Events

Dr. Sondra Stieber has a PhD in Education and a PhD in Physics. As an Educator and Inspirational Speaker, she will share her experiences teaching math and physics in unique educational environments, including war zones and prison schools in developing countries. Following a near-fatal injury that resulted in her becoming an amputee, she emerged as an advocate and, interestingly, the world’s second known cyborg. Currently, she travels across the country to speak about upper limb prosthetics, particularly to disabled veterans and researchers. Sondra leverages her educational expertise and personal history to support at-risk youth by organizing summer science camps for underprivileged children in various locations throughout Kansas.

Denise Vann serves as the Program Director for the Alzheimer’s Association – Central & Western Kansas Chapter. In this role, she leads the chapter’s efforts to provide education, outreach, and support for individuals and families affected by Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. She also collaborates with healthcare systems and oversees the planning and implementation of the Annual Kansas Conference on Dementia.

Denise has been with the Alzheimer’s Association for over a decade and has more than 20 years of experience working directly with individuals living with dementia in long-term care settings. She is a Certified Nurse’s Aide (CNA), Certified Activity Director (ADC), and Social Service Designee (SSD), with certifications from Butler County Community College. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration with an emphasis in Long-Term Care from the University of Phoenix.

Denise is deeply committed to improving the lives of those impacted by dementia across Central and Western Kansas through advocacy, community partnerships, and education.

Rev. Andy Houltberg has served as CEO of Breakthrough Episcopal Social Services in Wichita since March 14, 2022. Ordained in the Episcopal Church in 2021, he holds a BA in Pastoral Ministry and training in trauma-informed spiritual care. Formerly Executive Director of Ashby House in Salina—where he implemented strategic planning, partnership-building, and operational stabilization—Andy has also served as pastor of Emmanuel Foursquare Church and Field Director for Prison Fellowship in Kansas City.

At Breakthrough, he promotes the Clubhouse model, encouraging member-centered recovery and community integration. As Chair of the Coalition to End Homelessness, Andy plays a key role in coordinating regional efforts to provide housing stability and supportive services for individuals in need in Wichita and Sedgwick County.

Coast to Cascades - Wines of Oregon and Washington paired with a delicious menu

Morgan Rogers serves as the Victim Services Specialist for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) in Sedgwick County and Western Kansas. In this role, Morgan provides free, confidential support and advocacy to victims and survivors of impaired driving crashes, helping them navigate the emotional, legal, and financial challenges that often follow. With a strong commitment to prevention and community education, Morgan works closely with local partners, law enforcement, and families to raise awareness and to help end impaired driving.

Dalia Hale has been a member of the Rotary Club of West Sedgwick County – Sunrise since 2007 and has coordinated the Rotary Inter-country Teacher Exchange (RITE) Program since 2010, assisted by former West Wichita Rotarian Shelli Kadel. The RITE Program facilitates teacher exchanges between the United States, Panamá, and Argentina to support English education. This program is financially supported by the West Wichita and Sunrise Rotary clubs and involves host families from our area Rotary clubs.

Retired from a long career in education — including classroom teaching, administration, and adjunct faculty work — Dalia has also served as a RITE outbound teacher in 2016 and 2019 where she conducted teacher seminars for English instructors. In 2025, she traveled to Panamá with our outbound RITE teachers to implement program improvements.

Today, Dalia will share a report on her recent visit and discuss the future of the RITE Program.

Paige Koeppen is the Chair of the Rotary Satellite Club of West Wichita - Service.  She worked as a counselor at Clark Davidson Elementary School in Goddard, KS for 33 years.  While there, she started Grandparent’s Luncheon, she was a mentor to young teachers, coordinated many different social emotional programs, and ate lunch with every child in the school throughout the year. She learned every name of all 500 students by October of every year.  The "7 habits of Effective Kids" were one of the programs that was taught to teach children kindness, perseverance and many other important qualities. She is thrilled to continue making the world a better place through her membership in Rotary. 

Our club’s first Soup Luncheon took place on April 25, 2000, with the goal of raising funds and awareness for Hunger Plus, Inc., a non-profit relief agency dedicated to providing food and essential supplies for emergency situations and, for longer term projects, to improve food security — a project supported by Rotary International. The money we saved by not eating lunch at RHCC for that meeting was directed toward sponsoring shipments of dehydrated soup from the Breedlove Dehydrated Foods facility in Lubbock, Texas.

Initially, we prepared bags of the dehydrated soup for our luncheon, which, although nourishing, lacked flavor. To enhance the experience, John Mosley proposed a Soup Contest for the following year, inviting members to bring their own creative soups using the dehydrated mix as a base. By 2006, we evolved our approach, allowing our talented “chefs” to showcase their favorite soups without the mix.

Over the years, this event has transformed from a simple soup cook-off into a full-fledged soup, chili, and dessert competition with members casting $1 votes for their favorites, raising a few extra dollars for the project. In 2017, we decided to shift our donations from Hunger Plus, Inc. to local organizations, such as the Lord’s Diner and Paxton’s Blessing Box. Another recent recipient has been ShelterBox who is focused on disaster relief and have now become the established beneficiary of our proceeds, largely due to the fact of our close connections since they are a Rotary International Project Partner.

Come help us raise funds for a good cause. Bring one dollar bills to cast votes for your soups & desserts.

A big thanks to Mindy Wagner & Christy Barnett for organizing this project again this year and to all of our chefs:

Crockpot of Soup: Jodi Barnwell, Jacob Beckman, Meliss Hamilton, Paige Koeppen, Colin McKenney, Rick Oglesby

Crockpot of Chili: Ed Frey, Lesley Hazleton, Misty Jack, Colby Reynolds

Dessert: Roger Bowles, Meliss Hamilton, Carol Molz, Sondra Stieber, Lori Taylor, Fe Vorderlandwehr

Bread, Rolls or Crackers: Bob Beumer, Gregg Greenwood, Vern Klassen

If you signed up to bring a food item, please arrive  by 11:45am so we can get it all arranged to start the buffet line at noon. Don’t forget to bring a serving utensil.

The Friends University Concert Choir will be sharing the holiday spirit through song. Under the new direction of Angela Perez, the choir will perform a selection of festive Christmas music - a perfect way to ring in the holidays! 

Our buffet line will open at 11:45 today.

Keep an eye out for our Christmas Family Wish Lists that should be sent out later this week.

My name is Rex Rutledge. I am 31 years old and have been working in agriculture for almost 6 years now. I earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Florida State University in 2018. In 2020 I moved from my hometown in the Florida panhandle out to Montana to take part in a regenerative ranching apprenticeship program where I learned how to operate a sustainable cattle ranch. That is where I met my wife, Susan. We lived in Montana for roughly 2 years. In 2022 we moved to her home state of Kansas for a job on a Flint Hills cattle ranch. 

A few months later we purchased 45 goats to begin my targeted grazing business. Shortly after we purchased another 30. Since the first season in 2022, our revenue has doubled every year. Now, for nearly 3 years, our business has been able to support both of us fulltime and afford us ample time off each winter. Our business has been through quite an evolution since its creation and we think we have really landed on a smart business model that many young people could and should replicate for a profitable career working with livestock. 

We are currently expanding our operation into sheep. We hope this addition of a new species helps us enter into new markets of customers that are better served with sheep rather than goats. 

In 2026 we will be entering into year 5 of our business and are very excited to be bringing a baby girl into the mix in February. 

Michigan native Carrie Rengers was an Arkansas transplant before moving to Wichita in late 2002 when she joined her husband, former Wichita Eagle food editor Joe Stumpe, at the publication. She started the Have You Heard? business column with stories of what's opening and closing around the city. Since then, she's broken a lot of business news and has written on numerous other topics, including everything from serious subjects, such as COVID-19, to fun stories, such as what it's like to raise backyard chickens. With the changing media landscape -- a subject she's happy to discuss -- Carrie's job has changed significantly as well. 

"The Mission of the Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine is to train the Osteopathic physician of the future to provide effective, empathic, and innovative care to optimize the health of patients and their communities."

Our entire meeting time will be devoted to committee meetings, giving members the opportunity to discuss and make plans for the second half of the Rotary year. Please plan to sit with your assigned committee, as listed below, when you arrive.

Rotary Club of West Wichita  

2025-26 COMMITTEES

Lourdes (“Lou-Lou”) Rodriguez  has 21 years of teaching experience, including 15 years at the high school level and 5 years in elementary education in the provinces of Bocas del Toro and David, Chiriquí, Panamá. She is a member of the English Coordinators Network of Chiriquí Province and serves as the English Department Coordinator at her school. This will be her first trip to the United States. She has previously traveled to Costa Rica, Colombia, Spain, El Salvador, and the Netherlands, and spent three months in India pursuing advanced English studies. Lou-Lou leads a Design for Change project through Terpel, supporting students with visual impairments and promoting bullying prevention. She has also worked in children’s English camps organized by Quality Leadership University. Lou-Lou is participating in the RITE program to gain new teaching ideas and engage in cultural exchange, with the goal of enriching her classes and expanding her students’ understanding of the world.

Marianne (“Mari”) Lopez has been a Secondary English Teacher since 2022 and also works as a translator. She embraces Project-Based Learning and has experience teaching multigrade classes and students at diverse proficiency levels. Mari has traveled to the United Kingdom to study English and spent one month in China in 2019 attending a Vocational Education seminar. Mari is participating in the RITE program to enhance her teaching skills, explore innovative educational practices, and deepen her understanding of English instruction. She hopes to bring new strategies, technology, and engaging learning experiences to her students, while collaborating with fellow educators and sharing best practices with colleagues.

Leticia (Lety) Torielli, General Pinto, Buenos Aires, Argentina, has 25 years of experience teaching English and Spanish. She works in public schools with teenage students of various ages and levels and owns a private institute for international students aged 6 to 18. Lety also teaches Spanish to Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) students and is a freelance translator specializing in literary, technical, and scientific texts. A former Interact member, she has traveled to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Brazil. Lety is participating in the RITE program because she believes education is a powerful tool for transformation and that language connects cultures and people. She values cultural exchange through everyday life experiences and believes RITE will help break cultural barriers, enrich her understanding of other educational systems, and allow her to share these experiences with her students in meaningful and lasting ways.

Mauro Coletti, San Isidro, Buenos Aires, Argentina, has been a Secondary Education Teacher since 2022. He has taught History and Social Sciences, including Civics and Government, and courses focused on university preparation and politics. Mauro is especially interested in Project-Based Learning to encourage active student engagement. He also tutors international students in Spanish and English for Cambridge examinations and works remotely in various educational roles. Mauro has traveled to Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Japan, and the United States. Mauro is participating in the RITE program because he believes educational exchanges provide valuable knowledge and strategies that strengthen teaching practice. He hopes to return with practical tools to apply in his classroom, adapt project-based methodologies to new contexts, strengthen digital safety practices, and build meaningful, lasting connections while exploring future studies in educational systems.