Brandon Deines, President of the Board of Directors of Just Food, presented a program on the activities of the Douglas County Food Bank.
Brandon grew up in Hoxie, Kansas where he spent many hours working in the family grocery store. That early experience and a desire to serve the community made his commitment to Just Food a good match.
Just Food supplies more than 40 partner agencies with fresh produce, frozen meat, bread and other food. Client services also include instruction on growing vegetables and healthy cooking classes. The organization believes that access to nutritious food is a fundamental human right and they also teach self- sufficiency.
Just Food collaborates with numerous community partners and over 400 annual food drives. Gifts of cash are particularly welcome as currency provides the most efficient way feed people. An annual dance and a fundraising dinner both receive considerable community support. The Just Food Pantry is open five days a week and clients may fill a bag or box with food once a month. However, fresh vegetables and bread are available daily. A mobile food pantry and several other pantry sites also serve clients.
Client eligibility is capped at 185 % of the Federal Poverty Index, that translates into some 19,000 people in Douglas County who are identified at risk or in need of food. The need is great, as Just Food served 13,000 clients in 2016, all by 3.75 employees and gracious volunteers clocked in over 18,000 hours.
Brandon concluded that there still is a great need and the community response has been gratifying. For more information about Just Food visit their website at http://justfoodks.org/
The Spence Museum’s Director of External Affairs Margaret Perkins McGuiness brought Lawrence Central Rotarians up to date on renovations at the museum as well as filling them in on museum history at the Rotary meeting on January 11. Using slides and a video, she detailed the museum story beginning with gifts of art from Mrs. Thayer of the Emery Bird Thayer Company in Kansas City and contributions from Helen Forsman Spencer .
The museum has gone from being housed in Spooner Hall in 1895 to its own building which is now being enlarged and modernized to make exhibits even more accessible, especially for art classes. “The museum will be brighter, more welcoming,” McGuiness said “with smaller, flexible exhibits that can be moved more quickly. And there will be more art outside around the museum,” she said.
Begun with Mrs. Thayer’s collection, expanded by Mrs. Spencer, the museum began an internship program in the 1980s, and is part of the Mellon Foundation Academic Programs.
“We are adding staff members to work with this, “McGuiness said. “The Spencer is one of the leading art education museums in the country, counting the curator of the Manhattan Museum of Modern Art as an alumnus.”
The collections range from works by Thomas Hart Benton to Andy Warhol, and include a western collection, very contemporary types of art in a room recently built especially for them, and “cabinets of curiosities” –smaller items in collection.
“Our goal in this renovation,” McGuiness said “ is to make the museum a part of the campus transformation. We want to make it more inviting, with more space for teaching, more open, more functional.
“We want visitors to the museum to look at art, look around and look inward.”
Bob Swan reminisced about his time in South America as a Rotary Foundation Fellow in 1966 when he spoke to Lawrence Central Rotarians in December.
Swan, a past president of Lawrence Central, was chosen for a year-long fellowship to travel in Latin America and to attend the University of Bueno Aires. Arriving there, he began to hear rumors of a coup and decided to attend Catholic University of Salvador in Buenos Aires instead, fortunately as the University of Buenos Aires was closed.
During his 10 months in Argentina, he conducted research on the Peronista movement, culminating in interviews with associates of Juan Peron’s second wife, Isabelita, and a five-page letter from Peron himself answering Swan’s questions.
He traveled widely while he was in Latin America, being hosted by Rotarians and, at one point was joined by his parents from Topeka. In both Buenos Aires and Cordoba he presented programs on American folk music. He also interviewed three other Argentinian former presidents, Gen. Pedro Aramburu, Dr. Arthur Frondizi and Arturo Illia.
He said that what impressed him most during his fellowship were the remarkable world natural and cultural sites of the southern hemisphere and a strong lasting impression of the prestige and position of Rotary and its highly successful members in South America.
One of 50 fellows chosen world wide that year he said “thinking back 50 years now on all the experiences of 1966 and early 1967 I feel very positive about the 11 months I spent representing Rotary International and the United States in Latin America.”
Many families gather to take pictures and tell stories during the holiday season and on December 14 Lawrence Central Rotary followed that trend. Instead of having a speaker or a program, each member told stories about holiday gatherings in the past and plans for this year. Past holidays included everything from big family reunions to small dinners with friends and the occasional holiday upset. Grandchildren figured prominently. Sometimes the Rotarian had been the grandchild, relating fond memories. Christmases had been celebrated in other countries, on family farms and college campuses. Christmas 2016 plans range from hosting dinner at home to traveling abroad to be with relatives.
At the close of the meeting, President Jim Peters assembled everyone for a family picture.
Left to Right: John Wilkinson, Nancy Hause, Bob Swan
Three veteran Rotarians shared their stories with fellow members of Lawrence Central Rotary. Each found Rotary in an unusual way!
Nancy Hause joined Lawrence Central Rotary in 2014. Prior to that time, she was a member of Lawrence Jayhawk Rotary and Estes Park Rotary. Her loyalty to Rotary is long-lived, despite the fact that her grandfather, a Boulder, CO, businessman was not invited to join Rotary years ago. At the time he sought membership, the Boulder club assumed he could not be a part of the club because he was Catholic and they did not serve fish at their Friday meetings. Years later, her father joined the Brighton, CO, Rotary club and served as its president. Her mother was an active Rotary Ann, playing the piano for the weekly club meetings. Nancy’s husband Richard was invited to join Rotary in California and played the piano for that club for many years. Even though women were allowed to join Rotary by the mid-1980’s, Nancy didn’t become a Rotary member herself until after Rich’s death. After she and Rich retired and moved to Estes Park, Rich joined Rotary there. He dedicated his year as president of the Estes Park Rotary Club to Nancy’s father. When he died, the Estes Park Rotary invited Nancy to join their group. Nancy is a two-time Paul Harris Fellow. Nancy studied journalism at the University of Colorado, has worked as a writer and editor on newspapers over many years, and continues to do freelance work. She taught news and feature writing at Kansas State for fifteen years. She and Rich had four children and eight grandchildren.
Bob Swan joined Lawrence Central Rotary in 2009, but his first involvement with Rotary was in 1966 when he studied in Buenos Aires, Argentina as a Rotary Foundation Fellow.
Bob graduated from the University of Kansas in 1964 and, prior to his year in Argentina, was a KU Exchange Scholar to Reading, England. After his Rotary year in Argentina and South America, Bob ran for U.S. Congress in opposition to the Vietnam War, and wrote his Master’s Thesis on his symbolic campaign. His lifelong activism has been inspired in part by his opportunity to meet Dr. Martin Luther King in St. Augustine, Florida during the demonstrations that helped end the Senate Filibuster and ensure passage of the historic 1964 Civil Rights Act. In 2009 Bob joined Lawrence Central Rotary through encouragement from one of its founders, Ed Samp. In 2012-2013 Bob served as club president and focused on increasing membership and organizing a fundraiser for polio eradication, held in Lawrence and supported by nine other clubs of District 5710. Bob and his wife Irina from Moscow live in Lawrence where they now follow from afar the activities of Bob’s two daughters and Irina’s son and four grandchildren.
John Wilkinson joined Rotary in 1974 in Topeka and came to Lawrence Central Rotary in 2005. John grew up in Cherryvale, a small Kansas town of 2300 people. He began his career in 1941 as an entrepreneur with a paper route of 235 customers. He also carried luggage between the Frisco and the Santa Fe train depots for travelers. Delivering the paper—the Cherryvale Republican—John became aware of Rotary and was impressed with the community leadership of its members. “Rotary owned the town,” he observed. While attending Independence Junior College, John worked for a CPA firm where he had a chance to visit Rotary clubs. Once again, the comradery of Rotary impressed him. John attended the KU School of Business, did time in the U.S. Army in personnel, and graduated from law school on the G.I Bill. He joined a law firm in Topeka and practiced law for 42 years, spending time as clerk for both federal and state judges and serving as general counsel for the Federal Home Loan Bank for many years. John is past-president of the Topeka West Rotary Club. He has been married to Marianne for 59 years. They have three sons and five grandchildren.
Brandon Deines, President of the Board of Directors of Just Food, presented a program on the activities of the Douglas County Food Bank.
