Events

Today is the last club meeting for our 2021-22 Rotary year. Committee Chairs will present highlights of their committee's activities and the gavel will be passed to incoming Club President, Joey Timmer.
Our thanks to Club President, Randy Bowles, and our Board, for their leadership!
Rolling Hills Country Club is not availabe for us to meet the next two weeks so plan to join us for our Semi-Annual Committee Meetings on July 12th, 12:00 noon, at Pizza Ranch, 21st & Tyler.
If anyone wants to switch committees for the new year (we especially could use more members on the Club Service Committee!) please let Diane know TODAY.

2021 - 2022 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President - Randy Bowles
President-Elect - Joey Timmer
Secretary - Jon Roper
Treasurer - Sean Babjak
Club Service - Kandace Day
Community Service - Jodi Besthorn
International Service - Mark Hansen
Vocational Service – Scott Hinderliter
Foundation - Monty Allen
Membership & Public Relations - Mindy Wagner 
Immediate Past President - Colin McKenney

Our club will split into our committees to plan activities for the new Rotary year.

Dan Dillon was raised on a farm west of Omaha.  After graduation from the University of Nebraska, Dan worked at an all-news radio station in Omaha. Two years later, Dan became the news director at KFDI Radio in Wichita.   

In 2013, Dan moved from KFDI to the Sedgwick County Courthouse to be the Media Coordinator for District Attorney Marc Bennett. 

Dan and his wife Carol are the parents of Lindsay Crawford. They have two grandchildren, 10 year old Vayda and 7 year old Pierce.

Fe Vorderlandwehr understands what the “sandwich generation” is because she experienced it. Her grandmother came to live with her family when she was in the 8th grade. “Looking back, I now see how hard it was for my parents to juggle a young family and care for an elderly parent. If only they had known about the Alzheimer’s Association at that time.” Perhaps that experience eventually led Vorderlandwehr to her current job, executive director of the Alzheimer’s Association – Central and Western Kansas Chapter. Her passion for those living with and caring for someone with Alzheimer’s or another dementia fuels her determination to guide the Chapter in providing care and support services for the 55,000 individuals living in Kansas with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.

Prior to working with the Alzheimer’s Association, Vorderlandwehr worked as the Wichita director of the American Diabetes Association, and as the community center director for McConnell Air Force Base. Her Bachelor of Arts degree from Wichita State University included a major in public relations and a minor in marketing.

Vorderlandwehr cares deeply for her community and is on board the planning committee for Lead Wichita’s Global Leadership Summit. She is an Honorary Commander for McConnell Airforce Base, a member of Junior League of Wichita, Women of Wichita, and the Wichita Downtown Rotary. In 2008 she was named one of Wichita Business Journal’s 40 under 40 and a member of the 2018 Leadership Wichita class.

When she is not working, you’ll find Vorderlandwehr with her family; son Isaac, 16, and husband James.

Ashley Opliger is the President and Executive Director of Bridget’s Cradles 501c3 nonprofit in Wichita, Kansas. Her daughter, Bridget, was stillborn at 24 weeks gestation in 2014. Ashley’s mother had knit a cradle that allowed her family to hold Bridget on the day she was born. After realizing there was a need for hospitals and bereaved families to have a dignified way to hold tiny babies born into Heaven, Ashley left her career as a Speech-Language Pathologist and started the nonprofit in her daughter’s empty nursery. 

Under Ashley’s leadership, Bridget’s Cradles has grown in seven years from first donating cradles to their local hospital to now serving over 1,250 hospitals in all 50 states. From their headquarters in Kechi, Bridget’s Cradles comforts over 26,000 bereaved families each year. Ashley’s vision is to one day provide cradles, support, and the hope of the Gospel to every family who loses a baby.

Ashley leads Hope Gatherings, monthly Christ-centered support groups in Kansas and online for women throughout the country. She also organizes the Wave of Light, an annual event on October 15th, Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day, that impacts hundreds of grieving families. Ashley regularly speaks at women’s Bible studies, bereavement and nursing conferences, and makes appearances on local news stations and nationwide faith-based podcasts. She is also the host of the award-winning podcast, Cradled in Hope, that releases biweekly Gospel-focused episodes for grieving parents.