Author: Fred Atchison

Lawrence Central Rotary’s own Sam Camp presented an update on his work as an Economic Development Analyst for the City of Lawrence. The City received a grant for ecosystem analysis and Sam has been working on creating a resource map for entities that can assist local entrepreneurs in the development of small businesses. Sam explained that prosperity and economic security are important outcomes in the Strategic Plan for the City. Part of the plan focuses on diversity and assisting minorities and women entrepreneurs. Accordingly the City has worked with various groups and organizations including CORE and Black:30. These efforts have made a new loan fund, training opportunities and coaching available for entrepreneurs. Sam moved to Lawrence from Florida and is very enthusiastic about his work and the community.

Children’s Mercy of Kansas City is a premiere health care provider for children in the region. Mathew Briggs and Liz Wolfe, Philanthropic Giving Officers, talked about the array of medical and health services provided by Children’s Mercy of Kansas City. The institution boasts some 800 pediatric specialists on staff and last year served over 600,000 patients from the region, including 47 states and 14 foreign countries. Children’s Mercy is a nonprofit organization with various locations and partners in the area and maintains a productive Research Institute.

Mathew and Liz spoke about Illuminate, a new program designed to address the growing crisis in mental health disorders in children. Nationally, one in five children have a serious mental health disorder and treatment resources are particularly inadequate in our region. Children’s Mercy has experienced a 67 per cent increase in referrals of children with mental health problems. Gifts to support the work of Illuminate will provide early intervention, increased specialty services, expanded hospital care, and new research and innovations. Some 82.3 million dollars of the 150 million dollar goal has been raised to date. A show of hands from the group showed a majority present had some family member who had received services from Children’s Mercy.

Rotarians Kate Campbell and Bob Rademaker love to travel, so their recent trip to Panama was no surprise. However, this trip was special for Bob as he became fascinated with the Panama Canal as a school boy. Bob shared some early history of canal building in Panama noting that early Spanish explorers made the dangerous overland trip from ocean to ocean. It was a dangerous trip through the jungles and over the mountains. The French were the first to try to dig a canal, but the climate, disease, and difficult terrain put an end to the project. President Theodore Roosevelt championed a United States effort which benefitted from power equipment and the eradication of yellow fever. The construction was a marvel of engineering as lakes and a series of locks were built that made it possible to raise and lower vessels 85 feet on their 40 mile journey between oceans. The canal opened in 1914, saving vessels as much as 8,000 nautical miles.

Panama assumed ownership and operation of the canal in 1999, providing the country with its main source of income. In 2006 a system of new locks were added to accommodate the bigger cargo vessels. Today considerable cargo is offloaded and transported overland and reloaded to continue its journey. Kate said she enjoyed the trip, meeting new people and learning lots. Both travelers agreed that the trip was enjoyable and worthwhile.

A local steering committee came together in 2008 to discuss how county entities could work together to advocate and advance good health in the community. Live Well Douglas County, a non profit advocacy group. was the product of those early efforts. Ginny Barnard is Executive Director and has been on the job one year. Barnard is a former Douglas County Extension Agent and took degrees in Public Health from Kansas State University. Live Well consists of over twenty groups that work together to create policy and system changes to improve life and good health in Douglas County. In 2020 Live Well benefitted from a four year Pathways to a Healthy Kansas Initiative grant.

There are six Live Well work groups, including Healthy Built Environment, Health Food for All, Healthy Kids, Sexual Violence Prevention, Tobacco-Free Living and Work Place Wellness. Some examples of the group’s accomplishments are Farmers Market Grants for people of color, assisting the revamping of policies and building improvements for Positive Bright Start, prescription assistance programs, school bike programs, and updating rules for tobacco sales. The Douglas County Community Foundation and Lawrence/Douglas County Public Health are significant partners and Douglas County Extension plays an important administrative role. The organization will conduct an Annual Spring Summit on April 11.

Downtown Lawrence has a great Story to tell according to Downtown Lawrence Executive Director Andrew Holt. Holt has been on the job eleven months, coming from Yakima Washington where he held a similar position. He noted the health and vigor of Downtown Lawrence is what attracted him to the community. The purpose of the organization is to promote and enhance the welfare of the downtown, which is the economic and social center off the community. Memberships are held by a variety of businesses and organizations. Since his arrival Holt has created a newsletter for members, increased the organization’s activity on social media and revamped the web site. He has visited Downtown members to become personally familiar with community offerings and needs.

Downtown Lawrence has sponsored candidate forums and a recent town hall on homelessness. The organization maintains an event calendar and offers gift cards for use with downtown merchants. Some of the popular downtown events include Buskerfest, Kaw River Roots Festival, Mid Summer Nights on Mass, Art in the Park and the Christmas Parade. Holt noted that moving home football games this fall due to construction was a big challenge to local merchants. He also reports that two police officers will be permanently assigned to the downtown. Holt says that the downtown experience makes it a destination place and an important part of the community’s identity.