September, 2008 Volume 65, Number 3

A Big Thank You for a Very Generous Donation

Rotarian Eldon Sloan was recognized for his generous gift

 From the Editor
I am proud to be a Rotarian. Knowing
that I am involved in an organization
that does so much to help people
around the world inspires me to do
what I can for that organization. I am
thirty-six years old, I have a wife and
two young kids, and a fairly demanding
job that doesn't allow me to travel the
far reaches of the earth to do Rotary's
work. I don't have the financial ability
to make the generous gifts that I hope
to someday make and I don't have any
special medical skills that would enable me to deliver health care in
Rotary on the world underdeveloped countries.
Wide Web

I recently gave a presentation in which I quoted Albert Einstein who

once stated "I have no special talents. I am only passionately curi-
 Rotary International
ous." Like Einstein (who did possess a special talent, regardless of
Website—
what he says) I am passionately curious. Curious about how technol-
www.rotary.org
ogy and sharing of ideas and resources can change the world. I be-
lieve that by reaching out to not only our own members through
 Rotary District 5710 technology, whether it is the Rotopeka, the Rotary eNews (the
Website— weekly meeting updates), or Rotary Live, the new live stream of our
www.rotary5710.org club, we are not just enabling more people access to our club, we
are spreading the mission of Rotary.

 Rotary Club Website—

While there are certainly logistics to work out, I can imagine that at
www.downtowntopeka
some point, Rotarians from all over the world might just have an op-
rotary.org
portunity to view our club meetings and if given the chance to count
them as a make up, might also be willing to make a donation to our
club. We should welcome the opportunity to share Rotary and rec-
 Rotary International
ognize that every Rotarian has a slightly different way in which they
Foundation—
participate.
www.rotary.org/
foundation
If a hundred Rotarians around the world donate $10 for a makeup,
that $1000 is more than I personally would contribute financially to
our club. By helping provide the avenue to our club, our community
and our world, I am doing far more to enhance Rotary through tech-
nology than I ever could do without it. .

2
Toby Cook - A Long Time Friend of the Royals
As a child, Toby Cook
was always a fan of the
Kansas City Royals.
Back then, though, the
Royals were battling
ever year for the Ameri-
can League Pennant.
Things m ay have
changed with the Roy-
als, but Cook’s loyalty
and excitement about
the Royals has not.
Toby Cook serves as the
Royals Vice President of
Community Affairs and
Publicity. He spoke to
the club recently and
suggested the Royals
might be close to return-
ing to that fun and excitement of the glory days.
Cook discussed the changes to Kaufman Stadium currently ongoing and the philosophy of
General Manager Dayton Moore. toward rebuilding the Royals.

Toby Cook , Vice President of Community

Affairs and Publicity, recently spoke to the
Topeka Rotary Club about the Kansas
City Royals.

Photos by Ann Palmer

3
 Minutes from August Board of Trustees
Secretary’s Report: Henry moved to approve July min-
utes, Gordon seconded, passed.
Rotary Club of Topeka
Officers Treasurer’s Report: We reviewed the financial reports.
Gary explained the final results for 2007-08, he then
moved to accept the reports as presented, John sec-
PRESIDENT—Kirk Johnson onded, passed.
PRESIDENT-ELECT—Terry Wages July 31 Membership: 205
VICE-PRESIDENT—Gordon New Member Nominations: Steve Newell, Rosalind
Lansford
Jennings, Joan moved to approve, Blanche sec-
TREASURER—Gary Knoll
onded, passed.
SECRETARY—John Wall
Bangladesh Project Application: Blanche reviewed a
SERGEANT AT ARMS—Mike Locke
written update from Larry Dimmitt. Our club has desig-
Board Members nated $1500 for this project.
David Beck
Golf Fundraiser – Henry reported it will be held the first
Alvin Dvorak part of October at Western Hills Golf Course, he will en-
Glenda DuBoise courage every member to bring a guest. There will be
Fred Gatlin gifts donated that will serve as prizes and also for a raf-
Jennifer Haller fle.
Henry McClure Topeka Water Festival – Glenda reported that volun-
Joy Moser teers are needed to help with this project. She will
have more information at the September board meet-
Blanche Parks
ing.
Susan Mauch
Past President—Joan Wagnon
Topeka High School Interact – Susan reported there will
be a meeting soon to discuss the future of this club.
THE ROTOPEKA Meetings on Line – Greg reported that weekly club
Editor—Greg Hill meetings video will be available on line, our club is one
Published Monthly by the Downtown Rotary Club of of the first to make this available.
Topeka

Downtown Ramada Inn, Suite 110 Topeka, Kansas Pledge Class – Kirk reported that a pledge class of new
66607

Subscription $2.00 per year

members with a project is a possible new idea for our
Periodicals Postage Paid at Topeka, Kansas USPS 471- club.
860

POSTMASTER: Send address change to Rotopeka 420 Meeting adjourned, next meeting will be September
SE 6th, Suite 110 Topeka, KS 66607

Rotopeka deadline is two weeks prior to the first

10, 2008.
Thursday of the month
John Wall, Secretary

4
Message from the President
By Kirk Johnson, President

How’s Our Vision?

At our meeting on September 13, 2008, Dr. Jerry Farley was our
guest speaker. Dr. Farley did not speak about Washburn Uni-
versity, but rather about the Heartland Visioning project. Dr.
Farley challenged us to review the draft copy of the strategic
plan and to look for ways that our organization might partici-
pate.
Private and public sector organizations of all kinds and indi-
viduals will be asked to endorse the Strategic Plan and be-
come Vision Partners. Vision Partners will be asked to identify
those strategies they can incorporate and effectively imple-
ment within their normal mission, purpose and scope of opera-
tions, or in strategic alliances with other organizations. Each
Vision Partner will establish Strategy Benchmarks to facilitate
annual measurement of progress and develop Action Steps for
the specific Strategies they adopt. A Steering Committee will
approve all Strategy Benchmarks before their adoption, and
will also provide periodic review.
Many of the Priority Issues addressed in the Draft documents touch on areas that have long been Rotary
initiatives. For example, Education, Youth and Younger Generation and Quality of Life are among ten
items listed as 2008 Priorities. These coincide with Rotary’s emphasis on literacy, youth involvement
(through RYLA, youth exchanges, Rotaract and Interact) and a myriad of efforts to improve the quality of
life.
Let’s keep our eyes (and minds) open as the Final Strategic Plan is released in the next few months. Most
likely there will be a number of ways that the Rotary Club of Topeka can become a Vision Partner.
 Washington food bank project pays dividends
By Donna Polydoros, RI News
When the roof of the Bellingham Food Bank was crumbling in 2005, Executive
Director Mike Cohen turned to the Rotary Club of Bellingham, Washington,
USA, for help.
But after then President-elect Jim Cunningham approached then presidents-
elect Barry Lester of the Rotary Club of Bellingham Sunrise and William Unrein Jr.
of the Rotary Club of Bellingham Bay, the presidents-elect decided not to fix
the roof.
Instead, they proposed building a new, state-of-the-art facility.
"It really was a textbook example of how to galvanize a community to help
others," says Michael Smith, current president of the Bellingham Sunrise club.
"We came together in the spirit of Rotary to make this project real."
Grand opening
The three clubs committed $225,000 in seed money for the project and raised over $1.6 million more from state
agencies and organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Club members donated their own pro-
fessional services and secured in-kind donations from architects, engineers, and contractors.
The clubs celebrated the opening of the new food bank on 31 July of this year. Members of the community and
the food bank thanked them for their efforts.
"Everyone was really impressed with the quality of what was done and the enhancement to the neighborhood,"
says Bellingham club member Rod Elin, who served on the project steering committee. Improvements included
repairing the street, installing new sewage lines and gutters, and even fixing up the front lawn on a neighboring
property.
"Before, the [food] recipients would have to wait in line outside. Now there is an overhang they can wait under,‖
says Elin. "It's something that Rotarians can certainly take pride in."

J. Fred Kubik, New Member

J. Fred Kubik, CPA is currently a judge with the Kansas Court of Tax Appeals. He is a retired partner of BKD, LLP. Mr.
Kubik was an appointed member of the AICPA Federal Tax Division from 1971 to 2002, serving two terms on the Tax
Executive Committee and as chair of the S Corporation Taxation Committee, the Subchapter S Task Force, and the
Small Business Taxation Committee. Mr. Kubik was the 1995 recipient of the Tax Division’s Arthur J. Dixon Memorial
Award, the accounting profession’s highest award for tax service. He received the AICPA Public Service Award in
1988.
In May 1996, Mr. Kubik was appointed by Senator Dole to the seventeen-member National Commission on Restructur-
ing the Internal Revenue Service, which resulted in the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998. He served on the
United States Treasury Department’s Small Business Advisory Committee during the Carter Administration.
Mr. Kubik is a past president of the Kansas Society of CPAs, the Wichita Chapter of CPAs and the Wichita Estate Plan-
ning Council. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business and J. D. degrees from the University of Kansas.
Mr. Kubik is active in a number of charitable organizations. He has served on the Boards of the Wichita YMCA, Music
Theatre of Wichita, the Girl Scouts of the Golden Plains, First Presbyterian Wichita Foundation, Presbyterian Manors of
Mid-America, and the YMCA Foundation of Wichita. Welcome J!

6
New Members of the Topeka Rotary Club
Col. Jose Davis
COL Davis was born in Panama City, Panama. He earned a
Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Kansas State
University, Manhattan, KS, and a Master of Science in Manage-
ment from Baker University, Burlingame, KS and a Master's in Stra-
tegic Studies from the United States Army War College.
COL Davis works full time for the Joint Forces Headquarters, Kan-
sas National Guard located in Topeka, KS. He currently serves as
the J5 Director of Plans, Policy and Interoperability, responsible
for strategic plans, strategic management implementation and
oversees the international affairs State Partnership Program for
Kansas and Armenia. Simultaneously, he serves as the J7 Direc-
tor of Joint Training and Education, Lessons Learned and Exercises.
His military education includes Field Artillery Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, at Ft Sill, OK, De-
fense Information School, Combined Arms Services and Staff School, the Command and General
Staff College, Ft Leavenworth, KS, and the resident course of the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle,
PA.
Colonel Davis is married to the former Jacquelyn Ann Messarosh of Scranton, PA. Davis has one
daughter, Tori. He is the son of Carl and Cathy Davis of Junction City, KS. Welcome Jose!

Spike Santee
Edward Wesley Santee is more commonly known as Spike Santee. In fact, if you call Spike’s house
and ask for Ed, Edward, Wes or Wesley, he’ll know you don’t really know him because everyone,
including his mother and his father, Wes Santee, have called him Spike since the day he was
born. Wes was at a track meet and someone made a joke that his new born son was missing. The
last reported sighting of ―the little Spike‖ had him west of Lawrence with a diaper in one hand and
a stop watch in another. So it’s been Spike ever since.
Spike is a native of Lawrence Kansas. He has been in Radio broadcasting for thirty five years and is
a Senior Vice President with Cumulus Media, Inc. in Atlanta and currently serves as the Market Man-
ager for the six Radio stations at the Cumulus Broadcast Center at 9 th and Kansas in downtown
Topeka. Prior to the Topeka assignment, Spike was a Regional Manager with Cumulus supervising
approximately 100 radio stations and nearly 800 employees in twenty markets around the coun-
try. With the Topeka assignment, Spike gets to come home for dinner every night for a change.
Spike has been married to Trena for twenty six years. Trena is a Speech Pathologist. They have two
sons, Weston who attends the UMKC Dental School in Kansas City and Hollis who is studying Business
at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. They are the fourth generation of Spike’s family to attend
KU.
Spike and Trena live in the country between Topeka and Lawrence. They enjoy gardening, walking
and their two Dobermans who are always on the lookout for strangers. Spike likes to build bird
houses and do fixer-up jobs around the house. Welcome Spike!

What does Rotary Do?
The next time you are asked what
our club does, remember all the
wonderful projects we have
helped make a reality. Here are
several of those projects:
Christmas in April
Help with TARC Winter Wonderland
Dictionaries in School
Dental Screenings
Scholarships for Washburn Students
Florence Crittenden Services
RYLA
Vocational Day for Junior High
Sponsor Ambassadorial Scholars
Christmas Bureau
Sponsor East Avondale Activities
Polio Reconstructive Surgery—
India
Cataract Surgery—Pakistan
Ambulance Project—Bangladesh
Medical Team—Panama
Shelter Box
Books for Peace Corp Volunteers
And Much, Much More
The Topeka Rotary Club is now on Twitter
Heard of Twitter? Consider the hottest trend on the web
and the Topeka Rotary Club is now part of it. What makes
Twitter unique is that posts are limited to 140 characters or
less.
Our Twits are immediately posted to the Topeka Rotary
Club webpage and you can even follow our updates by
creating your own Twitter account.
There are a few Rotary Clubs using Twitter, but like the new
Rotary Live, we are hoping to lead the way. Rotary Inter-
national along with several other clubs use Twitter and we
hope to create a network of Rotarians around the world,
using technology to share the mission of Rotary.
Check us out on Twitter. At www.twitter.com/topekarotary
RI Focuses on Young Member Recruitment
How do we recruit young members into Rotary? Rotary In-
ternational is asking that question this month on their web-
site.
Young Rotarians are the future of our club. It is important to
not only recruit young members, but once they have joined,
it is imperative to keep them involved.
So what are your thoughts on recruiting and motivating
young members into our club? Take a few moments and
think about a young person that you might recruit to our
club. But don’t stop there. Think about how, once they are
members, that we can use their passion and talents to make
our club stronger.
If you have ideas, please share them. Visit http://
rotopeka.blogspot.com/2008/09/recruit.html.