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 29, 2007

The meeting was called to order by President Chuck Wehage.   30 Members in attendance.

Guests: Byron Taber, new Lt. Governor and Marion Metro Club member.  Kathy Hedlund, guest of Don Grimm.  Kathy has lived in CR a long time; is a widow with two daughters, Polly and Peggy.  Wanted to check out our club.

Birthdays:  Don Grimm  9/1  

Anniversaries:   none 

Announcements: 1.         Byron announced the forming of a new club: CREW – Cedar Rapids Edgewood Club at Aegon.  And, this Thursday/Friday, Aug. 30-31^st are clean-up nights at the Kernels games.  Money raised will go toward the purchase of a pediatric trauma kit

2.         Installation dinner is set for Wednesday, September 26 at Coe College.

Happy Bucks: Ron Sunderman – an embarrassment buck for getting kicked off aol.com; however, it was for a great cause: his daughter’s friend has terminal cancer and friends are raising money to help defray mounting costs.  John Anderson – happy at the expense of Schmall and Breitbach for their sons’ names appearing in the paper recently.  Joe Schmall and Dan Breitbach pay the fine begrudgingly happily.  John Locher – thanks to those who helped with Camp Tanager clean up while he was slumming in Portugal on company money.  Janet Blackledge – upcoming 14 days in the Mediterranean if she can get new glasses in time.  Byron Taber – Kernels’ foundation check will help them reach their $4000 goal for installing ball fields in Marion. Joe Nolte – for his exciting trip to Sioux City.  Dick Boardman – happy he doesn’t have to give Bob McAvoy a ride – Bob remembered he drove.  Don Grimm – introduced his guest, Kathy Hedlund as an adversary at the bridge table.

Next week’s program: 

Speaker:   Terry Pitts, Director of the Art Museum, gave a very informative talk.  Terry has been with the museum for 7 years.  Prior to that he spent 25 years in Tucson and is originally from the Arlington Hts area of Illinois.

The Art Museum officially began in 1905 in a single room of the newly built Carnegie Library.  It was run by volunteers.  From its humble beginnings to WWII, it would purchase 1-2 pieces of art annually.  It wasn’t until the Turner family became involved with Grant Wood did the museum take off.  With over 100 Grant Wood pieces in its collection, the Turner family began donating them to the museum.  Today the museum has over 5,000 pieces of art, most of which were donated.  The primary mission of the museum is to educate and provide cultural opportunities for the entire community.

Terry gave a brief history of  Grant Wood’s studio and also mentioned several of the many partnerships the museum has with the school district, the African-American Museum and Coe College, to name a few.  Excellent presentation.

Word for the day: Don Grimm caught us on a really bright day.  His word, “luddite”, was correctly guessed within 3 seconds, possibly a new Kiwanian mind-speed record.  Don and Chuck both coughed up dollars.  The definition: One who opposes the introduction of new technology, esp. into a place of work. 

Submitted:  Dan Breitbach