Friday, February 26, 2010
Skip-a-Meal
I missed Skip-a-Meal yesterday. I assume the new science building is spectacular and I wish I could have gone, but that would be too much walking for me. If anyone has an attendance list, I would like to see it. Anyway, I am sorry I had to miss it and I am looking forward to next week's meeting.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Pancake ticket sales
HI Friends, Asking for someone to sell tickets to (2) of my regular Pancake Day patrons. One is Rosch Construction on South Street and Rural Metro on Lexington. Both companies have been faithfull supporters of our Kiwanis Pancake Day!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
"Oh my gosh! I just realized that now I have yet ANOTHER thing on the computer to keep me from getting my work done! I'm supposed to be knee deep in setting the company agenda for attacking Lead Based Paint right now and here I am blogging away! Thanks a LOT Joan and Dave!!"
I just posted this in response to Dave's comments about being a Cyberspace geek and thought I should share with anyone who might not scroll back that far to pick up the blogs. ACTUALLY, blogging is quite fun once you get on to it. You can post longer messages and it feels more instantaneous than Face Booking. I haven't tried those other sins like "Twitter" yet. Lord knows I am too tempted to get nothing done with just these two vices!
Seriously though, once you explore around to see how it works - this is great fun! Hope to see more and more participate!
I just posted this in response to Dave's comments about being a Cyberspace geek and thought I should share with anyone who might not scroll back that far to pick up the blogs. ACTUALLY, blogging is quite fun once you get on to it. You can post longer messages and it feels more instantaneous than Face Booking. I haven't tried those other sins like "Twitter" yet. Lord knows I am too tempted to get nothing done with just these two vices!
Seriously though, once you explore around to see how it works - this is great fun! Hope to see more and more participate!
Yes, the Spaghetti Feed was Friday. I remember because I was disappointed it was on a day I couldn't go. Will be in York at a Home Show.
I hope the new one school idea works out for Adams Central. The benefits to both students and teachers at the new state-of-the-art middle school here in Hastings would be wonderful to have available to all those rural students as well. Times and technology change and our children deserve to have the benefits todays world has to offer. As I mentioned at the meeting, from 4th to 7th I attended a one room school - District #2, sometimes called the Airport school. Good memories include the closeness of the kids, all the variety of nationalities we had since the State Hospital was in our district (German, Cuban, Turkish), and the ability to be in plays and presentations at monthly PTA meetings where the entire family attended. I loved the pom pom pull away, the high swings you could pile snow beneath and jump into, the forts we built from sticks and the grass from the yard mowed just before school started, and the many puppies we raised in those forts (animals dumped along the side of the road by owners who didn't want them any more.) From an educational standpoint, except for one bad teacher my first year, we had some really good teachers. But if your one teacher was deficient in any subject you simply fell behind. When I went back to Hastings Public in the 9th grade my music skills would have been nil if I hadn't been taking piano lessons. Our library was a walk-in closet with shelves on both sides where kids were sent to sit on the one chair (all there was room for) to discipline them. There were 3 in my class and it was the biggest grade! Yes, competition and interaction with others was limited. The one poor teacher we had was not there one day when we were let off for school. We kids had a grand old time at first but after about 1 1/2 hours of being alone decided we should call some of the school board parents and let them know we had no teacher. She was fired directly after that but I lost a lot under her poor instruction that year. I have two fond memories of her. One was the day she chased Bruce Latta outdoors with a heavy yardstick and came back in alone, dishevelled, and with a broken yardstick. (Bruce who was one of my 2 classmates was an imp and enjoyed giving her the dickens. My other memory was the day she came screaming out of that closet we called a library. We discovered she had found our missing garter snake peeking up from behind the books!
I hope the new one school idea works out for Adams Central. The benefits to both students and teachers at the new state-of-the-art middle school here in Hastings would be wonderful to have available to all those rural students as well. Times and technology change and our children deserve to have the benefits todays world has to offer. As I mentioned at the meeting, from 4th to 7th I attended a one room school - District #2, sometimes called the Airport school. Good memories include the closeness of the kids, all the variety of nationalities we had since the State Hospital was in our district (German, Cuban, Turkish), and the ability to be in plays and presentations at monthly PTA meetings where the entire family attended. I loved the pom pom pull away, the high swings you could pile snow beneath and jump into, the forts we built from sticks and the grass from the yard mowed just before school started, and the many puppies we raised in those forts (animals dumped along the side of the road by owners who didn't want them any more.) From an educational standpoint, except for one bad teacher my first year, we had some really good teachers. But if your one teacher was deficient in any subject you simply fell behind. When I went back to Hastings Public in the 9th grade my music skills would have been nil if I hadn't been taking piano lessons. Our library was a walk-in closet with shelves on both sides where kids were sent to sit on the one chair (all there was room for) to discipline them. There were 3 in my class and it was the biggest grade! Yes, competition and interaction with others was limited. The one poor teacher we had was not there one day when we were let off for school. We kids had a grand old time at first but after about 1 1/2 hours of being alone decided we should call some of the school board parents and let them know we had no teacher. She was fired directly after that but I lost a lot under her poor instruction that year. I have two fond memories of her. One was the day she chased Bruce Latta outdoors with a heavy yardstick and came back in alone, dishevelled, and with a broken yardstick. (Bruce who was one of my 2 classmates was an imp and enjoyed giving her the dickens. My other memory was the day she came screaming out of that closet we called a library. We discovered she had found our missing garter snake peeking up from behind the books!
Feb 18 Meeting
Kids Against Hunger needs help unloading (and loading) food tonight at 5:30 and Saturday morning at 10:30. Meet at the Manual Arts building. Lee Saathoff apparently does a lot of transporting supplies between the MA and CLS (our shipping/receiving location.) He is one of those unsung heros.
The House committe needs help putting things away after our weekly meetings. Set-up is pretty well under control, but John needs help cleaning up. Talk to John or Doug N. if you are willing to be a regular helper.
Linda Stark was the winner of today's Atta Kiwanian drawing for all the work she does with the Aktion Club. Another unsung hero.
Doug Edwards reported that the Hastings College (I think) basketball game will be streamed live on the web, so if you are a fan, check it out.
Mike Johnson's church is holding a spaghetti feed. Part of the proceeds will go to Kids Against Hunger. The time is 5:30 to 7:30 pm, but I am not sure of the date. Tonight? Tomorrow? Mike has tickets, or they will be available at the door. (Next week I will take better notes.)
Today we had a good program with Shawn Scott and Brent Weston. They managed to fit one and a half hours of information into 30 minutes. Very interesting. I wish I could vote on the issue. Shawn is a Kenesaw native--he graduated with my son-in-law, Trent Sidders. In fact, he and Trent lived together for a while when Trent was in law school and Shawn was at UNL. Shawn was a shop teach at Kenesaw for a year, and then went back for his Masters. It is fun see the little kids we used to know grow into successful adults. This is the first time I've heard him speak, except on TV. I was duly impressed.
The House committe needs help putting things away after our weekly meetings. Set-up is pretty well under control, but John needs help cleaning up. Talk to John or Doug N. if you are willing to be a regular helper.
Linda Stark was the winner of today's Atta Kiwanian drawing for all the work she does with the Aktion Club. Another unsung hero.
Doug Edwards reported that the Hastings College (I think) basketball game will be streamed live on the web, so if you are a fan, check it out.
Mike Johnson's church is holding a spaghetti feed. Part of the proceeds will go to Kids Against Hunger. The time is 5:30 to 7:30 pm, but I am not sure of the date. Tonight? Tomorrow? Mike has tickets, or they will be available at the door. (Next week I will take better notes.)
Today we had a good program with Shawn Scott and Brent Weston. They managed to fit one and a half hours of information into 30 minutes. Very interesting. I wish I could vote on the issue. Shawn is a Kenesaw native--he graduated with my son-in-law, Trent Sidders. In fact, he and Trent lived together for a while when Trent was in law school and Shawn was at UNL. Shawn was a shop teach at Kenesaw for a year, and then went back for his Masters. It is fun see the little kids we used to know grow into successful adults. This is the first time I've heard him speak, except on TV. I was duly impressed.
Hi Friends,
Simply a note of encouragement to sell or donate Pancake Day tickets and to sign up to help. This fundraiser is vital to fund our club's budget. I would also note that if you are inclined to promote a particular Kiwanis activity at Pancake Day do so- but don't show up that morning and expect Doug or anyone else to do it. Committees need to decide what and how they would like to advertise their projects. Now is the time to do this. It is also time to consider Gaynor Watson and his raw Pancake Day humor. Can anyone top him this year? Consider it a challenge.
Simply a note of encouragement to sell or donate Pancake Day tickets and to sign up to help. This fundraiser is vital to fund our club's budget. I would also note that if you are inclined to promote a particular Kiwanis activity at Pancake Day do so- but don't show up that morning and expect Doug or anyone else to do it. Committees need to decide what and how they would like to advertise their projects. Now is the time to do this. It is also time to consider Gaynor Watson and his raw Pancake Day humor. Can anyone top him this year? Consider it a challenge.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Wed Feb 17
Joan said...
I don't quite understand blogs, and somehow I wrote this entry as a comment to Karen's first post. I really meant for it to stand on its one, so I attempted to delete from her's (don't think I succeeded) and insert it as a new entry
I was so excited to look at the blog and see that some Kiwanians have actually made comments! Mike, you deserve a free lunch. I am sure your name is in that box somewhere.Six of us read at Head Start yesterday. It was the first time for me--usually the spots are all filled up before I get a chance to volunteer. We read "Don't Eat the Babysitter." Kids' books are funnier than they were many (many, many) years ago when I was a pre-schooler.KAH board met today. Everyone is so energized because of all the packing events scheduled and because we are receiving donations. I saw an email today from Renee that one local church collected $2069.52 for Kids Against Hunger! My own church has scheduled a packing session for March 14. Our mission group has also collected money, but not as much as the church mentioned above.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Thursday Meeting, February 11
We had a very good meeting today, as we always do. Mike Howie won the weekly Atta-Kiwanian drawing and gets a free meal next Thursday. I have heard from several people that Mike worked very hard on the dictionary project and therefore deserved to be recognized.
Know Your Kiwanian has reappeared. This week Ron Veburg was recognized. Congratulations to Ron and thanks to Les Harms for uncovering all that information about Ron!
Don Siffring was the Kiwanian of the Day. He introduced our speakers, Ron Seymour and Jo Seilor from the Highland Memorial Arboreteum project. Jo gave us a history of Highland Park and Ron explained the project. I think everyone present has a clearer understanding of the reason we are helping to plant the trees. The project began in 2007; by this spring we will begin to see some results. Look for flowering trees!
Mike Johnson stood in for Don Goodrich and Darla Bruna played the piano for our musical portion of the show.
We have a new waitress and a new tip jar, so be generous and leave her a tip each week.
It is time for pancakes and it is VERY IMPORTANT for every single Kiwanian to do his or her part in ticket sales. If you are not a salesman--I confess that I am not--please buy the tickets yourself and give the money to Kiwanis and the tickets to friends, family or employees.
Thanks to Dave for setting up this blog. One of the break-out sessions at the Mid-Year Conference talked about having a Kiwanis blog. Even if only a few members use it, the facilitator urged us to try it out to serve the needs of those member who like this means of communication. So we will see how it goes.
Know Your Kiwanian has reappeared. This week Ron Veburg was recognized. Congratulations to Ron and thanks to Les Harms for uncovering all that information about Ron!
Don Siffring was the Kiwanian of the Day. He introduced our speakers, Ron Seymour and Jo Seilor from the Highland Memorial Arboreteum project. Jo gave us a history of Highland Park and Ron explained the project. I think everyone present has a clearer understanding of the reason we are helping to plant the trees. The project began in 2007; by this spring we will begin to see some results. Look for flowering trees!
Mike Johnson stood in for Don Goodrich and Darla Bruna played the piano for our musical portion of the show.
We have a new waitress and a new tip jar, so be generous and leave her a tip each week.
It is time for pancakes and it is VERY IMPORTANT for every single Kiwanian to do his or her part in ticket sales. If you are not a salesman--I confess that I am not--please buy the tickets yourself and give the money to Kiwanis and the tickets to friends, family or employees.
Thanks to Dave for setting up this blog. One of the break-out sessions at the Mid-Year Conference talked about having a Kiwanis blog. Even if only a few members use it, the facilitator urged us to try it out to serve the needs of those member who like this means of communication. So we will see how it goes.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
What's new for our club in cyberspace.
Hello Kiwanians,
What can I say, I am a certified "computer geek" although I can't really take the blame for this latest addition to our electronic plate. No, Joan Bittfield gets the credit for this one. After our board meeting this afternoon, Joan asked me if I had ever done any blogging. This is probably one of the few electronic mediums that I have not yet sampled. Joan thought this would be a lot of fun to do for us, our club, and to pass along even more thoughts, ideas, and information to our membership. So, welcome to the Hastings Kiwanis Blog!
It has been an exciting week for me and Kiwanis. There have been several changes to the electronic medium used by our club. Probably the most satisfying for me anyway, is the addition of a PayPal account to our Kids Against Hunger project. This opens up a whole new source for funding this extremely worthwhile and much needed project. This provides people an opportunity give to KAH, that is completely safe and secure. The system also provides them with an immediate receipt for their tax purposes and does not require any maintenance on our part to send out these receipts. A "donate" button has been added at the bottom of our Kiwanis website homepage along with a copy of the article that has been purchased from the Tribune. There is also a donate link within the KAH website pages. I will be adding more as other pages on the web site are updated. Help spread the word that people who wish to help, can now do so just by visiting our web site (www.hastingskiwanis.org). Also, don't forget that by using GoodSearch (powered by Yahoo) as your internet search engine, you can help raise money for KAH just by surfing the web. One cent for every web search is donated to KAH at the end of the year. Another part of GoodSearch is GoodShop. By visiting the GoodShop web site, a large selection of online shopping companies (such as Amazon, Best Buy, etc) can be selected and then a percentage of your purchase gets donated to KAH. If you do a lot (or only a little) of online shopping, take a few seconds to check GoodShop.com to see the company you are ordering from participates. If so, just click on their link and then your purchase will earn extra money for KAH.
I have also setup a club email address on our hastingskiwanis.org email server. This account is accessible to officers, board members, and committee chairs to use to send information to our membership. The advantage to this is that the web site committee maintains the address book containing all of our Kiwanis email accounts. Also in the address book are a number of email lists, such as YCPO Committee, Youth Services Commitee (one for each of our committees), board members, officers, etc. These lists help simplify the selection of email recipients and are maintained by the web site committee as they change. This is a valuable tool as more and more committees start having regular meetings and need to start sharing information. A member of the web site committee can send the email message or the committee chair, officer, etc. can login and send the message themselves. This account also allows for several "identities" to be created so the person sending the message can use the account and send the email as themselves, with their email address so that any responses to the email will go directly to their account. This eliminates the need to keep checking back for any replies.
And finally, at Joan's urging, we now have this Kiwanis Blog. It is yet one more communication tool to help spread the word about the exciting things happening in our club, our district, and International. There is also a facebook page for our club and we may try to copy this blog to it as well. With the internet, the possibilities are nearly endless! Keep checking back, we'll try to keep you on your toes with new and exciting ideas as they present themselves.
David Kempf
Hastings Kiwanis Webmaster
New Blog
This could be a great place to exchange ideas! As the author of the Astonisher I suggest that if you have anything to contribute you post it here.
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