Our Speaker this Week is District Governor Don Gladhart.
It is my great pleasure to serve as your District Governor for 2020-21. When the calendar turned to 2020, we had no idea that a pandemic was a few weeks away. In fact, in January 2020 two of my life’s great events happened. All 528 incoming District Governors from around the world gathered in San Diego for a week of training. It was never clearer to me how incredible Rotary International’s global footprint is. Six weeks later, nearly all of the 203 Countries with Rotary Clubs were impacted by the Coronavirus. The second great event was the Kansas City Chiefs kept winning and won the Super Bowl for the first time since I was in University. Obviously, it has been a unique and challenging year so far. I know many of our Club’s, their events and our Rotarians personal lives have been disrupted since March.
For the past twelve years, I have been a member of the Rotary Club of St Joseph #32. My wife Karen and I have 3 wonderful children who live in Oklahoma, Colorado, and Arizona: along with our beautiful grandchildren. There aren't enough superlatives in the dictionary to describe how we feel about our grandchildren. Having been around them for several days recently, it also makes me realize how many children around the world are suffering today because of their circumstances. Once again, Rotary offers opportunity after opportunity to support children, mothers, literacy, clean water, and many more.
You can join this week's program on your computer or iPad with this link:
Before getting into this report, I would like to take a moment of personal privilege to urge you to watch/listen to a recording of a ZOOM interview on Wednesday of Jennifer Jones, the first female who will be a Rotary International President in 2022-2023 (at the moment, President Nominee.) The interview was set up as a ZOOM Webinar by the KCI Rotary Club and “Advancing Women in Rotary.” This link will take you to recordings of the very well-produced and presented program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEj7n4txgm4&feature=youtu.be The lady is most impressive, very bright, a great speaker, a skillful and experienced leader, and full of ideas for contributing to Rotary’s relevance and survival in the coming decades. Thank you. Now, on with the report:
The ZOOM meeting began promptly at noon (after several minutes of delightful conversation among those who signed in early.) Right away, we were hustled off to the breakout rooms to discuss our experience so far with getting shots of the COVID vaccines. Tom Davis and I were the only ones in our room – perhaps others looked in and fled…)
Back together again, Charlie Huffman and the legendary piano player, Prof. Carl Bolte, did the usual God Bless America, followed by a recitation of the Pledge to the Flag, and Courtney Brooks’ invocation which was taken from the words of the outstanding invocation by Amanda Gorman at the inauguration Pres. Biden. (Good job, Ms. Brooks.)
Next we noted the following members’ years in the club: Dan Doty, Al Tikwart, Jeff Hornsby, Marc McCarty, Madaline Walter, and Rick Halterman, most of whom are long time members except for Mr. McCarty, who’s only been a member for a couple of years, and already is busy contributing to the work of some club committees. Then Tom Davis (my aforementioned breakout room partner) recognized the following members who recently became new or continuing Paul Harris fellows: Patrick Donnelly, Scott Holsman, Dan Nenonen, Rick Powell, Diane Scott, Al Tikwart, and Peter Ho. Tom also reviewed some of our Club programs that receive support from the Paul Harris Foundation.
Tony Andresen reminded us about the club program on Feb. 11, which will be a discussion of the COVID-19 virus by Dr. Barbara Pahud. The meeting will be our first “Virtual Guest Day”, so extend invitations to people you know. (To clarify: The meeting will be Virtual, while the guests will be real people.) Tony also mentioned the program about RI President Nominee Jennifer Jones this week. He was impressed as I was. (see intro. blurb above).
Phil Kinney reported on the financial standing of our Kansas City Rotary Club Foundation. I will not attempt to summarize the numbers in his report, but the good news is that a “camp sustainability task force” has been formed and is meeting frequently to develop long term plans and programs for the funding of our Rotary Youth Camp. Mr. Kinney emphasized that the Camp is the core focus of our Rotary Club, and therefore the importance of maintaining the vitality of the Camp’s funding base. The task force’s very capable members should be applauded for their contributions.
Jim Porter introduced our speaker for the day, long time reporter for the KC Star newspaper, and prolific author Bill Tammeus, whose topic was the reasons for and writing of his latest book, Love, Loss, and Endurance: A 9/11 Story of Resilieance and Hope in an Age of Anxiety.”
On Sept.11, 2001, Mr. Tammeus was working at his desk for the KC Star when he learned that his nephew, Karlton Fyfe, was a passenger on the first airplane that flew into the one of the NYC Trade Center buildings. The book is an accounting of the effects on his and Karlton’s extended family as they came to grips with the reality and horror of what had just happened. He described the challenge he faced on that morning when he had to write a story for immediate publication in the paper about what had just happened and speculate about the event’s implications for the wellbeing and future of the United States.
The book conveys Mr. Tammeus’s efforts to understand how the 19 hijackers, devout Muslims, could have based their actions on the conviction that they were doing God’s will, as taught by Osama bin Laden. The bigger question is how the teachings of brotherly love of all religions can be twisted to justify violence. By coincidence the book’s publication date was set for January 19, less than two weeks after people, inspired by the teachings of a President based on no reality, could be led to attack our nation’s capital.
In Mr. Tammeus’s words, “I frankly don’t see much difference between the Capitol Hill rioters and the 9/11 hijackers. Both groups bought into lies, whether political or theological that wound up costing people their lives.” His book is a cautionary story about how easily it is for people to be lead away from basic reality by charismatic leaders, both religious and political. He offers things we can do to stay grounded in reality and live in peace.
I think I was not the only listener to Mr. Tammeus’s presentation today that was deeply touched by his presentation. Immediately after the meeting I bought a copy of his book. Sometimes I get discouraged by the limitations and attributes of my fellow humans, but then when I find myself in the presence of such a beautiful human being as Mr. Tammeus, my hope is renewed.
The meeting ended with the usual history bit, a Quote of the Week, “The secret to living well and longer is simple: “Eat half. Work double, Laugh triple. And love without measure.” Ted Higgins, and the 4 way test.
In the spirit of “building goodwill and better friendships,” Club 13 informs speakers that the club is a nonpartisan, nonsectarian, diverse, and inclusive group. Speaker guidelines seek to prevent the presentation of contentious or partisan subjects. However, as part of the Club’s tradition of offering a wide range of topics, speakers may, at times, offer opinions and perspectives with which not all members agree. The opinions expressed by program speakers are, of course, their own and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Club 13 members, board, or staff.
This will be special meeting on a particularly timely topic featuring Guest Speaker Dr. Barbara Pahud. The topic will be “The Covid-19 Vaccine: What You Need To Know.” Dr. Pahud works for the division of Pediatric Infection Diseases at Children’s Mercy- Kansas City where she serves as the Director of Infectious Disease Research. She is also an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at UMKC and serves on the Advisory Commission for Childhood Vaccines (ACCV) through the Health and Human Services Agency (HHS). Dr. Pahud is an internationally recognized expert in the field of vaccine safety, hesitancy and the impact of clinical trials.
Given the timeliness of the topic and the expertise of Dr. Pahud, in addition to Spouse’s/Partner’s Day, this will also be our first ever Virtual Guest Day, and we hope to have a large crowd.
Think for a minute what this means: we are People of Action and The Club with the Camp for Kids- let’s introduce some folks to who we are and see if they’d like to join us!
This is a perfect opportunity to showcase our club:
Top notch guest speaker on a relevant topic for all
The Zoom meeting is just a click away
There’s no driving, underground parking, or dashing across the street in the snow or rain
Doesn’t cost anything
And it’s a chance to reconnect with friends you haven’t seen in a while
Mandy has sent (and will resend) a special link for you to forward on to guests, it’s that simple!
Now we just have to get busy and think who might like to join us as People of Action!
During January or February each year our Auxiliary sends out a Ways and Means Letter to seek funds that we use to help with the Rotary Youth Camp by funding the Girls Camp. The last few years we have helped primarily with the art project materials and a few wish list items that directly supplement the Girls Can Camp activities in July. Last summer since they didn't meet at the camp we gave monies to help with the boxes of activity materials the girls received. It was a virtual camp. Since the new Administration Building project began, we have had it in mind to help buy something for the Medic area. Since some of the campers need medical type services while at the camp a hospital bed was something Laurie Mozley mentioned might be a need. Now with only 29 members in the Auxiliary the majority of the money we raise is from the generous Club 13 members who contribute annually to our campaign.
When the discussion about the butterfly garden came up during the meeting last week it reminded me of years ago when our group supplied funds toward the walkway project that allowed for the nature walk. We added identification tags for trees and flowers (this was years ago). We also had a bench installed along that trail. The wrought iron entry and flag pole have been Auxiliary projects. So we have aimed to make the hospital bed our next possible item.
Did you know the second Thursday of February is “National Giving Hearts Day”. This started 14 years ago as a movement to donate to local charities in the Midwest, and has grown in to one of the biggest charitable days for our region. This February 11th, give your heart to the Rotary Youth Camp! Donations can be made online or sent to the camp directly. You can also purchase goods off of our Amazon Wish list- to send goods directly to the camp that we will use this summer!
Community Service Meeting, Via Zoom —Wednesday, February 3- 11:30
If you are interested serving people in need, especially children and youth, of Kansas City you are welcome to come to a virtual meeting on Wednesday, February 3, at 11:30. We are looking for ways to serve others that keep our members Covid Safe, (while wearing masks and keeping safely distanced) and that make a difference in this time when life is so difficult. Have you heard about projects other groups are doing? We need your ideas! Please join us at this time of great need in our city! Send me or Mandy a note of your interest and contact information so you can receive the information to join the meeting. Thanks!
Please join the Rotary Book Discussion Group on Zoom for the discussion of the book The Topeka School by Ben Lerner. The book is available by mail order through the Rainy Day Books web site or call the store for curb-side pick up. The discussion will be led by Vivien Jennings. All Rotarians and guests are welcome.
Event: Rotary Book Discussion Group
Date: Monday, February 15, 6:30 PM
Zoom Meeting
About the book:
Adam is a senior at Topeka High School, class of ’97. His mother, Jane, is a famous feminist author: his father, Jonathan, is an expert at getting “lost boys” to open up. They both work at a psychiatric clinic that has attracted staff and patients from around the world. Adam is a renowned debater, expected to win a national championship before he heads to college. He is one of the cool kids, ready to fight or, better, freestyle about fighting if it keeps his peers from thinking of him as weak. Adam is also one of the seniors who bring the loner Darren Eberheart –who is, unbeknownst to Adam, his father’s patient –into the social scene, to disastrous effect.
We meet Thursdays at Noon
The Kill Devil Club
31 E. 14th St.
Kansas City, MO 64105
*We are currently meeting virtually via Zoom*
@rotaryclub13
@rotary13
@rotaryclub13
By David Hanzlick
February is Peace and Conflict Prevention Month
Because of the central importance of the promotion of Peace to the Rotary movement, I am reprinting a column written by Ian E. Lancaster of District 7070, which I have edited slightly for length and will present in two parts – this week and next.
Peace has been one of Rotary’s top goals almost since the day Paul Harris founded it in 1905. In 1914, the convention adopted a resolution proposed by the Rotary Club of Hamilton, Ontario, that the International Association of Rotary Clubs “lend its influence to the maintenance of peace among the nations of the world.” In 1921, with memories of World War I fresh in their minds, delegates to the Rotary International Convention in Edinburgh, Scotland, incorporated into Rotary’s constitution the goal ”to aid in the advancement of international peace and goodwill through a fellowship of business and professional men of all nations united in the Rotary ideal of service.”
Arch Klumph called Rotary “a force that has taken on an impetus that cannot be diminished.” Klumph made that speech to the Atlanta convention the year he was RI President in 1917. His words were to assume prophetic significance in Rotary’s quest for peace, for it was his vision that led to the creation of The Rotary Foundation. From the beginning, the single guiding principle of the Foundation has been to bring peace to the world through education and the relief of suffering, and by helping people to better understand one another – particularly in cross-cultural settings.
In 1940, The Rotarian published a commentary that came out of the RI Convention in Havana, Cuba. Long before there was a United Nations, before “human rights” was a term most people even understood, the Rotarians meeting in Havana adopted a resolution calling for “freedom, justice, truth, sanctity of the pledged word, and respect for human rights.” It was a major milestone in Rotary history. It threw down the gauntlet and said, in effect, “Rotary has no interest in the religious or political affairs of your country, but if you do not treat your people with the rights any human being deserves, then Rotary cannot operate there.”
Rotarians in Europe looked beyond the bombs that were raining down on cities across the continent and began planning the peace that would ultimately have to come. Their fellow British Rotarians convened a conference to discuss what would happen after the guns of war had been silenced and how they could promote cross-cultural understanding to avoid future conflicts. Again and again they met, drawing more expatriate leaders into the caucus. When peace had finally dawned, this group evolved into UNESCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Rotary had also played a pivotal part in forming UNESCO’s parent organization, the United Nations. Nearly 50 Rotarians served as delegates, advisers, or consultants at the UN charter conference in San Francisco in 1945, and five Rotarians subsequently served as president of the UN General Assembly: Oswaldo Aranha, Carlos P. Romulo, Lester B. Pearson, Prince Wan Waithayakon, and Sir Leslie Munro.
When the newly chartered United Nations wrote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, it used the resolution from the Rotary Havana convention as its framework.
Throughout the 1950’s and 60’s, almost every Foundation program was designed to improve cross-cultural understanding through people-to-people exchanges or shared projects. Ambassadorial Scholars, Group Study Exchange teams, Matching Grants, Grants for University Teachers – all may have fulfilled different functions, but collectively, they upheld the same principle: when “foreigners” meet and break bread with one another, exchange their family stories, and learn about each other’s cultures and traditions, they come away with the realization that we are more alike as people than we are different.
Bowling news for last week. There were two hot lanes going, with a total of 7 200+ games and 2-2/7 splits! And they were bowling against each other.
Peter Ho-202 and 228
Kenny Addison-222 and 204
John Lawrence-231, 207 and 219
And Dave Boone knocked the 2-2/7 splits down!
Great night for them!
The Satellite Club met via Zoom on Tuesday, January 26th with Satellite member Evie Craig moderating the meeting. After enjoyable conversation, Rotarian Linn Mills spoke on the “Shoes for Orphan Souls” project and shared a short video produced by Buckner International, the organization that sponsors the collection and delivery of the shoes, and a video from the “Shoes Cheerleader” and Past Rotary International Director Larry Lunsford. All Rotarians were encouraged to donate new children’s shoes or make a contribution for the shoes-shopping-team to purchase shoes. The meeting ended with the Four Way Test. All Rotarians and guests are welcome to join the Satellite Club meeting on Tuesday, February 23, 5:30 PM via Zoom.
Rotary Theme for 21/22 Announced
As International Assembly kicked off today, RI President Elect Shekar Mehta announced the theme for 2021/22. He urged members to become more involved in service projects, saying that caring for and serving others is the best way to live because it changes not only other people’s lives, but also our own.
Mehta, a member of the Rotary Club of Calcutta-Mahanagar, West Bengal, India, revealed the 2021-22 presidential theme, Serve to Change Lives, to incoming district governors on 1 February during the Rotary International Assembly. The assembly, a yearly training event for district governors-elect, was originally set to take place in Orlando, Florida, USA, but was held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mehta spoke about how participating in service projects through Rotary changed him as a person and made him empathize more with the needs of others. Soon after joining his club, he helped carry out projects that benefited rural communities in India.
The ZOOM meeting began promptly at noon (after several minutes of delightful conversation among those who signed in early.) Right away, we were hustled off to the breakout rooms to discuss our experience so far with getting shots of the COVID vaccines. Tom Davis and I were the only ones in our room – perhaps others looked in and fled…)
Jim Porter introduced our speaker for the day, long time reporter for the KC Star newspaper, and prolific author Bill Tammeus, whose topic was the reasons for and writing of his latest book, Love, Loss, and Endurance: A 9/11 Story of Resilieance and Hope in an Age of Anxiety.”
This will be special meeting on a particularly timely topic featuring Guest Speaker Dr. Barbara Pahud. The topic will be “The Covid-19 Vaccine: What You Need To Know.” Dr. Pahud works for the division of Pediatric Infection Diseases at Children’s Mercy- Kansas City where she serves as the Director of Infectious Disease Research. She is also an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at UMKC and serves on the Advisory Commission for Childhood Vaccines (ACCV) through the Health and Human Services Agency (HHS). Dr. Pahud is an internationally recognized expert in the field of vaccine safety, hesitancy and the impact of clinical trials.
By Allison Kelly
Community Service Meeting, Via Zoom —Wednesday, February 3- 11:30
Please join the Rotary Book Discussion Group on Zoom for the discussion of the book The Topeka School by Ben Lerner. The book is available by mail order through the Rainy Day Books web site or call the store for curb-side pick up. The discussion will be led by Vivien Jennings. All Rotarians and guests are welcome.
@rotaryclub13
@rotary13
@rotaryclub13
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