Lawrence Central Rotary

Category: News

Vickie Randell Updates Lawrence Central on the Rotary Foundation

Vickie Randell, former Rotary District Governor, current district Rotary Foundation coordinator, (and now Assistant Regional Foundation Coordinator for Zone 27) is excited about what the Rotary Foundation has done and even more excited about what’s coming in the future.

“People tell me I’m a Rotary faucet,” the member of the Lawrence noon club said. “You ask me about the Rotary Foundation and you’ve turned the tap for a flood of information.”

The Rotary Foundation supports projects all over the globe as well as locally. “In our district we have clubs whose members have formed especially strong bonds with people in Panama and Guatemala.

“We’ve done global grants there that have helped educate people about clean water sources, worked on schools and provided medical supplies, “she said. She showed a slide of a rocky, road, filled in spots with water that children had to walk through to get to school. Rotarians cleaned it up and graded it.

The water supply for one community was a filthy, refuse filled stream. Through Rotary intervention there are now huge tanks supplying clean water.

“Teams of Kansas Rotarians have gone to Mexico to build houses,” she said. In India dump dwellers, who made their living scavenging in the dump, where they also lived, are being taught other ways to support themselves. In Uganda vocational training teams are teaching nurses in pediatric hospitals.

“Foundation money comes to local communities too,” she said. “A holiday shopping event is sponsored for children who otherwise couldn’t shop for gifts. The Lawrence Rotary arboretum is a sterling example of what clubs can do when they work together.”

Randal also talked about how in an unusual twist, Rotary clubs in Japan sent foundation money to the U.S. to help victims of hurricane Katrina proving the work of Rotary goes wherever it is needed.

There is always more to do. “We’re building the Rotary Peace Fellowship project, dedicated to eliminating conflict and helping the victims of conflict. And polio is not quite gone. There were still 54 cases in the world this year.

“Everything we do in Rotary builds peace, “ she said. “And peace helps people become their true selves.”

November 10, 2015
Rotary District 5710 Gov John Donovan Visits

Rotary District 5710 Governor John Donovan was full of praise for Lawrence Central Rotary when he spoke to the club on October 28. “You have the best website in the district. You are on the upswing in most areas, your membership is trending up. You are a powerful presence in the community. ”

Donovan said he sees Rotary as not only a force in local communities but as a Gift To The World, which is the theme of his year as DG.

On a personal level the Leavenworth Rotarian said “being District Governor is an amazing job,“ detailing his year of visits to the 45 clubs in his district. He tries to balance his role with living on a former dairy farm outside of Easton, KS, where he and his wife keep horses and raise angora goats, peafowl, Bourbon Red turkeys, ducks, chickens, guineas and are staff for five dogs and nine cats. Being a former military science professor and artillery afficianado, there is also cannon in his front yard.

His enthusiasm for Rotary showed when he said he believes Rotary International should be in contention for the Nobel Prize for eliminating polio and for the current finding that the labs built around the world to track polio have also been able to make early detection of the Ebola virus and recently halted an outbreak.

He briefly outlined Rotary’s history and highpoints, from its beginning in the early 20th century, to its becoming international, developing the Rotary Foundation, admitting women and adopting the 4-way test.

His philosophy is that Rotary should be a vital part of its members’ lives.

“I want to be interesting and I want Rotary to be interesting. I want Rotarians to have fun, be daring, do something new and act, following the 4-way test which is what Rotary is all about.”

November 2, 2015
Lawrence Central Helps Local Schools with Biking Helmets

Lawrence Central members Janice Bunker and Fred Aitchison spent a morning going out to Lawrence’s Woodlawn school to provide and fit 9 helmets for kids riding to school who did not have any way to get helmets and were not able to come to the community bicycle rides.

One of Lawrence Central’s goals as a club is to get more and more people to be able to have an active lifestyle but we also want them to be safe. Medical research shows that a bicycle helmet can prevent most cyclist head injuries. Nearly 700 bicycle riders are killed in the U.S. every year, almost all in collisions with cars, and sadly 75% of them die of head injuries. Many thousands more suffer less severe but still debilitating injuries that are far worse than the physical pain of scraped skin or even broken bones.

If you are a educator at a local school and are aware of children who are in need of a helmet (and possibly a bike) please contact us at LawrenceCentralRotary@gmail.com.

October 27, 2015
New ED for Lawrence Habitat for Humanity Visits Lawrence Central

Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1978 by Christian missionary and lawyer, Millard Fuller, in the belief that everyone should have a “safe, decent place to call home.”

New Habitat executive director in Lawrence, Erika Zimmerman, and Habitat Board President Lindsey Slater, told Lawrence Central Rotarians on Wednesday that since 1990 Habitat has built 88 homes in Lawrence. And In 2005 Habitat opened the ReStore at 7th and Connecticut which accepts and resells new and used building material, furniture and appliances with the proceeds going to support Habitat.

“Lawrence is unique,” Zimmerman said “in that we have unusual resources in terms of donated time, labor, art, furniture, you name it.”

Families who don’t nave money to buy a home without assistance but have a stable income, no excessive debt and will commit to 225 hours of sweat equity are eligible. They take classes and make monthly mortgage payments. Their income must fall between the HUD Median income guidelines.

“The houses cost around $85,000 to build , primarily by volunteer labor, and are sold to the families through no interest mortgages. The payments don’t exceed 30% of the family’s income.”

Zimmerman said Habitat’s goals in Lawrence are to build six homes per year by 2018, and to raise $450,000 by then. “Our biggest problem is finding and affording land’” she said.

“And we want to utilize our volunteer pool to the fullest. Millard Fuller said ‘The work of Habitat has literally moved forward on the shoulders of volunteers.’ “

For more information about the Lawrence chapter of Habitat visit their website.

October 24, 2015
“Hands on” Architecture with KU Distinguished Professor of Architecture, Dan Rockhill

Kansas University Distinguished Professor of Architecture, Dan Rockhill, spoke about his award winning program that provides senior architecture students with “hands on” experience in designing and building unique structures. Rockhill teaches an intensive class that produces a prefabricated structure designed, built and installed by students. Participants learn skills on the job including design, working with city officials and neighborhood associations, and actual construction. Rockhill believes his class promotes engagement, creativity and practical experience. The results of the program may be viewed in a number of Kansas cities and on campus or on the web site at Studio804.com. Rockhill receives no special funding from the university so the structures built each year are sold and the proceeds are put back into the program for the next class. Sale homes may be viewed at Rockhillandassociates.com. The structures are quite modern in appearance and are built to a high standard of sustainability and energy efficiency. Recycled building materials are often utilized, like aluminum scraps , limestone tailings and even chalkboard. Homes are often placed in the urban core and in 2008 Rockhill’s students built a community arts center in tornado damaged Greensburg, Kansas. Rockhill has written extensively about his work and he has received numerous awards for architecture and sustainability.

Here’s a great time-lapse from the Studio 804 site of the East Lawrence Passive House, being built. Having broken ground in January the studio went through all aspects of constructing this house which hopes to attain the status of LEED Platinum, Passive House and Net Zero certifications becoming one of the most sustainable homes in the city of Lawrence and the State of Kansas.

October 16, 2015