October's Featured Kiawanian--Terry Smith

October's Featured Kiwanian is Terry Smith. Terry and his wife Pam live in Hiawatha. Terry has 1 son, 1 stepdaughter and 1 stepson. He works for the City of Hiawatha and enjoys refereeing, coaching and watching sporting events.

Terry enjoys helping the children of his community through Kiwanis as well as the fellowship it offers during weekly meetings.

The New Year Begins ........

Kiwanis Float in Hiawatha Halloween Parade: Jere Bruning drove the float while Kiwanians Fonda LaFrenz and Randy Quinn kept an eye on the 7 energetic children that rode.

October 29: Sue Korthanke introduced Rosanna Smith, Marketing Director for Vintage Parks. A brief overview was given of assisted living and what it means to the community. No visitors - 17 members present. John Severin updated us on Pancake Feed Preparations. The secretary stated she would be sending out a 'call' by email for Halloween Parade candy walkers for our float. November board meeting will be next Wednesday, the 3rd of November.

October 22: We had no visitors today as it was a committee workday. Committee members met to form a plan of action for their committees throughout the coming year.

October 15: Today was our first meeting at the Hiawatha Lodge, No visitors were present but Past President Fonda LaFrenz spoke about Little hands child development center.

Congratulations to fellow Kiwanian Great Grandma Yola Bee Strobel -- A great granddaughter was born on October 10, 2010 and named Piper Bee.

October 8:
Today's speaker was Kiwanian Kevin Hill who spoke about his family's trip to Ethiopia to adopt their daughter Audrey. We also received the sad news that Laurie Beth's was closing effective 2 PM on October 8th. Several new meeting places were discussed with the members present deciding that Kiwanis would like to meet at the Hiawatha Lodge if possible. Other options included bringing sack lunches at meeting at the Library or the Fisher Center.

October 5 Board Meeting: 9 members were present.
September Volunteer Hours -- 156.6 hours by 27 Kiwanians that directly impacted 191 children. Our September attendance was up 9% from previous month to 54%.....congratulations to those with 100% this month: Jere Bruning, Brad Edwards, Eric Gustafson, Del Larson, Carl Nelson, Eric Oldham, Randy Quinn, Mike Schmitt, John Severin and Bee Strobel. October Featured Kiwanian is Terry Smith. The "Terrific Kid" program will be expanded to the Hiawatha Middle School. Stacy Leichti is our new member THRU the membership sharing program (club initiated in 2008-2009) under the auspices of Town & Country Ambulance and with Lana Reigle. We shall be contacting several individuals with below normal attendance to see if they wish to also participate in this 'membership sharing program'. Plans have begun for our club float for the Hiawatha Halloween Evening Parade. Cards of thanks received from Jim & Lana LaFrenz and Morrill Public Library. Gretchen Randall has been appointed as an assistant club secretary to 'job shadow' with the current secretary for a year prior to her taking the position full time. The 'Santa Jar' will make it's appearance on October 8 in place of the happy jar with funds being used for our Christmas Adopt A Family project. Next meeting will be November 3, 2010.

October 1st: Duties of thanking retiring officers, installing new officers as well as announcing the Hiawatha club Volunteer of the Year and Top Attendance for the past club year fell on the shoulders of Doug Clark, Division 2 Lt. Governor. Attending with him from Sabetha Kiwanis were Clancy Lippert, Brett Lukert, and Doug Whittaker. Other honored guests included Michelle O'Brien from Okinawa, Japan (Janice & Beckham's daugther), Stacy Liechti, Hiawatha Chamber Administrator, Kenzie, infant daughter of Jennifer Ploeger, and Gretchen Randall's infant nephew - Samuel. Today's speaker was Marla Oboujawdah, KexRx pharmacist, who spoke about the importance of vaccination.

A Taste of Fall

September 24: Cindy Miller from the Alzheimer's Association spoke to the Hiawatha Kiawanis Club on what Alzheimer's Disease is, the risks factors, and resources that are available in our area for patients and caregivers. Today's 'Happy Jar' proceeds were gathered to be sent to Kiwanis International for the Project EliMiNaTe (MNT - Maternal & Neonatal Tetanus) in third world countries.

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September 17: Bee Strobel read a "Summary of Life". Brad Edwards gave a Chamber of Commerce Update: Oct. 2nd Maple Leaf Festival. One of the new highlights will be a Hot Air Balloon at the Fisher Center from 9-11 a.m. IF the weather cooperates. Janice Smith read the "Sad Passing of the Pillsbury Doughboy". Happy Birthday to fellow Kiwanian, Jere Bruning!

September 13th the Hiawatha Kiwanis Foundation presented a check to Julie Splichal, science teacher at Hiawatha Middle School in the amount of $6,000 to be used for the Science Olympiad.

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September 10: Local Kiwanians contributed to today's program -- Joe Koechner (Immunizations); Ike Larson (Candidate Debate); Jason Smith (Rainbow TV); Eric Oldham (Ag Museum One-Room Schoolhouse); Fonda LaFrenz (Community Day Care); and Eric Gustafson (Library's Mystery Book Club).

September 3: Today was quite a busy day! Lawrence Interclub members were introduced by visiting Kiwanis District Secretary, Rusty Thomas - John Saylor, Jim Walsh and Byron Gilmore. All three of these gentlemen have roots that started in the Northeast Kansas area. Mike Twombly was inducted by President LaFrenz while his sponsor, Hallee Edwards looked on. Janice Smith reported Board Meeting information to members. Troy Boswell introduced Teresa McAnerney, Facilitator for the Northeast Kansas Enterprise Facilitation. Teresa gave all present copies of the latest Entrepreneur Spotlight and encouraged members to become more involved in the program. Bee Strobel closed the meeting with "My Living Will". Following the meeting the HKF members met to discuss a grant application.

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September 1 Board Meeting: 101 Volunteer hours by 24 Kiwanians that impacted 214 children was reported for the month of August. The August attendance was down 5% from previous month. Those members with 100% attendance during August were Eric Gustafson, Peggy Kolb, Del Larson, Laurie Neeman, Carl Nelson, Janice Smith, Bee Strobel. Jere Bruning is our September 'Featured Kiwanian'. Received a thank you from NEK-CAP for the 283 items collected during our July Project: Kids School Supplies Collection. Finalized committees for the 2010-2011 club year were reviewed (they are now listed on the sidebar of this blog). October 22nd has been designated as our 'Club Committee Work Day' meeting. We will be donating to "The Power of Please' program being sponsored by the Hiawatha Chamber of Commerce for Hiawatha Elementary School students teaching "....how important it is to treat people with kindness and respect...." Each child will also receive a free copy of How to Get a Gorilla Out of Your Bathtub. We are planning to enlarge the Terrific Kid program into the 5th grade at the middle school as well as continue at the 4th grade level. Board accepted Dr. Sean Binkley's resignation. 2010-2011 Budget and Membership List reviewed and approved. Discussion of the 2010-11 Distinguished Club Criteria declared that the secretary should contact district level to express our concern with one of the changes for the new year.

September Featured Kiwanian--Jere Bruning

This month's featured Kiwanian is Jere Bruning. Jere and his wife Patty are long time residents of Brown County. They have 4 daughters and 7 grandchildren. Jere has been retired for 18 years. Prior to retirement Jere was an avid farmer.

Jere enjoys working on his antique tractors and spending time with his family. He as been on 2 cruises with his family.

Jere enjoys helping children especially through the Hiawatha Kiwanis Club.

August Featured Kiwanian--Troy Boswell

August 27th: An interclub from Sabetha was present today -- Debbie Thompson, Doug Whittaker, Al Roberts and Joleen Wiltz. Welcome! Donna Willmeth with Link Mainstreet was introduced by Doug Weinberg. She is a website designer from Seneca.

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August 20th: Chad Bachman introduced Larry Weast, Area Coordinator with Wildlife and Parks Department, as his speaker to 20 Kiwanians present. Larry travels the state of Kansas educating the public that 'Wildlife and Parks' is more than just fishing as he also provides information for all hunters.

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August 17th: Welcome to our newest "Kiwanis child" -- Miss Kenzie Marie Ploeger was born at 4:35 a.m. today weighing 7 lbs. 7 oz. Her parents are Heath and Jennifer Ploeger. Congratulations Mom and Dad!!!

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August 13th: Local club members gave "City Updates". Bee Strobel read "Kidism's" and Janice Smith - "The Year is 1910". President LaFrenz's grandchildren, Dawn and Will, were her guests. 15 members present.

Troy Boswell is the August Featured Kiwanian. Troy and his wife Nicole live in Hiawatha with their 3 children. Troy is employed by Hiawatha National Bank and enjoys fishing and working on his car.


Troy likes that Kiwanis if community focused and he enjoys being involved in the community where he lives.
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August 6th: Boy Scout Troop #313 representatives Payton Trosclair, Chris Jones and Asst. Leaders Jay Boyles and Tom Jones were presented with checks from the club. Libby Troxel introduced her speaker, Stephen Gilpin. Gilpin is an illustrator for children's books as well as cartoons, and other artwork. His weekly comic strip can be viewed at http://www.billythesquid.com/ . 12 members were present.
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August 4th Board Meeting: 9 members were present. 152 volunteer hours by 26 Kiwanians during the month of July impacted 94 children. Our July Attendance was up by 4% over the previous month -- with 9 members having 100% attendance. Brad Edwards will deliver the school supplies that have been collected from the community as our July project to NEK-CAP for their distribution to those in need. The September 24th Happy Jar Funds will be used as the club's donation to the International Project EliMiNaTe (MNT - Maternal & Neonatal Tetanus immunization program in third-world countries). Incoming President Jennifer Ploeger and the secretary will be making committee assignments for those members that have not advised us of their choice for the upcoming 2010-2011 club year. Boy Scout Troop #313 has been invited to attend the August 6th club meeting to receive their checks -- $1000 from Golf Tournament proceeds and in exchange for the troop 'policing' the Kiddie Korral grounds on a regular basis; our annual $100 donation to the troop; and $100 to be forwarded to Friends of Scouting. Mike Twomby was approved as a new member and assigned to the Youth Services Committee. The secretary is to contact the Hiawatha Chamber of Commerce regarding "The Power of Please Program" they are sponsoring for elementary children to see if we could defer our donation until after the first of October ..... if not, we will donate the money directly to the elementary school to be used as needed. Incoming Kansas District Kiwanis Governor John Martel is scheduled to provide the program at our November 19th meeting. Incoming officers will meet to work up the 2010-11 tentative budget to be presented at the September 1st board meeting.

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!!

July 30th: Neil Wieland was introduced as today's speaker. He described his upcoming missionary trip to Slovakia where he will be teaching 24 English language classes a week at a bilingual Lutheran High School in Kosice and working with a team of other LCMS missionaries who serve nearby. Please pray for Neil as he serves the Lord in Slovakia. Mike Schmitt, Jere Bruning, Bee Strobel and Terry Smith went to Sabetha for an Interclub meeting on July 29th.
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July 23rd: Alexa Sprick was presented with a $1500 Rance Hixson Memorial Scholarship from the Kiwanis Foundation at today's meeting. She is a Junior at Washburn University and hopes to study abroad before graduating. Michael Fee was not present to receive his scholarship. Terry Smith, Recretation/Park Director and fellow Kiwanian described the activities that have taken place this summer under his guidance. .

July 16th: 13 Kiwanians were present as Hallee Edwards presented Mike Twombly, Director / Producer of the Rainbow NEK Channel. We were the first to see the new commercial featuring Hallee describing the channel to the public.

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JULY Project -- School Supplies for the Kids:

General supplies used by more than one grade --

-Boxes of Kleenex

-Zip-Loc Bags: Snack size, Quart freezer, Gallon freezer

-Wide lined Spiral Notebooks

-Steno Notebooks

-Regular Lead Pencils - #2 yellow 24-count box

-Prang watercolors

-Elmer's Glue: 4 ounce & large bottles

-Glue sticks

-Pink Pearl Erasers

-Crayolas - Box of 24

-Scissors - sharp point

-Sturdy Pocket Folder

-Yellow Highlighter (NOT marker)

-Dry-Erase Markers -- pencil size

-Colored Pencils - Pkg of 8 (NOT markers)

-Plastic Pencil Box -- approximately 5" x 8"

-Clorox Wipes - 75 count or larger

Preschool --

-Backpack (large enough for a change of clothes & a pocket folder)

-Boxes of washable markers

-Scissors

Second Grade --

-Sharpie markers - black

Third Grade --

-3 prong folders (with pockets on the bottom)

Fourth Grade --

-Dry-Erase Erasers

-Wide Lined Notebooks - 5-subject

-Sharpie pens - black

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July 9th: Three guests were introduced -- Lorraine Clement, Art & Linda Jimeson. Secretary gave a report of the July 7th board meeting. 2010-11 Committee Sign-up sheet was passed around. If you have not yet signed up for a committee, please contact the secretary at nanas@carsoncomm.net . Beckham Smith announced that his speaker for the day was fellow Kiwanian Janice Smith, who gave a presentation on her 5-week visit to Okinawa Japan.

July 7th Kiwanis Board Meeting: 9 board members and 2 guests met. Old Business: 30 Kiwanians provided 303.5 volunteer hours that impacted 927 local children for the 6-week period from May 16 thru June 30, 2010. May attendance was down 3%; June down 9%. Those members with 100% attendance for May were: Chad Bachman, Jere Bruning, Brad Edwards, Eric Gustafson, Fonda LaFrenz, Laurie Neeman, Carl Nelson, Beckham Smith, Janice Smith and Bee Strobel. 100% attendance for June -- Chad Bachman, Eric Gustafson, Carl Nelson, Beckham Smith and Bee Strobel. Committee members reported that the June 12th Kids Fun Day at the Park was a success and the "...kids had a good time..."; however we were only able to show a Net Profit of $5.51 for the day. Thank you notes have been written to all community donors. 14 members were present for the Annual Membership Training led by Membership Chairman Michael Schmitt on June 18; was determined that we should have a second training this fall. President will contact the city once again about a location for us to post our Kiwanis sign on the North side of Hiawatha. New Businees: 2010-11 Committee Sign-up Sheet -- 19 members have yet to commit to a committee for this next club year. President will pass the sheet around at July 9th meeting and then incoming president & secretary will contact remaining members. Brad Edwards will have a "School Supply Donation Box" at his office starting next week. A list of supplies will be given to members as well as posted to this blog to help in collection these supplies for our club's July Project. Next board meeting will be August 4th, noon at Laurie Beth's.

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July 2nd: Hiawatha Kiwanis Foundation presented a check to Venice Sloan for the newly setup Juvenile Justice (ACE) program to serve approximately 30 at-risk students in the surrounding area. John Severin introduced Curt Weldon as his speaker. Curt, a 28 year veteran with the Army Reserves, explained his work during his latest deployment to Iraq.

July Featured Kiwanian--John Moore

John Moore is July's Featured Kiwanian. John and his wife have 4 children and 4 grandchildren. John is the administrator at Hiawatha Community Hospital. As a part of Kiwanis, John enjoys being able to do things with children. In his spare time he enjoys playing golf, hunting and sailing. He is also an avid KU fan.