Rotary 13 members and invited guests gathered in Crowne Plaza Hotel at 1301 Wyandotte Street with select individuals participating remotely via Zoom and Facebook Live. This meeting marked the first use of the hotel to convene the club. President Tom Davis brought the assembly to order at 12:14pm with a tap of the bell. The group stood for the Pledge of Allegiance, and Scott Holsman’s invocation spoke about the milestone in change of meeting location, service above self, and requested prayers for those in need. Tom Woolwine then led the assembly in singing Happy Birthday to those members born in June.
President Tom introduced one guest: Allen Blair, who had worked with him at Stinson LLP. There were several member anniversaries to announce this week: Fred Drummond, 48 years; Sean Putney, 6 years; Keith Roney, 15 years; Bill Madsen, 15 years; Pat Bolin, 33 years; Tom Terry, 33 years; Dan Nenonen, 17 years; and Eric Burger, 5 years. President Tom noted that the door greeters today were the June birthday Rotarians and expressed his gratitude to them.
Past Presidents Sally Bibb and Marc Horner spoke on the development of the Legacy Society for the Kansas City Rotary Club Foundation. In order to ensure financial support of the Rotary Youth Camp in coming decades, they are seeking planned gifts of $10,000 or more to bolster the foundation’s corpus. Seven members of Club 13 have already reached that giving status; table fliers contain more information on how to participate.
President Tom acknowledged the Geeks for Kids volunteers from last weekend. He then went on to detail a change in weekly meeting patterns. Not only is the gathering location at the Crowne Plaza Hotel new, but the 4th Thursday of every month will no longer contain a lunch meeting. Instead, that day will host a social activity with a varying format. (N.B., because of this change, club members are encouraged to read the weekly Buzzsaw with extra care to track what happens where each month.)
Upcoming Club 13 activities include:
- 17 July, Commodore’s Kick Off Party at the Ship
- 29 August, 5th Thursday event at Rock Island Bridge
At 12:27 pm, Emily Hane of The Rabbit Hole stepped to the lectern to speak about her employer. She joined the museum as Development and Grants Manager in March 2023, a year prior to the organization opening its doors. A former staffer with Nonprofit Connect and Water.org, her passion for books grew when running programs for Literacy KC. Ms. Hane is an alumna of KU and completed the masters-level public administration program at UMKC. She taught English in Cameroon while serving in the Peace Corps.
The Rabbit Hole provides a museum experience celebrating 100 years of children’s literature. It commenced public operation in March of this year, to considerable national media acclaim. In the past 4 months, it has hosted over 35,000 visitors representing 44 states. The Rabbit Hole aims to create a living culture around literature and inspire lives filled with reading. Offerings under its roof include a full-service bookstore (operated by the owners of the now-shuttered Reading Reptile), a print shop, and a story creation lab. Exhibits, however, take up a good portion of its space and have won it much press: visitors walk into three-dimensional scenes from children’s books. There is a café on site, and membership programs for families and museum aficionados enable affordable, repeat visits. About half of the guests who come to the Rabbit Hole are adults, especially young arts students on dates.
Questions for Ms. Hane began at 12:41 and included the existence of any similar museums (only in Scandinavia), the use of the Rabbit Hole for private rental events (in the future, probably yes), and the physical location of the building (in North Kansas City at 14th and Knox, near the Kit Bond Bridge). Other queries about the organization included the authors targeted for inclusion (books with established significance, written mostly between 1900 and 2000), public transit options to arrive at the museum (tricky at best, but under discussion with the KCATA), and Dr. Seuss (who is so well-known that he likely won’t be featured in one of their exhibits). When asked to describe the Rabbit Hole building, Ms. Hane noted that it is a 100-year-old, former Davis Paint facility. It contains about 150,000 square feet across 4 stories. The first and second floors are activated at present, with program expansion onto the other floors to come.
President Tom thanked Ms. Hane for her presentation and introducing the work of the Rabbit Hole to Rotarians. His ending announcements recapped upcoming Club 13 events including next Thursday’s lunch meeting with Gina Lichte, the CEO of Girls on the Run. He then shared the following with the group:
“The more that you read, the more you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” –Dr. Seuss
At 12:55, the 4-Way Test closed the session, followed by the bell.
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