Lawrence Central Rotary

Category: Service

  • Lawrence receives Bronze Rank from the American League of Bicyclists

    The City of Lawrence received great news and Lawrence Central is proud to have helped the city to be able to achieve this designation!

    City of Lawrence Kansas Transportation News

    loab-bronzeThe City of Lawrence has been honored again as a Bronze Rank Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC). The City first received this designation in 2004 from the American League of Bicyclists. There are now 404 communities recognized in the U.S. as Bicycle Friendly Communities; this is Lawrence’s fifth successful application. The Bronze level BFC award recognizes Lawrence’s commitment to improving conditions for bicycling through investment in bicycling promotion, education programs, infrastructure and pro-bicycling policies.

    Lawrence-Douglas County Bicycle Advisory Committee members prepared the application utilizing information, such as data collected from bike/pedestrian counts, safety material, outreach efforts, and lane mileage. This year’s application featured Lawrence’s completion of a number of projects that will form the “Lawrence Loop”, a 22-mile paved off-street path around the city, the bicycle education provided by Lawrence’s League Certified Cycling instructors, the on-bicycle safety education at local elementary schools, and the recent commitment in the city budget for bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure improvements.  The Lawrence Central Rotary Club’s Community Bike Ride, Safe Kids Douglas County Bicycle Rodeo and Helmet giveaways, the Tour of Lawrence, the Lawrence Mountain Bicycle Club’s partnership with Parks & Recreation for the development and maintenance of the Lawrence River Trails trail, the National Bicycle Challenge, and 100 percentage of buses equipped with bike racks were also highlighted as part of the application process.

    By the numbers, Lawrence now has 16 miles of bike lanes, 9 miles of shared-lane markings (sharrows), 39 miles of signed bike routes, and 45 miles of paved shared use paths.

    Four Kansas communities have received the Bicycle Friendly designation: Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan, and Shawnee. Find out more information online at www.bikeleague.org/bfa.

  • Lawrence Central Rotary Launches 2016 Holiday Decoration Fundraiser

    Lawrence Central Rotary Weath Sale 2016Lawrence Central has launched our annual fundraiser for the work we do every year. As in year’s past, we will be selling wreaths and other holiday decorations from Lynch Creek Farms and in Lawrence Central’s partnership with them we receive 20% back from every sale to help partially fund the service projects we do. Some examples of our service activities have included are:

    We want to continue to do this work and more with help from you and all you need to do is simply purchase holiday decorations. You can do this by talking to any of our members or there’s an even easier way – go to our Lynch Creek fundraising website, peruse what they have and order yourself! We’ve even set up an easy link:

    http://bit.ly/lcrholiday16

    Lawrence Central Rotary Wreath Sale 2016If you’re not comfortable with ordering online we totally understand – you can also call Lynch Creek direct toll-free at 1-888-426-0781 and please mention/reference Lawrence Central Rotary’s Fundraiser #48825

    Lynch Creek is a family business that started in 1980, now transformed from selling a few flowers and vegetables at the local farmers’ market on the weekends, to a full blown year-round business that ships throughout the United States.

    Lynch Creek Farms have been amazing to work with and they care about the groups that sell their wreaths and decorations. Here’s a video about the business.

  • Lawrence’s Fall Community Bike Ride – A Great Time Had By All

    The weather was beautiful and around 100 riders and volunteers came out September 17th for the Lawrence Fall Community Bike Ride organized by Lawrence Central Rotary.  “We had everyone from novices and kids on training wheels to local professional riders come out,” said Central Rotary Club President Jim Peters, “our club rallies around these events and it’s great to be able to provide a safe and encouraging event for bike riding.”

    Event chair Steve Lane coordinated volunteers and organized the sponsors from all over Lawrence. “Steve’s organization and prep for this function like a Swiss watch,” said club member Tobin Neis, “we wouldn’t be able to do it without him.”

    Lawrence / Douglas Country Community Health Planner Charlie Bryan was on hand showing attendees the proposed “Lawrence Loop” bike / multi-use path.  LiveWell Lawrence and partners continue to advocate for finishing this 22-mile loop trail around Lawrence everyone could enjoy.

    Exciting for both local Rotarians as well as attendees to see was an assembled ShelterBox which Lawrence Central Rotarians have heavily supported over the years.  A ShelterBox is a simple and effective solution to deliver the essentials people need to survive and begin to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of a disaster.

    ShelterBoxes are tailored for the particular disaster being responded to, but typically includes a disaster relief tent for a family, thermal blankets and groundsheets, water storage and purification equipment, solar lamps, cooking utensils, a basic tool kit, mosquito nets and children’s activity pack.

    Thanks to all our sponsors and volunteers who made this happen!

  • Lawrence Central Sister Cities 2016 Scholarship Recipients Update Members On Their Travels

    Central Rotarians saw the fruits of their contribution to Lawrence’s Sister Cities organization when Elizabeth Grinage and Chehailis Jones spoke to the club on August 3.  These two young women were the recipients of 2016 travel scholarships provided by the club.

    Kelly SchultzKelly Schultz, a nine-year member of the advisory board, explained that the Sister Cities program was devised during the Eisenhower administration in order to promote relationships among people and reduce the likelihood of conflict in the world—values certainly consistent with Rotary’s aims.  Lawrence has three Sister Cities:  Eutin, Germany; Hiratsuka, Japan; and Iniades, Greece.  There is a Friends group in Lawrence for each city.  Friendship gardens here symbolize the effort and care that it takes to generate the beauty of international relationships.  The student travel program is a reciprocal one where Lawrence students spend time in homes in one of the Sister Cities and then host their new friends here in our community.  Porter Arneill, the city staff liaison for Sister Cities, was also in attendance.

    Elizabeth GrinageElizabeth, a junior this fall at Free State High School, spent a month visiting Eutin, Germany, along with six other Lawrence students.  Not only did Elizabeth stay in the home of a German family, she attended school, a real challenge since she has only been studying German for two years.  The Eutin parks and gardens and the local castle impressed her in particular.  In visits to other cities, she explored churches, a miniature museum, and an outdoor festival. The group spent five days in Berlin, visited a concentration camp, and mixed with the crowd of soccer enthusiasts during a public viewing of a game.  She visited a seal rescue station on the North Sea and held a jellyfish in her hands at the Baltic Sea.  Favorite new foods:  “spaghetti ice” and “milk rice,” rice cooked in milk with sugar and served with strawberries.  Elizabeth is looking forward to hosting her German friends for a month in Lawrence this fall.Chehailis, an

    Chehailis JonesChehailis, an eighth-grader at Southwest Middle School, spent ten “amazing” days in Hiratsuka, Japan.  Her group visited an aquarium, a Shinto temple, and an amusement park situated on the sixtieth floor of a building.  She told about the crowds, music, and festival lanterns.  What was most different?  Well, they walked everywhere!  And ate lots of fish.  And had vegetables for breakfast.  When her Japanese guests came to Lawrence last month, Chehailis took them to Pet World, to meet her friends, to play at Worlds of Fun, and to see the Basketball Hall of Fame at KU.  They also sampled fry bread and saw bison at the Potawatomi Nation.

  • Lawrence Summer Community Bike Ride is Thus Saturday 7/16

    Lawrence Community Bike Ride Summer 2016Plans have been made, volunteers have been scheduled so that this Saturday 7/16 anyone can come out to the Lawrence Rotary Arboretum and participate in this year’s summer Community Bike Ride.

    The rides and activities start at 8:00 am to beat the summer heat.  There’ll be rides and activities for everyone ranging from a 1-mile easy loop around the Arboretum and Training wheel take-off for kiddos who want to the three-mile family ride out to the Clinton Lake overlook and back. Lastly, there is the 10-mile ride up to I-70 and back.

    During all of the rides in the parking lot of the Arboretum there will be:

    • Helmets Fittings and Safety vests to participants (while supplies last).
    • Kid’s Zone with inflatables to burn off that extra energy.
    • Sunflower Bike will have a maintenance and bike check stand set up.
    • The Merc will have a great array of healthy snacks.

    What a great way to spend a Saturday morning!  We hope to see everyone there!

    LCBR-Summer-2016-info

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