photo by: Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence

The Kiwanis Club of Lawrence recognized a number of Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence staff at its annual Honors Dinner Thursday night. From left to right, Kiwanis board member Matt Llewellyn, Kiwanis Substantial Citizen Award recipient Gary Rexroad, Boys & Girls Club volunteer Mindy Collmeyer, Boys & Girls Club director of program operations Lindsay Bertels, youth support aide Kathryn Watson-Jackson and event emcee Brandon McAnderson.

The Kiwanis Club of Lawrence recognized two Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence staff members, plus an organization volunteer, Thursday at its annual Honors Dinner.

This was the sixth year for the event, which recognizes folks for their service. This year’s honorees were director of program operations Lindsay Bertels, youth support aide Kathryn Watson-Jackson and volunteer Mindy Collmeyer.

The Kiwanis Club also recognized the recipient of its 2022 Substantial Citizen Award, Gary Rexroad, a regular community volunteer who recently traveled to Poland to help Ukrainian refugees.

Bertels has been with Boys & Girls Club for 15 years, and most recently stepped up to help in an interim capacity when Chris Wash, the organization’s director of operations, was called away for service in the Army National Reserve for multiple weeks.

Watson-Jackson is a longtime mentor at Boys & Girls Club, with 11 years under her belt. She has spent time with the organization through service terms with AmeriCorps, served as a group leader and has been a choreographer for dance teams participating in the club’s Lights On! dance competition.

Collmeyer was recognized for her many hours of volunteer work for Boys & Girls Club fundraising events. Those efforts were instrumental in helping the organization to host virtual events during the lockdown early in the coronavirus pandemic and in creating one of the organization’s newest events, the Celebrity Softball Weekend.

Rexroad was recognized for a number of volunteer efforts, along with his wife, Angie, over the years. On top of his trip to Poland, the Rexroads have also fed University of Kansas students at the Dole Institute of Politics and raised more than $500,000 for local nonprofits in Lawrence by auctioning off sushi dinners, hosted at the family’s home.