Rotary Club 13 Buzz Saw

These Are Your Officer Candidates in the Upcoming Election!
It's nearly time to elect the new leadership of Club 13 to take office in July 2011. There are two candidates for president-elect, two for secretary-treasurer and six candidates for three board seats. Ballots will be mailed out Nov. 22 (before Thanksgiving) and must be returned to the Rotary office by Dec.2. All returned ballots are required to be signed on the backs of the envelopes. Announcement of the election results will take place at the Dec. 9 luncheon meeting.

Candidates for President Elect

Evie Craig
Evie is executive director of reStart, Inc. They provide housing and services to homeless adults, families and youths. She joined Club 13 in 2001 with the classification of Association-reStart.
Evie served as a member on our Board of Directors in 2008-09. She has also chaired our Downtown Committee since 2005 to present. She has also served on International Service, Program, Invocation and most recently coordinated efforts for our Centennial clock on the Centennial Committee.
Evie has been involved as a volunteer/donor for Salvation Army Bell Ringing; KC Marathon; Shoes for Orphan Souls; camp work days; Greater Kansas City Day; Fireside and our Annual Blood Drive.
Outside Rotary, Evie serves as a coordinator for Sunday School at Kaw Prairie Community Church; is a member of the Downtown's Council's board of Directors; served on its Executive Committee and chaired its Human Services Committee.
Currently she is serving on the Board of Directors of the Mayors' Prayer Breakfast and its Bylaws Committee. She is also an appointed member of Mayor Funkhouser's Homeless Task Force; serves on its Executive Committee and is Co-Chair of its Finance Committee.She also serves on the Board of Directors of Paseo West Neighborhood Association; Jackson County Mental Health Commission and is Grant Chair of Greater Kansas City Continnum of Care.


Jerry Cooke
Jerry serves as financial director of HighPointe Financial which offers financial services. He joined Club 13 in 1993 with the classification of "Insurance-Long Term Care". He served as our club's treasurer in 1999-00
Jerry chaired the Salvation Army bell-ringing project form 2000 -2006; volunteers for Civil War RE-enactment (2008) and our Blood Drive.
He has also served on Camp Enterprise; Fireside, New Member Orientation; Program; and Community Services Committees. He is also active with Greater Kansas City Day, Literacy and Camp Maintenance.
Jerry is past president of Big Brothers of Greater Kansas City; Greater Kansas City Society of Financial Service Professions; Greater Kansas City Downtown Serra Club; Junior Auxiliary Ozanam Home for Boys; St. Teresa's Father's Club and Vice President of Christian Foundation for Children and Irish Museum & Cultural Center.
Jerry is a Paul Harris Fellow and a K.C. Rotary Club Foundation Fellow.

Candidates for Secretary-Treasurer

Neil Barnett
Neil is president of Comfort Care Homes of K.C. He joined Club 13 in 2005 with the classification of "Health Care -Elderly"
Currently he is chairing Rides for Rotarians committee, a committee he has chaired in 2007-08; 2008-09 and 2010-11.
Neil has been involved with our Rotary Camp work days, Greater Kansas City Day and the K.C. Marathon.
Outside Rotary, Neil served on the Executive Committee of the Kansas City Partnerships for Caregivers and the memory walk with Alzheimer's Association.

David McCaughey
David is president of KelCon Technologies, Inc. which offers information technology services for Small Business. He joined Club 13 in 1999 with the classification of "Computers-Software Services".
David has chaired our Technology Committee since 2000 and has served on the Boy Scouts; Camp Enterprise; Centennial and Memorial committees.
He has been active with Greater Kansas City Day serving as a corner captain; webmaster for Rotary Business Directory; webmaster for Centennial Website; delivered dictionaries for dictionary project; rang bells for Salvation Army and helped on Urban Scouting Day.
David also serves as Cub Master for Cub Scout Pack 195 and Scout Master for Troop 195 in Lee's Summit and is a Kansas City Chiefs Red Coater.   David is a Paul Harris Fellow.
 

Last Thursday - October 21,  2010 by Pete Burgess

October birthday greeters welcomed members to a memorable meeting. President Ford Nelson called us to order and got Jerry Munson up to lead the singing while notable Carl Bolte accompanied. Ford led the pledge and Eric Graham provided the invocation. Rick Usher welcomed our guests and three visiting Rotarians including George Cook who serves as president of the Downtown Overland Park Rotary Club.

Jay Menitove held a "Member Minute" with stories from The Community Blood Center. President Ford told us that George Bittner and Tony DiPardo are still recovering and Pat Dunn is healing up after ankle surgery. Jane Lee and Chris Hope got on the Dictionary project. We have distributed 1,520 dictionaries to 24 schools. Chris gave a good summary of the project's success then provided a song of inspiration to celebrate the project. Past President Denny Bolte gave insightful remarks in his memorial for Chuck Fowler who passed away on October 13th.

Sherilyn Seitz introduced our Centennial Business Executive of the Year, Michael R. Haverty who spoke while in the clutch of a cold that couldn't hold back a great talk that received a standing ovation. He focused on two things: KC Southern's impressive development over the last 15 years; and the resurgence of Union Station after its remodeling. The KC Southern line ran from Kansas City to the Gulf in 1992. It was to be sold, but this 4th generation railroader from Atchison saw value and worked to expand the railroad to its present network of lines that serve the U.S. Midwest, Mexico and Canada. The company even has a line in Panama that parallels the canal.

Union Station was built in 1914 and rebuilt in 1999. More than have the funding for renovation was private. Its huge open spaces were designated as "free and open" so no retail was permitted despite enormous costs for heating and cooling. The enterprise went heavily into the red with the venues that opened with the new renovation. When business guidance replaced the initial organization things changed. The staff went from 300 to 50. Outsourcing replaced permanent staff and experienced managers were brought in to run things. Union Station is now $1,600,000 in the black with 85% leased. Four major new tenants signed on in the last nine months: The Chamber of Commerce, The IRS, The International Visitors Bureau, and the Kansas City Election Board.

Both ventures chaired by Michael Haverty are greatly successful turnarounds that exemplify his selection as Club 13's Centennial Business Executive of the Year. Well Done!

THANK YOU C.U.T. (Clean Up Trash) Team!

On Friday, October 15, Eric Bubb (Tyro), Ann Johnson, Barb Martin, Dennis McKeehan and Diane Scott did the quarterly trash pick up along Colbern Road by the Rotary Youth Camp. Afterwards, Dennis treated the "team" to tacos and margaritas! The C.U.T. Team was founded by Phil Kinney several years ago, and once a quarter they meet to pick up trash. If you would like to join in the fun and merriment, please contact Dennis at dbmc45@yahoo.com.