Join us to celebrate and invest in a foundation of peace.

About the EventDorthy's Birthday Bash 2025

When: Saturday, April 5

Where: Lawrence Country Club

400 Country Club Terrace

Lawrence, KS  66049

Cocktail Hour - 5:30 PM

Dinner/Program - 6:30 PM

Dancing and fun to follow!

About the Foundation

In lieu of gifts, we invite you to celebrate Dorthy by investing in the Foundation. Your generosity interrupts violence and brings hope to families who have experienced it. 100% of all donations will go directly to the Foundation!

Donate Online Here

If donating by check, please make checks payable to:

Learn more about the Family Peace Initiative Foundation Fund here.

Speakers

Leslie Morgan Steiner

New York Times best-selling author, women’s empowerment expert, TedTalk veteran, columnist for The Washington Post and AARP, corporate executive – and gender violence survivor.

Steiner holds a BA in English from Harvard College (1987). Her first job was writing and editing for Seventeen Magazine. After graduating from Wharton business school in 1992 with an MBA in Marketing, she launched Splenda Brand Sweetener internationally for Johnson & Johnson. She returned to her hometown of Washington, DC in 2001 to become General Manager of the 1.1 million-circulation Washington Post Magazine, a position she held for five years. From 2006-2008 she wrote over 500 columns for the Washington Post’s popular on-line work/family column, “On Balance.” She currently writes a column on women and aging for AARP.

Leslie Morgan Steiner is the author of four nonfiction books: the New York Times bestselling memoir Crazy Love; the critically acclaimed anthology Mommy Wars: Stay-at-Home and Career Moms Face Of on Their Choices, Their Lives, Their Families; The Baby Chase: How Surrogacy is Transforming the American Family; and her latest memoir, The Naked Truth, which explores female sexuality, self-esteem and dating after 50.

Leslie Morgan Steiner speaks candidly from personal and professional experience about the challenges modern women face combining femininity and ambition. Steiner is a regular speaker at international women’s conferences. Her TEDTalks have been viewed by over ten million people. She is a frequent media guest on The Today Show, National Public Radio, Anderson Cooper 360, The Tamron Hall Show, ABC, NBC, CBS, and cable news networks. She has appeared in Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Elle, Parents, Self, Vogue, Vanity Fair, The Los Angeles Times, and CNN.com.

She serves as an emeritus board member for the One Love Foundation, in honor of slain University of Virginia senior Yeardley Love, on the board of I Have The Right To, and on the National Advisory Council for the Conference on Crimes Against Women.

Curt & Christie Brungardt

Dr. Curt Brungardt and Dr. Christie Brungardt both retired as Professor Emeritus from Fort Hays State University. They are best known as social entrepreneurs who have worked tirelessly to address issues of injustice and inequality. Between them, they have 51 years experience in higher education where they were active in the fields of leadership development and civic engagement.

On July 3, 2008, Curt and Christie’s lives changed forever. Their daughter, Jana Mackey, a 25 year-old law student at the University of Kansas was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in Lawrence, KS. Like her parents, Jana was also a committed social activist. She was well known throughout Kansas for her advocacy for women’ rights.

Since Jana’s death, Curt and Christie have been active nationally in the effort to reduce violence against women. They have established Jana’s Campaign Inc. with the single purpose of reducing domestic and dating violence. They believe it is their responsibility to use both the story of Jana’s life and the story of her death to reduce gender-based violence.

Derek & Jennifer Schmidt

Jennifer Schmidt serves is a long time friend and currently serves as counsel.

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, House Judiciary Committee, and House Small Business Committee, Derek Schmidt works to secure the border and keep our communities and our country safe and secure, curb runaway federal spending and policies that fuel inflation, and reduce the intrusion of the federal bureaucracy into the business decisions and lives of everyday Kansans.

A fifth-generation Kansan from Independence, Schmidt previously served 12 years as the 44th attorney general of Kansas where he focused on prosecuting crimes against children, protecting senior citizens from scams and rip-offs, recovering record-setting amounts of money for Kansas consumers and taxpayers, providing professional legal services for the State of Kansas, and standing up against illegal overreach by the federal government.

During his service as attorney general, Schmidt personally and successfully argued three Kansas cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. He also led successful efforts to build a modern forensic science laboratory for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and to strengthen state human trafficking and consumer privacy laws.

From 2017 to 2018, Schmidt served as president of the National Association of Attorneys General and was named the nation's Outstanding Attorney General by his colleagues in 2019.

Before being elected attorney general, Schmidt served as a Kansas state senator representing part of Southeast Kansas, as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and as the Senate Majority Leader.

Congressman Schmidt is a graduate of Independence High School and studied at Independence Community College. He earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Kansas, his master's degree in international politics from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, and his doctorate in law from the University of Kansas School of Law.