JANUARY 27, 2009
Pat Danielson A great meeting for the last week of the month was started off with JOHN WARREN greeting us at the door. PRESIDENT RON, in his official sweater vest, called the meeting to order and also welcomed us. JULIUS GLOVER once again led us in "rousing" singing (we are sounding better) and we had no guests to introduce.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: PRESIDENT RON then gave out his Kiwanian of the Month award plus a cup of coffee to none other than Edward the Elf aka SPENCER HATTON for his tireless service and green tights to the children during December. Spencer then also thanked ROGER BELL aka Santa and said Edward couldn't do it without Roger.
SGT. LORI CROW then did a great job of fleecing us. Good material was gotten at PRESIDENT RON aka Prosecuting Attorney Ron's retirement party.
BETH KLINGELE then won the BIG pot at Bingo and KARL CORPRON was the winner and then loser of the 50/50 and everyone was happy except Karl.
BECKY SCHOLL as head of our Young Children Priority One Committee (along with members STACEY DRAKE and KIRSTEN DANIELSON) then introduced our project for YCPO for this year. Creative Families for Ready by Five. YCPO is the Kiwanis program that is geared to children under 5 years of age and this project is perfect with opportunities to volunteer and be part of the project of helping children, parents and the community.
Stacey, who is not only a member of our club but is the Children's Program Director for Ready by Five, explained to us the importance of young children playing and developing their brain power. So far only 27% of the children in the Yakima School District are ready for kindergarten when they get their. Ready by Five should help with that statistic and we as part of the YCPO project for our club can help also. Play is missing in the homes -- play that developments young minds --not video games or TV. Children need singing, chanting, nursery rhymes. Our club will cover expenses for a couple of months for this group that has been meeting for less than a year and we can also volunteer. Usually, 40 to 50 attend the group meeting. Activites are simple (which should help us help them) and their is a mix of staff and volunteers. David Garcia of Ready by Five also helped Stacey explain the need and the activities.
Our next program is SIGN - a surgical emplant procedure to fix broken bones in third world countries. This is a Kiwanis project and the program is given by Tri Cities' Kiwanians about Dr. Zirkle (no ken to our President!).
Back to Local Headlines
|
