Plaza Rotary at a Glance 5/9/2014
Help Wanted to Move Shoes!
The Grand Shoebah, Ed Ladegaard, could use some help tomorrow (Thursday) in moving our record number of shoes from his storage unit at 14151 Wyandotte in Kansas City to meet up with the District Shoes for Orphan Souls caravan in North Kansas City. District Shoes Cheerleader and Plaza Rotarian Larry Lunsford and PDG John Gill will begin collecting shoes tomorrow (Thursday) morning in Higginsville, and plan to arrive with their tractor-trailer rig at Finnigan's, 503 E. 18th Avenue, in North Kansas City by about 3:30 p.m., where they will celebrate with various Rotary clubs as they deliver their collected shoes. The Caravan will continue through the District on Friday and will arrive in Macon on Saturday morning, where the 2014 campaign will conclude. The District-wide collections goal is for more than 16,000 pairs of new children's shoes, which if reached would bring the District's collections since 2001 to more than 250,000 pairs of shoes.
Plazans Rich Linden and Lisa Deatherage have volunteered to help move the shoes, but the Grand Shoebah says more help would be welcome. The plan is to meet at Ed's storage unit, at the Storage Mart at the corner of Highway 150 and Wyandotte, at about 2:30 p.m., load the 1,025 pairs of shoes collected, and head to North Kansas City. Please telephone Ed at 913-638-5666 if you can help.
Bulletin: Shoes Cheerleader Larry expects to be interviewed about the Shoes campaign on the 11:00 a.m. news hour on NBC 41 Action News on Thursday morning. Tune in if you can!
This Friday: "Making Clean Water Possible"
While on mission trips to Guatemala in the last decade, Kansas City area residents James Allen (pictured) and Kurt Mader saw first-hand how a lack of clean drinking water affected both children and adults, and they were determined to do something to change that. Between 2006 and 2009, and after numerous mission trips, the idea for Aqua Viva International, Inc. began to take shape. After founding that organization, Allen and Mader have been instrumental in establishing water systems in Guatemala and in other third-world countries. They have just returned from a trip to Nigeria, which has been in the news this week because of the kidnapping of a large number of high school girls by an insurgent group. Allen and Mader will tell us about their work in what should be a most interesting program about helping others.
Urban Rangers Computer Center Almost Complete
After several Saturdays of work by Plaza Rotarians and Urban Rangers, the Computer Center at the Urban Ranger Corps offices at 5908 Swope Parkway will soon be complete, with just a few more touches and tweaks. Tables and chairs and computer equipment have been delivered, and air conditioning units will be installed early next week. An open house will be held soon -- watch for the details!!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! BLOCH PARK SPRING CLEAN-UP AND FLOWER PLANTING, SATURDAY, MAY 17, 10 A.M.-NOON
Polio: WHO Declares Global Health Emergency
As reported in the New York Times
Alarmed by the spread of polio to several fragile countries, the World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency and is urging those countries to take extraordinary measures to stop it. Pakistan, Syria and Cameroon have recently allowed the virus to spread to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Equatorial Guinea, and the WHO has imposed travel restrictions on some of the countries and has recommended that residents of all ages -- not just children -- should be immunized before traveling abroad. The spread of the crippling disease now threatens the 25-year campaign -- led by Rotary International and Rotarians -- to eradicate polio worldwide, the agency said.
Rotary Night at the Zoo - June 12
The Kansas City Rotary Club's Rotary Night at the Zoo is coming up on June 12 and you're invited. For $10 a person, Rotarians and their families can enjoy various free Zoo events, have hotdogs and chips, etc., and purchase beer and wine at a cash bar, all beginning at 4:30 p.m. To make a reservation, call Club 13 at 816-842-2322. Reservations should be made by June 6; after that date, the cost will increase to $15 a person. Kids under 3 get in free.
* * * NOTICE: THERE WILL BE NO NEWSLETTER THE WEEKS OF MAY 23 AND 30 AS THE EDITORS WILL BE OUT OF TOWN. EXPECT AN EMAIL THOSE WEEKS FROM PRESIDENT DEBRA ANDERSON TO ALERT YOU TO THE IMPORTANT EVENTS OF THE WEEK. * * *