Kiwanis Club of Historic St. Augustine

Newsletter – 13 July 2006

President’s Message:

We did have the Board meeting last Monday, with a good turnout in recognition that our Lt. Governor, Bill Montgomery, came to visit our meeting once again. He came to discuss three items, to-wit: 1) To deliver three more Toot-Toot awards. Each club could receive four of these District Governor awards in this administrative year. The first was given to Steve Fricke several months ago, and Monday the last three were awarded to Richard Welty, Jim Dale, and Tom Pace. 2) Gov. Bill also mentioned the project of the District Governor’s spouse, for this year. Both our Governor and her husband are wheelchair bound. Governor Donna had polio at an early age, and her spouse was born with spina bifida. Both have been helped immensely by March of Dimes over the year. The project is to deliver 50 miles of dimes to them by the time of the District Convention in August. This amounts to a donation of $10 per member from each club. (For our club that is $400.)  3) Lastly, Gov. Bill mentioned that the District Convention was fast approaching and that we should make arrangements for our delegates to attend.

                In other matters, the Pancake Breakfast plans were discussed and Chief Hedges and Judi Robinson are to meet this week and finalize most of the plans.

                               

Coming Events: [Advise the editor of events of interest at 797-4332]

4 August 2006: First Friday Art Walk, check out the local galleries and taste the food and wine.

7 August 2006: Regular monthly board meeting to be held at The Allegro. The meeting will start at 1700 hours. There is much to discuss, so be prompt and be prepared to share some ideas. (Delayed because of July 4th weekend.)

 

Guests: None last week, not even Gary B.  Remember when he does show up that the belt line begins at the door.

 

Programs: (Check the website for your speaker assignment date.)

LAST WEEK: Joy Day introduced Ann Bridenstein, Executive Director of our United Way. (She appeared to be no stranger to many of our members.) She explained the way that disasters are handled here because of our smaller size. The local group does much more than the United Ways in other areas because of that. They work very closely with the county office of disaster preparedness. She was quick to mention too that for the first 72 hours we must each be prepared to take care of ourselves, because, it often takes that long for the officials to get moving. Have your own plan, and make sure everyone in your household knows what the plan is, and what their job is with the plan.

THIS WEEK: Our monthly Human and Spiritual Aims meeting. Hope Skeeter remembers this month, or we’ll have to rope Dennis in again. (Hardly the worst thing that could happen, but Dennis may get gun shy about coming to a meeting.)

NEXT WEEK: Lance Conner is scheduled to have the speaker for next week.

 

⅓-⅓-⅓ DRAWING WINNERS: Bob Corson (who immediately went to work to parlay his winnings into a mountain of money through currency exchanges) and Jerry Saia were the big winners. Congrats and mix those tickets up better next time. Buy your tickets early and often.

 

Late Breaking News:

FLORIDA DISTRICT CONVENTION--Please mark your calendars for August 24-27. All new members, seasoned members, officers and Board members should plan to attend this annual event for Florida Kiwanians.  For those who have been to past Florida conventions, you'll agree that these conventions include a lot of great workshops, speakers, and our election of October 1st District officers--and there is still time for fun, so bring your families. Our club secretary will be getting info on the Convention frequently; and it will be in your Florida Kiwanis magazines--or go to www.Floridakiwanis.com.  Do yourselves a favor and plan to go! Also received an e-mail from Lt. Gov. Bill this week saying if you are going you’d better get your reservations in NOW!

                Bob Braden and Tim Chiu gave us the update on the International Convention in Montreal. We learned that Bob thought it was one of the best conventions he had ever attended (and he has been to few), and Tim explained that you can pay $50 and still not get any food at the buffet if you are not in the first two buses to go to the restaurant. (He never said if he tipped the driver or not, but I can guess that answer.)

                Sam Dee Thomas’ wife has taken a turn for the worse, and will be moved to Bayview.  Sam intends to move in with her, and we all send our prayers to them both.

                In Sports: A female won the woman’s singles title at Wimbledon, and Roger Federer won the men’s championship for the fourth straight year. Wow! In case you missed it, Italy won the World Cup by beating France. I’m sure you were glued to your set for that one. (I saw Peter the other day so I know that at least Dr. Frank was watching.) For being the “greatest sport in the world” (or whatever they call it) it seems strange to me that they only play the championship game once every four years. What’s that all about? Maybe you have to work to strengthen your neck for a good head butt, and that takes four years of conditioning and exercises.

               

Quote(s) of the Week:
"Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question." —Thomas Jefferson

"[A]rmed with the truth, and a God-given mandate to train our own children, we must never depend on government to take care of our kids or raise them. Parents must wake up to the fact that our nation's boys are being used and manipulated by an industry making billions of dollars by warping their minds... [I]t doesn't take an act of Congress to take back your home—it takes active, loving, informed parenting. It takes setting boundaries and sticking with them. It takes understanding our kids, and understanding that our kids need us to guide them." —Rebecca Hagelin

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." —Richard Henry Lee