Lawrence Central Rotary

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Sister Cities Bridges Communities and Hearts

Kelly Schultz, Megan Durner, and Joan Durner share the positive impact Sister Cities is making in Lawrence.

Megan Durner, incoming Senior in Lawrence, discovered her love for cultural exchange as a Freshman. Through the Sister Cities program Durner’s family hosted a student from Germany. It was such a positive experience, the family hosted again the following summer.

This summer Durner became the exchange student, traveling to Eutin, Germany, a Lawrence Sister City since 1989.

“Being in Germany is the best thing that has ever happened to me,” said Durner. “I truly learned what it was like to live in someone else’s shoes. I relished learning the differences and similarities in how we live.”

As soon as Durner received information about her Eutin host family, she started talking with her host sister. “By the time we met she felt like family.”

The whole trip felt like “something out of the movies,” said Durner. The students went to class, on day trips, and took in the beauty of the small lake-side town.

2019 will mark the 30th year of Lawrence and Eutin’s history as Sister Cities. Kelly Schultz, from the Sister Cities Governing Board, shared an update on changes in the board’s structure.

The City of Lawrence has recently restructured several of its boards in order to improve efficiency and combine like-efforts. Sister Cities is now managed by a Governing Board and will continue to benefit from financial support from the City for operating expenses. While this has reduced the board size from 14 to 9, the change has provided greater autonomy.

Lawrence has three Sister Cities: Eutin, Germany, Hiratsuka, Japan, and Iniades, Greece. The goal of Sister Cities is to “Promote peace through mutual respect, understanding and cooperation — one individual, one community at a time.”

Schultz thanked Lawrence Central Rotary for their support of Sister Cities programming. “The goal of good international relations is something Rotary is very interested in. It’s also a way to assist students with an incredible educational opportunity. Sister Cities combines these two goals.”

Schultz encouraged the Club to send a Rotarian on the 2019 delegation to Eutin, celebrating the 30 year international friendship.

August 15, 2018
Rotarians Use Technology for Social Good
Mandy Sheldon Lynn, Lieutenant Governor and District Executive for District 5710 joined Lawrence Central Rotary to demonstrate how to access and use Rotary’s various technology tools.

Rotary District 5710’s website provides the information Members need to learn about:
- District/Global grant applications and management
- Rotary leadership contacts
- Club information
- Speaker ideas
- …. and much more
By logging in, Rotarians have access to even more, such as managing their profile and information, and directly contacting fellow Rotarians.

Rotary has also gone mobile, with a ClubRunner App, making it easy for Rotarians to find Clubs to visit as they travel and directly contact members in their own Club. These tools make it easier for Members to communicate and partner on fulfilling the Club’s local mission and Rotary’s global priorities.
August 8, 2018
Jim Ogle Reminds, “Never Forget”
Jim Ogle presents the Topeka Rotary flag to Lawrence Central Rotary.

History may often be “written by the victors,” said Jim Ogle, Executive Director of Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area, but by adding in and telling the stories of other voices, “we can come to terms with the impact it’s having on us now.”

That is the mission of Freedom’s Frontier, to help the regional community never forget the history that shaped us and this country.

Freedom’s Frontier covers and area of 29 counties in eastern Kansas and 12 counties in western Missouri. While not a National Park, the organization is affiliated with the National Park system and provides financial assistance and technical support to its 240 partners, including 150 historic sites and museum,. Freedom’s Frontier boasts 23 partner organizations in Douglas County alone.

This type of “collective wisdom,” as Ogle says, helps everyone tell better stories. Since many of Freedom’s Frontier’s partners have no professional staff, the organization is able to offer:
- professional development opportunities
- workshops, such as designing exhibits
- scholarship opportunities
- marketing and signage support
- grant writing assistance
To date, Freedom’s Frontier has provided nearly $119,000 in grant funding benefiting Douglas County efforts.

Ogle is proud of more than his work at Freedom’s Frontier. As a long-time Rotarian, first joining in 1994 while living in Lexington, KY, he’s especially proud of the global impact Rotary has had on polio eradication. And here in Lawrence? He knows it’s the “15 or 20 minutes we spent at lunch making connections that make a difference.”
July 31, 2018
8th Year for Lawrence Central Rotary’s Community Bike Ride

Over 200+ riders and volunteers (a record attendance) came out Saturday morning, July 21st for the 8th annual Summer Larence Community Bike Ride at the Lawrence Rotary Arboretum.

Lawrence Central Rotary’s annual event aimed at getting people out to enjoy the outdoors, by sponsoring the leisurely bike rides of various lengths starting from the Rotary Arboretum.

Sponsors from around the community and region help make this event possible, and one of the highlights of the event is that people in need of a safety helmet can be fitted on site. T-shirts and high visibility safety vests are also handed out to attendees so after the event when they are biking around the community they can be more easily seen.

If you missed this summer’s event the good news is that it will be held again this fall on Lawrence’s Eastside. The Fall Community Bike Ride is scheduled for Saturday, Sept 15th starting from the Haskell Indian Nations Stadium Parking Lot. The ride will be along the Burrough’s Creek Trail. For more information check back or our social media outlets.

Here’s a gallery of pictures taken by Lynn O’Neal, Leilani Tuttle, and Tobin Neis.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1945742048790417.1073741832.132494086781898&type=1&l=56f3f18346

July 25, 2018
Doing What Needs to Be Done

There are eighteen different first responder groups serving Douglas County. These are the people who do what needs to be done when others don’t even want to think about.

These people may be professionals or volunteers. They include the 911 operator who keeps a suicidal person talking on the phone until help arrives; the patrol officer who gets the victim out of a car despite the danger of a gas line leak; the firefighter who risks a rescue from a burning house before the fire trucks arrive; and the sheriff who risks a gun shot in order to intervene in a domestic dispute.

Since childhood, Michelle Derusseau has admired first responders. In 2010, she took time to attend the Lawrence Citizen’s Police Academy where she listened to the stories and participated in the type of role play training that professional police receive.

Now, Michelle expresses her admiration by serving as chair of the Valor Awards committee.

Started in 2011, the Valor Awards recognize first responders in Douglas County for their acts of bravery and selflessness in the work of saving lives. Each September, all first responders and their guests are invited to attend an appreciation banquet where the Valor Awards are presented. Community contributions fund the event as well as the proceeds from a Valor Golf Tournatment sponsored by Intrust Bank.

July 21, 2018