Stories

Forty percent of students in USD 497 qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting significant need among local families. When students are hungry, concentrating and learning become much harder.

This fall, the Lawrence Noon Rotary Club is joining Lawrence’s two other Rotary clubs to collect and assemble snacks for our public schools.

Members are encouraged to bring snacks when volunteering to assemble boxes on Wednesday, October 14, from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.

Snack donations may also be brought to our regular Rotary meetings beginning Monday, September 14.

Let’s unite to help Lawrence students arrive in the classroom ready to learn!

Peter Luckey
Service Committee Chair

Order a Lawrence Rotary Service T-Shirt

Show your Rotary spirit while representing our club at service projects, community events, and other Rotary activities!

We are preparing a group T-shirt order. Please use the order form below to provide your name, contact information, shirt size, and quantity.

We will share pricing, payment, and pickup information after the group order is finalized.

Click here to submit your Lawrence Rotary T-shirt order.

Questions? Please contact the Newsletter Committee: lawrencerotarypublicimage@gmail.com

 

Each day, 400 to 500 people—young and old, people with disabilities, and neighbors from every background—come through Just Food’s doors. Everyone needs nutritious food, but rising grocery prices have placed essentials such as milk, eggs, fresh produce, canned goods, and cereal beyond the reach of many families.

Just Food cannot fulfill its mission without volunteers—and that’s where our Rotary club comes in.

On the second Thursday of each month, Just Food needs five Rotarians to volunteer from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Staff and Volunteer Coordinator Coco Castle will have projects ready for us when we arrive.

How to Sign Up

1. Visit the Rotary volunteer signup page.
2. Click “Sign up for opportunity” beside an available shift.
3. Select the Rotary Volunteer Shift event, then click “Step 3: Click here to choose time slot(s) and sign up for this event.”
4. Choose your desired shift, scroll to the bottom, and click “Register.”

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Thank you for putting our Rotary motto, Service Above Self, into action by helping our neighbors right here in Douglas County.

My favorite volunteer is my granddaughter, June, pictured with me at Just Food’s main pantry when she was 12 years old.
 

 

Dine to Donate for PolioPlus

Enjoy dinner at Texas Roadhouse on Thursday, October 15, from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m., and help support Rotary’s efforts to eradicate polio.

Present the Dine to Donate flyer at the Lawrence location, and Texas Roadhouse will donate 10% of your food purchase to the Lawrence Rotary Club for PolioPlus.

Bring your family and friends, enjoy a great meal, and help us move one step closer to a polio-free world!

Less than a year after joining the Lawrence Rotary Club, John Paul Henry traveled to Uganda to help launch Word by Word Uganda, an adult literacy and numeracy program for women in Yumbe District. The project began through connections made within Rotary and was developed in partnership with Ajaga Innocent of the Care Community and Education Center. A Lawrence Rotary Club grant helped provide a projector, tablet, facilitator training, and culturally relevant educational materials for the program’s first cohort of 30 women.

The program is already creating meaningful change. Participants are learning to read and write—some for the first time—and several hope to continue their education or teach children in their villages. The inaugural class will complete its first-level course in October, demonstrating how one Rotary connection in Lawrence can create opportunities across generations in Uganda. To learn more, receive updates, or explore ways to support the learners online, contact John at johnhenryphoto@gmail.com

Join us on Thursday, October 15th, from 4-8pm.

Bring this flyer and Texas Roadhouse will donate 10% of your bill to the Lawrence Rotary Club PolioPlus program.

We finished our PolioPlus club giving for the 2025-26 Rotary year at $10,152.16. Kudos to all of you for surpassing our $6,500 club goal! Thank you, thank you!

SAVE THE DATE:  We will have a Dine and Donate Night at Texas Roadhouse on October 15, 2026. Proceeds will go toward our 2026-27 PolioPlus club goal. More details to come later.

World Polio Day will be celebrated by our club at noon on Monday, October 26. Bring a friend, loved one, or colleague you know who has been impacted by Polio. We will share stories, and celebrate the work Rotary has done to stop the spread of Polio.

Questions? Contact our PolioPlus Chair, Jennifer Berquist. 

Member Mixer at Maceli's Lounge — August 31
Join us August 31 for a special Member Mixer at Maceli’s Lounge.

1031 New Hampshire Street
Lawrence, KS 66044

Come enjoy Rotary fellowship & good conversation.

💙 Blue Cup Collection – August Blue Cup: Douglas County 4-H
This month’s Blue Cup contributions will support Douglas County 4-H and its work helping local youth build confidence, develop leadership skills, and learn through hands-on experiences.

Your generosity helps give young people opportunities to grow, discover their strengths, and make a positive difference in our community.