April 22 Meeting

Today was South of the Border food--taco salads, or taco meat without the salad shell. Looked good, although I did not eat. Les Harms was the greeter and Don Siffring gave the invocation. Lots of guests, if you counted the therapy dogs. More on the program later.

Lee Saathoff introduced his new wife, Eileen (Aileen?) They both looked very happy and I wish them well. Current sign-ups include Dia de los Ninos, May 2nd. Help is needed. Events for the weekend are the the historical event at Hastings College on Saturday (remember Will Locke's presentation) and the ecumenical walk around Lake Hastings on Sunday, from 3-4 pm. Meet at the shelter. Proceeds will go to Kids Against Hunger. The membership committee mailed letters to 12-15 potential members, and will be followed up by a personal contact. Jim Heyen won the Atta Kiwanian drawing--his name was entered in recognition of the contribution of propane to Pancake Day.

Don thanked the Kiwanians who helped with the recent book fair. Our share of the proceeds amounted to $400. Jim gave a final report on Pancake Day. Sales were down, in-kind donations were down (no free meat this year) and expenses were up mostly because the donations were down). But although our net was lower than last year, it was still a successful event. Doug read a list of all the members who sold at least thirty tickets. Margaret Shaw received flowers and a bottle of honey for all her hard work. Kathy Schultz received a large decorated cookie for being the Pancake Queen (leading seller among the women members) and Ron Verberg retained his crown as Pancake King. He got a cookie and will keep the trophy for another year. Everyone received a roll of Lifesavers.

Happy Basket events included Ron's 80th birthday and Doc's trip to Branson. Drew Ceperly is back from Hawaii (it rained while he was there). John Boltz attended a Capital City Kiwanis meeting with his son, who is a member there. Special Olympics will hold a pep rally at HC on April 29 from 7-9 pm. Tonight is the Empty Bowl Soup Supper.

The program for today was a lot of fun. The afore-mentioned dogs were part of K-9 & Friends, a group of therapy dogs and their owners. The dogs who attended today's meeting were a wolfhound, corgi, St. Bernard, German Shepherd, Pomeranian and a boxer. Sorry, I don't know their names--they didn't sign in. (The dogs, I mean). I hope I didn't miss any of the breeds. Beautiful animals.

I am too tired to proofread this, so accept my apologies for any errors.