Author: Fred Atchison

Shania Lopex-Cabera is passionate about her Ambassador Volunteer work with Bert Nash Community Health Center. Mental Health First Aid courses are designed to provide individuals with the skills they need to help someone experiencing a Mental health crisis or developing mental health problems. Participants learn warning signs, including signs of substance abuse, and strategies for helping in various situations. The class prepares people for dealing with real life situations. Courses consist of two hours of home preparation and six hours of class time. Classes focus on either adult or youth mental health and have a thirty dollar fee.

Shania is a member of the Jayhawk morning Rotary Club and she is encouraging Rotarians and their families to sign up for a Mental Health First Aid class for Rotarians and their Families on February 27. Shania stressed that the need for awareness and action on mental health issues is greater than ever. Kansas is experiencing a very high incidence of depression, especially in rural areas. Suicide rates also exceed the national average and local mental health professionals are over whelmed. Shania’s Rotary connection goes back to a life changing youth exchange experience in Denmark. She has had a variety of work experience, including banking and has returned to Kansas University to complete her degree.

Beth McKenzie is the Development Director for Audio Reader Network, a service affiliated with Kansas University. McKenzie asserts that Audio Reader is a service that changes lives by connecting people who can’t read regular print. The service targets the blind, visually impaired or print disabled throughout Kansas and Western Missouri. Volunteer readers provide access to newspapers, magazines and books by broadcasts, internet, telephone or smart speaker, free of charge. Special requests are honored including audio descriptions of live art productions. Most importantly, Audio Reader fosters independence and combats loneliness for its users.

Audio Reader is funded entirely by donations and fund raisers. The program has three full time employees and shares several part time employees with Kansas Public Radio. There are 250 volunteer readers and presently there is a waiting list for volunteering. Our own Dan Shenkein is a volunteer and thoroughly enjoys the experience. Beth McKenzie has been with the program since 2016. Her background is nonprofit management, grant writing and fund raising.

Darcy Boyle, Media and Communications Director, spoke about the products and operations of Prosoco, an eighty year old family business. Prosoco manufactures. cleaners, protective treatments, concrete flooring products, air and water barriers, and masonry anchors for the construction industry. The Boyer family has been committed to making buildings look better and last longer since 1939. Prosoco, located at 3741 Greenway Circle in Lawrence, has 120 employees, many of them are long term. The company operates a lab and conducts research and development, product testing and trouble shooting.

Prosoco products have been used to clean many famous structures across the country, including the U.S. Capitol, the Wrigley Building in Chicago and the Kaufman Center in Kansas City. The Kaufman Center job posed particular problems due to its unique design and mix of building materials. Prosoco also supports numerous local projects like Studio 804, a unique building and design program for architecture students at the University of Kansas. The company has assisted with the cleaning of historic headstones at Oak Hill Cemetery.

Darcy Boyle is a graduate of Lawrence High School and attended Drake University. She has studied journalism, trade publications and corporate communications. She produces two weekly news letters and manages social media and web sites for Prosoco.

LCR’s own Melissa Sieben spoke of a unique and dear friendship that started in 2008 in a Rotary Club in Gardner, Kansas. Melissa volunteered to be a liaison advisor for a local family hosting a Rotary exchange student from Germany. The job involved providing “back up” for the sponsoring parents, and generally helping out with a busy and energetic teenager. Mara Geshocke was the German student and in the course of the year, the two became fast friends. Melissa would go on to other Rotary Clubs and communities in Kansas, and Mara would return home to Germany. However, the relationship continued through letters, phone calls and visits and grew stronger through the years.

Mara joined the meeting via Zoom from her home in Uelzen, Germany and Melissa interviewed her about her Rotary years in America and various shared experiences through the years. Mara said her initial experience here was quite overwhelming but the host families were great. She learned the value of not worrying too much and being open to new experiences. Mara did all the things that American high school students do and benefitted from Melissa’s coaching. A high point of the year was a trip to Chicago to see the sites. Since that time there have been numerous trips back and forth and Melissa and Mara communicate with face time on birthdays and holidays. Mara has a lovely family and lives in a beautiful area south of Hamburg. Shared experiences in a Rotary exchange program have lead to life long friendship, which would seem to exemplify the values of Rotary.

The Americana Music Academy was conceived as a folk music school when it was founded in 2002. The Academy seeks to improve the quality of life through music instruction. It is housed in a large wood framed house at 1419 Massachusetts which is used for instruction and performance purposes. Co-director Christy Miller is a Kansas native and holds a Doctorate Degree in Musicology from the University of Kansas. Miller studied mid- century folk music and did her dissertation on folk legend Woody Guthrie.

The Academy has expanded its teaching function to include classical, jazz, blues, rock and song writing. Student numbers vary between 115 and 140 and there are 23 teachers working as independent contractors. Ages of students range from seniors with no music background to the very young. Accessibility, affordability, and belonging are the guiding principles of the Academy. Fees, donations and grants fund the work of the Academy and there is a robust scholarship program that awarded $16,000 last year. The Academy sponsors house concerts, work shops and jams in the Lawrence community.