NEW DATE
Monday, July 15
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Lenet Compton's
20300 W 99th. Street in Lenexa
Come and learn about Wine Bottle #7 topic:
Rotary Youth Leadership Academy (RYLA)
Stories
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 About 40 Rotarians from our district, including JC Burcham and Jason and Jacci Leib, attended the Rotary International Convention in Atlanta. |
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      Installation of the 2017-18 officers and directors at Sar Ko Par Park in Lenexa on June 17, 2017. Braving the 95 degree heat, our members and their families had a fun-filled evening, which included some fishing for the kids.President: Terry Tevis President-Elect: Matt Janes Vice President: Lenet Compton Secretary: Jerry Henson Treasurer: Pat Thomas Director: Erik Troy Director: Jason Bledsoe Foundation Chair: Phil Hammond Membership Chair: Becca Coleman Program Chair: Moe Cougher Sergeant at Arms: Fred Spears Immediate Past-President: JC Burcham |
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Jason Leib and JC Burcham are headed to Atlanta for the Rotary International Convention, June 9-14. Stay tuned for pictures and more information! |
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.jpg) We're looking for volunteers to walk alongside the Lenexa Fire Safety Trailer in the 4th of July parade. If you're interested, please see Jerry Bowmer (bowmerj@gmail.com). |
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Are you able to help out with our booth on Thursday, June 8th? We'll be there from 4-7pm. If you can help for even a half hour, please let Becca Coleman know by Friday, June 2nd! Business Blast & Taste of the Chamber Thursday, June 8, 2017 – rain or shine! 3:00 pm Exhibitor Registration & Set-up 4:00 pm Business Blast Opens – Chamber members and non-members welcome! 6:30 pm Program & Prize Drawings 7:00 pm Business Blast Closes NOTE: All exhibits MUST remain open from 4-7 pm. Location: Old Town Lenexa – parking lot in front of shops at the corner of Pflumm Road & Santa Fe Trail FREE Parking
NO Attendee Entry Fee, open to the public! |
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Greg Peterson has requested that we bring ANY medical equipment and/or mobility devices to him, so he can send them to Guatemala for the upcoming water filter installation project our club is supporting (along with the Shawnee Mission Northwest Interact Club). We need these asap, probably no later than June 1st! Contact Greg with questions. |
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Our Youth Exchange students, Alma and Ana, have requested that we help cover their blazers with pins! Here they are at last week's meeting, announcing their request. Let's help them out!! |
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On Saturday, May 13th, our club teamed up with the Western Johnson County Rotary Club to run our beer and wine booth at the Lenexa Art Fair, which was located at the Southeast corner of 87th Street Parkway & Renner Boulevard. From Phil: "Thanks so much to all for a very successful Lenexa Art Festival. We made $1,431 of which we receive 1/2. and $142 (19 bottles) of wine will go to The Lenexa Rotary Club." Thanks to all our club members who helped out: Phil Hammond, Moe Cougher, Andy Ramsey, Erik Troy, Terry Tevis, Jerry Bowmer, Pat Thomas, and Doug Gorham. |
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 A total of 181 Rotarians registered for the District 5710 Conference held May 5-6 at the Overland Park Sheraton, including 16 members from our club! If there was an award for highest percentage of club participation at the district conference, I'm pretty sure we would win! It was thrilling to see such great participation from our club, as well as other clubs around the district. Lenexa Rotarians in attendance included: Terry Tevis, Matt Janes, Pat Thomas, Steve Nettles, Phil Hammond, Mike Dix, JC Burcham, Dinah Sykes, Jason Bledsoe, Milton Jeffrey, Tobias Scheffler, Ron Tennissen, Moe Cougher, Greg Peterson, Alan Kruckemyer, and most importantly, Jason Leib, who chaired the planning committee for the whole conference!  Indoor skydiving at a Rotary conference? You bet!! Greg Peterson, Steve Nettles, Dinah Sykes, and Jason Leib (with his wife, Jacquelyn) suited up and gave it a try. Other participants visited the Prairiefire Museum or played at TopGolf.Also at the conference, attendees packaged 13,000+ meals for Rise Against Hunger--in record time, under an hour! Please take a moment to thank Jason Leib for his efforts in organizing this year's conference. He and his committee did an excellent job. |
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.jpg) SMNW Interact and Lenexa Rotarians packaging meals for Rise Against Hunger. |
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 Dinah Sykes was elected in November 2016 to represent Kansas Senate District 21 which includes all of the city of Lenexa and the Northwest part of Overland Park. Her Senate committee assignments include Commerce, Education, Ethics, Elections, and Local Government and a Joint Committee on Information Technology.Prior to election, Dinah enjoyed being a full-time stay at home mom who also ran her own business as a personal chef. She is a graduate of Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with minors in Finance and Economics. Prior to having children, she worked in higher education as a development officer. Dinah enjoys being active in her community and has a passion for serving others. She has served as PTA treasurer, PTA President, Alumni Board Member for her alma mater, and is a 2016 Alumni of Leadership Lenexa through the Lenexa Chamber of Commerce. She is a mother to two boys, 12 and 14. Both are avid soccer players. Her husband, Jeff, works at VML, a global marketing and ad agency as Director of Web Ops. The family also has two boxers that are spoiled beyond measure. |
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 Ron Tennissen grew up in a small farming community just outside Wichita, and has always considered Wichita home. He graduated Wichita State University with a Bachelor Degree, and a 2nd Lieutenant commission from ROTC and a two-year commitment to serve in the US Army. Assigned to a military intelligence branch, he spent two years in the United States, mostly in Colorado. Being young, single and foolish I extended my commitment by one year and served a year (1969) in Vietnam. After leaving the Army, he worked 2.5 years in a retail management position and then as a Wichita police officer. He married his wife Vicki in 1973 and was hired by Marion Laboratories. Over the next 18-years, he held several positions in the company including: clinical research, professional education, product marketing, program management and finally as Vice President Market Development. After Marion merged with Merrill Dow, the company downsized and reorganized. "I was given the opportunity to stay or take an early retirement. I followed the advice of two individuals. First, George Brett who said, '20 years is long enough to stay on the same ride at the amusement park,' and my back fence neighbor, Moe Cougher, who said, 'When the downsizing begins, jump on the early retirement package.'” Three-days into early retirement, he received a job offer at a pharmaceutical focused healthcare-consulting firm based in Palo Alto, CA. This eventually led to a partner position in the firm, while working from his home in Lenexa. In 2003, he sold his interest to the business and went into “full retirement”. Ron and his wife Vicki raised three daughters, Kim, Carrie and Christine. Kim and Christine are married and between them I have 4 grandsons. Kim is a nurse practioner at Children’s Hospital, Carrie is a project manager at Cerner and Christine is a business manager at a privately run maximum-security prison in Leavenworth. Vicki and Ron were married for 40 years when she passed away in August 2013. Ron first joined Rotary in 1994, with the Rotary Club of Johnson County. He has served as president, assistant district governor, and as Lt. Governor for District Governor John Vandewalde. He was a founding member of the Rotary Club of Western Johnson County. He left Rotary in 2013 due to his wife’s illness. We are so glad to have him as a member of our club! Welcome, Ron! |
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Last Saturday, March 11th, eight brave souls faced the freezing temperatures and snow(!) to help remove trash and litter from the Mill Creek Streamway. Many thanks to Jason Leib, Lenet & Bob Compton, Erik Troy, Matt Janes, Terry Tevis, Greg Peterson and Mike Dix. Due to the unfavorable weather conditions, the crew skipped gathering together for a picture afterwards.
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 THIS IS HUGE NEWS!!Please join us in congratulating fellow member Jason Leib in his recent appointment as District Governor Nominee Designate (DGND) for the 2019/2020 Rotary year! (For those not as familiar with Rotary, this means Jason will be District Governor for our district--District 5710--for the 2019-2020 Rotary year. Wow!)
Jason has expressed that he feels honored and humbled by this appointment. “I appreciate the club’s continuing support and encouragement in pursuing the role of District Governor since my first nomination in 2012. I hope to help all of the clubs in our district be as active and generous as we are!”
It's worth noting we have a couple past District Governors (PDG) in our club: Charlie Smith and Greg Peterson.
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Last Friday, we inducted our newest member, Keith Slider! Keith is actually a returning member to our club, and we are glad to have him back. He is the owner of Slider Funeral Home in Kansas City, KS, and the environmental firm, Expert Environmental. Please introduce yourself and help him feel welcome in our club!
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March 4, 2017, marked the 28th annual Lenexa Rotary ShrimpFest & Bingo. Read on for more details and fun pictures!
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 Thank you to Marshall Rimann for taking so many great photos of our fun anniversary celebration on Feb. 3rd! We had close to 90 people in attendance--wow! If you haven't already seen the pictures on Facebook, you can check them out here: |
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Fundraising dinner party at Lenet's house (20300 W 99th St, Lenexa) on Sat. Feb. 18th for our Romanian youth exchange, Ana's, month long bus tour across the US. The suggested amount is $20/person and that includes traditional Romanian meatball soup, a meat main dish (mix of pork, rice and onion wrapped up in sour cabbage and polenta) and a dessert (traditional doughnuts made out of sweet cheese with jelly and sour cream). It's going to be a fun night and lots of good Romanian food!
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 On Jan. 17, 2017, Lenexa Mayor Mike Boehm presented a certificate of recognition to the Lenexa Rotary Club on behalf of its 50 years of service to the community and the world. A handful of club members, including Pat Thomas, Phil Hammond, Jason Leib, Milton Jeffries, and Jerry Harper were in attendance. Charter president Charles Smith and current president JC Burcham accepted the award. Charlie shared some history about the club and its role in the community. |
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Your photos and memories are needed for our club's 50th Anniversary celebration!
As you know, our Club will be celebrating its 50th anniversary early next year, which we are marking with a celebration event on February 3rd. I am working on a PowerPoint photo display that will scroll during networking and dinner, highlighting people, events, service projects/causes, programs, etc, from the past 50 years.
HOW CAN YOU HELP? MY WISH LIST:
Photos representing:
I’d like better photos of:
Please let me know if you think there is a service project I have inadvertently left out or whatever other additional thoughts you may have.
Sincere thanks for your help with this fun project for the Club!
Ashley
Email photos/info to asherard@lenexa.org
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Meet your 2017-2018 Outbound Youth Exchange Students!
It goes almost without saying that these kids are exceptional in their studies, extracurricular activities and social skills. Here are highlights with a few added tidbits you may not suspect! Thank you to Amy Ruo, Becca Coleman and Greg Peterson for their selection assistance.
Kayla Craigmile
Kayla was adopted from China at nine months. Her parents are Scott and Tammy Green. She has a sister, Cianna Blakeman, in seventh grade.
SMNW Senior and Interact member – heading up fundraising for their 2017 group trip to Panama
Scholastically, Spanish and French, Anatomy (she really enjoys dissection!), International Baccalaureate English, AP Calculus, AP Government are her cup of tea. She is on the executive board for most of these groups: National Honor Society, Math National Honor Society, Spanish National Honor Society, Chemistry Club and French Club.
Kayla has played piano since first grade with additional talent in violin and guitar. She enjoys hammocking in SM Park. I never heard of hammocking but learned it involves music.
Though self-proclaimed directionally challenged and afraid of heights, she managed not to get lost in Australia during a three week excursion with People to People. Evidently, some repelling was involved!
Reginald (Reggie) Black
 Reggie’s mother is Xenia Black.
SMNW Senior.
He is a member of Boy Scouts of America (soon to be an Eagle Scout!) and in Thespian Troupe 888. His ultimate goal is to work in the Foreign Service. Therefore, he looks forward to the Rotary Exchange cultural immersion.
German is the foreign language Reggie excels at having taken class all four years of high school. He hopes to be assigned to Austria because of its history.
Reginald’s instructor characterizes him as polite, positive and compassionate. That goes a long way to explain why he is an assistant teacher at Rising Star Elementary School after school program. The instructor goes on to say Reggie is conscientious, friendly and has strong ethical character.
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The Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) is a grassroots leadership and development program whose goal is to strengthen Rotary clubs through quality leadership education. The RLI program is great training for “new” as well as “seasoned” Rotarians. RLI can help with growing our clubs both with membership and meaningful service projects. Session I - Saturday, January 28, 2017 Focus is on you, the Rotarian Session II - Saturday, February 25, 2017 Focus is on your Club Session III - Saturday, March 11, 2017 Focus is on your Rotary Journey All sessions will be from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm Location: Capital Plaza Hotel - Amber Room The topics that will be discussed include:
RLI is open to any Rotarian who is interested in learning more about our amazing organization, improve their Rotary experience, and conduct more effective service projects. Besides networking and exchanging ideas with other Rotarians, attending will enhance your knowledge about all facets of Rotary and how it works The cost to attend is $90.00 which includes all three sessions including lunch plus a RLI notebook. Money will be collected during the first session. |
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 Zach Ziegenhorn is our outbound youth exchange student. He shared this post on Facebook recently, marking his 100th day in Denmark! You can follow his adventures on his blog: https://zchzg.wordpress.com/
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 Interact Club at Shawnee Mission Northwest, with Rick Morton, Greg Peterson, and Jan Berg
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Shawnee Mission Northwest Interact Club and Woodland Charity invite you to participate in the International Volunteer Trips to Panama, July 9 to 15, 2017.
An informational meeting will take place in the SMNW Cafeteria at 7pm on Mon. Dec. 12th.
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As you know, the Lenexa Rotary Club challenged the Rotary Club of Shawnee to see which club could collect the most coats for the Johnson County Christmas Bureau this fall. Well, the results are in!
Lenexa: 178 Shawnee: 201 It was a close competition, and although our club fell short, we're all winners because 379 people will be warm this winter, thanks to our combined efforts! President JC Burcham will pay a visit to the Shawnee club this coming Friday (they meet at 7:15am at Town Hall, 11600 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, KS, for anyone interested!) to make her concession speech. Cheers to all who helped us collect so many coats!! |
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Pictures from the Union Horse Distilling Co. tour
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 On a chilly Saturday morning in November, SMNW Interact students and Rotarians from the Lenexa Club (Terry Tevis, Rick Morton, Matt Janes, Steve Nettles, Greg Peterson, Jason Leib, Jim Blaufuss, Phil Hammond), and Western Johnson County Club (Kelly Vaille), volunteered with HopeBUILDERS to build a wheelchair ramp for a paralyzed KCK teenager. The young man was injured in an accident earlier this year and completion of the ramp was a requirement to allow him to finally come home from the hospital. These kinds of projects can take all day to build, but with so many dedicated volunteers, the ramp was finished before 11:30am! Great work!! |
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On Nov. 29th, members of the Lenexa Rotary Club and Shawnee Mission Northwest Interact Club, as well as friends and family, gathered together to assemble more than 14,000 meals for people in need around the world. What a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving and feed thousands of people! Lenexa members in attendance (not all are pictured here): Phil Hammond, Pat Thomas, Greg Peterson, Alan Kruckemyer, Mike Dix, Moe Cougher, Andy Hoedl, Matt Janes, Rick Morton, Steve Nettles, Dennis Moore, Bill Schutte, Doug Gorham, Fred Spears, Lenet Compton, JC Burcham, Alma (exchange student from Italy), Ana (exchange student from Romania) For more pictures, visit the photo album on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/lenexarotary/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1195606503820841 |
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Ana (top/left) dressed as a vampire for Halloween! I don't have a picture of Alma in costume, but here is her beautiful school photo! Our club is proud to sponsor these two amazing young ladies as part of the Rotary Youth Exchange program for one year. Ana is from Romania, and Alma is from Italy. Ana is looking for a different host family for the 2nd semester, if she can find one with kids. If you think you might be able to help out, please contact Lenet Compton asap: lenetcompton@gmail.com
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Use this signup link to volunteer for the annual Johnson County Christmas Bureau Holiday Shop:
This year's Holiday Shop is located at:
16100 W. 135th St., Olathe, KS (Between Mur-Len and Black Bob, behind the Applebees)
Our club is participating on Dec. 2nd, 2:30-6:00pm. Please sign up for that time slot if you can!
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 Friday's meeting is your LAST CHANCE to bring winter coats. The collected coats will be donated to the Johnson County Christmas Bureau. Greg Peterson (who has been collecting the coats) will not be at our meeting this week, so give your coats to JC Burcham. As of Wednesday morning, our club has collected 77 coats! |
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 Mark your calendars for Sat. December 10th! The Lenexa Rotary Club's annual Holiday Party will take place at The Crescent apartment complex clubhouse, located in Lenexa near 87th & I-435. More details to follow. |
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   Last Friday, Damian Garcia of Union Horse Distilling Co. in Lenexa shared his family's passion for creating fine spirits...and some samples as well! Thank you, Damian!We also inducted Shawna Davidson as a new member of our club. Welcome, Shawna!  |
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In honor of Veterans Day, we'd like you to invite a Veteran on this day. Since we need to let Lakeview Village know how many guests we'll be expecting, please let Jerry Harper know if you'll be bringing a guest no later than Nov. 4.
Meet at Merriam Home Depot at 8:00 AM (located at Antioch & I-35). For questions, contact Greg Peterson (oldnorski123
Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Rotary Foundation! This year, you’ll experience an entirely NEW Foundation Banquet... we are celebrating with dinner & dance. Will you be inspired, enjoy good food, great music and have fun? YES! Will there be long speeches and copious awards? NO! Watch your email for an invite... coming soon!
Our club is doing a special fundraiser (fill up your beer can with money!) so that we can package up thousands of meals on Nov. 29th. We need a handful of volunteers to show up at 5pm and help setup. The meal packaging begins at 6pm. We did this project back in January and packaged 16,000 meals along with the Shawnee Mission Northwest Interact Club. Let's beat that record!!
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 October is Fire Prevention Month, and the Lenexa Fire Department Safety Trailer is on the move! They will be visiting seven Lenexa elementary schools between October 4-18, and we will again be providing behind-the-scenes support services. We are creating two volunteer shifts – 9:00-11:30am and 11:30am-2:00pm – during which one (1) Rotary volunteer is needed (so 14 volunteer slots total for us to fill.) As in the past, you are more than welcome to work more than one shift! Contact Ashley Sherard (asherard |
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It's Dictionary Project Time! Every year, our club helps distribute free dictionaries to 3rd grade students in area school districts. Craig Denny is the lead contact person on this project. The books were delivered to his home this week, and he is asking for help in labeling and distributing them to the 13 designated schools. Next Tuesday evening (9/27) beginning anytime after 6pm at his home, please stop by and help. We have a list of schools that need to have a volunteer distribute dictionaries. Sept. 27th will be the ONLY opportunity to pick up the books before Craig leaves on a 2-week cruise, so please plan on attending if you can help! Contact Craig for more details: craig.denny
For more information about the Dictionary Project: https://www.dictionaryproject.org/
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 Ken Selzer, Kansas Insurance Commissioner and past-president of the Leawood Rotary Club, spoke to our club on Sept. 9th. It was an interesting and entertaining presentation, complete with historical facts (Kansas is one of the few states that elects its insurance commissioner, as opposed to appointing one) and equal love for both the Wildcats and Jayhawks. |
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 Chris Swanda gave an enjoyable talk about Survival Skills in the Business World, blending his barefoot survival techniques, an ability to "MacGyver" his way out of any situation, a sense of humor to our club on Sept. 2nd. If you want to follow what other interesting stories Chris is weaving his way into, follow him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSwanda |
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On Aug. 25th, Leawood Rotarian Roxann Kerr-Lindsey opened her home for the evening to celebrate summer and introduce special guests to the opportunity of Rotary. Our club was represented by our RINC liaison Jason Bledsoe, president JC Burcham, and two guests invited by our members: Dinah Sykes and Kelly Baltuska.
The poolside patio, snacks, drinks and most importantly the fellowship among current and future Rotarians made for a most enjoyable evening. |
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Bring your old Rotarian magazines to a meeting, and we will donate them to the students of the Shawnee Mission Interact Club!
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 On Aug. 26, Anne Brewer, volunteer with SAFEHOME, talked about recognizing signs of domestic abuse and its effect on small businesses. Her presentation, “Domestic Violence Impact on the Workplace”, is available to businesses to educate employers on strategies to help employees who may be in an abusive situation. She emphasizes the dollar and productivity loss companies experience when people miss work due to abuse. She gives concrete information for employer and employee resources, along with how to respond to such a delicate situation.We finally got to meet our two exchange students, Alma (from Italy) and Ana (from Romania)! We were relieved to hear that Alma's family and friends are ok after the tragic earthquake in Italy this week. So sorry we didn't get any pictures of our students. Next time!! |
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On Aug. 20, 2016, Rotarians from various clubs in Johnson County gathered at Robert Thompson's house in Gardner for food and fellowship. David Sneider of the Lenexa Club brought his grill and cooked hamburgers and hot dogs. The evening included a watermelon seed spitting competition, a Hawaiian shirt contest, and a hula hoop tie-breaker. A bouncy house for the children kept the little ones happy! It was a truly family-friendly fun and memorable evening.
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.jpg) Zach Ziegenhorn is our outbound student. His parents are also the host of our exchange student from Italy, Almi. Zach's mom tells me he is having an awesome time in Denmark!! His e-mail address is zacharyziegenhorn@yahoo.com and you can also follow his blog as a great way to keep connected – "hopefully he will keep writing on it!!" The blog is at https://zchzg.wordpress.com/ and if you “follow” you will get an e-mail every time he posts a new entry. As Zach's sponsoring club, we have a duty to support him during his adventure. I sincerely hope you will periodically check in and let him know Rotarians back home are interested and proud of what this year will mean to the rest of his life. |
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Alma from Italy
Birthday is November 28 and she is 17 years old. Her father is a dentist and mother a housewife. She is an only-child. Her English is "fair" and her strong areas in school are math, computer science, physics, chemistry, biology, philosophy...so we will let her slide a bit on the English proficiency. She comes from a school of 1730 so will fit right in to the big-school environment at SMNW. However she comes from a small, quiet village.
Her counselor is Becca Coleman. Her 1st host family is Matt and Kamille Merz from Lenexa.
Ana from Romania
Birthday is September 22 and she is 16 years old. Her father is an engineer and her mother is a doctor. She has a brother, Teodor. She is fluent in English and is fair in German. The number in her school is 2140 and she also lists math, chemistry, etc. as her classes. Other interesting classes are Logic and Plastic Art.
Her counselor is Lenet Compton. Her 1st host family is Greg and Judith Schieszer from Prairie Village.
More on school and home life next week. The girls are arriving early August!
Please reach out to me if you are interested in hosting January thru May 2017 or know someone who may be interested in hosting. I can be reached at 913-209-3864 or lenetcompton@gmail.com
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