Congratulations to Erik McGuire of the Rotary Club of St. Joseph East on being named our District 6040 Governor, 2024 - 25! Eric Erik joined the Rotary Club of Burlington, KS in 2008. After moving to St. Joseph, MO he joined the Rotary Club of St. Joseph East in 2012. Being a part of this great club inspired Erik to get involved with a variety of service projects, and to complete the Rotary Leadership Institute. Erik had the opportunity to serve as the club’s President in 2016-2017. Other roles he has served in at the club level include meals on wheels coordinator, sergeant-at-arms, spaghetti fundraiser chair, leading the 2015-2016 district grant to install a play-path at Northeast Park in St. Joseph, and The Rotary Foundation chair.
May 22, 2021
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District 6040
2019-20 People of Action
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District 6040
Global Grants Update
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Twenty thoughts for our post-caravan update in our 20th anniversary year
To All Shoes Cheerleaders in Rotary District 6040 Rotary Clubs –
Good Monday morning to each of you. I hope this finds each of you safe and healthy.
It was simply great to see Rotarians once again, at each of our final 14 stops this past weekend for the 2021 Shoes Caravan. Tremendous Rotary spirit throughout West Central Missouri and the Kansas City are. I’m told the two weekends totaled 1,600 miles of driving.
Twenty thoughts for our post-caravan update in our 20th anniversary year ---
- Our caravan started on Thursday, May 13, which was the same day the CDC lifted many of the mask mandates surrounding the pandemic. This allowed us to continue a safe shoes caravan for six days, our longest caravan ever.
- It was truly outstanding to travel to EVERY ROTARY COMMUNITY. Everyone loved this, and we are thinking as to how we can make this a more permanent approach. Amazingly, we dodged nearly all the rain drops over the past two weekends!
- Without question, as we all begin to take the next steps out of the pandemic, the spirit of Rotary in District 6040 is as strong as ever. It was easy to see.
- It was very nice that our District Governor, Don Gladhart (St. Joseph 32) could join us for the entirety of the caravan. Truly, it afforded Governor Don the chance to see our clubs this year, in such a challenging year to lead. And, at various stops along the way, it was great to have Governor 2021-22 David McCaughey (Kansas City 13); Governor 2022-23 Kent Shelman (Lee’s Summit); Governor 2023-24 Randy Steinman (KC Plaza); and Governor 2024-25 Erik McGuire (St. Joseph East).
- I am personally so thankful for the core caravan team that includes John Gill (Richmond); Cassy Venters (KC Plaza); Valerie Anderson (North Kansas City); Kenny Harris (Blue Springs); Julie McCoy (Chillicothe); and Phyllis Dieckmann (Higginsville). I know you are thankful to them as well.
- To accomplish a six-day caravan to reach every Rotary community, for the first time we utilized Storage Hubs in Chillicothe and Liberty. Fantastic idea. Such great hospitality in those two Rotary communities, as well as in Independence and in Kirksville to organize meals for us at caravan stops.
- Also, in at the Independence caravan stop, we met with two people from Honduras with Friends United (a Rotary project of the Independence club), and shared with them our excitement that our shoes will help so many children in Honduras this year.
- Special thanks are due to the three St. Joseph Rotary Clubs who organized a party for the Friday afternoon stop, as well as live television coverage in the St. Joseph market. So many of our other Rotary Clubs had their newspaper representatives there to cover caravan stops. Excellent.
- 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 Rachel Wallis at Buckner combined to join us for the entire caravan, along with another Buckner colleague, Shawn Spurrier. Real commitment.
- 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….and I personally counted every box as it transitioned from our trailer to the UPS trailer. Any guesses? 690 boxes!
- 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)!
- That means we plan to leverage our partnership with Buckner International in an additional way this year, to complete our collection. See number 17 below.
- To date, we have collected right at 15,500 pairs of shoes.
- To date, we have collected just over 5,000 pairs of socks.
- To date, we have collected over 2,500 pairs of shoelaces (of course, mostly thanks to the Kirksville-North Star Rotary Club who makes multi-colored shoelaces a part of our shoes caravan tradition).
- To date, we have collected over $23,000 in checks and cash donations. This is so significant, more cash than ever. Uncommon generosity. It is also indicative of clubs running out of places to buy shoes.
- To assist us with shoes purchases, and to assist us in reaching our goal of 20,000 pairs of shoes, District 6040 is asking Buckner to buy more shoes with our cash donations this year. At this time, I am most hopeful Buckner will be able to procure at least 4,500 pairs of shoes with our $23,000 in checks and cash donations. Stay tuned, and I’ll keep you informed.
- I hope you are proud to continue to be a part of such a great service project. And are proud that you are in a District that has such a strong, District-wide, service project, that is international in focus, that all of us can do together. That was the goal, 20 years ago. You do it so well.
- Over the next few weeks, we will be cheering on our colleagues at Buckner to see if they can match District 6040 Rotarians with their shoe-buying prowess. And we will work to take all the video shoes roll call reports that were made at the 44 caravan stops, to produce something for your clubs to receive and show at a club meeting. It should be special. Stay tuned, and I’ll keep you informed.
- In our 20th anniversary year, I’m so pleased that every club – all 56 Rotary Clubs – participated in the project. 100% participation. Awesome. Kudos to all clubs, and particular kudos to the four clubs who set all-time highs with their shoes collection efforts this year --- Brookfield, Marceline, Unionville, and Kansas City Plaza.
- Share this great news with your clubs this week, as more and more clubs begin to meet in-person once again. 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 21st thought, looking ahead to our 21st year).
Thanks for showing what Service Above Self looks like.
Hoping we will meet our goal, your proud shoes cheerleader,
Larry Lunsford
Greetings 6040 Rotarians and other Friends of Rotary. 
It is my great pleasure to serve as your District Governor for 2020-21. When the calendar turned to 2020, we had no idea that a pandemic was a few weeks away. In fact, in January two of my life’s great events happened. All 528 incoming District Governors from around the world gathered in San Diego for a week of training. It was never clearer to me how incredible Rotary International’s global footprint is. Six weeks later, nearly all of the 203 Countries with Rotary Clubs were impacted by the Coronavirus. The second great event was the Kansas City Chiefs kept winning and won the Super Bowl for the first time since I was in University. Obviously, it has been a unique and challenging year so far. I know many of our Club’s, their events and our Rotarians personal lives have been disrupted since March.
However, while there is still uncertainty, we have the opportunity to make it a great year. When incoming RI President Holger Knaack revealed his theme for ’20-’21, he chose “Rotary Opens Opportunities”. Given what has happened, it is more appropriate than ever. Take a few minutes to consider all the Opportunities Rotary has Opened for you. Then, take a few more minutes and consider all the possible opportunities open through our Clubs, our District and Rotary International. Rotarians are often known for their leadership in our communities. This year, we have the opportunity to expand our impact on our communities and the world through Rotary. We are part of the World’s Greatest Service Organization. The Possibilities are Endless!
For the past twelve years, I have been a member of the Rotary Club of St Joseph #32. My wife Karen and I have 3 wonderful children who live in Oklahoma, Colorado, and Arizona: along with our beautiful grandchildren. There aren't enough superlatives in the dictionary to describe how we feel about our grandchildren. Having been around them for several days recently, it also makes me realize how many children around the world are suffering today because of their circumstances. Once again, Rotary offers opportunity after opportunity to support children, mothers, literacy, clean water, and many more.
I am pleased to serve with a great group of Rotarians on the Executive Council this year. The Council consists of Immediate Past District Governor Marc Horner, DGE David McCaughey, DGN Kent Shelman, DGND Randy Steinman, Treasure Shelly Hulet, Secretary Ruth Bowers and PDG Kim LeSage who now serves as our District Foundation Chair. This is a dedicated group of individuals representing District Clubs across Northern Missouri. Our executive secretary, Jonah Terbovic will continue with us. We are well-positioned for leadership over the next several years with this outstanding group.
District 6040 leadership also includes 13 Assistant Governors and numerous Program Chairs and their committees. We are also fortunate to have 56 hard-working Club Presidents leading their Clubs daily. All these leaders, join a long list who have served our District over the years, including Past RI President’s, RI Directors and Past District Governors. All these truly represent “Service Above Self”.
Despite our current challenges, let’s make it a great year! One of my favorite writers is CS Lewis. He once said “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” We are truly fortunate to have Past RI President Ray Klinginsmith living in District 6040 and a member of the Rotary Club of Kirksville. 10 years ago, when he was the International President, Ray wrote in the Rotarian magazine “Rotary has changed the world, and Rotarians will continue to change it in a positive way. The formula is simple. For us to succeed, all we need to do is to focus our best efforts on doing what Rotarians are passionate about and what Rotarians are the best in the world doing, which is Building Communities – Bridging Continents”. Thank you for all you are doing and will do for Rotary this year.
Please mark your calendar and join us virtually on May 22 from 6:30 to 8:30pm. This celebration will be our annual awards evening replacing our Foundation Dinner that was canceled due to Covid last November. We will celebrate the conclusion of the Kimbrough Challenge which funded many significant projects throughout the District and worldwide through our 6040 Grants during the ’19-’20 year. We will also have the opportunity to donate to the Foundation through auctions and raffles, which will provide funding for future District and Global grants.
Our Keynote speaker will be Brenda Cressey. Brenda is a Rotary Foundation Trustee.In Lee’s Summit more than 12 tons of food, diapers, and toiletries have been collected in an “Eight Week Neighborly Competition” conceived of and organized by Rotarian Laura Maxwell. “It’s been amazing to experience how the various neighborhoods have attempted to out-do each other in donating to Lee’s Summit Social Services and Coldwater, our local food banks” stated a broadly-smiling Laura. “The reality far exceeded the idea.”
In Response to the nationwide COVID crisis, the Rotary Youth Camp and Downtown Kansas City Rotary Club (Club 13) allocates $50,000 to aid the families and organizations they serve. Donations, both monetary and in-kind, will be sent to families and the 13 organizations who were signed up to use the camp over the summer. In an effort to strengthen their camping community in these uncertain times, the Rotary Youth Camp launches the “Rotary Cares” assistance program for organizations using the camp and camper families. The goal of the program is to aid as many families as possible as well as the organizations that host summer camp at the Rotary Youth Camp. Organizations that were scheduled for the 2020 summer season will be targeted.
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!
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