Bill Morton, Overland Park Rotary Polio Plus Chair
Linda Hughes, Program Manager, Community Outreach - Lead to Read
Bill Morton
Closing in on 50 years of marriage, Cheryl and I met in Lawrence while at the University of Kansas. We raised three sons, two of them also Jayhawks with the third attending Missouri University of Science & Technology in Rolla. The two oldest live in the area with the youngest in Denver.
I retired from public accounting in 2017 but continue to do some consulting work with community banks. Cheryl retired from the insurance industry the same year. We now have four grandchildren who command our attention. We both play golf regularly and have traveled at an increasing pace, recently returning from Quebec and Montreal.
I joined the OP South Rotary Club in 2006 and currently serve as the Club’s Rotary International Chair (including our efforts with Polio Plus). I also “co-chair” the Kids/TLC Holiday Shopping event with Mark Parman. In my almost 20 years of service in Rotary, I feel that I have taken far more than I have given back. I hope to level the scales in the years to come.
Linda Hughes is the community outreach program manager with Lead to Read KC, a local children’s literacy nonprofit dedicated to solving the literacy crisis in Kansas City. Linda is a life-long educator whose experience includes teaching and leading in public and private kindergarten - twelfth grade settings in Columbia, Missouri and Kansas City. Prior to joining Lead to Read KC, Linda served as the assistant principal and instructional coach at Visitation Catholic School and an adjunct professor at Rockhurst University.
Linda is an avid reader, literacy advocate and loves the opportunity to help foster a love of reading in others. In her free time, Linda enjoys playing board games with her husband and three teenagers, and of course, reading!
A build day with Habitat KC is a one-of-a-kind team-building experience with a positive impact. Spending a day volunteering with Habitat KC will foster stronger team bonds and enhance communication skills while creating affordable housing solutions for Kansas City families. By partnering with Habitat KC for group volunteering opportunities in Kansas City, you will benefit from meaningful engagement and investment opportunities while demonstrating a strong sense of social responsibility.
Join us for this Service Opportunity at the Habitat for Humanity construction sites on Saturday, October 25, 8:30 - 3:00 pm.
Registration closes at 12 p.m. Friday, October 10th (All volunteers need to be registered with their online volunteer application complete by the registration deadline.)
Construction Volunteer Information:
Construction volunteers do not need to have any prior experience in construction or bring any of their own tools; we will give you all of the education and tools you need!
All registered volunteers will receive their assignment location via automated email 3 days prior to the volunteer day.
In case of inclement weather, please call our Weather Hotline at 816-897-7799 to hear the recorded message for any cancellations or changes. We update the message by 7:15 a.m. each morning.
We ask that all volunteers stay the full day, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
We will have 30 minutes set aside for lunch time. You will need to provide your own lunches. Feel free to bring your lunch or have lunch delivered to the site.
We highly recommend you bring a water bottle with you.
Please wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirt, mud or house paint on, and wear sturdy/closed toe & heeled shoes (NO flip flops, sandals or crocs!) If you have work gloves, please bring them.
Dress for the weather. If there has been rain on previous days, be prepared for the sites to be muddy.
The use, purchase and possession of alcohol, drugs and weapons are forbidden on Habitat KC property and volunteer sites.
The Rotary Club of Overland Park recently made the largest ever gift to the Kansas City Royals in the form of youth baseball bats and athletic shoes. The equipment had a retail value of over $600,000 and will be donated to the Royals Urban baseball academy and several other local area youth baseball organizations.
The gift was made possible through relationships that OP Rotarian Mike Meyer has with Feed the Children organization and one of its other non-profit clients, 4 Good Community, which had received the equipment donation from Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation. OP Rotarian Dustin Lewis connected with the Royals to confirm that the equipment would fill a need for several KC youth baseball organizations.
On the field before the Friday, September 19 Royals vs. Toronto game, the Royals recognized Mike Meyer and Dustin Lewis of the Rotary Club of Overland Park, Jeff Kingerly – CEO of 4 Good Community, Evan Morrow – Regional Manager of Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation, John Miller of Stor Safe warehouse company, and Feed the Children organizations for facilitating this major baseball equipment donation to KC area youth programs. It was a big win for KC area youth, and also a big baseball win for the Royals that night with a resounding 20 – 1 victory over Toronto!
David Austin and Barry Sullivan took the Overland Park Rotary inbound exchange students Viola Paglia from Italy and Romain Stroobant from Belgium to the last home Royals game of the season.
Birthdays
Ray McLanahan, Sept. 21
Anniversaries
None
Club Anniversaries
None
District Conference
The 2025 District Conference was this past weekend and President Barry Sullivan, David Austin, Ed Gilmore and Craig Novorr attended. On Saturday, Barry and David took part in a service project, packing Care Kits for Human Trafficking survivors. The Youth Exchange students also presented to the conference attendees and answered questions about their experience so far!
Bill Morton
Linda Hughes is the community outreach program manager with Lead to Read KC, a local children’s literacy nonprofit dedicated to solving the literacy crisis in Kansas City. Linda is a life-long educator whose experience includes teaching and leading in public and private kindergarten - twelfth grade settings in Columbia, Missouri and Kansas City. Prior to joining Lead to Read KC, Linda served as the assistant principal and instructional coach at Visitation Catholic School and an adjunct professor at Rockhurst University.
