chemo kits, but how else can we contribute? Because one of the things that was important to us is we’re not about just giving money away.
We’re about, uh, becoming a part of your cause and, uh, committing to the work that it takes to lead your cause and to make a, a impact and a difference in the community and in people’s lives and things that really matter. And I, I really believe that, uh, that, that as a company, as an organization, as a workforce, as a group here in, in Clear Lake, those are the [00:06:00] things and those are the values that we really want people to see and know.
That we are a partner. We are not just a donor in your cause. So. I, I’m excited to hear that you know, we came to, to you guys and, uh, and I had been to a, uh, a Rose event, uh, before I’d actually ever worked, uh, for Celanese. So I had some exposure beforehand. So when we were coming to the, uh, the, The Rose Shrimp Boil event this year, I was very excited about everybody there.
Dorothy: Alright. Yeah, I think that’s really when I first became aware of you personally. Of course. You looked a little different at the Shirmp Boil, but tell me, tell me that story. You know, this was our 35th anniversary to have our Shrimp Boil, which is a long time for any fundraising to go on, but my marketing team decided everybody needed to dress up like the eighties.
Michael: I think that’s an amazing marketing team. I hope they, I hope they got hailed and praised for that idea.
Dorothy: No, they really had to work on [00:07:00] getting me to even agree to that, but I was surprised at the companies and the people that came out dressed. You were one and you came as who?
Michael: Well. I came as Slash from the Rock and Roll Band, Guns and Roses, because I believe The Rose 1986. Is that the year that we’re so, and there was some discussion about don’t just dress up but have a story and, and under of the, from the 1986, not just the eighties, but really kind of know. What’s significant about 86 and for us, for me, I, I’ve teamed up with another buddy of ours at Celanese and he was Axle Rose. I came with Slash. We came together and then we were able to tie that into the 1986 rock band and it just grew from there and it was an amazing time.
Dorothy: Now remind me, were you the winner?
Michael: We did. We did get, we did win. It was pretty amazing. Uh, we had [00:08:00] no expectation of that. We just came. Listen, our Celanese group, I think we had a couple of tables. There was about 20 of us all together, and every single one of us dressed up came in there and we were little. Nervous walking to the door. ’cause you know, we worked for sure how, how, because when you ask us to come, we’re gonna bring it and we’re gonna try to bring it all the way. And I, I hope that’s what we got because that’s what brings the fun and and interest.
Dorothy: Oh yeah.
Michael: And uh, but it was such a great idea. It was so fun for, uh, our team to come in and really learn more and help raise some funds and money and awareness about what’s going on and how we can better help and what we could take back to our workforce and our team and, uh, to generate even more support in the future. But we ended up accidentally winning this, uh, costume, uh, eighties costume contest as a Slash and we just absolutely couldn’t believe it. It was so much fun.
Dorothy: It, it did turn out. It was a lot [00:09:00] of fun. And I, and I do wanna recognize that Celanese was one of our raffle sponsors, which you know, when you sponsor something like that and we’re doing this raffle, it just makes more money. It’s a, it’s a win-win all the way around. And this was one of our best Shrimp Boils. It, it really was.
Michael: Well, you know, what was really, really nice about the Shrimp Boil was the sponsorship. It really had a broad appeal and opportunity for, you know, varying budgets of whether you’re a big company, a medium company, a small organization. You know, everybody and anybody that wants to get involved and, and help with this cause, there was, there was a way to help and a way to participate in that Shrimp Boil. And I thought that was absolutely fantastic ’cause we saw that.
Dorothy: And so this is on a Saturday historically, and it’s not a heavy duty top dollar expense. I mean, you’re coming to eat a whole plate of shrimp with all of the trimmings for $35 and the tables are, you know, very reasonable. [00:10:00] But, invariably, this Shrimp Boil not only serves as a fundraiser, but it’s a community awareness event for us. I cannot tell you how many people come to The Rose afterwards because they first of all didn’t know we were here and they had some fun and, you know, now they wanna support us or be a patient and, and so it’s really a great community event.
Michael: And you know, and you can feel that when you go to it any of, of The Rose events. The, the one event that I went to prior to this year, uh, there was a, a survivor’s quilt that, uh, was auctioned off. And it raised so much money. I, I was so.
Dorothy: Oh, I remember that one. Yes.
Michael: I mean, it, I was, it was unbelievable. It was the, I, I believe it was tens of thousands of dollars.
Dorothy: Yes, yes.
Michael: And just so much moved me and, and just knowing. Who I will, I always tell that story when I talk about the [00:11:00] Shrimp Boil and about this quilt that, I mean, I, I, I don’t remember the exact, you know, amount, but I just thought how great.
Dorothy: It was, $10,000 and we’ve never had another single item ever bring that much money in.
Michael: Is that right?
Dorothy: Oh, it wast It was just, and the, the lady that made it, she donated it to us. She paid for all the materials and that kind of thing, so. Yeah.
Michael: It was special.
Dorothy: A tradition.
Michael: It was a special moment. It really was. I, I was so impressed with that. The, the wonderful thing for us too is like, uh, uh, Robert Wright, his wife. Uh, you know, they, Cheryl they, uh, really helped, uh, bring more awareness with The Rose to the Celese Foundation and to our site. And, um, so I, I think we’re really grateful for that because not only is it a, you know, The Rose is, is doing a tremendous, uh, service to our community and people that are underinsured and in the fight against cancer. But, um. It’s fun folks to be a part of [00:12:00] and to be with and, uh, just the things that you guys do, it, it, it was just so much fun to be there.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Michael: And, uh, to dress up and, and to do the eighties and, and,
Dorothy: oh my gosh. Now, you know, the home marketing team will be back on me wanting to do a different theme for this year and, and they’re gonna say, Michael said it was a lot of fun. I can hear it now. I know the whole spiel they’re gonna give me.
Michael: You know, it for us in our marketing within our site, talking about The Rose, uh, we’re able to cycle that through to get more, uh, awareness about what’s going on and involvement from our employees.
And when they hear The Rose and associate it with our foundation and the work that we’re doing, and they see the fun that we’re having and doing the work. Uh, it really makes it easier for us. So. Those little things like that, they certainly go a long way, uh, socially with within our, our, uh, our, our workforce and our community, uh, within our plant to be able to promote and really help [00:13:00] rally more support, more backing for The Rose. So I, it was good.
Dorothy: So you, you were telling me a story about a new and, um, I was sitting here going, oh, how embarrassing. This was his first introduction to The Rose.
Michael: So we have a new plant manager that was actually just visiting during the Shrimp Boil at that time. And we were like, Hey, we need to invite our new, uh, site director to come to the, the Shrimp Boil with this. And, uh. Especially that we were gonna do the eighties and we were gonna dress up and we thought, Hey, this will be a good opportunity for him to spend some time with us and to see the Celanese Foundation and the, the support and the work that we’re doing and, and what kind of organizations we’re supporting.
And, and so, uh, Eric Johnson comes with us and, uh, it was his first trip out as the, the new director in incoming and, uh. He, uh, poor thing. [00:14:00] He, he came in and, and you know, he’s traveling so he doesn’t have a home and all that, right? Uh, you know, so he didn’t have a costume. So he didn’t come with a costume, but the rest of us showed up. We were dead.
Dorothy: These are my employees. These, this is my news staff. Oh yeah. Right.
Michael: That’s right. We were like, what is he gonna think about us? But he loved it and it was such a great exposure for him to come see, uh, how much fun we have and, and how much we enjoyed it, and how much it means to us. And to see the dedication of Celanese employees and, and the folks that he, that work with him and, and that he’s leading. To be involved and then just to see the quality of the, the organization that Rose and what y’all bring to our community and, and just the help. It was his first experience with us and his first experience with The Rose there. And, uh. I just thought it was amazing. It was an amazing moment. And, you know, we had this podcast going, people were talking to us and, and everybody was introducing them to [00:15:00] themselves. You know, and it was just such an open, fun environment and, uh, it, it was just, it was great for him to be a part of that.
Dorothy: Yeah. So, you know, I always say it’s kind of like have going to a big family reunion with 800 people.
Michael: Right.
Dorothy: You know, I mean, right. But it, we do know each other and, and this. You know, it’s not that big of a community after all.
So, but I wanna tell you, you know, in my world I live with a lot of seriousness and, and when I think of The Rose, I always think that way. You know, oh, we took care of this many people. We took, we have a lot of uninsured. And to hear you talk about us in that way is so refreshing. I mean, you know, it’s just a nice break to think that we can also be seen as this community organization that can have fun.
Michael: Yes.
Dorothy: Yes.
Michael: Yes. I, I think it’s important, you know, that.
Dorothy: Yeah. I had never thought about it like that. I think that is, uh.
Michael: In the, the [00:16:00] seriousness of it all. Yeah. And the gravity and, and the stake and, you know, life changing. Um, we still have time to, to laugh and enjoy and spread that, that, you know, uh, the good feeling and the goodwill and, and it just, uh. It, it was, it was a magic moment. It absolutely was.
Dorothy: Wow. Thank you for that gift. Now, you don’t have any family members that have breast cancer or anything. This is not something that’s touched you.
Michael: Not me personally. Um, but, uh, not breast cancer, but definitely cancer for sure.
Dorothy: Cancer, yeah.
Michael: Uh, you know, I, I lost my grandmother in 2001. Uh, with, with, uh, lung cancer and, um. That was, uh, that was hard. And, uh, I definitely, I was young at young, very young at that time. And, and, uh, I would never have known to, to look in early detection in anything.
Uh, we actually grew up in a farm farming community outside of Fort Worth, outside of Granberry, Texas. And [00:17:00] oh, you know, you kind of keep yourself, you keep to yourself and you know, you tell the doctor only what you must and only what you have to and nothing more because you don’t wanna embarrass yourself or embarrass the family.
And, uh, I always felt that way. And then, you know, my grandmother, when she got sick, she actually shared with us, you know, Hey, you guys have got to be willing to talk about what’s going on and share what’s going on with the, with your doctor. With the doctor. And you, you know, you’re not hiding anything from anybody.
You have to get on it early. And I feel like I always wish that we would’ve understood that sooner and, and even she admitted that, Hey, I just ignored some really, really obvious things and I kept making excuses for what was going on. And, uh, I did not. She just didn’t go in and she, it just got to a point where there’s just no way to get around it or get past it. So that was a profound impact and, uh, I’m, she shared that with us, you know?
Dorothy: Wow. What, what great advice though. But, you know, you’ve given me some insight. When we [00:18:00] go into rural areas, we really have to sort of take a different approach and I don’t, I mean that exactly. But you don’t just go into a city and say, oh, we’re we’re here. You know, The Rose is here. Come get your mammogram. You, that community has to trust you.
Michael: Yes.
Dorothy: And and it always requires someone local to help us coordinate an event, but I never thought about how it relates back to being private.
Michael: Yes. Yes. I mean, that, that was just my experience. I don’t know if other people, people have that or not.
Dorothy: But no, I, I think that’s pretty universal when you come to think about it. Someone said to me once, you know, you never know, and you could in, in a community, in a rural community, you never know where the poverty is. It’s behind the gate.
Michael: Yeah.
Dorothy: Now you can go over to some of our communities here in Houston. You can see. It’s easy to see where the poverty is, but not in the country or not when people need help, [00:19:00] because always it’s behind that gate.
Michael: Yeah.
Dorothy: And there that is so true. So very true.
Michael: And, and how many mobile uh, units do y’all have now?
Dorothy: We have five now.
Michael: You have five now? And. I, you know, I was reading, I, I think that’s increased a lot since
Dorothy: Oh, yes.
Michael: In just how, what was the,
Dorothy: We, we had the first coach come in in 2017 and we lived with one coach for years or so, brought in another one. And at that point we were booked out a year. I mean, we couldn’t, you, there was no building business. We didn’t have any days that we could even go to anyone else, and we were primarily serving the uninsured. Uh, while at the time we got the third coach, we could bring in some insured, which helps, always helps.
You know, we, we really depend on that insured woman coming in. Um, but for the insured women, especially in rural areas, again, it [00:20:00] was about transportation. It was about they were gonna have to drive an hour, two hours to find a, uh, breast imaging center. And in the city it’s, it’s almost the same thing. There’s some areas that people just are relying on public transportation. And it’s hard, it’s hard to get around.
Michael: Not all the dots connect.
Dorothy: No, not all the dots connect that. That’s a, a good way. So the mobile coach, to me, they have been our mission in action. You know, it takes the, the healthcare to the person who needs it wherever they are. And it’s, it’s been a, um, as a businessman, you know this, but it is one of the most expensive services we could do. Big coach. Gas, insurance, maintenance, uh, the, uh, generators on all the time. I mean, you know, it’s just a different [00:21:00] world. I know more about. Mechanical stuff on coaches than than I ever had any business knowing. But I, I will tell you, there’s nothing better for us.
Michael: Well, I think supporters, oftentimes, we don’t realize the, uh, logistics and the support that it takes to get the right resource at the right time for the, the, the people that need it the most and where they need it.
Dorothy: Right.
Michael: And what it takes to actually get those things from, uh, you know, from one place to the other and make it accessible. The cost of that is just like, we just mostly don’t realize or think in those terms. So, uh. It, you know, it it, it’s amazing that you, you got five of those units moving. ’cause that, that is a huge cost. But I, I think it’s a pledge to, or, or a, you know, support to, uh, how well supported and, and how much people believe in what’s going on here.
Dorothy: Oh, absolutely. The, we’ve had [00:22:00] incredible generosity to, to even purchase the coaches. We also have a, uh, keep the mobile on the road program. You never know what’s gonna happen.
Michael: Well, tell me about that. Like, is that a, is that, that’s your program?
Dorothy: Well, it, it’s a, a fundraising program.
Michael: Okay.
Dorothy: So that if you wanna help us keep the mobile on the road, you can contribute to it because it is only for that.
Michael: Okay.
Dorothy: It is restricted for any kind of unusual repair, any kind of. Do you know how much those windows cost? The front windows, the windshield things? I mean, my gosh, we have to replace two or three of those every year. Now we budget for some of that, but one year we had five! So you know this, this fund is for those unusual kind of things. One year we had ACS go out on two coaches. Each of them had three. Suddenly we had to have six AC units. And of course they all are special made. They all have to have these things that keep the germs and all that stuff [00:23:00] down. Your safety, you know what I’m talking about?
Michael: Absolutely. Well, even if someone that owns a rv, like a, they understand how expensive the the AC unit is. Or if they’ve gotta replace a window, those things are never cheap. So the ground support and the, the fundraising required to keep that moving so.
Dorothy: You can, you can buy anything you want for our coaches and we would appreciate it.
Michael: Okay.
Dorothy: I mean, it, you know, it, they’re just, uh, but they’re too important to not keep on the road.
Michael: I would definitely like to learn more about that. And see what we can do. I, I, I, those are things that we could really.
Dorothy: Get behind it.
Michael: Highlight and, and, and work on.
Dorothy: And the guys would, would get it too.
Michael: Yeah. Because, you know, we got a lot of car guys. Yeah. A lot of truck truck guys and, and, and they know these things.
Dorothy: Oh yeah. That would be neat.
Michael: Yeah. I think we could really tie that into some of the, the, the groups that we have there at the, at our site. But I, it’s so just amazing how much that stuff costs just to keep everything on the road. Moving and getting [00:24:00] there. And, uh, I, I just don’t even know how y’all keep up with it sometimes. It’s, it’s just.
Dorothy: I have great staff. I have the most incredible people in the world, and you know, we’re like 99% women. So sometimes when I,
Michael: well, that would explain it.
Dorothy: When I, about why, you know, how we get things done around here. It is just, um, it’s pretty incredible.
Michael: Yeah. It, and it shows absolutely. Shows, you know, uh, the Celanese Foundation and Clear Lake, our Plant.
We are, we are behind The Rose. We loved the organization and uh, it’s one of the things we just, the just. We love it. I mean, it, it’s just been, uh, something, uh, special. And, uh, we can’t wait to, to do more for sure.
Dorothy: Right. Well then you’re gonna be on the Shrimp Boil committee.
Michael: Oh my. Well, here we go. Yeah, absolutely. I’m, I’ll tell you what.
Dorothy: You can bring some ideas.
Michael: I’ll be happy to come.
Dorothy: Oh, good.
Michael: We will find a way.
Dorothy: Well, you know, you’ve [00:25:00] helped others understand how much, uh that support means to a nonprofit. But you know, we’ve also talked about other ways to help nonprofits. I think this is, I think this has been a great, great podcast.
Michael: Well, I don’t know if you know this, but, um, one of the other organizations that, that we support and that, uh, I’m actually in, involved in as a, uh, uh, area, uh, facilitator is a thing called reboot recovery. And, uh, the prize that we had won at the Shrimp Boil this year for the Slash costume, we actually donated that to reboot recovery.
They had a fundraiser at Topgolf there in Webster the following month. So we, we donated that on the behalf of The Rose and, uh, had had all your information up there. And we highlighted that and they highlighted that during the, uh, during the, uh, uh, raffling and all that cool as that. So yeah, so we paid that forward for [00:26:00] on behalf of The Rose and it was pretty cool.
Uh, so we were able to kind of parlay that to, uh, to that. And the reboot recovery is all about, uh trauma and, uh, recovery and suicide prevention and Veterans First responders, uh, very, very specifically, but they also have a program for everyone. And, uh, so we really enjoy working with them and, uh, we love the fact that we were able to tie The Rose to their fundraiser as well. So that was really cool for us.
Dorothy: So many good stories you have here. Well, yeah, that was, that’s good to know. Another way that corporations can help.
Michael: Yes, absolutely. Yes. I think the power of our people at Celanese and uh, the leverage that our corporate, uh, office outta Dallas has given us to really seek locally in the Clear Lake area, in the Houston area where we’re based out of, and really find those organizations that really touch us and that we see that are moving and making big differences, uh, particularly The [00:27:00] Rose allowing us to, to really put our, our wait time, effort behind that is, uh, is one of the things that make, make our company great. And make us so happy to, to be a part of what you guys are doing in some small way. So we really appreciate that. We thank you so much for letting us be here.
Dorothy: Oh my goodness. Thank you, Mike. And thank you for being on the show with very little, uh, warning. I know you came in and said, okay, I’ll talk, I’ll talk. So appreciate that.
Michael: This is how we, that it, right?
Dorothy: Yes. That’s how we do it. Thank you so much, Michael, for being with us and, you know, express our gratitude and appreciation to all those at, uh, Celanese and I can’t wait to see what you’re gonna come up with for the Shrimp Boil this year.
Michael: Alright, I love that. Thank you so much for having us. We, we greatly appreciate it.
Post-Credits: Thank you for joining us today on Let’s Talk About Your Breasts. This podcast is produced by Speke Podcasting and brought to you by The Rose. Visit therose.org to learn more about our [00:28:00] organization. Subscribe to our podcast, share episodes with friends, and join the conversation on social media using #LetsTalkAboutYourBreasts. We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Consider supporting The Rose. Your gift can make the difference to a person in need. And remember, self care is not selfish. It’s essential.
