6th Annual March Madness "Battle of the Brackets"

With a bigger prize purse ~~$500 ~~ than ever, through the generosity of our two sponsors, ANDOVER STATE BANK and STATE FARM AGENT, KEVIN RATHERT, we hope to have our biggest "Battle" yet!  Click here to purchase your bracket(s) by Wednesday, March 20, before the Tournament tips off at 11 AM on Thursday, March 21.  Kim Hurtig, our club executive, will get notification of your purchase and will email you a link after March 17th's Selection Sunday to complete your bracket!  The "Battle of the Brackets" is open to everyone, not just East Wichita Rotarians.  I invite you to circulate this around your office, share it with your colleagues, neighbors and family members!  Together we can have the biggest "Battle" ever, where the real winner is the Rotary Club of Wichita Foundation and its mission to provide scholarships to local students!    
6th Annual March Madness "Battle of the Brackets" 2024-02-29 06:00:00Z 0

Changing of the Guard , June 2023

The 2022-2023 Rotary year wrapped up with a "positively" great Changing of the Guard meeting, as our very positive, upbeat and fun president, Dane Estok, passed the gavel to incoming president, Darin Kater. Before the gavel was passed, Dane recognized Larry Hund with the "Service Above Self" Award and presented Tom and Peggy Church with the "Rotarians of the Year" Award. Dane highlighted the achievements and successes of the year and, with his wonderfully positive attitude, put a smile on every member's face with his thanks and appreciation. He presented each of the board members with a Rotary mug (rumor has it that coffee tastes better in a Rotary mug 🙂 ) Once the gavel was passed to Darin, now-president Kater offered a funny, but positive (are you seeing a theme here?) "roast" of Dane, leaving us all in stitches! The group enjoyed a "summer picnic" themed lunch meeting that was fun -- and yummy --- from start to finish! Of that, we're positive! 🙂
Changing of the Guard , June 2023 2023-07-13 05:00:00Z 0

5th Annual March Madness "Battle of the Brackets"

Wow!  When the tournament tipped on March 16th, who would have thought that this tournament would have so many “firsts” in tournament history, so many upsets and a Final Four that looked nothing like we all would have predicted!  Last night Connecticut hoisted the trophy as National Champions, having beaten San Diego State 76 – 59!  Connecticut now joins some other blueblood programs that have at least five national championships! 
 
Tammie Rhea, one of our East Wichita Rotarians, won the pool!  She had Connecticut making it to the championship game, albeit not winning it.  However, she was the only one in the pool who had one of the teams still playing in the final game and, because the points increase as the tournament progresses, she had enough points to overcome Tanner Hearson, adult son of EW Rotarian Denise Hearson, who had Miami, CT’s Final Four opponent, going to the championship game.  Besides Tammie and Tanner, the rest of us had all the points we could possibly get after the Sweet 16/Elite 8 weekend.  Shucks! 
 
But remember there are still three non-winning bracket members, drawn at random, who win $50.  This year, those three winners are …. drum roll please ….. Sean Dennehy, Eileen Kludt (#1), and Jamie Pearson, highlighted on attached standings   Many thanks to Rotarian Dave Sproul, who did not have a bracket in the pool, for helping out and drawing the names.  He was very impartial and quite a sport to help with the drawing! 
 
The fundraiser has become an annual tradition for East Wichita Rotary!   Many of you “bracket buddies” this year were not East Wichita Rotarians, so a special thank you to each of your for saying “yes” to an ask to buy a bracket or two and play!  And thank you to EVERYONE, on behalf of the East Wichita Rotary Foundation, for your support in making this the most fun, successful year yet, profiting $2075 for our Foundation, surpassing last year’s profits by 30%!  Lastly, many thanks again to EW Rotarian, Shane Pullman, of Nugent-Pullman Realtors, for sponsoring this year’s prize purse.
 
Until next March, have a great year!
  
 
5th Annual March Madness "Battle of the Brackets" 2023-03-02 06:00:00Z 0

Fun and Fellowship while volunteering at the Kansas Food Bank

A group of nineteen East Wichita Rotarians, their family and friends, came together for a rewarding service project, filling "food packs" for the underserved children in our community!  The 22 volunteers enjoyed fun and fellowship and offered "Service Above Self" at the Kansas Food Bank.    
Fun and Fellowship while volunteering at the Kansas Food Bank 2023-02-02 06:00:00Z 0
Open World program brings Ukrainian delegates to EWR! 2022-11-12 06:00:00Z 0

ANNOUNCING THE SEDGWICK COUNTY KANSAS IMAGE ARCHIVE 

 
From:   The Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum
204 S. Main, Wichita, KS 67202
 
An online local history resource available for use October 21
Funded through a Rotary Foundation Grant by the Rotary Club of East Wichita, The Rotary International Foundation, Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum and a gift by J Eric Engstrom
 
A public reception and short program introducing the new archive was held Thursday, October 20th, at the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, a sampling of pictures of which is above.

The funding awarded has enabled Museum to achieve a unique digital publishing initiative, featuring an archive of historic Sedgwick County photographs and images for use by public and private schools, home educators and the general public through a free, open access, web-based resource.
ANNOUNCING THE SEDGWICK COUNTY KANSAS IMAGE ARCHIVE 2022-10-19 05:00:00Z 0

2022-23 Calendar of meetings

This Rotary year, our Club has moved to a 3-meeting-a-month model, allowing us the opportunity to often have a week available to volunteer in the community, in place of a weekly meeting.  This model supports Rotary's mission of "Service Above Self"!  For the most part, the first meeting of the month, unless it is a holiday week, is a Wednesday available for lending a hand in the community, whether at a school we support, a local non-profit or at an organization of an individual member's choice.  The calendar below shows our meeting dates, indicated by a "sunflower" around the Wednesday date.  Come join us at a weekly meeting to enjoy the dynamic speakers we have scheduled, or feel free to lend a hand on a Wednesday we are volunteering in the community!   The listing of upcoming speakers is shown below left. 
2022-23 Calendar of meetings 2022-09-29 05:00:00Z 0

EAST WICHITA ROTARY AWARDS COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS

The East Wichita Rotary Foundation has awarded $11,000 in scholarships to 10 Sedgwick County students attending Kansas universities for the upcoming 2022-23 academic year. 
 
New scholarships were awarded to the following students:
Carlos Sosa, South High/Wichita State University (George Fahnestock Scholarship)
Delaney Luann Bradshaw, Garden Plain/Kansas State University
Kimberly Vivan Rader, West High/Wichita State University
 
 
Renewal scholarships were granted to the following students:
Brian Alan Stuhlsatz, Kansas State University
            Chloe Nicole Brown, Wichita State University
Elda Ivonne Santos-Trevizo, Wichita State University
Fatima Ortiz, Newman University
Heather L. Mills, Kansas State University
Miriam Mangaza, Wichita State University
Niki Wood, Benedictine College
 
Congratulations to the following scholarship recipients who graduated during the 2021-22 academic year or have decided to continue their studies beyond the Rotary scholarship renewal limits:
                Ashok Sharma, Wichita State University
                Christopher Burrell, Kansas State University
                Kamryn Villa, University of Kansas
                Noah Betlach, WSU Tech
EAST WICHITA ROTARY AWARDS COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS 2022-06-04 05:00:00Z 0

SCHOOL MAP PAINTING at Caldwell Elementary

For the third year in a row, and a second map painting each year, a dedicated group of East Wichita Rotarians donned some old clothes, met on a beautiful Kansas spring day -- albeit a bit windy, but, heck, that's Kansas for you -- and painted a large US map on a Wichita area's school grounds!  This time the crew was busy with paint brushes and rollers at Caldwell Elementary School!  Just look at how the sunshine makes the colors pop on the map!  Many thanks to all of you for your gift of time, talent and volunteerism on this particular Saturday!  The map looks fantastic!  See how it comes to life in the pix below!
 
 
 
SCHOOL MAP PAINTING at Caldwell Elementary 2019-04-30 05:00:00Z 0

MARCH MADNESS BRACKET WINNERS! 

 
March Madness has concluded with Virginia winning it all on April 8th's championship game!  With your participation, together(!) our 2nd Annual “Battle of the Brackets” raised $1,400 for the East Wichita Rotary Foundation, surpassing last year’s inaugural fundraiser total of $1,250!  Many thanks to each of you for endorsing this fundraiser for our Foundation, which provides scholarships to local area high school students.  Your participation, with the purchase of a bracket or two or a contribution “to the cause”, will provide OVER ONE scholarship, for $1000/year, for a deserving student!  Great teamwork, folks! 
 
Tony Hurtig, the husband of our EWR Club Executive, won the $100 prize for the winning bracket.  Boy, there was lots of teasing at the meeting when the bracket winner was announced, especially after our Club Executive won last year.  As Kim said, "Trust me!  We Hurtig’s aren’t lucky in anything else, except perhaps doing brackets."
 At our April 10 Rotary meeting, we also had a drawing for $50 each from two of the non-winning brackets and ….. drum roll please ….Michael Moeder and Michael Caffrey (pictured left to right, below) each won $50.  Must be a lucky “Michael-thing” going on there! 😊  Just a little tidbit:  Michael Caffrey is a very new member AND it was his additional raffle chance, not his bracket, that won.  Very cool!
 
Hope to see you all next year when we "take on the Madness and battle the brackets" again!  
 
 
MARCH MADNESS BRACKET WINNERS!  2019-02-26 06:00:00Z 0

ANOTHER YEAR TO REFLECT BACK ON ...

.....as Scott Holder passes the gavel to Burke Jones!  

As always, the "Changing of the Guard" meeting is a Club favorite!  This year's was no different, thanks to a fantastically funny "roast" of Scott by Burke.  But first, we looked back at highlights of this last year, including installing benches, via a District grant, in Eastview park, putting a mentorship program in place for new members, hosting a "March Madness Battle of the Brackets" to benefit our own Foundation, and welcoming 13 new members.   Many thanks to Scott Holder, "our fearless leader" for all of the energy and leadership he shared with our Club this year; he was the consummate "team player"!  Good luck to Burke as he leads us for 2018-19!    Congratulations, too, go out to Denise Hearson and Tammie Rhea, named the recipients of the "Service Above Self" and  "Rotarian of the Year" award, respectively.  Scott also recognized and thanked his board members and our own Foundation's board members.  The meeting was well attended, and fun was had by all!    
 
What a year it's been, EWR!
 
 
 
ANOTHER YEAR TO REFLECT BACK ON ... 2018-06-29 05:00:00Z 0

And our fourth school map painting is "in the books" ....

On April 28, a group of East Wichita Rotarians, joined by a few WSU international students, painted the fourth school map by our Club, this one at Gammon Elementary.  What a fun surprise to the Gammon students, as evident in the pictures below, as they arrived at school on Monday to discover their new learning tool and then gathered outside on the map to celebrate this colorful US map!  Can you find Kansas??  
And our fourth school map painting is "in the books" .... 2018-05-03 05:00:00Z 0

Annual EWR Christmas Party was a smashing success!

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There was nothing unlucky about the number 13 for this year's annual EWR Christmas Party.  On December 13, a record number of Rotarians and their spouses/guests came together for a night of great food, fun friendships and holiday festiveness like never before, with the beautifully-decorated backdrop of the Wichita Country Club as our host.  Adding to the success of the evening was this year's entertainment:  professional ventriloquist, Greg Claassen!  He had the group laughing so much we were crying!  Not sure how we top this evening but I know all of us who were there felt very "December-13th-lucky" to have been a part of such a wonderful Christmas party!  If the smiles in the pictures (click here) are any indication, fun was had by all!  Merry Christmas from East Wichita Rotary and have a very prosperous, healthy 2018, full of love and family!  
Annual EWR Christmas Party was a smashing success! 2017-12-15 06:00:00Z 0

EWR Volunteers join WCH residents to decorate Christmas trees!

With decorations aplenty and lots of good cheer, to boot, East Wichita Rotarians and friends helped the residents of Wichita Children's Home decorate Christmas trees!  What a fantastic way to enjoy a Saturday morning in December, one of the great annual traditions of EWR!  
 
EWR Volunteers join WCH residents to decorate Christmas trees! 2017-12-04 06:00:00Z 0

District Grant used for beautiful new park benches!

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With the help of a District grant, matching funds from our Club and a great partnership with the City of Wichita Parks and Recreation Department, new benches replaced old worn out benches in Eastview Park at E. 13th and Governour.  The new benches are even Rotary blue!  Several of our members gathered to assemble the benches and "get their hands a little dirty" to make this project a reality.  Many thanks to the District for awarding the grant and to the City for their help also.  Click here to see a photo album showing the transformation from the old ... to the new!  Voila!  
District Grant used for beautiful new park benches! 2017-09-29 05:00:00Z 0