Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time.
Kiwanis defining statement, adopted October 2004.

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NEWSLETTER

Cedar Rapids Downtown Kiwanis Club

March 28th 2007

The meeting was called to order by President Chuck Wehage.     32  Members in attendance.

Guests:   Steve Walrath – former member who dropped in and is considering re-joining.  Steve is with A’Hearn Plumbing.

Birthdays:   None

Anniversaries:    None

Announcements: 1.  Special welcome back to Eldon Hans who had successful back surgery Feb. 6.
2.  Chuck presented Jody Nolte with her official membership certificate and announced that a formal induction for Jim Moriarity will occur in the next week or so.
3.  John Locher needs volunteers for Taylor Elementary School reading program.
4.  John also announced that Families Helping Families is holding its annual Spring Gala and passed around some flyers.
5.  Pancake Dan Breitbach-Henry reported on the recently completed breakfast.  In capsule form and unaudited as usual are the results.  Keep in mind that there are several outstanding bills totaling approximately $500 that haven’t been paid and Dan needs to compare revenue figures with Gerry’s figures. 

-We sold 1949 (Goal of 1990) tickets for a grand total of $10,258.00 (Goal of $10,360) which includes Arby’s $500 contribution for sponsorship on the back of the tickets. 
-The $1 increase in ticket price and the increased sales resulted in approximately $2000 in additional revenue over last year. 
-With expenses expected to approach $1600, we should net around $8600. 
-Of the 51 active members, 36 sold tickets this year. 
-Corporate ticket sales hit its goal of 1050 with sales of 1055. 
-Individual ticket sales were 703 on a goal of 750, and Key Club (90) and walk-in traffic (101) were exactly on goal. 
-The top five sellers were:
Joe Schmall (345)
Dan Breitbach (229)
Kevin McCarville (179)
Jeff Hollingsworth (148)
Kelly Moore (101).

(special note from the webmaster.  A little quick math tells us that these 5 people accounted for 51% of our total ticket sales by both numbers of tickets and total gross revenue.  A hearty "Hats Off" to these 5 superheroes. )

Happy Bucks:   John Schweitzer – New Horizons Band has Palm Sunday concert at 4 pm at the Masonic Temple; Charlene Boardman – happy to be back and trying to get readjusted to normal life with Dan around; Eldon Hans – happy to be back; Bob Dye – long time goal happened when the entire family met in Winter Park for week of family reunion and skiing; Ron Sunderman – a successful concert chorale performance on Saturday despite a shaky practice performance earlier in the week; Dick Boardman – considering an adoption of Steve Walrath and the sale of son Dan; Dan Breitbach – happy his parents are back and that negotiations can begin on re-establishing family relations and his position in their estate plans.

Next week’s program:  

Speaker:  Jody Nolte introduced Trina Juilfs, case manager for Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS).  Trina brought us up to date on their organization.  Amazingly, there are 9,000 children identified in the three-county area (Benton, Jones and Linn) who qualify for the program.  They currently serve 744 kids, ages 6-14 and have 68 kids who have been assessed/approved/and are ready for a match.  BBBS looks for these characteristics in families:  a single parent home, low income level, low educational level and parents who want their children to succeed in school and life.  BBBS asks for a one year commitment by the volunteer and the ability to meet 2-4 times per month.  Over 50 matches have lasted 5 years or more.  The organization in Cedar Rapids started in 1975 as Big Brothers.  It was part of the YMCA then.  In 1980 Big Sisters was added; and in 1982 it broke from the YMCA.  Nationally, BBBS is the oldest and largest youth-mentoring program in existence.  They run three basic programs:

1.         Community-based:  what we typically think of as the core program;
2.         School-based: a middle school program that meets every other week with kids/mentors to discuss life schools, drug education, study skills, etc.
3.         Lunch buddies: (matches meet once-twice a month for lunch)

Bowl For Kids Sake, the annual fundraiser for BBBS, raised over $285,000 this past month.

Great program, Trina.

For more information on Big Brothers and Big Sisters, click on this link for their web page

 Word for the day:The master, the word master that is, Don Grimm, baffled us with “fettle”, a verb.  There was a hush over the crowd as no one, once again, had a clue.  The answer: To make ready, put in order, arrange.  Used in a sentence, it could go something like this:  Dick and Charlene Boardman fettled a day at home in anticipation of their son’s arrival.

Submitted:   Dan Breitbach   

KIWANIS SPEAKER COORDINATORS:
April:  Joe Schmall
May:  Paul Anderson
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