Our Speaker this week is Innocent Magambi, Refugee and Author. His topic is: "Helping Refugees in Africa Find a Place Called Home."
A refugee from birth, Innocent spent the first 27 years of his life in five refugee camps in Eastern and Southern Africa. Despite facing much hurt along his journey, he never allowed the adversity to define him or to determine his destiny. With support from a local Church, Innocent became a change agent for fellow refugees and the host community in Malawi. Against all odds, he founded There Is Hope, an organization that aims at mitigating the effects of long-term displacement among refugees and generational poverty among Malawians.
Innocent led There is Hope for fifteen years, impacting thousands of refugees and Malawians through educational scholarships, vocational training, Job creation through social enterprise Kibebe, and Leadership development through Bible training. A strong believer in healthy leadership succession, Innocent left his organisation, which now operates with a staff of 53 under the safe hands of local professionals. Deeply marked by his own experience, Innocent has dedicated the next phase of his commitment to advocate for refugee rights through Inua Advocacy. In Malawi, all refugees face indefinite encampment, excluded from local integration and deprived of right to employment.
More details on Innocent’s journey can be found in his memoir titled “Refugee for Life: My journey across Africa to find a place called home”.
“I have consistently used the difficulties I overcame as a catalyst to help others going through the same”
Rtn. Innocent is a member of the Rotary Club of Lilongwe- Lingadzi Malawi.
President Eric Bubb, welcomed all to the Club with the Camp for Kids donning Chiefs’ Red on this home opener Thursday. We stood for the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a thoughtful prayer by Toni Dorrell. The following Club Anniversaries were recognized: Woody Davis (38 years); Neil Barnett (17 years); Richard Helmuth (16 years); and Tucker Clark (1 year). It was announced that following the meeting, surveys will be distributed to the membership, and all are encouraged to participate.
President Eric thanked the Rotary Bowlers for serving as greeters. President Eric reminded us of the Monarch Butterfly Boxcar Relay/60,000 Tree Challenge event on September 24 at Union Station and asked that volunteers contact Lainie Wilbur for sign up. Mandy will also be sending a sign-up out via e-mail as well. A compelling video of the monarchs returning to Michoacon, Mexico from parts unknown was shown. See the video at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0t6mws2vgY
Peter Ho announced that he and his wife will host a Bolte Beer and Brat Bash at their home on October 18. The cost will be $5 which will be donated to the Youth Camp. President Eric then congratulated Julio Dotel for winning the Club 13 Golf Championship over the afore-mentioned Mr. Ho while the masses looked on. Several upcoming events were mentioned, including the Rotary Regatta on September 24, the Chiefs Watch Party at Tim Tholen’s home on September 25, the Rotary After Hours event at the KC Zoo on September 27, and a Pickleball Tournament for Shoes for Orphan Souls on October 23.
Our speaker, District 6040 Governor Kent Shelman, was introduced by President Eric to a traditional DG standing ovation. Kent has been active and engaged in Rotary since 1992, when he joined the Lee’s Summit club serving as that club’s President in 1999-2000. Kent recalls working on improvements to a widow’s residence soon after becoming a member of the club and how that inspired him to greater service. He served three-year terms as Assistant Governor, District Grants Chair, District Strategic Planning Chair, and is a Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) Facilitator and Rotary Counselor at the Rotary Youth Leadership Academy (RYLA). Professionally, Kent started in the title insurance field in 1977 as a delivery boy and rose to become president of Kansas City Title for 10 years. He is currently Senior Vice President for Coffelt Land Title’s commercial division. Kent has been married to his wife, Janet, for 31 years. They have two children and one granddaughter.
Kent reviewed some statistics. There are 1,181,651 Rotarians around the world with 2,039 of them in District 6040 comprising 53 clubs. Last fiscal year, the Rotary Foundation spent $152.9M for Polio Plus, $130M for global grants, $31M for district grants, and a substantial sum (which this author did not catch) for disaster response grants. The Rotary Peace Center hosted students from 63 countries. Kent ended his presentation explaining RI President Jennifer Jones’ “Imagine Rotary” theme and logo. We were treated to a version of the John Lennon song, “Imagine,” before a short Q & A ensued.
After the presentation, President Eric read a quote from Alexander the Great, “There is nothing impossible to they who will try.” The meeting ended after saying the “Four Way Test” together. Some may have adjourned to Arrowhead Stadium where the Chiefs somehow pulled out a victory over the Chargers.
PLAN TO ATTEND the “Save the Monarch Butterfly 60,000 Tree Challenge North American Boxcar Tour” event on Saturday, September 24th, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM in the Haverty Family Yards outside Union Station KCMO. Rotary Club 13 has partnered with Kansas City Southern and Union Station to sponsor this celebration. The event is free to the public and is a family friendly event.
The event schedule on stage is as follows: 10:00 AM Recorded Mariachi Music, 10:30 Opening Ceremony, 11:15 Mariachi Fuego Band, 1:15 Folkorico Dance Group, 2:00 Operation Pollination Signing, 2:45 Kansas City Indian Dance Group, 3:15 Music by Nina Rodriquez.
There will be over 15 exhibitors within Haverty Family Yard that focus on the monarch butterfly through hands-on activities, give aways for children, free packets of seeds for pollinator gardens and informational materials. Exhibitors include the Kansas City Zoo, Union Station, Missourians for Monarchs, St Louis Zoo, Roeslein Alternative Energy, Club 13 and many more.
The Monarch Mariposa Boxcar, a custom designed boxcar that celebrates and raises awareness of the journey of the monarch butterfly, traveled the path of the monarchs from Windsor, Ontario, and will be on the rails beside Union Station on the 24th. It will make 4 more stops before arriving at the El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary, the site where the 60,000 trees will be planted.
The First Rotary Youth Camp Regatta will be Saturday, September 24th. We are excited to be doing this with both the Jacomo Sailing Club and Jackson County Parks & Recreation. This is our first year; so it will be a smaller affair, a warm up if you will, for next year.
The JSC is hosting a club regatta with 15-20 Sweet 16 sailboats, and we are sponsoring a BBQ dinner and beverages following the racing. The racing begins around Noon, and we plan to host the reception for racers starting at 4:00 to set up, and serving between 5:30-7:00pm.
It is the same day as the Monarch Butterfly event at Union Station, but it is later in the afternoon so you could potentially be involved in both.
We have seven sponsors so far that include Bass Pro, Tom Van Dyke and members of our committee.
This is the first of several events you’ll be hearing more about as the club embarks on new sources of funding for the Youth Camp. In total we’re calling it the “Annual Rotary Youth Camp Challenge”, and we are interested in developing ideas you may have to help supplement what has been Greater KC Day.
If you are interested in being part of this event, please contact Tom Woolwine or Mandy.
Please join the Rotary Book Discussion Group on Zoom for the discussion of the book We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride. The book is available at Rainy Day Books and the discussion will be led by Vivien Jennings. All Rotarians and guests are welcome.
Event: Rotary Book Discussion Group
Date: Monday, October 17, 6:30 PM NEW DATE Rescheduled from Sep. 26
Meet in person at Rainy Day Books but Zoom will also be available
About the book:
Avis thought her marriage had hit a temporary rut. But with a single confession in the middle of the night, her carefully constructed life comes undone. After escaping a tumultuous childhood and raising a son, she now faces a future without the security of the home and family she has spent decades building.
Luis only wants to make the grandmother who raised him proud. As a soldier, he was on his way to being the man she taught him to be until he woke up in Walter Reed Hospital with vague and troubling memories of how he got there. Now he must find a new way to live a life of honor.
Every day, young Bashkim looks forward to the quiet order of school and the kind instruction of his third grade teacher. His family relocated to Las Vegas after fleeing political persecution in their homeland. Now their ice cream truck provides just enough extra income to keep them afloat. With his family under constant stress, Bashkim opens his heart to his pen pal, a US soldier.
When these lives come together in a single, shocking moment, each character is called upon to rise. “You’ll be thinking about these characters long after you finish this haunting, heart-wrenching, and hopeful book” (Houston Chronicle).
Rotarians and Families are cordially invited to a Celebration of Life honoring Sheila and Denny Bolte. It will be held at the Carriage Club (5301 State Line Rd, Kansas City, MO 64112), Tuesday, October 4th from 4:00 - 6:00 pm.
Bowling News
By Tim Tholen
Hello Rotary Club 13!
Second week of bowling is in the books and we are back to full force. With 13 teams of 3, we are at numbers we haven't seen in quite some time. And our substitution list is at 10, so maybe 15 teams next year??
200 games last night:
Curtis Grimsley-224
Matt Ho-236-212
Mike Messner-200-216
Stephen Bubb-2014
Notable Splits:
Nick Cutrera-4/6
Until next week!!
Rotary Youth Camp Update
By Laurie Mozley
A big shout out to the Eastern Independence Club once again for coming to store the pool tables/chairs/umbrellas they purchased for the camp through a Rotary District Grant. Taking care to store them correctly will help the furniture usable for many years to come.
Also want to give a shout out to Club 13’s Monday Morning Gang for yet another job well done! We now have storage areas for our summer user groups to utilize and a separate area for the Club 13 documents and other items from the office to be stored.
Tuesday, Sept 27
4:00 - 7:00 pm
Picnic dinner and program at 6:00 pm at the Tropics Tent!
PLAN TO ATTEND the “Save the Monarch Butterfly 60,000 Tree Challenge North American Boxcar Tour” event on Saturday, September 24th, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM in the Haverty Family Yards outside Union Station KCMO. Rotary Club 13 has partnered with Kansas City Southern and Union Station to sponsor this celebration. The event is free to the public and is a family friendly event. 
Please join the Rotary Book Discussion Group on Zoom for the discussion of the book We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride. The book is available at Rainy Day Books and the discussion will be led by Vivien Jennings. All Rotarians and guests are welcome.
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