Our Speaker this week is Jerry Seib, former Columnist, Wall Street Journal. His topic is: "The Genius of American Democracy - Will it Survive?"
Reminder - this week is a guest day - please let Mandy know if you will have a guest.
Gerald F. Seib has been a journalist with The Wall Street Journal for almost 45 years. He served as the Journal’s Executive Washington Editor, and wrote the weekly “Capital Journal” column for 29 years. Previously the Washington bureau chief and political editor of the Journal, he also reported from the Middle East for the Journal in the mid-1980s, and covered the White House from 1987 through 1992. He has moderated three presidential debates, and interviewed every president since Ronald Reagan.
He was part of a team of reporters and editors that won the Pulitzer Prize in the breaking news category for coverage of 9/11. In 2005, he won the William Allen White Foundation national citation, and in 2009 the National Press Club’s award for political analysis, and also was the recipient of the Merriman Smith award for coverage of the presidency, the Aldo Beckman Award for coverage of the White House and the Gerald R. Ford Foundation Prize. He has been a commentator on CNBC, PBS’s Washington Week, CBS’s Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday and NBC’s Meet the Press.
He has served as a resident fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics, and currently is resident fellow at the Dole Institute at the University of Kansas. He also is a senior mentor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Mr. Seib is author of “We Should Have Seen It Coming: From Reagan to Trump, a Front-Row Seat to a Political Revolution,” and, with John Harwood, of “Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Power.” He has served as a resident fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics and is a past president of the Gridiron Club and past chairman of the National Press Foundation.
Mr. Seib is a graduate of the University of Kansas, and he and his wife, journalist and fiscal analyst Barbara Rosewicz, live in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and have three sons.
The meeting in the confines of the Kill Devil Club began a bit after noon with Pres. Eric Bubb calling forth musical maestro Charlie Huffman to lead us in the singing of America the Beautiful, with a tickling of the ivories by one Carl Bolte. Following were a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer by Kelly Collins.
Guests were recognized and club membership anniversaries were noted for Sergio del Pino, 1 yr; Steve Fennell,1 yr; Wade Freeman, 1 yr; and Eric Bubb and Patrick Donnelly, both with 12 years.
After reporting the good news of no one in sick bay this week, we heard a vocational minute for Stacey Carrow, a realtor with Realty Executives of Kansas City, who had some interesting observations about the home buying and selling market.
P.P. Matt Meyer was thanked for being a greeter for today’s meeting, and P. Bubb brought us up to date on the doings of the golf tournament,
P.P. Tony Andresen reviewed the ongoing plans for a sailing regatta on lake Jacomo, one of several activities being planned to contribute to the financial support of our Youth Camp.
Other coming activities were reviewed, including the start of the bowling season, the Guest Meeting on Sept. 8 (this week as you read this), the Monarch butterfly box car event, and possibly one or two others. Please see your Buzzsaw for complete listings and descriptions.
P. Bubb introduced our speaker for the day, our fellow club member, Dr. Ted Higgins, who was filling in at the last minute for our scheduled speaker who was unable to attend the meeting. Dr. Higgins showed a serious of photos to highlight the current activities and working/political conditions affecting the work of the Higgins Brothers Surgi Center in Haiti. Basically, the hospital continues to provide life-saving surgical and medical care for much of the population of Haiti, while operating under incredibly trying political and economic conditions. Please check out the hospital’s website, higginsbrotherssurgicenter.org for detailed information about the center and its work.
Editorial note: Each time I hear about Dr. Higgins’ work in Haiti, I am absolutely blown away with awe and admiration for the man. He truly is a saint.
The meeting closed with a quote from Mother Teresa, “Spread love everywhere you go.” And a recitation of the 4 way Test.
Area students need you more now than ever! Lead to Read KC, Kansas City's largest literacy volunteer corps, will be in 24 schools this Fall, both in person and virtually, starting in mid-September. You can support students attending some of Kansas City’s highest need schools by serving as a reading mentor. You may register to volunteer at https://www.leadtoreadkc.org/apply/. Please email Hayley Rees at hayley@leadtoreadkc.org or me at shahnsj@aol.com with any questions. Please share with me if you enroll, so I may track our volunteer participation. Thank you!
The mentoring program is designed to work around your busy schedule:
*30 minutes a week commitment to read with a student
* Partner with a friend or colleague to share a student and alternate sessions
* Become a “Flextra” and attend as often as your schedule permits to read with a student whose weekly volunteer needs to miss a session
To participate, Reading Mentors will need:
*current background check
*internet access
*a computer or tablet with video and audio capabilities
Please join the Rotary Book Discussion Group on Zoom for the discussion of the book We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride. The book is available at Rainy Day Books and the discussion will be led by Vivien Jennings. All Rotarians and guests are welcome.
Event: Rotary Book Discussion Group
Date: Monday, September 26, 6:30 PM
Meet in person at Rainy Day Books but Zoom will also be available
About the book:
Avis thought her marriage had hit a temporary rut. But with a single confession in the middle of the night, her carefully constructed life comes undone. After escaping a tumultuous childhood and raising a son, she now faces a future without the security of the home and family she has spent decades building.
Luis only wants to make the grandmother who raised him proud. As a soldier, he was on his way to being the man she taught him to be until he woke up in Walter Reed Hospital with vague and troubling memories of how he got there. Now he must find a new way to live a life of honor.
Every day, young Bashkim looks forward to the quiet order of school and the kind instruction of his third grade teacher. His family relocated to Las Vegas after fleeing political persecution in their homeland. Now their ice cream truck provides just enough extra income to keep them afloat. With his family under constant stress, Bashkim opens his heart to his pen pal, a US soldier.
When these lives come together in a single, shocking moment, each character is called upon to rise. “You’ll be thinking about these characters long after you finish this haunting, heart-wrenching, and hopeful book” (Houston Chronicle).
Monarch butterflies are among the most recognizable butterfly species in North America. In addition to being an international symbol of the environment, monarch butterflies contribute to the health of the planet. Pollinators are critical to global food security and healthy natural ecosystems, but they’re disappearing at an alarming rate. Beloved across its trinational North American range, the iconic monarch has only a 10 percent chance of persisting above the extinction threshold over the next 30 years. The time is now to protect monarchs and their incredible 3,000-mile migration.
Monarchs appear to use a combination of air currents, the magnetic pull of the earth and the position of the sun, among other guides, to find their way south to Michoacán, Mexico for the winter and to the United States and Canada for the summer. Monarchs only travel during the day and need to find a roost at night, where they gather at waystations to rest, refuel, breed, and lay eggs along the way. Many of these locations are used year after year. The monarch butterfly migration path closely follows the Kansas City Southern and Canadian Pacific networks.
Rotary Clubs have partnered with Kansas City Southern, Canadian Pacific, GATX and NASCO for the “Save the Monarch Butterfly 60,000 Tree Challenge North American Boxcar Tour” with a goal to raise awareness and generate funds to help save the butterfly.
The Kansas City “Save the Monarch Butterfly 60,000 Tree Challenge North American Boxcar Tour” event will be Saturday, September 24th, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM in the Haverty Family Yards outside Union Station KCMO. There will be musical performances and dance groups on stage plus numerous Exhibitors. PLAN TO ATTEND!
Please join us to celebrate the Club 13 Golf Champions and raise money for the Camp for Kids! The championship round will be held Friday, September 9 at 11:00 AM at Brookridge Golf and Fitness, 8223 West 103rd Street Overland Park, KS 66212. Let’s celebrate at the 3:00 pm post round Rotary After Hours social. Cost for appetizers at Brookridge is $15 per person with cash bar and donations to the camp welcome. Click here to sign up for this fun Rotary After Hours event.
Rotary Youth Camp Update
By Laurie Mozley
The Monday Morning Group has been getting camp ready for our Fall/Winter/Spring campers, this morning they got a little help trimming the bushes!
George Gordon, 9/1
Liz Ross, 9/1
Duane Benton, 9/8
Chris Meikel, 9/12
Bill Popplewell, 9/12
Michael Dehner, 9/14
Woody Davis, 9/17
Evie Craig, 9/23
Roger Sandquist, 9/24
Tuesday, Sept 27
4:00 - 7:00 pm
Picnic dinner and program at 6:00 pm at the Tropics Tent!
Area students need you more now than ever! Lead to Read KC, Kansas City's largest literacy volunteer corps, will be in 24 schools this Fall, both in person and virtually, starting in mid-September. You can support students attending some of Kansas City’s highest need schools by serving as a reading mentor. You may register to volunteer at 
Please join the Rotary Book Discussion Group on Zoom for the discussion of the book We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride. The book is available at Rainy Day Books and the discussion will be led by Vivien Jennings. All Rotarians and guests are welcome.
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