Foundation trustee receives Rotary Club’s Ben Craig Distinguished Service Award

At a special awards and recognition luncheon meeting June 26, CGSC Foundation trustee Mike Meyer was awarded the Overland Park Rotary Club’s highest honor, the “Ben Craig Distinguished Service Award.” He was introduced by fellow Foundation trustee/Rotarian Skip Palmer.

Criteria for the award include:

The Rotarian must have distinguished himself/herself by fully representing the principles of Rotary.
The Rotarian’s contributions to the club are considered.
The Rotarian’s contributions to the community are considered.
The Rotarian’s professional and business accomplishments are considered.

Mike Meyer delivers remarks after receiving the Rotary Club’s Ben Craig Distinguished Service Award from the Overland Park Rotary Club on June 26.

The award narrative published at the ceremony read:

Over the years, Rotarian Mike Meyer has been involved with many worthwhile charitable projects, but the Children’s Book Drives and the Youth Leadership Academy have been his two favorites – and two in which he has provided considerable leadership and volunteer effort.

Rotary’s continued mission is “service above self,” and the Club feels this Children’s Book Drive initiative is an impactful and positive way to provide homeless families, economically disadvantaged and all children a meaningful and educational gift. Their partnership with Feed The Children’s Education Project (provider of the books for donation) has been a valuable way to serve their local communities’ children.

To date in 2016 & 2017, the Overland Park Rotary Club has donated a total of 1.3 million new children’s books to 100+ charities and multiple school districts in the Kansas City Metro. These book donations have a monetary equivalent of over $1.4 million in value, and Mike has been a huge driving force behind these efforts.

Rotary Youth Leadership Academy is designed for high school students who will be sophomores, juniors and seniors and are ready to explore and develop their leadership potential. For the past five years, twenty-eight Rotary clubs sponsored a diverse group of about seventy students from across Eastern Kansas. Mike has been involved for several years with bringing those students to Fort Leavenworth and the Command and General Staff College.

These achievements as well as many other projects that Mike has been involved with at the Overland Park Rotary, demonstrate his tireless level of commitment to the Rotary and the community and therefore is very deserving of the Ben Craig Distinguished Service Award.

Meyer has been a trustee on the CGSC Foundation board since Sept. 7, 2011. The Foundation extends him hearty congratulations for his achievement with the Overland Park Rotary Club.