Plaza Rotary at a Glance 02/03/2016

Posted

on Feb 03, 2016

Update on Malawi Children’s Village

Plaza Rotary’s Vocational Service Committee takes center stage at our meeting Friday to share the latest news on the club's Global Grant for a student empowerment project at the Malawi Children’s Village.

Malawi Children’s Village is a village-based orphan support program in Mangochi, Malawi. It supports more than 2,000 HIV/AIDS orphans living with members of their extended family in 37 villages. MCV supports vulnerable children from birth to 18 years providing shelter, food, safety, health care and education until they can live independent healthy lives. Plaza Rotary is a long-time supporter of Malawi Children's Village.

The grant totals nearly $32,000, funded through district 6040 District funds, matched by the Rotary Foundation’s World Fund. The grant funds a curriculum for primary school teachers to refine and implement as an after-school program once a month for a year. The program focuses on encouraging goal setting, confidence building, and life choices that affect educational attainment, and address health and environmental issues that can prevent children, especially girls between ages 12-16, from completing primary school, attending secondary school, and qualifying for entrance to either university or technical training schools.

The grant also covers the installation of solar lights in five primary schools, as well as furnishings and supplies for a study area in each school so that students can study at night as well as during the day.

The Plaza club’s Vocational Training team, led by Elizabeth Usovicz and including team members Bill and Cindy Schmidt, departs on March 31 to train teachers and collaborate on the study area installation. The team will give club members an overview of the project, the country of Malawi and the educational challenges that teachers and students face.

It’s Shoe Time!

The annual Shoes for Orphan Souls drive is in full swing! Our three teams are organizing (so far, we have heard of teams named the “Shoe-Be-Do-Be-Doos" and “Royal Blue Suede Shoes”) and the buying has begun. Some examples:

Frances Reddis, shopper extraordinaire, reports that she has purchased 249 pair of shoes on behalf of the club, plus an additional 16 that she’s purchased from her own wallet. She’s making purchases using the club’s tax-exempt status from Walmarts in Oak Grove, Independence and Blue Springs — so far, the cost is just $5 a pair.
We also hear that "Mustang" Ed Ladegaard has also been shoe wrangling again and may have northward of 90 pair of shoes already.

Look for information from your team captains and a leader board coming soon. Meanwhile, go get more shoes! Contributions also welcome.

Last Chance to Sign Up For Friday's Whiskey Tour

OK, it's actually a Vocational Visit to the J. Rieger & Co. Distillery, but it does promise to be a fun evening with an opportunity to sample some locally produced spirits with your Rotary friends. The event starts at 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, at the J. Rieger & Co. Distillery at 2700 Guinnotte Ave., Kansas City.

We'll start with a tour of the distillery and afterward, move to the private room at the Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange for our after-tour Happy Hour before heading out to see the First Friday’s art exhibits.

A little sample of the history: Jacob Rieger & Co. was founded in 1887 in Kansas City’s West Bottoms Livestock Exchange district. The brand offered over 100 alcoholic products and counted 250,000 customers from its mail-order delivery services.

In 1919, Prohibition was enacted by the federal government and wasn’t reversed until 1933. J. Rieger & Co. was a casualty at the time, but 95 years later, the distillery was revived.

A shout-out to Scott Weaver for organizing this fun time!

Mark your Calendars

Wed., Feb. 17, 12 noon – 1 p.m.: Community Service committee meeting at Urban Ranger Corps Headquarters, 5908 Swope Parkway. Lunch will be provided. Contact Community Service Committee Chair Erik Dickinson if you have questions and/or would like to attend the meeting. Erik.dickinson@urckc.org; cell 816-682-6098; office 816-256-3562.

Sat., Feb. 27, 2016 – District 6040 Foundation Dinner, KCI Embassy Suites near KCI Airport.

5-6pm Cocktail hour and Foundation Auction 6pm Dinner and Recognitions. Registration deadline: Feb. 20. All club members and their significant others who attend will pay the full price of the ticket ($75.00). Make checks payable to the Plaza Foundation; the entire amount of those tickets will be credited as a contribution to the Rotary Foundation. A portion, to be determined later, may be tax deductible.

There is no limit to the number of club members who can attend the dinner! Please sign up at an upcoming meeting or email Jennifer Kyle at jmkyle55@gmail.com with the number of tickets you wish to purchase. We will keep you posted on how many seats remain available as we fill the club tables.