"You and Your Community"

Al Mauro, retired executive from Kansas City Southern

Al Mauro has been an integral key in the cogs and gears of Kansas City for almost sixty years. He came to KC as an city administrative intern in 1952 after completion of his studies at the University of Connecticut. Upon his return from the Korean War in 1954 he was a budget analyst with the city and was responsible for consolidation of General Hospitals No. 1 and No. 2. He then served until 1959 as an administrative assistant to city manager L.P. Cookingham.
Mauro served in the sixties, seventies and early eighties in various capacities with Truman Medical Center overseeing the construction and equipping of the new Hospital Hill facility. In 1982 he joined Kansas City Southern Industries as Assistant Corporate Secretary. He officially retired in 1995 as Vice President and Secretary however he continued in a consulting capacity until 2001.
He was elected to the Kansas City School Board in 2000 and was president of the Board from 2002 until 2004. He was chairman of the Downtown Council from 1993 to 1998, President of the Friends of the Zoo and chaired the campaign to raise $16 million to build the Deramus Education Pavilion and the IMAX Theatre for the new Zoo. He’s chaired and raised funds for the Boys and Girls Clubs, the Genesis School, the Folly Theater, The Lyric Opera and serves as Chairman of Eye Foundation of Kansas City.

CPR/AED DUTY SCHEDULE

UPCOMING SPEAKERS & EVENTS:

Thank you, President Matt!

A century ago Lee Mettler served as the first president of Club 13. I can imagine him surveying that long roster of men and women, who have since led the Kansas City Downtown Rotary Club, then turning to Matt Meyer congratulating him for a great job at Club 13's helm. As he took the lead of our club Matt was laying plans for us to be positioned for another century of focused service to KC, the nation and the world. Under Matt's leadership we've been able both to take a look back at the first hundred years of Rotary in Kansas City and move forward serving the community.

A multitude of Rotarians with co-chairs Sally Bibb and Tom Terry laid out the plans for our Centennial celebration. The main kickoff luncheon was held in the Grand Hall at the historic Union Station with RI President John Kenney as our main speaker. We had representation from both Kansas and Missouri districts, 34 other Rotary Clubs in attendance and a total attendance of 405 for the Centennial luncheon.

Excellence in luncheon speakers continued under the direction of Program Chairman Steve Burger. Guest day speakers included Dan Hesse, Chairman of Sprint, Adele Hall of the Hall Family Foundation and Dr. Teng-Ke Tan, Dean of the Bloch School of Business. We did cover a broad range of topics at our weekly meetings. This year we heard from the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen (ret) Richard Meyers, discovered how the KC Museum operates without a museum and learned about North Korea, ballet, Harry Truman's love story, Harleys, gardens, the new KC School District, railroads, nuclear submarines, the arts in general, the fair tax movement, civil rights, the Hallmark Hall of Fame, health insurance reform, commercial real estate, civic development and politics. That covers only about half our speakers.

Steve Burger also headed our efforts in the Shoes for Orphans Souls project where Club 13 donated $7,500 for shoes. That effort along with the donations of other district clubs sent more than twenty thousand pair of shoes to children in Haiti.

Under the leadership of Myron Sildon and Curt Watkins the Profiles in Leadership continued to grow featuring sessions with Carl Schramm, Bob Berkbile, Carol Marinovich and Michael Stearn and other civic leaders. The Downtown Committee, chaired by Evie Craig recognized Commerce Bank, Cosentino's and JE Dunn Construction for their continuing contributions to downtown KC.

Finally earning their way to the top, our Corporate Spelling Bee team of Dan Nenonen, Valerie Meyers, Mike Dean and Jane Lee captured first place. Completing the sweep, Club 13's cheering section led by Dennis McKeehan took home recognition for outstanding (aka raucous) support. More importantly, our Literacy Committee Chaired by Mary Kingsley raised $2,750 for Literacy Kansas City. The Literacy Committee and Club 13 volunteers distributed hundreds of dictionaries to third graders in the Kansas City School District.

Not to be outdone, bowling league Czar Chris Boland bussed his troops to Columbia grabbing victory and the travelling trophy from St. Louis Club 12 in the annual mid-state grudge match. I don't have the details of that glorious event but you can get them from bowling scribe Dick Retrum who happens to be the winner of this year's Buzz Saw creative writing awards in both the fiction and nonfiction categories.

And cursed be the writer who overlooks Club 13 golfers who fortunately are often at their best playing in down pours and thunder storms. In spite of horrible weather, Mark Snow, Robert Thompson, Bob Hagans and their committee netted sixteen grand for the Rotary Youth Camp. It seems like we have an annual golf classic about every six months but that's all for the good because the golfers just hosted another successful tourney raising money for the Youth Camp coffers.

In other golfing news, it needs to be noted that John Reynolds did indeed hit his first hole-in-one this year. In true ecumenical Club 13 fashion that was duly reported in the bowling league column.

We literally shed blood for the Community Blood Center and gathered garments for the Bill Brown Memorial Warm Clothing and Coats Drive and rang bells to raise donations for the Salvation Army. The Education Excellence Committee encouraged excellence in several KC District schools and presented Service Leadership awards of $250 stipends to six high school seniors.

Camp Enterprise started a resurgence with 37 area high school students attend this year’s free enterprise session. The Buzz Saw updated to an all new digital email format. Paul Searcy and Rusty Macy created a video highlighting the KC Rotary Club Youth Camp which new media mogul David McCaughey posted both on our own web site and on You Tube.

The entertainment committee hosted the COG parties, an American Heartland Theatre night with dinner at Milano's, a wine tasting at JE Dunn Construction and Rotary night at the Zoo. We inducted 32 new Rotarians and have another six membership proposals in the “pipeline”.

The RI theme for the year was “The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands”. Thanks President Matt for encouraging us to roll up our sleeves, put on our work gloves and make that theme a reality.

Hail to our New President, Ford Nelson!

 In the early 1900's the Lewis and Clark Viaduct was a toll bridge separating the two Kansas Cities. In the first ten years of their existence the recently formed Rotary Clubs in the two communities raised the funds, purchased the viaduct and converted it to a free bridge connecting the two communities promoting trade and community development. Incoming Club 13 President Ford Nelson uses that as an example of a real life application of the 2010-2011 RI theme “Building Communities, Bridging Continents”.
Ford says that by cooperating with each other and with other Rotary clubs no task or project is too large or cumbersome to handle. He reminds us that numerous acts of service above self by our current members and our predecessors serve as a testimony of what can be accomplished by Rotarians thinking of others first and applying the Four-Way Test. Ford calls on us not only to recruit new members but also to instill the Rotary spirit helping them understand the value of the good acts and deeds of Rotarians in our community.
President Ford challenges us to achieve a number of goals in the coming year. First on the agenda is the completion of the Centennial celebration with a flourish including the fall dinner and the dedication of the Rotary clock at the Sprint Center.
He's asking us to improve the foundation for membership through diversity in recruitment. He plans to specifically target retention plus expansion of the Rotaract program to include young business people under thirty as a feeder organization for the club.
He wants to develop better recognition in the community, in the region and within the club of the many benefits that Rotary brings to KC. Ford plans to promote cooperation with other Rotary Clubs to advance international involvement. He wants to create a centralized coordinated organization and strategy for all of our fundraising goals and efforts.
The last goal on Ford's list is to update and develop a new 3 to 5 year strategic plan for Club 13.
It's going to be another busy year with various club activities, fund raising and membership recruiting. President Ford wants to see Club 13 form into an even better and more tightly knit group by building on the strong history of the club and increasing participation in activities across the board. It's time to pick up the pace because we're going to be busy “Building Communities and Bridging Continents.

On Thursday, July 22, your board of directors and new committee chairs and co-chairs will gather at 10:00 a.m. in the Tea Room at the Muehlebach. President Ford Nelson will review overall Club 13 goals for the coming year. Each committee chair will have the opportunity to share his or her committee's objectives and planned activities. This is a fast-paced meeting and each chair is allotted two minutes to report.
After the assembly we will proceed to the Colonial Ballroom for our regular Rotary luncheon.
(Note: If you are a committee chair and know that you cannot attend, please contact your co-chair to represent your committee.
Committee chairs and co-chairs please mark your calendars today to attend the Club Assembly on July 22.
Your willingness to serve is most appreciated.

In Memorian
James H. Shultz
1930 - 2010

James "Jim" H. Shultz, a member of Club 13 since 1999, died Thursday, June 17 at St. Joseph Medical Center, surrounded by his loving family at his bedside. He formed Sentry Security/Protective Alarms in 1969.
In addition to his participation in Club 13 through committees and bowling, Jim was active in many civic activities including Kansas City Chiefs Red Coaters, Abdallah Shrine, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Kansas Lenexa Lodge, Abdallah Shrine Fire Wagons, Royal Order of Jester's.
Jim served in the United States Marine and fought in the Korean War and was awarded a Purple Heart. He also founded the Missouri Korean War Veteran's Memorial at Washington Square Park in Kansas City, MO.
Jim was a Paul Harris Fellow
Survivors include his wife, Barbara; two daughters, Debra Shultz and Jeanna Verden and her spouse (Kent); son, James E. Shultz and his spouse (Debbie); one sister, Eddie Gayle and three grandchildren.
A contribution to the K.C.R.C. Foundation has been made in Jim’s memory.

Last Thursday - June 17, 2010 by Jim Holmberg

The tax man's coming. Last Thursday political commentator and Johnson County attorney Fred Logan pointed out there's an unprecedented number of both federal and state tax increases that are scheduled to take effect in 2011. Will those looming tax increases put Democrats, and indeed all incumbents, in danger of losing their jobs? However, He continued to tell us "At the end of the day taxes will not be the deal breaker". Logan believes that unemployment will be the defining issue in this election cycle.

He says that lack of jobs will trump all other issues. Logan says that historically the President's party loses seats in the first midterm election. He thinks Democrats are especially vulnerable this fall but says the message coming from current republicans is "somewhat confused". From the viewpoint of this former Kansas GOP chief, anything less than a 24 seat gain in the House is equivalent to a loss for Republicans.

Turning to regional races he expressed that every election cycle "there seems to be a barn burner race in the Show Me State with national implications". In this cycle that would be the family feud between the Carnahans and the Blunts for Missouri’s junior senate seat.

On the Jayhawk side of the border Logan noted that Sam Brownback is the first republican in a long time likely to win the GOP nomination for Governor without a going through political bloodbath. He is also intrigued with the battle between Kansas Congressmen Todd Tiahrt and Jerry Moran for the right to run for Brownback's seat in the Senate. He says he is impressed with Jerry Moran's rural base but Logan says he is also keenly aware that Tiahrt knows how to run a great campaign.

With those races and congressional and local it's going to be a busy and intriguing mid term election year for Logan. He said it's a good year to be a Republican but it is going to be interesting to see how big a slice of the pie the GOP carries away in November.

The Camp Enterprise Committee and volunteers greeted us at the door. Later on Elliott Goldstein stepped to the podium and told us that the organization Camp for Kids will match any donation made to Camp Enterprise this year. Call Elliott or the Rotary office for details on how to double down on any donation you make to CE.

For the last time President Matt Meyer called us to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Bob Lager and piano man Carl Bolte guided us through a chorus of "God Bless America". For our invocation Alan Warne shared an heartwarming essay written by his mother on the value of "Busy Hands". John Lowry introduced six guests and no visiting Rotarians.

Bill Gray presented our Member Minute speaking on behalf of Carey Casey and the National Center for Fathering. He gave some interesting information such as the NCF now operates in 38 states and has an annual budget of more than 2.5 million dollars. Better yet he gave a testimony to the value and the success of the Father of the Year essay contest that started here in KC but has now spread to several major US cities.

Chuck Fowler, George Bittner and Ross Marine are all in recovery bay and would appreciate cards and encouragement from fellow Rotarians.

President Matt should have felt the heat when he saw Sally Bibb and Tom Terry approach to commandeer the podium to thank and lightly roast him as outgoing president. Sally handled the honoring part and Tom was pretty restrained in his roasting duties.

In one of his last official acts Matt Meyer recognized Teresa Montgomery as Tyro of the Year, Paul Searcy as Volunteer of the Year and Sally Bibb, Tom Terry and David McCaughey as Committee Chairs of the Year.

This is the last time I get to remind you that the "Future of Rotary is in Your Hands" but it will continue to be. When we meet next Thursday it will be the start of a new Rotary year where we emphasize "Building Communities, Bridging Continents".