Kiwanis Club of Historic St. Augustine

Newsletter – 17 August 2006

President’s Message:

Pancake Breakfast, Pancake Breakfast, Pancake Breakfast! Let’s not forget that it is coming sooner than you may think. Get the tickets sold and, more importantly, get some sponsors. Ask your dry cleaner, ask your butcher, ask your candlestick maker, the worst that they will say is “No.” They are not rejecting you, they are simply saying “No” to a request and you need not take it personally. This should be our largest money making project and it can be done with just a little effort on the part of each one of us, and should not be left up to just a few people. Off your face and on your feet, get out there and talk it up!

We are also planning a Peanut Day or two in the future, but that shouldn’t take as much of your time as the Pancake Breakfast, and will be after that event, so just keep your eyes peeled here for word about that fund raiser.

                               

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

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

4 September 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.

14 September 2006: Final Division Council meeting of this administrative year. Meet at 1800 hours, eat at 1830 hours. Westside Club is sponsor (I-295 & Commonwealth Ave.) and the price is $16. Election of new officers on that agenda.

28 September 2006: Our annual installation of officers’ banquet. Details to follow, but we know for certain that the new Lt. Gov. Rande Le Fevre will be present to handle the installation chores.

30 September 2006: Our first annual Pancake Breakfast from 8-11am at The Allegro.

 

Guests:. Present and turning in their papers to transfer their memberships were Barney Salzberg, and Cheryle Newman. WELCOME YA’LL!!

 

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

LAST WEEK: Our Human & Spiritual Aims speaker was presented by our hard working Prez, Nick, and he was doing a little brown-nosing, because it was his immediate boss, read department head, Yvan Kelly. (No mis-spelling there either!) He gave a very good presentation on The Economics of Religion; he is in the Economics Department at Flagler. His discussion looked at how religion does its business as opposed to its impact on an individual or group. He had some very interesting statistics, e.g., 17% of the population were church members in this country in 1776, and today that number is 60% of the population. Since 1945 contributions to religion made in this country have remained at a fairly constant 1% of GDP. And as many of us had read elsewhere, the old, mainstream churches in this country are losing members. The Episcopalians, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, and some others are in that group, and many of them are scrambling to attract and keep more members by becoming more “relevant.” So far, that tactic has not seemed to change the tide flowing against them.

THIS WEEK: Brent Fonner is up, and I spoke to him to get his e-mail address straight, and he advised that his dad was expected back soon, however, not early enough to take Brent’s place for this job.

NEXT WEEK: Ned Ross is slated to have the speaker. Haven’t seen Ned, and his e-mail box is full and has been for at least two months.

 

⅓-⅓-⅓ DRAWING WINNERS: Winning last week were Art Liepold, and Jake Thompson. (Turned out to be the lucky table for the week.) Mix those tickets well to keep Bob from winning again. Buy your tickets early and often.

 

Late Breaking News:

In Sports: You can tell football season is fast approaching, not from the weather, but from the sports page. There are pre-season games galore, and big names getting hurt in them, e.g., Clinton Portis. Well, we are all looking forward to the cooler weather and the sound of solid hits and clean tackles. Looks as if the State of Florida will do itself proud one more year, as all state schools are loading up.

                Get accustomed to it, you are going to be hearing a lot about the pancake breakfast in this column until it is over. Chief Hedges, our soon to be fearless leader, has handed out the tickets to those of us who were present. Show up and pick your set up so that we won’t have to waste postage mailing yours to you. Let’s get cracking on those sponsors – that is where the gravy in this project lies. Get one business that you know to be a sponsor and get their name on the placemat. If we put forth the effort this time, then we won’t have to worry about as many fundraising events in the future. Do your part, and get your tickets now and get at least one sponsor. If we all did that, we would make some money on this project. This is the type of project a club like ours wants to have. You concentrate your efforts in a relatively short period of time, and the rewards are more than 10 other projects that are labor intensive and cash poor.

                I was advised last week that Stephen Shelley, Mark’s son, was a member of the Coast Guard and not the Merchant Marines. Sorry for the mix-up, and no insult was intended. (Now that I think about it, do we even have a Merchant Marine anymore?)                               

Quote(s) of the Week:
"A society that puts equality...ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom." —Milton Friedman

"America is another name for opportunity. Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine Providence in behalf of the human race." —Ralph Waldo Emerson

"New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common." —John Locke

"Clearly, the greatest threat, the greatest threat to our country is the war on terror. But we also have another threat, and that is out-of-control federal spending. If we are going to buy the guns, we had better get a little lean on the butter, and we had better quit wrapping the butter in the American flag." —Rep. Jeb Hensarling

"If there's any conspiracy involved in today's high gasoline prices, it's a conspiracy of cowardice and stupidity by the U.S. Congress." —Walter Williams