Shoes for Orphan Souls

Post- Caravan Update - Rotary Shoes for Orphan Souls - Rotary Clubs in District 6040 - another amazing year

To All Shoes Cheerleaders in Rotary District 6040 Rotary Clubs –
 
It was simply great to see our Rotarians at each of our 42 stops over the past two weekends for the 2022 Shoes Caravan.  Tremendous Rotary spirit throughout Northwest Missouri, Northeast Missouri, North Central Missouri, West Central Missouri and the Kansas City area.  I’m told the two weekends totaled 1,600 miles of driving.  I believe it.
 
Twenty-one thoughts for our post-caravan update in our 21st year -
 
  1. It was truly outstanding to travel to EVERY ROTARY COMMUNITY over a 6-day period.  Everyone loved this, and we were pleased to repeat the caravan schedule we had done the year before.  Amazingly, we dodged nearly all the rain drops over the past two weekends!
  2. Thank you for greeting us so warmly at every stop.  Of course, when the temps were over 90 degrees, in some cases this was not hard to do!!!
  3. Very nice to see how you continue to involve the community at large – Girl Scouts.  Interact Clubs.  Middle Schools.  Elementary Schools.  Churches.  Workplaces.
  4. Without question, the spirit of Rotary in District 6040 is as strong as ever.  It was easy to see how much this District Service Project continues to resonate in your Rotary Club.  It was very nice that our District Governor, David McCaughey (Kansas City 13) could join us for a couple of caravan stops.   Our Governor next year in 2022-23, Kent Shelman (Lee’s Summit) enjoyed the final two days of the caravan and we were pleased to have his help.  It is also great to know that we have the support of the Governor 2023-24 Randy Steinman (KC Plaza); Governor 2024-25 Erik McGuire (St. Joseph East); and Governor 2025-2026 Jodi Sundaram (Liberty).  I have been personally grateful for the support of 21 consecutive District Governors over 21 years…and with the support from Kent, Randy, Erik and Jodi….we look ahead to these next few years, and to our 25th anniversary in 2026!
  5. I am personally so thankful for the core caravan team that includes John Gill (Richmond); Cassy Venters (KC Plaza); Kenny Harris (Blue Springs); and Phyllis Dieckmann (Higginsville).  I know you are thankful to them as well.  You should consider joining the caravan, for a day, for a few days, or for the entirety.  We’d love to have you join us, and can always use the help.  You will love the fellowship.
  6. To accomplish a six-day caravan to reach every Rotary community, we again utilized Shoes Storage Hubs in Chillicothe and Liberty.  Fantastic idea.  Such great hospitality in those two Rotary communities, as well as in Maryville, Independence and in Kirksville to organize meals for us at lunch caravan stops.  My personal thanks to the Blue Springs club for the proclamation they had arranged.
  7. So many of our Rotary Clubs had their newspaper representatives there to cover caravan stops.  Excellent.
  8. Each of us owe a great amount of thanks to our partners at Buckner International in Dallas, Texas.  My friend Scott Collins and my friend Shawn Spurrier at Buckner combined to join us for the entire caravan.  This displays the real commitment to our combined partnership.   Buckner stewards our donations in an exemplary manner.
  9. Each of us owe a great debt of gratitude to UPS, who assists us every year with the transport of the shoes to Dallas.  At this moment, our UPS trailer is at the Lenexa, KS Distribution Center, awaiting the move to Dallas.  By the way, if you ever wondered how long it takes to move our collections from our trailer to the UPS trailer – well, this year it was 29 minutes – probably 600 boxes were unloaded.!
  10. I was amazed at the results to date this year.  Throughout the caravan, we heard your clubs saying it was a bit more difficult this year to find shoes to purchase, yet our clubs were resilient to find all the best shoes deals throughout north Missouri (and into Iowa and Kansas)!
  11. To date, we have collected right at 13,500 pairs of shoes. 
  12. To date, we have collected just over 3,000 pairs of socks.
  13. To date, we have collected over 150 pairs of shoelaces.
  14. To date, we have collected over $32,000 in checks and cash donations.  This is so significant, more cash than ever.  Uncommon generosity.  It is also indicative of clubs continuing to look for sources for shoes.
  15. I hope you are proud to continue to be a part of such a great District Service Project.  And are proud that you are in a District that has such a ready-made, strong, District-wide, service project, that is international in focus, that all of us can do together.  That was the goal, 21 years ago.  You do it so well.
  16. Attached to this post-caravan report is a template press release for your use in your local community.  Let the community know of your good works, and encourage them to join your efforst.
  17. Over the next few weeks, we will work to take all the photos and video shoes roll call reports that were made at the 42 caravan stops, to produce something for your clubs to receive and show at a club meeting.  It should be helpful and could certainly serve as a club program.  Stay tuned, and I’ll keep you informed.
  18. In our 21st anniversary year, I’m so pleased that every club – all 55 Rotary Clubs – participated in the project.  100% participation.  Awesome.  Kudos to all clubs, and particular kudos to the three clubs who set all-time highs with their shoes collection efforts this year --- Brookfield, Unionville, and Princeton.
  19. Over the past 21 years, you have now collected nearly 385,000 pairs of shoes; over 45,000 pairs of socks; nearly 27,000 pairs of shoe laces; some shoe horns; some shoe spoons; and oh by the way, over $232,000 in cash.
  20. We are helping so many children with something new, children we may never meet, just because. 
  21. As we begin to think about international travel a bit more these days, we know there is much interest in another Rotary District 6040 Shoes Delivery Trip to a country served by Buckner.  Cassy Venters will be assisting me with gathering interest, and gathering information, so that you just might meet some of these children on a delivery trip.  Stay tuned.  Let me know if you, or others in your club,  have interest in traveling on a shoes delivery trip as early as 2023.
  22. Share all this great news with your clubs this week.  Amazing.  Please accept my heartfelt “thank you”, and please thank the Rotarians in your clubs for me personally.   I am proud to be your shoes cheerleader.  As long as you are in, I am in.  (Yes, I added a 22nd thought, looking ahead to our 22nd year).
 
Thanks for showing what Service Above Self looks like.
 
Your proud shoes cheerleader,
 
Larry Lunsford
 
 
 
 
 
 
District 6040 News
New Rotary Year 2022-23 and Theme Imagine Rotary
New Rotary Year 2022-23 and Theme Imagine Rotary
 
Dear District 6040 Rotarians,
 
Just a quick note to all our Rotarians in our great District 6040 of Northern, Missouri. I have been waiting for this day for some time to be your District Governor. Before any further comments I would need to thank David McCaughey, last year's District Governor, and all the District  Officers, Committee Chairs, and their committee members for such a successful year and lots of amazing events and activities that took place! Thank you David for your leadership of our District and for being such a great mentor for me to learn from. 
 
We have a great team we are putting together for this Rotary year and are very excited to work with all of them. Can't wait to get out to see all of your Clubs and the great things all of you are doing in your communities and also outside the US with all of our different Rotary programs. Will be doing our monthly Newsletter as in the past and will also share a smaller version update on the 15th of each month to help share all the good things going on in the District.
 
Our Rotary Theme this year is "Imagine Rotary". Imagine all the things your Club, your members, and new members can help do with the help of our District and Rotary International to do great things all over the world!  Look forward to working with all of you this year and more to come on the Theme, Club Visits, Polio Day, Foundation Dinner, District Conference, and all the wonderful things we do in our District!
 
Thank you all for what you do for Rotary and please reach out if you have any questions or need help with anything this year!
 
Kent
 
Larry “Kent” Shelman
Rotary District 6040 District Governor 2022-23
Group Study Exchange Visit to Rotary District 9210; Malawi and Zambia
The team consisted of Marc Horner, Therese McGill a Rotarian in the Kansas City-Plaza Rotary Club, Lindsay Jarquio of the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and Engoma Fataki a former Interactor and Rotoractor most recently at Missouri Western University in St Joseph, Missouri. The team left for Malawi on September 30, 2021, and arrived in the capital of Malawi, Lilongwe, on October 2nd midday. They were in Malawi visiting clubs and projects through October 10th when they flew to Lusaka, Zambia for the balance of our visit to D9210. The team left Zambia for a return flight to the United States on October 30th. After a long layover in Washington DC they finally returned to Kansas City the evening of October 31st. 
Read more...
Chillicothe’s 100th Anniversary Celebration was a Success
The Chillicothe Rotary Club’s 100th celebration is finally over and the third time was a charm!  The Trio of Club Presidents all did such a fine job at the event.  It really began in 2018-2019 with President Lindy Chapman beginning the planning process and achieving our first goal, which was to become a 100% Paul Harris Fellow club.  She was followed by President Adam Warren who kicked off 2020 with a New Years Eve party that was fabulous.  Then came Amy Supple who kept the ball rolling and initiated the 4th of July Freedom Festival and laid plans to hold a community concert (along with Lindy).  Finally President David Adam concluded our two year long journey by hosting the 100th celebration this past weekend.  
Read more...
Dunkin' Purple Pinkie Day for Polio Eradication - 2021

2021 Dunkin' Purple Pinkie Project - $1.3 Million Dollars

Here is a brief recap of our 2021 Dunkin' Purple Pinkie Project. 

When the final sales were tallied and all matches applied, we are at $1.3 Million Dollars with a few checks still in the mail.

We crushed our $1 Million Dollar goal and everyone involved is to be commended !

Read more...
People of Action
 
Rotary is made up of People of Action.  Rotary clubs throughout northern Missouri have been hard at work on grant-funded projects that improve lives throughout the District. If you want to make a real difference in your community, join your local Rotary club!
Foundation Celebration 2021
 

May 22, 2021

 
  
District 6040
2019-20 People of Action
 
     
 
  
District 6040
Global Grants Update
     
 
 

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