Greetings,
This is one of my favorite months as it gives us an opportunity to be visually and verbally reflective in expressing gratitude. There is no better way to encourage, motivate, show appreciation and thanks than to express the words “thank you”, “you are worthy” and “appreciated”! Those words… I hope and trust you take to heart from mine to yours!
You have followed us to tabling events in the hot sun, rainy days, cool evenings, cool auditoriums, schools, naturalization services, community presentations, candidate meet and greets, book clubs, farmer markets, gage founders fest, family fun fest, Juneteenth, Washburn Forsenic, LWK meetings, LWVTSC meetings and of course many Tuesday Topics at the library! You are true troopers! Thank you warmly for all you do to bridge the gap in carrying forth the mission.
You truly showed up once again for a well known favorite annual speaker, Bob Beatty, who brought a wealth of information on the landscape of Kansas politics for 2026! The feedback received from many attendees seemed to truly enjoy the value of the information presented in an impartial way giving the facts of the political progression of campaign efforts in 2026. Thank you Bob for your continued contribution to our organization’s members.
A continued shout out to all our members who plan to engage their civic duty by working the polls on November 3. We appreciate you and all that you do.
Palm cards are now available for distribution to support the league’s position of voting NO on the constitutional amendment. Please see a board member for cards.
Remember… you are needed! Below are areas we can use your support. Please consider your time and let us know if you can help us help make this organization grow.
The Young Adults Advocacy Initiative, now known as our Civic Engagement Academy is ready and set.
We have an awesome and engaging committee and have started receiving interest from students. Classes are set and scheduled to begin on November 7 with on site visits taking place at the state capitol in January. Many thanks to the following committee members and those who work on the technical details to get the brochure and the application online. The dream is coming alive! ( See our link below for the details and online application).
Civic Academy Committee Members:
Kimberley Brown, Dr. Alisha Bush, Vivianne Carney, Maria Carter, Manilia Filella, Georgia Shannon
Communications and online assistance
Lissa Staley, Kristin Hammer, Mary Galligan
Thank you immensely! Awesome ladies!
https://forms.gle/mmyLhbufdCHGaG9Z7
Financial Mentee
A Financial mentee position is available for someone interested in shadowing the treasurer and learning about managing, overseeing and safeguarding the organization’s financial operations as part of a succession planning strategy.
Voter Services Team co- chairs
This is an awesome opportunity for you and a friend to work together to get the community engaged in voter experiences. We already have established members that work with naturalization services, school networking, and we need more connections with community tabling events and coordination with our volunteer system, POINT. New members: This is a great opportunity to get involved in community fun while helping to inform voters. It’s a win-win!!
High School Presentations
Many thanks to the team of presenters and assistants to Gretchen Gleue, Coordinator, as they work together on the scheduling and presentations to high school students across the city on voting. This can be an engaging task but we have teachers, corporate trainers, higher education educators and graduates and those who want to simply be a part of this exciting connection who are passionate about sharing with our youth the importance of civic engagement. Thank you!
Our lifeblood – you!
Our calls continue to reach out to you – our members. If you know anyone who would be a great fit for our organization, please forward them our contact information. In addition, we continue to send invitation letters to non-partisan organizations and individuals encouraging them to join us in defending and strengthening democracy, definitely a task where we continue to need all hands on deck.
We are up to 178! in our membership ! We are continuing to support our student members who are interested in renewing by paying ½ of their membership as scholarships. It is vital to our organization to keep our students engaged in democracy through our organization!
Welcome to our new member: Jolene, Rita, Terri Thank you for joining our team!!
Thank you to our renewing members: Susan, Lesley, and Christine. We appreciate all you do! Let’s get busy!!
Legislative Action
Here is a link to the Election Committee site. This is how you can help:
- Access this site weekly to determine progress
- Watch for our Legislative Action Alerts
- Sign up to be a testimonial writer
- Sign up to be an observer
- Sign up to be a member speaker
If interested in signing up, please contact me at President@lwvtsc.org
Watch or participate in committee meetings on www.kslegislature.org
Consider joining our LWVUS Unite & Rise 8.5 effort which aims to build a movement of 8.5 million individuals to unite and rise against the anti- democratic actions of this administration. Go to LWV.org to sign up!
Let’s get to the POINT!
Feel free to continue to connect with our voter services team! Things are gearing up and this is a great time to get on board and express your interest in participating. Join them on the POINT application and get in on the experience! They are outreaching to the community providing education on registration and voting. Below is the link to volunteer for our events.
https://www.lwvtsc.org/get-involved/volunteer/
💜💜Your board members are always available to answer questions and help you move the League’s mission forward. Feel free to reach out!
Remember as we work to protect democracy, Teamwork makes the dream work!
Best regards,
Dr. Glenda Overstreet Vaughn, President
Community Connections
Remember: If you have a community group interested in learning about the recent proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution, which eliminates the merit selection of Supreme Court Justices, please reach out to the League and we will connect you with a resource to come make presentations to your group(s).
Legislative Session Resource. I encourage you to contact members of the Shawnee County legislative delegation, by phone or email, regarding proposed or passed legislation. Included below is their Statehouse contact information.
- Sen. Brenda Dietrich Room #223-E 785.296.7648Brenda.Dietrich@senate.ks.gov
- Sen. Rick Kloos Room # 418-E 785.296.7645Rick.Kloos@senate.ks.gov
- Sen. Patrick Schmidt Room #135-E 785.296-7372 Patrick.Schmidt@senate.ks.gov
- Sen. Kenny Titus Room #124-E 785.296.7656Kenny.Titus@senate.ks.gov
- Rep. John Alcala Room #173-W 785.296-7371 John.Alcala@house.ks.gov
- Rep. Jesse Borjon Room #512-N 785.296.7374Jesse.borjon@house.ks.gov
- Rep. Ken Corbett Room #187-N 785.296-7679 ken.corbet@house.ks.gov
- Rep. Kirk Haskins Room #43-S 785.296.7673Kirk.Haskins@house.ks.gov
- Rep. Kyle McNorton Room #561-W 785.296.7460Kyle.McNorton@house.ks.gov
- Rep. Tobias Schlingensiepen 785.296.7669 Room #174-W Tobias.Schlingensiepen@house.ks.gov
- Rep. Alexis Simmons Room #43-S 785.296.7632Alexis.Simmons@house.ks.gov
- Rep. Virgil Weigel Room #451-S 785.296.7104virgil.weigel@house.ks.gov
Furthermore, you may access the Kansas Legislative website at http://kslegislature.gov to review bill status and content, house and senate calendars and committee schedules. Through this website you may listen to or via video streaming follow committee hearings and General Session proceedings.
An additional resource is the State Library. You may access their services in the following ways:
- Phone:800-432-3919 or 785-296-2149
- Legislative Hotline: 800-432-3924
- Email: infodesk@ks.gov
- Download the Ask a Librarian app to your mobile device.
