March 11 Meeting

Thanks to Linda Stark and Judy Barnes who said today that they have read this blog. This post is for you!

George Howard and Pat Crawford were greeters. Karen Kempf gave the invocation. Darla Bruna played the piano while Don Goodrich led us in some Irish songs. I assume the ethnic twist was because St. Patrick's Day is next Wednesday. (BTW, is it true that Daylight Savings Time takes effect on March 14? My Google Calendar says "yes").

John Boltz won the Atta Kiwanian drawing for all the work he does in cashiering our meetings. He can claim his meal on March 25 since next week's meeting will be replaced with Pancake Day.

We had five guests. Kari Valentine and Amy Niemoth had three occupational therapy students who are visiting the clinic this week while on spring break. Not many college students choose Hastings NE for a spring break location. Fr. Benton had two guests--Lynette Riemersma from The Zone and a guest from the YWCA. (Sorry--I didn't catch her name.) If you are impressed because I know how to spell--and pronounce--Riemersma, it is because I know her mother (same last name) very well. She owns the HR Block office in Red Cloud.

The Zone and the YWCA were represented at out meeting today because Fr. Benton was presenting them with a check, on behalf of Kiwanis, for The Zone after school program.

Kathy Schultz told us about the May 2 Dia de los Ninos y Dia del los Libros (my Spanish spelling is not necessarily correct) festival. Kiwanis is sponsoring a booth and will be looking for workers for 1:30 to 5:30 pm. Check the posting for the Tuesday March 9 Board meeting for more details.

During Happy Basket, Judy Barnes expressed her appreciation for the blog, which helps keep her connected with the club when she is unable to attend. Jim Karloff reported that he and his wife are finally in the new house they built. (Actually they probably had someone else build it for them.) Dave Kempf was once again happy because Key Clubber Ashley Hajny attended today's meeting. Ashley will be 18 soon, the minimum age requirement to be a Kiwanian, and will be inducted at the May 20 meeting.

I found out after the meeting that Les Harms has another Know Your Kiwanian ready to present, but it will have to wait until March 25.

Margaret Shaw updated us on Pancake Day preparations one last time before the big event rolls around next Thursday. She reported that 45 of our 95 members have not signed up to help. Members are expected to help set-up (Wednesday afternoon), work at the event (any shift on Thursday from 7 am to 7 pm) or to clean up Thursday night . Pancake Day is the one project that we expect ALL Kiwanians to work at.

All Kiwanians are also expected to sell 30 tickets. If you don't like to sell, then buy them yourself and give them away. It is goodwill with an inexpensive price tag. Pancake Day is our only large fundraiser. If we don't have a successful Pancake Day, then some of our charitable activities will go unfunded next year.

One last comment on Pancake Day . On Monday and Tuesday, Margaret and Linda Stark will call everyone who has neglected to sign-up. So to avoid hearing from them please go to www.hastingskiwanis.org and sign up today!

Last on the agenda of todays meeting was Will Locke who has many avocations, but who retired as Professor Emeritus, Teacher Education, Hastings College. He gave an entertaining presentation, including Power Point, on the History of Trees in Hastings. And yes, it was very amusing. He had lots of clever anecdotes to share, and also pointed out some very old and very interesting trees in the area. Will showed us a picture of HC with no trees in 1883. Then he showed us a current picture full of trees. Did you know that HC was the first certified arboretum in Hastings (1997) followed by Central Community College and then the Highland Park Project (2009 or 2010 I think)?

On April 24, HC will re-enact the first tree planting in conjunction with the anniversary of the college's founding. The public is invited to attend. The re-enactment will be at the corner of University and California (Doug Nienhueser said this is Frank Northrop's house) at 9 am. You can wear period attire. Please keep your eyes open for a fur cape that was lost at the original tree-planting (1883) and never found.

The meeting was over by 1 pm. We sure can pack a lot into one hour!

(This is the second time I had to write this posting. Even though it is autosaved every minute, I managed to lose it entirely. I believe I accidently deleted it and then save the delete.)