Club meetings are held the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at 5:15p - 6:30p at the Blue Moose in Lenexa (Woodland and K10).
Our club social is held on the fourth Tuesday. Please see our EVENT CALENDAR for specific time/location information each month.
President & Social Media
Immediate Past President
Secretary
Treasurer
Membership
Speakers
Service Projects
Rotary Foundation
๐ง๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ to each of you who joined us in March for our Music Bingo fundraiser!
All proceeds from the fundraiser went to both ๐ฅ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐ฑ ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ and ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฝ. Each of these amazing organizations received $1,000 from the club fundraiser!
This week, a few club members visited ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ผ๐ฝ to give them the check and to enjoy some of their delicious homemade ice cream! Their store is located in the shopping plaza on the southwest corner of 95th & Nall in Overland Park. You can also learn more from their website at https://thegoldenscoop.org/
THANK YOU club members Diane, A.W., Mike, Kelly, Gary, Becky (and Mike), Rob, Colleen, Jim, Kristin, Dave, Caroline, Terrie, and Matt for volunteering to do drink sales with the Lenexa Rotary Club at the Lenexa Art Fair on Saturday 5/13 9:00a-7:00p! This is one of 3 events in 2023 that our club will do with the Lenexa Rotary Club. The others will be the Lenexa BBQ Battle Fri 6/23 & Sat 6/24 and the Lenexa Chili Challenge Fri 10/13 @ Sat 10/14. Profits from the drink sales go to each of the clubs to help support projects in our community!
Tony 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) โ Thu 5/18 5:00p-7:00p
Sutherlands in Waldo โ Fri 5/19 7:00a-9:00a
Sutherlands in Olathe โ Fri 5/19 7:00a-9:00a
Roasterie in Leawood โ Fri 5/19 7:00a-9:00a
Thank you for supporting Rotary Youth Camp!

THANK YOU to everyone who joined us for Music Bingo in late-March! After totaling the profits, our Board recently approved donations of $1,000 to each of the organizations we raised money for: Ronald McDonald House KC and The Golden Scoop! Both of these organizations play an important role in supporting our Kansas City community!
Also, once again, a big THANK YOU to our 2023 sponsors!
Lastly, THANK YOU again to our club members who donated prizes for this year's event: Cindy & Dave Huston, Jim Houvener, Marla Williams, Becky & Rob Johnston, Diane & A.W. Pickel, Mike McVey, Caroline Becher, Kelly Vaille, and Misty & Matt Wright!
THANK YOU Becky, Rob, Misty, Sheila, Jim, and Matt for your help doing trail cleanup this past Saturday 5/6! The results โ 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.
For our meeting this week, our club members toured Lenexa Fire Department Station #5!
There are 3 shifts that work at the station, with each of the crews working a 24 hour shift. Our walk through the station included seeing their kitchen and dining area, day area, sleeping rooms, weight room, and, of course, the firetruck! They shared how grant money has allowed them to upgrade their equipment to help keep them and our community safe during a fire, accident, or other disaster. An example they showed us was the personal thermal imaging equipment (smaller than a cell phone) each firefighter carries to help find someone in a smoke-filled room or dark place.
Our tour also included an overview of what areas Station #5 covers. Did you know Lenexa Fire shares responsibility of Shawnee Mission Park with Shawnee Fire? Emergency needs in the south half of Shawnee Mission Park will be handled by Station #5. As such, they are equipped with an ATV that can be used on the trails to get help to people quickly. Have you ever noticed numbered signs on the trails? Giving that number to a 911 operator will pinpoint exactly where you're at to emergency personnel.
We wrapped up our tour by bringing dinner for the crews as a THANK YOU for the tour and for all they do to keep our community safe. Dinner included homemade BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans, smoked mac & cheese, chips, and more! Thank you to the club members who made or brought something.
Our next club meeting is Tuesday 5/9 5:30p at the Blue Moose in Lenexa. Our guest speaker will be Trey Meyer from 3&2 Baseball. If you'd like to join us, please send us a message!
Our speaker at our most recent club meeting was our own club member A.W. Pickel, III.
A.W. is a Lieutenant Colonel with the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). A.W. shared what CAP does and how civilians can volunteer and get involved.
The Civil Air Patrol is an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force. Volunteers with CAP, both on the ground and in the air, help with things like search and rescue, wildfire and tornado response support, Red Cross blood transport, and MUCH more. A.W. volunteers as a pilot in the Kansas Wing of CAP and shared there are opportunities for civilians to help with both ground and air support. One specific area of need A.W. mentioned is for volunteers who enjoy taking pictures to join the flight crew and take pictures from the sky!
A.W. also shared information about the CAP Cadet Program, open to young people from 12-18 years old. According to the CAP youth website, CAP cadets participate in a year-round program where they fly, learn to lead, hike, camp, get in shape and push themselves to new limits. Also, CAP cadets who may be interested in joining the Air Force as adults may be able to enter at an advanced grade if they achieve the appropriate level (cadets are NOT obligated to join the military, though). More information about the CAP cadet program can be found here: https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/join/youth-in-cadet-program
Interested in learning more about volunteering? Send us a message and we'll get you in touch with A.W.!

Music Bingo is back for 2023!
Once again, the Rotary Club of Western Johnson County will be hosting our virtual Music Bingo Fundraiser! 2023 proceeds will benefit the Ronald McDonald House KC and The Golden Scoop!
A big THANK YOU to our 2023 sponsors!
Also, THANK YOU to our club members who donated prizes for this year's event: Cindy & Dave Huston, Jim Houvener, Marla Williams, Becky & Rob Johnston, Diane & A.W. Pickel, Mike McVey, Caroline Becher, Kelly Vaille, and Misty & Matt Wright! If you want to donate a prize or be a sponsor, there's still time! Please click on this link to learn more: SPONSORS & PRIZES
Want to join us as a player? Reserve your spot in Music Bingo by clicking here: MUSIC BINGO
Our guest speaker at this week's club meeting was Jessica Davenport from The Golden Scoop!
The Golden Scoop is a local ice cream shop that provides meaningful employment for people with developmental disabilities. Their store is located at 95th and Nall Ave in Overland Park, and their product line includes homemade ice cream and baked goods, smoothies, coffee and more! Also, did you know The Golden Scoop was recognized as Yelp's 2022 "best ice cream shop in the state of Kansas"?!
Check out this segment that Good Morning America recently did on the The Golden Scoop: GMA Video
Interested in supporting The Golden Scoop? You're in luck! The Golden Scoop is one of two organizations our club's upcoming 2023 Virtual Music Bingo fundraiser on Tues 3/28 will be supporting! Proceeds from the fundraiser will go to both The Golden Scoop and Ronald McDonald House KC. You can learn more about our virtual fundraiser here: MUSIC BINGO
Did you know the City of Shawnee had over 6,600 volunteer hours in 2022?! That's an average of over 18 hours each day!
This week's guest speaker was Elizabeth Griffith, Volunteer Coordinator for Shawnee. Elizabeth shared with us many of the volunteer opportunities the City of Shawnee offers each year such as Adopt-A-Spot, Bluebird Steward, Neighbors Helping Neighbors, Wildlife Habitat Restoration, and more!
Our club has participated in the Adopt-A-Spot for many years. 2-3 times per year, our club members do cleanup on roughly 1 mile of the Clear Creek Trail near Woodland and Shawnee Mission Parkway. Our club members have also volunteered with Neighbors Helping Neighbors. NHN projects we've been involved with include painting, deck repair, tree trimming, replacing light bulbs and smoke detector batteries, and much more!
Interested in volunteering? Contact us! We'd love to have you volunteer with us on a project!
You can also learn more about volunteering directly with the City of Shawnee here: Shawnee Volunteer
Our 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! ๐
Thank you to each of our club members who donated food, drinks, and their time today to help the Ronald McDonald House Family Room in Overland Park!
The RMH Family Room provides a place for families to relax, eat, shower, and even sleep while they are waiting on hospital care for their family. Our club volunteered to make 40 baked potato meals, which included all of the usual fixings โ cheesy queso, butter, sour cream, and more! These meals will be given out to families over the next couple of days.
If you'd like to learn more about volunteer opportunities at RMH, check out their website HERE!
Have 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:
โข Heating water and adding the clay base
โข Adding the grape juice from the kit
โข Squeezing the remaining juice from the grapes and adding the squeezed grapes
โข Checking the alcohol content of mixture
โข 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!
We officially welcomed a new member, but a familiar face, to our club at this week's meeting. Welcome Cindy Huston! Cindy is the wife of club member Dave Huston and a past Rotarian. We're excited to have Cindy return to Rotary as a member of our club!
We also celebrated club member Kristin Johnson, who is now a Paul Harris Fellow! Kristin has been with our club for over 6 years and has served as President, Membership Chair, and more! Kristin's positive energy and Service Above Self attitude are just a couple of reasons why she is very deserving of this recognition! Congratulations Kristin!
After a few announcements of upcoming events and service projects, which include preparing lunch at the Ronald McDonald House and our annual Music Bingo Fundraiser (more info to come on that soon!), we welcomed our guest speaker Keely Schneider, Executive Director at Workforce Partnership. Workforce Partnership supports workforce development programs for adults and youth in Johnson, Wyandotte, and Leavenworth counties. Ms. Schneider shared trends happening in the labor force, both pre- and post-pandemic, that are influencing challenges in our current job market. The good news is Kansas is doing well when compared to the national averages but there's still work to do! Workforce Partnership provides workers with employment workshops, skill assessments, in-depth counseling, funding for job training/education, and MUCH MORE! They also support employers with services like recruitment assistance, work-based learning at a reduced cost to the employer, retention assistance, and more. If you'd like to learn more about how they can help you, check out their website at workforcepartnership.com!
We 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!
THANK YOU club members (and spouses!) for volunteering at the Johnson County Christmas Bureau Holiday Shop with us last night! We had a GREAT turnout of volunteers!
The JCCB Holiday Shop serves 10,000-12,000 low-income community residents each year. Clients sign-up to participate in the Holiday Shop, which lasts about 1 week in early-December each year. Once clients arrive, they are escorted through the shop by a volunteer who helps them pick out books, clothing, personal care items, toys, and much more! JCCB is community funded (no government funding) and relies on the generosity of donations and volunteers to provide this amazing service to our community.
Last night, our club volunteers helped handing out books, personal care items, escorting clients, cleanup, and more! This is one of our club's favorite events each year!
If you are interested in volunteering, JCCB is always in need of help this time of year. The 2022 Holiday Shop runs through this Saturday 12/10. To sign-up as a volunteer, please visit their volunteer page here: JCCB Volunteer
We 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! ๐
A big THANK YOU to club members who brought food donations to our meeting this week for Shawnee Community Services! Donations were dropped off Wednesday 11/9 and they filled 2 grocery carts! Also, THANK YOU to those who brought glass vases for Unexpected Blooms! Kristin will be delivering those soon (thanks Kristin!) ๐
Due to travel challenges, our guest speaker couldn't make it but we did talk about some upcoming events (Club Holiday Party, volunteer opportunities for the Johnson County Christmas Bureau, etc.) and then, thanks to Gary, we ended our meeting with a friendly game of Rotary Chronology! We learned a lot about the Rotary timeline! After all the points were tallied, the end-result was a tie between both teams.
Our next meeting will be Tuesday 11/22 at the Blue Moose in Lenexa. Our guest speaker will be Donna Knoell from the Johnson County Theatre in the Park Advisory Council! We'll also be assembling some holiday boxes for Harvesters. And, if time permits, we'll be doing a Classification Talk game to learn more about our club members!
We need your help!
Our club is currently collecting canned and non-perishable food items for the folks at Shawnee Community Services! SCC is a local food pantry and free clothing resource, serving the entire KC metro. As the holidays approach, they are desperately needing food donations which will be "handed up" to the folks in our community! While all canned and non-perishable goods are appreciated, they shared canned fruit, peanut butter, and ready-to-eat canned beans are especially needed.
Please consider donating to help this great organization! You can either drop your donations off at our next club meeting on Tuesday 11/8 between 5:15p - 6:30p at the Blue Moose in Lenexa (near K10 and Woodland) or you can text us at (913) 382-8970 to arrange a time to meet!
We 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:
- We will be doing a canned/non-perishable food drive between now and our Tue 11/8 meeting! All food donations will be donated to Shawnee Community Services, a local non-profit who provides food, clothing, etc. to those in need. Folks who bring donations to the Tue 11/8 meeting will be entered in a drawing to win some Rotary swag! ALL non-perishable food items are appreciated but their supplies of canned fruits, peanut butter, and ready-to-eat beans are extremely low! If you can't make it to our next meeting, please email Matt and we can find a way to get your donation!
- We're also collecting unwanted flower vases for Unexpected Blooms (see guest speaker recap below). Vases must be between 5" - 8" tall and in good condition (no chips). Bring those to our Tue 11/8 meeting to be entered into a separate drawing for more Rotary swag!
- Our District Governor Stephanie Meyer recently emailed clubs asking if anyone is interested in joining the Johnson County Theatre in the Park Advisory Council. If you are interested in learning more, please check out their webpage here: THEATRE
- Our club has signed up to volunteer at the Johnson County Christmas Bureau on Tue 12/6 evening. We will need at least 12 volunteers! If you are available to help, please sign-up here: JCCB
- Lastly, we will be having our club holiday party in December. Location and date TBD. If you have any suggestions, please email those to Matt. Signup sheet will be posted in early-November.
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).
Thank 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 โ 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:
โข 20% of U.S. adults experience mental illness each year;
โข 1 in 6 youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year;
โข 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. ๐ข
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:
Welcome new Rotarian Jan Curry!
Jan recently joined the Rotary Club of Western Johnson County. Thank you to Lindie for proposing Jan as a new member of our club! While this is Jan's first time as a Rotarian, she shared that her grandfather was very involved with Rotary and always spoke highly of the work Rotarians do. Jan said she is looking forward to getting more involved with and serving our community!
Thank you, Jan, for joining our Rotary family! We are excited to have you in our club! ๐
Thank you to each of our club members who joined us for our club's annual chili social. As always, we had a great time! And THANK YOU to Diane & A.W. for hosting us!
After sampling MANY different chili recipes, members voted on their top 3. Congratulations to Jaime for winning top spot, followed closely by Kristin (2nd place) and Michelle (3rd place)!
Following club tradition, Jaime's recipe will be cooked for our club's entry at the Lenexa Chili Challenge on Fri 10/7 & Sat 10/8! If you haven't been to the Lenexa Chili Challenge before, please make time to check it out! Around 150 folks, clubs, or organizations cook their best chili recipe to be judged. All chilis are cooked on-site and extra is made for the public to sample. Starting at 10a, spoons are handed-out and you walk booth-to-booth to try the different chilis. Also, please make sure to stop by our Rotary booth and say hi!
We 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
Hopefully you didn't miss the guest speaker at our last meeting! Leslie Hernandez Brown is the Assistant Executive Director at Inclusion Connections/PawsAbilities. Located in Olathe, PawsAbilities provides jobs for young people with disabilities in Kansas City! The folks at PawsAbilities handcraft dog treats, dog bandanas, pull toys, and more! They also work in the retail and mobile stores selling the goods they create, which also helps them learn customer service skills for future job opportunities!
Their mission statement is "...to strengthen the lives of individuals with disabilities by creating inclusive opportunities for community involvement, access to meaningful employment, and better options for supported living."
There are MANY ways you can help support this great organization! Shop their retail store to purchase items for your pets, watch for their mobile store at local events, sponsor a pop-up for your own event, or volunteer/donate! You can learn more about them by watching this VIDEO or by visiting their website at PawsAbilities
THANK YOU to each club member who joined us at Transport Brewery on Tuesday 8/16 to create snack bags for Ronald McDonald House! The snack bags are handed out by RMH to families of children going through a long day of appointments and/or procedures. THANK YOU to Caroline for organizing this service project social! Also, a big THANK YOU to each of our guests that came to help - Angie, Courtney, Valerie, Cindy, and Sheila!
REMINDER: 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:
- Thursday 9/22 11a โ Four person golf scramble. You can either signup as a team of 4 or signup individually and be assigned to a team. Click HERE to download the golf scramble registration form!
- Thursday 9/22 6p โ A social evening in downtown Shawnee enjoying many of the towns great local breweries and restaurants!
- Friday 9/23 โ Programming, networking, and brainstorming activities with other District Rotarians. Keynote speakers will include Katherine Holland (Executive Director World Cup 2026), Ryan LeFebvre (KC Royals Announcer), Joe Hall Jr (Kansas State Football), and Stephanie Meyer (District Governor 5710)!
- Saturday 9/24 โ Community service โ we'll be doing service projects for both Kids for Peace and Heart to Heart International!
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.

THANK YOU to Caroline, Kelly, Misty, Jim, and Matt for taking an hour Saturday morning to help with trail cleanup! Our club has adopted a .8 mile stretch of the Clear Creek Trail between Woodland and Mill Creek (east of Woodland). It was a beautiful, cool morning for a walk with fellow club members!
Our guest speaker at last week's club meeting was our very own District 5710 Governor Stephanie Meyer! Stephanie's Rotary year as District Governor began on July 1st and she's making her way around to the clubs in our District to share her vision for the 2022-2023 Rotary year.
Stephanie began the meeting by telling us a little about herself. She recently became a living kidney donor! She then celebrated with 20 other living kidney donors by hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa!
Stephanie spoke about the current state of District 5710. Our District currently has 43 clubs with just over 2,000 club members. She talked about some of the District grant projects that clubs completed in 2021-2022 - Sleep in Heavenly Peace kids beds, shoe drive, disaster response kits, food pantry supplies, and MANY more! Lastly, she shared what her focus is for 2022-2023 - new member engagement, existing member re-engagement, community service projects, and having more FUN at our Rotary meetings and events!
Stephanie invited us to join her for the upcoming District 5710 Annual Conference which will be held here at Lenexa City Center on Thu 9/22 - Sat 9/24. More information about the District Conference can be found HERE or in the July District Newsletter that came out earlier this week!
Holmes Osborne, CFA from Osborne Global Investors, was our guest speaker at a recent meeting. Holmes, who has a strong financial background, talked with us about the current market and gave his view of the near-term future outlook. His background as CEO of a financial planning company in California for many years gives him significant experience in helping customers with retirement planning and financial management. He has been an expert speaker at many events and is a known consultant in the financial planning industry. Holmes talked about the war in Ukraine and its effect on our economy and inflation, as well as the lack of supply resources causing our markets to head toward a recession. He explained that the "Fed" has a big part to play in controlling if we go into a recession, how long it will last, and how deep it will go.
Holmes has been more cautious in his investment recommendations and how he counsels people on spending in the near term. He also cautioned about shifting investments from stocks to bonds as bonds have also not been performing well in the last six months, and that certain types of bonds may not do well in a recession. His recommendation is to speak with a trained financial consultant as their knowledge can help traverse the rough waters ahead. Interested in learning more? Reach out to Holmes at holmesosborne@holmesosborne.com or visit his website at www.holmesosborne.com