Lawrence Central

Jorge Coromac Showing the water filtration system Woodland Public Charity provides.

Jorge Coromac who is a member of the Olathe Rotary Club and the Woodland Public Charity VP  of Programs and Fund Development came to discuss how they are working to implement Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and the Access to Health programs in in Guatemala, Kenya and South Africa.  He also explained how these programs include the opportunity for each Rotarian to be a part of these implementations.

Established in 2001, Woodland Public Charity strives to help children and families in poor communities in under-developed countries. Woodland supports basic assistance for poor families to help them overcome the burdens of poverty. Their goal is to help poor children become healthy, educated, self-sustaining and contributing members of society.

For more information about this and other projects that the Woodland Public Charity is working on visit their website here.

Free State High’s Chorale performing at our Holiday luncheon.

Each year around the holidays Lawrence Central moves from the All American Room into the Eldridge’s Crystal Ballroom to celebrate the holidays by inviting spouses and guests to partake in the holiday spirit.  The staff at the Eldridge had a wonderful buffet lunch for us and we were treated to the impeccable sounds of the Free State Chorale.

From all of us at the Lawrence Central Rotary we wish you and yours the very warmest of holiday wishes. Thanks to all who have attended our meetings in the last year and for sharing in a vision for a better Lawrence and the world though the work of Rotary.

Lawrence Central members enjoying the sounds of the season.

Colby Wilson B&GC of Lawrence Exec Dir & LCR Pres. Bob Swan

Moving from Tacoma, Washington, Colby Wilson took the helm of Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence last February and has continued the tradition of growing the organization which enables all young people, especially those who need it most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.

The Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence works in their space and local schools serving more than a thousand local children. It is a place where kids play, have fun, experience joy, laugh, and learn about themselves and the larger world they live in. Kids are also given guidance to choose right from wrong.

Their numbers are impressive:

• 2,376 youth enrolled during the 2011/2012 school year
• 1,039 average daily attendance during the school year
• 517 average daily attendance for 2012 summer program
• 12 Boys & Girls Club sites
• 18 schools served, 14 elementary and 4 middle schools
• 40 community partners
• 130 volunteers

At the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence, they serve one purpose: to inspire and enable young people to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens. They do this through Club programs and services that promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence.

He was especially excited to tell us the story of Trei Dudley, from Lawrence, who is the Boys & Girls Club National Youth of the Year.  From 5 years old and on the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence (B&GCL) served as both a refuge and resource for Trei Dudley.  Trei went through the B&GCL program, starting in kindergarten and attending through high school until graduating from Free State.  For more information about Trei or the Lawrence chapter of the B&GC their Website.

After 25 years of hard work, Rotary and its partners are on the brink of eradicating this tenacious disease, but a strong push is needed now to root it out once and for all. It is a window of opportunity of historic proportions. Reaching the ultimate goal of a polio-free world presents ongoing challenges, not the least of which is a hundreds of million dollar funding gap. Of course, Rotary alone can’t fill this gap, but continued Rotarian advocacy like Lawrence Central’s drive can help and this year we did our part by selling holiday wreaths where all the profits made went to the Rotary Foundation’s End Polio Now Campaign.

In addition to in-person  internet sales, the kind people at Weavers Department Store allowed Lawrence Central to set up a table to sell wreaths and tell people a little more about all that Rotary does.

The totals are not in yet, but we’ll soon post how much we were able to donate.  Thank you to everyone who purchased a wreath, we appreciate your support.

If you haven’t ordered there’s still time to get a wreath in time for the holidays.  Use this link ( http://bit.ly/LCRPolioPlus ) to  place an order and 25% of your order will go directly to eradicating polio.

Volunteers clearing covered over brick sidewalks in East Lawrence.

It was a chilly mid-November morning and a group of volunteers met on the lot directly west of the Poehler Building at Eighth and Pennsylvania streets. When they were recruiting people they said no specific skills are required, just a willingness to work hard and a desire to help beautify the neighborhood.  The task was pretty clear, but work was needed, remove a few inches of soil and grass off the public sidewalks in order to expose and clean up the bricks.

The event was a grass roots, word of mouth, event organized by the East Lawrence Neighborhood Association.  Their goal that morning was to improve walkability between the newly formed Warehouse Arts District and the downtown Lawrence area.

Lawrence Central’s Steve Lane and Carolyn DeSalvo and her husband helped out as volunteers.. As you can see a huge difference was made by a few caring people and a little hard work.

Cleaned up sidewalk all ready for pedestrians!

East Lawrence Sidewalk Cleaning before and after shot