President DOUG was sans gavel, but it didn't stop the meeting from starting.

VENETTA MILLER gave a stirring invocation and RUSS DIX (keeper of the gator) introduced guests, all interestingly sitting at the same table. BRIAN BLOUNT hosted Karl Bowen, a fellow Chamber Ambassador; and Cheryl Kennish, wife of soon to be member Joe. MAC PORTER had his daughter, Marcey McCane, with him. Lynn Buchanon was at the table, but had to leave before the meeting began to tour the city by bus.

JOE KENNISH was finally inducted by President Doug and sponsor Brian. He has been in the community just over a year and ours was the first club he visited. He decided against seeing any others after coming to one of our meetings. He is the manager of Longs Drug. Welcome Joe.

Joe immediately stood up to tell us about the opportunity the JM Long Foundation has for non-profits. They distribute over $2 million annually to deserving groups and programs. See Joe for an application.

JACK GILBERT passed a sign-up sheet for Vintiques Bingo. Set up is August 1 and the games will be on August 2 & 3. Check with Jack for times needed. It is a great way to get a feel for our upcoming Fair Bingo.

KIRSTEN STOFFER told of the changes to our website. She has made it better, with a movie about Kiwanis and some resource links.

Kirsten also announced next weeks program: Lisa Pooler, Yakima Children of Chernobyl. Our August 6th meeting will be moved to the Center. The rest of this month will be at our usual location, but the first meeting in August will be across the street.

CHRIS CRISTMAN was bingo caller for the day and Doug filled in as sergeant again. Hunt for the tattoo was the featured event, with CORKY MATTINGLY the object of spirited bidding to first see her tattoo and then, when she attempted to disrobe and show us all, a substantial anti-see fee was paid.

Kirsten introduced speaker Tracy Day of Children's Village's Yakima County Parent-to-Parent. This is an umbrella family support group for families of children with special needs. Her own son Andy has autism and cerebral palsy, so she is able to speak first hand about the challenges families face. The main thrust of the program is to recruit veteran parents of children with special needs, train them, and then match them with those who have recently discovered their child has special needs. Parent-toParent also runs a variety of programs for other family members, as well as the One-to-One program that pairs teen buddies with special needs kids in recreation programs. Tracy left us with a brief primer on People First Language, which is simply a way of talking about special needs children with the focus firmly on them. A description would be phrased in the following way: our child with autism, NOT our autistic child.

Email this page to a friend: