Kiwanis Club of Historic St. Augustine

Newsletter – 2 October 2008

President’s Message:

Hello my fellow Kiwanians. Installation banquet was last week, the coup is complete, and I am in charge. Need the help of all of you to complete the tasks we see in front of us for this year. I will keep you apprised of what the tasks are, and I hope that we have the best year yet.

                Last week we got some service hours in. (Don’t forget that we need to notify Bob of any community work that we do, as they probably would count as service hours.) We helped with Project Buckle-Up (kid’s car seats) at three different locations. There was a total of 24 hours of service performed by: Jerry Saia, (2 days), Art Runk, Rhett Davis, Bob Corson, Jake Thompson, Tim Chiu, and your hard working Prez.  Thanks to all you guys for stepping in to aid a very worthy cause.

                We had a very successful Pancake Breakfast on the 20 September. To know just how successful it was, we need all the money turned into the treasury. This means all ticket money, advertisement money, and anything else you agreed to give. Seriously, let’s get it turned in like yesterday.

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

3 October 2008: First Friday Art Walk, check out the local galleries downtown and taste their food and wine.

25 October 2008: Uptown Saturday Night, check out the local galleries uptown on the last Saturday of each month, and taste their food and wine.

26 February 2009: Florida District President will visit St. Augustine as part of a Division Council Meeting. Details as they are received.

Guests: We had plenty of guests at the banquet. If you missed it, you missed a good time and good food.

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

LAST WEEK: We had our annual installation banquet at The Allegro. Thanks to The Allegro, their staff, and especially Judy Mazes for the get event. Lt. Gov. Brad Davis did the honors, and it will be an interesting year should we get all done that he and our President want to do.

THIS WEEK: We will have our monthly committee meetings and Board of Directors meeting. Come with some great ideas for next year’s administration.

NEXT WEEK: Our monthly Human and Spiritual Aims discussion as well as honoring our Student of the Month

50/50 DRAWING WINNERS: Last week’s winner was one of our own, Lou Nester. This was a sizeable pot under the new sales system. Mix those tickets real good, and make sure mine is on top.

NEWS OF NOTE:

As most of you know, Kiwanis and other community service clubs are declining in membership, and have for a number of years. Lt. Gov. Brad Davis mentioned that when he was President of the noon club, they had a membership of about 100. Today, both of our clubs total a little over 100, and we are two of the strongest clubs in the division. The District has a membership chairman, Eddie Lee, who just so happened to attend and graduate from the same high school as I did, and at about the same time. If you haven’t heard Eddie, he can deliver a real stem-winder. I can tell you he is sincere, and he wants to help enlarge the membership of Kiwanis at all levels. The bottom line is that it starts with us. You will be hearing more on this subject as the year progresses. The following are 10 ideas that you can use to help market Kiwanis in your world. (Many thanks to the Arlington Club for this.):

1) WEAR A KIWANIS PIN DAILY. 2) HANG YOUR KIWANIS PLAQUES AND MEMBERSHIP CERTIFICATES IN YOUR office. 3)  PUT NEW MEMBER CERTIFICATES IN A FRAME. 4) PUT A KIWANIS DECAL ON YOUR CAR. 5) PUT A KIWANIS LICENSE FRAME ON YOUR CAR. 6) GIVE KIWANIS ITEMS TO GUEST SPEAKERS – COFFEE CUPS, PLACQUES, PENS/PENCILS. 7) SURROUND YOURSELF WITH KIWANIS MEMORABILIA – HATS, SHIRTS (Non-Orange), MUGS, PENS/PENCILS. 8) GET A “KIWANIS FOREVER” TATOO ON YOUR BUTT. 9) IF PEOPLE DON’T NOTICE ANY OF THE ABOVE, POINT IT OUT (Maybe not the tattoo). 10) GET PUBLICITY FOR PROJECTS AND LEAVE COMMEMORATIVE MARKERS AT THE PROJECT LOCATION.

                It appears that the invincible Gators got vinced. Ouch! Oh well, join the club of those schools that have dropped one, even USC (hooray!). Do the Jags wish they had bid on that over the hill QB, Bret Favre? Probably not.

Some thoughts on the present financial situation would fill this newsletter and several more too. Do read the quote from H.L. Mencken below, as I think that explains a big part of this. This is a problem that was caused by the government, and can be solved if the government stays out of it. What the government can do to help is to repeal most of Sarbanes-Oxley, especially the accounting rules that came into play with it. Secondly, they can repeal the Community Redevelopment Act and the various regulations and rules that have come from that. It is all very admirable to want every person in America to own a house, but to make the lenders accept every applicant regardless of their ability to repay is stupid. (Did I just use an acronym for Congress?) The real answer to our plight is Term Limits for all elected officials. Power corrupts, and allowing them to stay in office for years, has led to many problems in this country, but that’s just my opinion.

Quotes You Can Use (or Not):

“Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.” —George Washington

“Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your objective. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed and hence clamorous to be led to safety, by menacing it with an endless series of hob-goblins, all of them imaginary.” -- H.L. Mencken,