Stories
One of the many things that makes Rotary great is making an impact - big or small - in our community! Rotary helps find those opportunities and brings together folks who embrace Rotary's motto - Service Above Self! In January, guest speakers Tina and Dara spoke to us about the great work Hope House Kansas City is doing to support those trying to break free from domestic violence (meeting recap can be found HERE). After hearing their organization's story, many club members expressed wanting to help, so we coordinated a collection drive of some of their most needed items. With additional donations from Studio Paragon at BRR Architecture, we were able to recently donate a FULL car load of supplies for Hope House! In addition, some Rotarians also ordered supplies through Hope House's Amazon Wishlist, which were sent directly to Hope House. If you would like to help support the work Hope House is doing in our community, here's the link to their Amazon Wishlist! |
2023-05-09 Club MeetingTony Andresen from the Kansas City Downtown Rotary Club 13 joined us at this week's meeting to talk about Rotary Youth Camp. Celebrating their 99th year, Rotary Youth Camp has provided a free camp experience for almost 300,000 disabled and disadvantaged kids in the Kansas City area! This year they have, once again, partnered with the Kansas City Monarchs to raise funds for Rotary Youth Camp. A $20 donation gets you 2 infield reserve vouchers, a Monarchs baseball cap, and a Monarchs pennant! Best of all, the entire $20 goes to Rotary Youth Camp! Our club is also planning a Western Johnson County Rotary outing together to use our tickets. If you would like to join us (even if you are not a club member!), please let us know HERE! You can also indicate on this form if you will need tickets and we will coordinate with Tony to get those for you. If you'd prefer to go on your own and still need tickets, here are a couple of options for purchasing tickets this week: Granfalloon Pep Rally (see flyer below) – Thu 5/18 5:00p-7:00p Sutherlands in Waldo – Fri 5/19 7:00a-9:00a Sutherlands in Olathe – Fri 5/19 7:00a-9:00a Roasterie in Leawood – Fri 5/19 7:00a-9:00a Thank you for supporting Rotary Youth Camp! |
2023-05-06 Trail CleanupTHANK YOU Becky, Rob, Misty, Sheila, Jim, and Matt for your help doing trail cleanup this past Saturday 5/6! The results – we were able to remove a couple bags of trash from the trail! Our Adopt-A-Spot section of the Clear Creek Trail in Western Shawnee starts at Woodland (just north of Shawnee Mission Parkway) and runs east .8 miles until it meets the Gary Haller Trail. |
2023-02-14 Club MeetingOur guest speaker this week was Nicole Damiano, Head of Community Outreach for the SFD Community Support Team in Shawnee. Nicole shared information regarding CERT or Community Emergency Response Team. Shawnee, along with neighboring cities, offer CERT training for their citizens. CERT teaches us what to do in an emergency situation. Whether it's a community-wide emergency or something right in your own home, being prepared can literally mean the difference between life and death! As a FEMA-supported program, CERT is nationally implemented to train citizens in basic disaster response skills. It teaches team organization, disaster medical operations, fire safety, search & rescue, and MUCH more! You can learn more about Shawnee's CERT training HERE. You can also view the Shawnee CERT flyer HERE. Want to get involved? Good news! Shawnee CERT training is coming in April! It will be 24 hours of classroom and hands-on training spread out over 4 days. The schedule is: Sat 4/22 9:00a - 5:00p Wed 4/26 6:00p - 10:00p Sat 4/29 9:00a - 5:00p Wed 5/3 6:00p - 10:00p You do NOT have to live in Shawnee to take this training! If you're interested, you can sign-up HERE. As Rotarians, this is another great way to support and serve our community! 🙂 |
2023-01-31 Wine MakingHave you ever wondered how wine is made? Thanks to Diane and A.W., some of our club members learned the process at last week's wine making club social! Club members started with a kit which included the grape juice, squeezed grapes, and other ingredients important to the wine making process. Steps included: • Heating water and adding the clay base • Adding the grape juice from the kit • Squeezing the remaining juice from the grapes and adding the squeezed grapes • Checking the alcohol content of mixture • Lastly, adding the wood chips and the yeast. The mixture will now sit for 6 months to ferment before it can be bottled. Members were also able to sample and help bottle a previous batch, which had already been fermenting for 8 months! |
2022-12-15 Club Holiday PartyWe had a great turnout this week at our 2022 club holiday party! A special THANK YOU to our District Governor Stephanie Meyer and her husband Bryan for joining us as well! Our club has had some nice growth over the past few months and we were able to officially welcome a few of our new members at the party: - Colleen recently transferred into our club. Colleen shared she is looking forward to getting more involved in local community service projects with our other club members! Welcome Colleen! - We also welcomed Becky and Rob into the club. Becky is a Past President of the former Johnson County Rotary Club. Becky's husband, Rob, is a new Rotarian that has heard all of the great things Rotary does and he is excited to be part of that! Welcome Becky & Rob! - Diane also recently joined our club. Diane is the wife of A.W., another WJCR club member. Diane was previously a member of the former Sunset Rotary Club and she has been actively involved with our club at meetings and special events for a while now! Welcome, Diane! Lastly, we presented Marla with her Level 5 Paul Harris Fellow pin! Rotarians have the option of contributing funds to the Rotary International Foundation, PolioPlus, etc. As their lifetime contributions increase, they achieve different levels as a PHF. Congratulations, Marla! |
2022-11-22 Club MeetingWe used our time at this week's meeting to assemble holiday boxes for Harvester's Community Food Network! THANK YOU to Kristin and Misty for doing the shopping! Our club was able to donate 40 boxes to Harvester's, just in time for the holidays. Each box includes green beans, corn, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cream of mushroom soup, corn muffin/bread mix, stuffing, and gravy. Boxes were delivered to Harvesters on Wednesday 11/23! As a reminder, we will not have a 2nd Tuesday meeting in December since club members are volunteering at the Johnson County Christmas Bureau Holiday Shop on Tues 12/6 and we will be having our Club Holiday Party on Thu 12/15. We will have a social for our 4th Tuesday meeting on Tue 12/27. Happy Thanksgiving! Personally, I am thankful to be part of such a fun and engaging Rotary club, that cares about helping others in our community. I'm sure I also speak on behalf of our club members who feel the same way! 🙂 |
2022-10-25 Club MeetingWe had another really great turnout for this week's meeting - 21 people! Thank you to each of you who were able to make it out! Also, THANK YOU to Colleen and Bill (visiting Rotarians), as well as Jane (friend of Becky M's), for joining us! There were a number of announcements shared including:
Our guest speaker for the night was Nancy Williams from Unexpected Blooms. Nancy shared that their organization collects leftover flowers from weddings and other events, and then they re-arrange them into bouquets that are handed out in hospitals, senior homes, and more! Why flowers? Nancy shared that flowers have been shown to reduce stress, agitation, anxiety, and depression, while increasing happiness, peace, and life satisfaction! They estimate that at least 7 people are impacted for every bouquet handed out (recipient, family, hospital staff, etc.) Interested in getting involved? There are a LOT of ways you can help! Are you planning an event that will have leftover flowers? Contact them here to arrange pickup: CONTACT US Are you able to help pickup flowers after an event is done, re-arrange flowers, or help with delivery? You can volunteer here: VOLUNTEER They have a couple of large events coming up on Sat 11/12 and Fri 12/2 where they will need help picking up leftover flowers. Lastly, if you want to donate money to help with purchasing vases, etc., you can do that through the Venmo QR code below (click on the code to enlarge it). |
2022-10-11 Club MeetingThank you to each of you who joined us at last week's club meeting! We welcomed a few visiting Rotarians (Barbara, Becky, and Bill) and also welcomed Rotarian John Shelton, who is in the process of transferring into our club! If John's name sounds familiar, it should – John was a guest speaker at a meeting earlier this year as he shared his experiences as a pilot on the P3 sub hunter for the U.S. Navy! Our guest speaker for last week's meeting was Theresa Reyes-Cummings, Deputy Director at The Community Mental Health Fund. Theresa talked about how our own mental health affects each of us, every minute of every day. She shared that our mental health "affects how we think, feel, and act, and also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices." Some mental health statistics she shared with us include: • 20% of U.S. adults experience mental illness each year; • 1 in 6 youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year; • Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among people aged 10-14 years and the 3rd leading cause of death among people aged 15-24. 😢 The good news is help is available! Mental Health First Aid teaches people how to identify and respond to mental illnesses. Also, in July 2022, the new 988 mental health helpline started in Kansas! Like 911, 988 is a quick, easy-to-remember number that provides a direct connection to trained support. Whether you are calling for yourself or a loved one, 988 can help! Theresa also shared these local mental health resources as well: |
2022-09-13 Club SocialWe had a GREAT turnout for our social at Transport Brewery this past Tuesday night! We had 2 goals for the social: 1) collect chairs for our Veterans at Veterans Community Project and 2) share the Rotary story with some friends wanting to learn more about what we do! The results?! We succeeded at both! We had 29 chairs donated for VCP! If you weren't able to make the social and have a chair to donate, please bring it to our club chili challenge on Tue 9/27 or let Matt know and he can arrange a time to pick it up. We will be delivering the chairs shortly after that. In addition, we also had 6 visitors join us! Courtney (friend of Becky), Elizabeth (friend of Jaime), Becky & Chris (friends of Kristin), and Becky & Rob (members of another local Rotary club) joined us for tacos, cold drinks, and some great conversation! THANK YOU to each of you for taking the time to learn more about our club! If you're interested in learning more about Rotary, PLEASE reach out to us! We would love the opportunity to share with you ALL of the good things our club is doing in our community! Contact Us |
2022 District ConferenceREMINDER: District 5710 Conference is Thursday 9/22 - Saturday 9/24! Don't forget to register for our District 5710 Conference! The deadline for registering is Wednesday 8/31! This year's conference will be held right here at Lenexa City Center! Event schedule includes:
PLEASE consider joining us at this year's District Conference! Registration can be found HERE! Interested in being a District Conference sponsor? There are many options available to get your name in front of 43 District Rotary clubs and over 2,100 Rotarians! Click HERE to download sponsorship information. Note: Deadline for sponsorship is Thursday 8/25. |
2021 Lenexa Peace PolesThe Rotary Club of Western Johnson County and the Rotary Club of Lenexa have teamed up to promote peace throughout the Lenexa community. The two clubs worked with the City of Lenexa and the Lenexa Arts Council to create the Peace Poles Community Art Project. This project is a series of Peace Poles designed by community artists with messages specific to peace. The poles are exhibited in Sar Ko Par Trails Park now through Fall of 2021 to promote peace, hope, and creativity throughout the community. After exhibiting, the Peace Poles will be auctioned at City Hall on the evening of November 12. Auction proceeds and sponsorships will support the Project 1020, Johnson County’s only shelter for adults who are experiencing homelessness. Project 1020 provides transportation to and from the shelter, a hot evening meal, grab-and-go breakfast in the morning, safe place to sleep, care, compassion and support for Johnson County’s homeless. More information can be found at www.lenexa.com/peacepoles. |
2020 Shawnee Services Food PantryRotary Club of Western JOCO presented a $500 check to SYLVIA TERRY, President / CEO of Shawnee Community Services to use for their food pantry. Sylvia said we made her day! Our donation was made possible by members unused monthly food charges since we haven’t been meeting during the recent stay home orders. Pictured are Club President Jim Houvener with Sergeant At Arms Jody Adams, and Jim with Sylvia Terry. |
2020 Rotary BingoWould you like to find new ways to support your community right now, starting today? Rotary Club of Western Johnson County member Kristin Johnson shared an idea she borrowed from the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, and member Matt Wright modified it for our use. It's kind of a Bingo game in which you simply try to complete as many of the squares as you can. The nice thing about this is the many ideas for how you can contribute to, or simply find ways to be involved with our community. Most of these are very easy - many you might have already accomplished! In any event, please enjoy the activities. And, thank you to Kristin and Matt for putting this together for us." Please see WJC Rotary Bingo card .pdf document in our Downloads folder here. - Jim Houvener |
2019 Christmas Bureau Coat DonationDuring September and October club members began collecting new or gently used coats for donation to the Johnson County Christmas Bureau. More than 30 coats pictured were donated for the Holiday Shop, December 4-11, which club members are also volunteering to work. For more information on the JCCB follow this link: https://www.jccb.org/events/ |
2019 Pints for PolioThe Rotary Club of Western Johnson County raised $347 for Pints for Polio through beer sales donations and a gift basket raffle at Transport Brewery in Shawnee on October 22. Nice work team! Pictured is Christie Merandino, Operations Manager for Transport, drawing Mike Metcalf's name as the lucky winner of the gift basket. |
2019 Shawnee Community Services Happy BucksThe Rotary Club of Western Johnson County donated Happy Bucks to Shawnee Community Services for food supplies. Pictured are the club's Sargent-At-Arms Jody Adams presenting the check to Shawnee Community Services President/CEO Sylvia Terry. To learn more about the good works being done by this organization, click on this link: https://www.scsks.org/ |
2019 Club Chili ChallengeRotary Club of Western Johnson County members met at member Marla Williams' home to compete in a club chili challenge. Winners will recreate their recipe for the Lenexa Chili Challenge in October 11-12. Along with chili, club members also brought kids coats for donation to the Johnson County Christmas Bureau for the upcoming 2019 Holiday Shop held December 4-11, 2019. Rotary District Governor Jason Leib also dropped in our meeting for chili and conversation. Pictured (right to left): Mike McVey and his winning cornbread recipe and Jim Houvener with his winning traditional chili recipe. |
2019 Kids TriathlonSeveral members of the Rotary Club of Western Johnson County got up extra early Saturday, August 24 to volunteer with Johnson County Parks&Recreation Kid's Triathlon held at Kill Creek Park. The day started out very rainy but began to clear up by event start time. Club members were there to clap and encourage kids to complete their events. It was a fun and rewarding day helping in even a small way to make a big impact in our community's kids lives. Pictured: President Elect Kelly Vaille, President Jim Houvener and Sheila Houvener. Not pictured: Past President Kristin Johnson, Terri Johnson, Caroline Beecher, and Leslie Nelson. |
2019 Rebuilding Together ShawneeRotary Club of Western Johnson County members worked together with Rebuilding Together Shawnee on a service project in July to replace deck boards, clean gutters, install smoke alarms, fix the front door, and install a fire extinguisher. Pictured are club members Jim Houvener, Leslie Nelson, home owner Pam, members Kelly Vaille and Gary Proctor. |
2019 Sunset Club New MembersWelcome six new members to our Western Johnson County Rotary Club who have transferred from the Johnson County Sunset Club. Lindie (Belinda) Victor, Licensed Realtor Michelle Herman, President & CEO Sunflower House Mark Emley, Market President, Academy Bank Steve Stoskopf, Sr. Vice President, Kendall State Bank Miles (Arthur) Nease Caroline Becher We look forward to seeing all of you at our next club meeting on July 9 5:15 PM at the Blue Moose Restaurant Woodland and K10 in Lenexa. Cheers! |
2019-06-07 Trap & Games4th ANNUAL TRAP SHOOT & GAMES AT POWDER CREEK Trap Tournament Get that shotgun cleaned and get ready for the 4th Annual Trap & Games Fund Raiser Event at Powder Creek. If you don't fancy shooting we invite you to come enjoy the Corn Hole Games, food, drink, and other games. Don't forget to wear your hunting or fancy Hat for the fun of it! There will be a prize for the best hat! Here is a LINK to the event flyer for more details. Register and Find Sponsorship Opportunities with Paypal Button Below When: June 7, 2019 Time: 12:30 p.m. Registration Where: Powder Creek Shooting Park - 8601 Monticello Rd. Lenexa, KS 66227 Who: Singles or Five-Person Teams (must register individually) $350.00 - 5 Trap Shooter Team = 2 Rounds of Trap, bottled water during event, 1 meal, & 2 adult beverages (beer/wine/margarita) for each person on the team after tournament $75.00 - Trap Shooter = 2 Rounds of Trap, bottled water during event, 1 meal, & 2 adult beverages (beer/wine/margarita) after tournament. Bring your own shotgun, ammo and eye protection (ammo for sale at club house, 12ga & 20ga.) $25.00 - Non–Shooter = 1 meal & 2 adult beverages (beer/wine/margarita) FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gary Proctor: 913-515-0411 or g_proctor@yahoo.com Register and Find Sponsorship Opportunities Funds Raised will go to Sunflower House Charity: |
2018 Rise Against HungerWe have quite a few members of the Western Johnson County Rotary Club perform volunteer service work with the Rise Against Hunger initiative at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School on November 13. They packaged up over 20,000 meals to be sent to families in need. Congrats to our team Rotatry and all the other volunteers! We appreciate your service. Below are some photos of that activity. |
2018 Torree PedersonCongrats Torree on your Paul Harris achievement and recognition!
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2018 Clear Creek Trail Clean UpWe had three adventurous members perform clean up duties on the 2018 Spring Clear Creek Clean Up project. Thank you Kelly, Dave and Jim for your Service work over the Memorial weekend. Cheers Western Johnson County Rotary! |
2018 Guns & Sombreros3rd ANNUAL GUNS & SOMBREROS AT POWDER CREEK Trap Tournament Get that shotgun cleaned and get ready for the 3rd Annual Guns & Sombreros Event at Powder Creek If you don't fancy shooting we invite you to come enjoy the Cinco de Mayo food, drink, and games. Don't forget to wear your SOMBRERO or fancy Hat and beads just like the Amigos on Cinco de Mayo! There will be a prize for the best hat! Here is a LINK to the event flyer for more details. Register and Find Sponsorship Opportunities with Paypal Button Below When: May 5, 2018 Time: 11:30am Registration Where: Powder Creek Shooting Park - 8601 Monticello Rd. Lenexa, KS 66227 Who: Singles or Five-Person Teams (must register individually) $350.00 - 5 Shooter Team = 2 Rounds of Trap, bottled water during event, 1 meal, & 2 adult beverages (beer/wine/margarita) for each person on the team $70.00 - Shooter = 2 Rounds of Trap, bottled water during event, 1 meal, & 2 adult beverages (beer/wine/margarita) $25.00 - Non–Shooter = 1 meal & 2 adult beverages (beer/wine/margarita) FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gary Proctor: 913-515-0411 or g_proctor@yahoo.com Funds Raised will go to: Register and Find Sponsorship Opportunities
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2018 Spring Clear Creek Trail CleanupJoin us for our Spring 2018 Clear Creek Trail Cleanup!Club members and family are invited for a nice walk along Clear Creek Park, Saturday, April 21. We will meet at Casey’s on the corner of Johnson and Woodland Drives, 8:20am. Then we will drive nearby to the park trail, and spend about an hour walking and cleaning up the grounds. This is part of the Adopt-A-Spot program for the City of Shawnee! Should be a beautiful morning, see you there!” Everything is supplied (gloves, bags, etc.) – just bring your enthusiasm! If you're planning to join us, please sign up on our Volunteer List by clicking HERE and entering your name on the "...Volunteer List" button, so we know to plan for you! More information about the cleanup program can be found at our Clear Creek Trail Cleanup page on our website: http://westjocorotary.org/Page/clear-creek-trail-cleanup |
2018 Welcome New MembersWelcome Terrie Johnson and Scott Matteson who were inducted to our Western Johnson County Rotary Club at our last meeting on April 10, 2018. We look forward to doing good in our community and the world with you. Cheers!
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2018 April (Speaker)Our WJC Rotary Club will have a very interesting speaker at our morning meeting on April 10.
Kansas State Representative Stephanie Clayton will be our guest speaker to talk about issues she is working on for the citizens of Kansas. Learn more about Stephanie at this link: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2017_18/member/rep_clayton_stephanie_1/ Please come and join us for breakfast. More details on location can be found here. |
2018 Club AccomplishmentsIn the last 5 years we have accomplished the following: Donations given: >$15,000 Service Hours Worked: > 270 Hours Funds Raised to our Rotary International Foundation for “Doing good” around the world - $29, 457 Funds Raised in our WJC Rotary Foundation for “Doing Good” in our community - $23, 181 2014 Accomplishments - $6,872 in donations, >36 hours Service Work
2015 Accomplishments - > $5,000 in donations, >136 hours Service work
2016 Accomplishments – > $5,500 in donations, > 100 hours Service work
2017 Accomplishments (TBD)
2018 Accomplishments |
2018 Charlie's House Check PresentationWJC Rotary Presenting Check for $1,500 to Jessica Earnshaw, the executive director of Charlie's House on 11/28/17 from our Golf Tournament Fund Raiser
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