President Liz Quinn opened our meeting with the Pledge, singing of My Country 'Tis of Thee and Bob Cressy delivered the prayer.
Announcements:
Chair of the Golf Tournament, Bob Quinn, stated that we now have 60 golfers. Thanks to all the hard work by the committee, our only fundraiser should be a great event! If you don’t golf, support the event by attending the dinner and silent auction. The date is Friday, September 12. We will not have a meeting on Thursday, August 28 – Have a Happy Labor Day. Our first meeting in September will be Thursday, September 4 and our own member Sue Kirk will speak about Bethesda Cares. Tragara will serve a great chicken entrée. Jim Leder announced there will be a Miracle League Meeting following today’s luncheon.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
As a traditional part of our luncheons, Happy Dollars are given by our members to commemorate something outstanding to be shared with other Kiwanians present. However, since George Patterson (our official Kee-Note taker) was unable to attend, Pat Tiede couldn't keep up with who gave what and then she lost her notes. So next meeting, we can hear them again and have more dollars to go into the House Fund!!
SPEAKER:
The Kiwanis International Convention is always one of the highlights for Club Leaders to attend and the 93rd annual convention in Orlando was no exception. A report on the “ICON” was given by Immediate Past Governor Bob Cressy. President Liz Quinn and First lady Nancy Cressy were our Delegates to Convention. Each club had two delegates to conduct the business of Kiwanis at the international level. There were over 4,000 attendees in Orlando. Capital District Past Governor Bob also was a delegate at large.
(Left) Delegates President Liz Quinn from Bethesda and Kelly Boswell, President of Olney Kiwanis; (Center) The Kiwanis Leadership Structure, we are a small part of a very large organization; and (Right) Watch out Denver and Minneapolis, Kiwanis had their say in Orlando, Florida.
The Convention opened to spirited music and an impressive procession of the national flags of Kiwanis International. The Governor’s of fifty Districts along with the international trustees and officers were presented. This started the sessions off with a rousing bang! People met new and old friends and truly discovered that Kiwanis is an International Organization. It has the feel and look of a political convention. To a degree it does have some political implications as members promote their candidates for international offices of KI President, VP, and Trustees. At next year’s ICON in Nashville, the Capital District … that’s all of us … will have a candidate for International Trustee for the KI Board. Past Governor Jerry Peuler will be running and it’s critical that all clubs have their two official delegates in Nashville to promote and vote for our candidate.
Conventions are also a learning opportunity with workshops on club leadership techniques, using technology, and working with our SLP programs. Did you know that there are over 245,000 high school age Key Club members? There are over 14,000 just in the Capital District alone! WOW! Have you seen these young people helping at our projects, at their award night in May, at their convention? They are amazing leaders! This is one of our most important products, helping to develop the Leaders of Tomorrow at the elementary, high school and college and university levels.. It’s their future … and yours, too. “Share Our Story” about your Service Leadership Programs.
In Orlando, too, there was plenty of time to tour, go to Disney World, eat at fine restaurants, have interactive discussion on building Kiwanis and enjoy new international friends. Upcoming Kiwanis leaders should not miss this. So who will sign up for Nashville? Nancy is the District “On-To-Nashville” Chair, so we’ll be going. Will you join us? Let’s do it!
It is absolutely true that the “heart of Kiwanis is its Clubs”. Our public and ‘prospects’ for membership are most often attracted to Kiwanis by its reputation. People have heard about Key Clubs, our high schools Service Leadership Program. They have a curiosity on what Kiwanians do. We can “Share Our Story”, especially when we understand what Kiwanians do all over the world to “change the world one child and one community at a time”. Know your product and ‘sell’ friends on how our Bethesda Club ‘Makes A Difference”. Great talk Bob!
Bill Pennington won the 50/50.
Pat Tiede, editor-for-the day.
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Editor - GEORGE PATTERSON (301-652-7061, geopatersn@)
Website Editors - BEN SCHLESINGER (301-951-7266,
bschles@bsaenergy.com), PAT TIEDE
(301-493-6937),
patriciatiede@comcast.net