Colonel LaGrange is a retired army officer who commanded Fort Riley during 
Desert Storm. He served for 28 years including multiple tours in Viet Nam and Laos. He has a passion for helping children in difficult places. He has been in leper colonies, refugee camps, orphanages and children’s hospitals around the world. He firmly believes that education is an essential ingredient in bringing about the stability and order that we seek. He firmly believes that helping children learn properly and gaining their trust helps the society that they are part of mature and move toward order.
He has formed “Help us Learn . . . Give us Hope” whos mission provides school supplies to Big Red One (Fort Riley) soldiers for children in conflict areas of Afganistan and Iraq.
- Based on a successful effort in Viet Nam 40 years ago, the corporation has multiple objectives:
- Supports Iraqi and Afghan school aged children by providing basic school supplies and sponsorship. Their education is the greatest hope for their future and the stability we seek.
- Enables soldiers to win hearts and minds by focusing on children. Good will builds through direct distribution and relationship building.
- Directly engages US citizens in the process of assisting children and our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. You can make a difference while helping our country achieve its objectives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Builds on a similar Viet Nam experience. Focusing on children has a profound effect.
Endorsed by the Governor of Kansas, all 50 National Guard armories state wide have been opened as collection points and a statewide marketing campaign is underway.
The vision is to provide each child with a back pack filled with basic supplies and to provide the teachers of the schools with sufficient basic stock to sustain them for a period. The items included are: Back packs or book bags, pencils, sharpeners, erasers and pens, paper ( notebooks, reams of paper, writing pads), crayons, coloring books, construction paper, scissors, rulers, calculators, chalk and blackboard erasers, tape, staplers, small toys that fit in a back pack (beanie babies, stuffed animals, cars, Frisbees, jump ropes, chess, checkers, soccer balls), tooth brushes and tooth paste.
For more information or to contribute to “Help us Learn . . . Give us Hope” visit their website at: http://www.helpuslearngiveushope.org/
Lawrence Central Rotary has our 2012 kick-off meeting at the Eldridge Hotel Wednesday
1/4 and we discussed all the exciting events we are working on for 2012. Just a few of them include:
- Expanding the RideLawrence.com
- The Lawrence Community Bike Ride scheduled for this summer
- A new bike rack design competition and installation for VanGo's facility
- Our Shelterbox fundraising drive
It's exciting to help people both locally and globally and we'd like you to be a part of it!
We meet Wednesday's at noon at the Eldridge hotel in downtown Lawrence.
For more info on our club Download our two page brochure, just click on the picture in the right margin.
You can also go to our "Reasons to Join Rotary" Page.
The Journal World's Chad Lawhorn spoke to LCR Nov 30th and talked about being a
reporter in Lawrence since 1992 and the changes he's seen discussing everything from the South Lawrence Trafficway (one of his first stories) to the happenings at City Hall.
Chad says from his bio, "I mainly cover city government and neighborhoods, but I've also previously served as business editor for the Journal World, and have undertaken a variety of first-person journalism projects. In parts of 2007 and 2008, I received some national publicity for a series of articles detailing how I purchased a handgun, received a concealed carry license from the state, and carried the weapon around for a few days." Chad also writes the popular Town Talk on the LJworld.com's website.
provides safe-shelter, peer counseling, advocacy and other services to survivors of domestic violence in Douglas, Franklin, and Jefferson counties. 
Lawrence Central was treated to reminiscing from KU' Barry Hinson. He was named Director of Men's Basketball Operations in May 2010. Prior to that appointment, he served two seasons at Kansas as the director of external relations for men's basketball.
Prior to coming to Kansas, Hinson was the head coach at Missouri State for nine seasons. While at Missouri State, Hinson guided the Bears to eight winning seasons, with four postseason NIT teams. He also had three of the 10 best RPI ratings ever to not make the NCAA Tournament, including being left out in 2006 with a 21 RPI.
Hinson was the last coach at Missouri State to coach the team when it was known as Southwest Missouri State before it became Missouri State. Hinson finished at MSU as the fourth winningest basketball coach in school history with a 169-117 record.
He's knows this will be a tough season for KU, but is looking forward to it as always. "It's like being with a team with the 800# Gorilla of the fans and the fieldhouse behind you. It's an amazing feeling."
