Buzz Saw - Jan. 2, 2024 (Jan. 02, 2024)

This Week's Meeting

January 4, 2024

This week's program will be a panel of speakers from the KC Rotary Club Foundation. The topic will be: "Securing the Camp's Future."

In this new year of 2024, the Rotary Youth Camp will celebrate 100 years of serving the community and providing a camping experience for young people. It is also a time to reflect on the years ahead and how we can Secure the Camp’s Future.

Each year, the Kansas City Rotary Club Foundation contributes to the Camp’s operating budget. Through the years, tens of thousands of children with handicaps and disadvantaged youth have experienced fresh air, playing outdoors and experiencing nature at our beautiful Camp. The Foundation covers shortfalls in the budget and assures the future of the Camp for the children in our community. But what is the long-term outlook of the Foundation?

Linn Mills, The Kansas City Rotary Club Foundation Vice President, and Sally Bibb, a KCRCF Director, will facilitate a panel of Tom Woolwine, Jim Porter and John Gillis to review the future of the Foundation.

Tom Woolwine serves as Chair of the KCRCF Investment Committee and is focused on managing the assets and liabilities of the Foundation. He will address enterprise risk management topics including Camp budgeting, spending policies, inflation, investment returns and contribution rates. It is important to understand why giving to the Foundation can help achieve the goal of maintaining and growing the corpus into perpetuity

Jim Porter will share why he decided to become a Senior Fellow of the Kansas City Rotary Club Foundation. He'll share some personal stories which drew him to our Rotary Youth Camp. You’ll enjoy the multi-faceted history of how our camp has touched Jim's life.

John Gillis, former KCRCF Secretary, will discuss the various Bequests options that members can establish to support the future of the Rotary Youth Camp.

Last Week's Meeting

Posted by John Gillis

Dec. 28, 2023

President Elect Tim Tholen, called the meeting to order and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Neil Barnett provided us with a prayerful Invocation.

Club Anniversaries were noted as follows: Rex Newcomer – 8 years Dec 30., Jared Campbell – 8 years Dec 30

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

This week’s Greeters were the Scribes (of the weekly BuzzSaw). Thank you for donating your coats to the Bill Brown Coat Drive – we donated 30 jackets/coats to Shelter KC.

Thank you to everyone who donated to the Westside CAN Day Laborers Christmas! Your donation totals $1,400.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Plaza Lights After Hours event – January 4^th, 5:30 -7:30 pm, at the Polsinelli Board Room (900 W. 48^th Street, KCMO $10-/person. Great view of the Plaza Lights; Beer, Wine & Hor d’oeuvres, Parking included. Register with Mandy, ASAP.

Upcoming Meetings: Bring a Guest:

Jan 4^th: Sally Bibb, John Gillis, Jim Porter, Tom Woolwine & Linn Mills: Securing the Camp’s Future

Jan 11^th: Courtney Brooks, Global Ties, “Shaping Foreign Policy from the Heartland”

Jan 18^th: Mary Heinrich, children’s Mercy, “ Illuminate Mental Health Plan for Children”

Jan 25^th: Lindsey Rood-Clifford, Starlight Theatre

Tim Tholen introduced our speaker, Randy Steinman, our Rotary District 6040 District Governor. Randy, president of R.L. Steinman & Associates, is as a political and governmental affairs consultant, a founding partner in Talon Strategies Group, based in Washington DC, and a board member of the National Rural Jobs Coalition. Randy, of Independence Missouri and a member of Plaza Rotary Club, has an extensive history of Rotary commitment and action, both locally and internationally. Randy was instrumental in writing a multi-year Rotary Global Grant to fund a microcredit loan program in the Dominican Republic.

Randy reminded us of the upcoming District Conference on April 19^th to the 21^st (Friday to Sunday) at Margaritaville at the Lake of the Ozarks (f/ka/ Tan-Tar-A Resort). This District Conference will be statewide with all three Districts involved. It will be the culmination of the Shoes for Orphan for Souls (and maybe some bragging rights versus St Louis regarding shoes donated). An additional emphasis this year will be fun for the Rotarians and their attending families.

The Rotary International’s current year’s theme is “Create Hope in the World”. On behalf of the Club, Marc Horner, received a Banner and attendees received lapel pins. HOPE is a basic human need and Rotarians are in a unique position to help others find it through various Rotary service projects.

Randy continued with: There are four (4) main “HOPE” focus areas: Physical Health, Mental Health, Economic Health, and Economic Health. PHYSICAL HEALTH: for Rotary International (R.I.) it has been the eradication of Polio on a worldwide basis. There is the Polio Society in which Rotarians pledge $100 annually until Polio is eradicated. MENTAL HEALTH: for Gordon McInally, R.I. President, this is personal as his brother succumbed to suicide. For military veterans (highest rates of suicide), there is “Team Fidelis”. In the military, individuals are always part of squad (i.e. team). In civilian life, the squad/team piece is diminished, leaving many vet’s without that team support. Team Fidelis works to connect vets to recreate that squad/team support. ECONOMIC HEALTH: an example is the microlending Global Grant to women in the Dominican Republic. Locally the Plaza Club has a microlending project called the Sewing Lab, where some 400 to 450 women have gone through a sewing training program to get them started with their businesses or careers. This helps breaks the cycle of family poverty. The Plaza Club has created in effect a microlending template for other Rotary Clubs to employ. COMMUNITY HEALTH: when natural disasters (tornados, floods or man- made events) occur, the local District Governor will receive calls from other Rotary District Governor with offers of support. Previously FEMA would turn Rotary members away from the site(s). Rotary’s response has been to create Disaster Response Committee to identify the needs, our resources and how best to respond. It is a work in process. Great Ideas need (1) Rotarian capital and (2) local member involvement.

Today’s Quote: “We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day” - By Edith Lovejoy Pierce.

President Elect Tim Tholen wrapped up the meeting with the Four Way Test.

[as an ongoing scrivener’s note: our local Club 13 Rotary organization is comprised of at least three interrelated groups (like a three-legged stool), each with its own separate board, officers & focus. KCRClub 13 with its various committees and weekly luncheon meetings with speakers; KCRCFoundation (primarily to financially support the Rotary Youth Camp); and the Rotary Youth Camp, near Lake Jocomo, in Lees Summit, MO]. This makes our Club unique & special.

Book Discussion Group

Please join the Rotary Book Discussion Group for the discussion of the book The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Vitoria Christopher Murray. The book is available at Rainy Day Books and the discussion will be led by Vivien Jennings. All Rotarians and guests are welcome. The group will meet at J. Wilbur Company; however, Zoom will be available for those you cannot attend in person.

Date: Monday, January 8, 2023, 6:30 PM

Location: J. Wilbur Company

3242 Roanoke

Kansas City, MO 64111

About the book:

The Personal Librarian tells of the lifework of Belle da Costa Greene, the personal librarian to J. P. Morgan, as well as the first director of the Morgan Library & Museum. The novel follows Belle as she receives employment from J. P. Morgan and establishes herself in high society while disguising her true identity as a person of color in the early twentieth century. In her time working for J. P. Morgan, she became hugely successful as she purchased rare manuscripts to build Mr. Morgan's collection. The novel also speaks to Belle's personal life as she struggles with her identity and the historical context in which she lives.