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

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The meeting was called to order by 2nd Vice President Dan Breitbach.  28 Members in attendance.

Guests:  John Tursi – Boys and Girls Club; Anna Marie Kane – Bob McAvoy’s sister; Byron Tabor

Birthdays: Ron Sunderman (8/16); Chuck Wehage (8/18)

Anniversaries:  None   

Announcements:  1. B. Tabor – Marion Metro is doing a pancake breakfast on September 20 at First Methodist, Marion;

2. Peanut Day is in the planning stage for early October; a matching grant of $40K (by Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation) for pediatric trauma kits is available – if fully subscribed, it will essentially complete the project.  

3. Duane Kurrelmeyer wants the club to think about locations for gumball machines – most of the previous locations were wiped out by the flood.   

4. A consensus (unanimous) of the members present rose in support of Olivet Nazarene’s project to replace and expand the playground at their facility, keeping the dedication to Duane Kurrelmeyer in place.  This will likely lead to future support by the club with financial and sweat resources. 

5. Dan Breitbach presented a check for $4,013 to John Tursi for the Boys and Girls Club.

6. Paula Grady was inducted today.  She is most welcome, and will no doubt be a very active member.

Happy Bucks:  Limited in the interest of time, but did include the one from Chuck Wehage on the occasion of his entry into REALLY old age, and several others..

Speaker:  Paul Swanson, Youth Services Coordinator for Foundation II described some of the interventions that his organization does for troubled young folks in our community.  Sometimes, this takes the form of individual and family counseling to resolve conflicts in homes.  A major activity is providing services to the 400-odd homeless teens in the CR metro area.  Foundation II has a service van that provides food and other amenities to street kids at all hours of the day and night.  They provide a shelter for those who cannot live in a home situation, and these kids give back to the community in the form of service.  Over 1200 hours of flood services have been provided in the past couple of months.  They staff a crisis center, a 24-hours call in operation, transitional services to ease moves back to a “normal” lifestyle, and after school programs for troubled youth.  Their clientele is changing – 20 years ago, the average age of kids they helped was 16; now it’s 13.  Sixty percent are female. 

Next week –a talk on the youth obesity problem and on August 27 we will hear about the library recovery progress.  

Word for the day:  caesura – a break or interruption, as in a line of verse or at a rhythmic point of division in a melody

Submitted:   Chuck Wehage