Membership Round-Up, YeeeeHaw!

In the pictures above you will see CKI Sub-region F International Representative Eric Hotchkiss, myself, Kiwanis International President Dave Curry, Key Club International President Kia-Albertson-Rogers, and Key Club International Trustee Jessica Morris. Also, the next picture to the right is me with one of my many sets of NY Kiwanis "parents" Joanne and Justin Underwood. Click photos to enlarge.

This past week I had the distinct honor to attend the NYD Kiwanis Membership Round-Up in Syracuse, New York. The Kiwanians of the Ontario division pulled out quite the red carpet for President Dave, myself, and President Kia. The dinner hall was completely decorated with cowboy decorations, western boots, and everyone in attendance was wearing their best bandannas, cowboy hats, and spurs!

President Kia and I were both given the opportunity to address the dinner with messages from our respective organizations. For those of you who don't know, I have known Kia for 5 years having had his brother Wren serve as my District Editor my year as KC Governor and his mom serves on the Kiwanis Committee for Key Club. When Kia gave his speech I couldn't have been prouder! To know Kia for so long and watch him grow up, give a remarkable speech, and have such a charming/warming presence in the room there it's no wonder why KCI selected him to be their president this year. Kia's greetings also included presenting President Dave with the first ever Anthony J. Palangi Memorial Service Recognition award for Dave's commitment to serving the children of the world. When it was my time to speak I asked all the Kiwanians in the room what their favorite past time was when they weren't busy serving others and if anyone liked baseball? After a few roots and cheers from my fellow NY Yankees fans I read my favorite quote to everyone -- "I've learned you should not go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands, you need to be able to throw a few things back!" This is a quote that many of you may have heard me say in caucus and in my address to the Kiwanians I promised that Circle K would be working very hard to throw some things back to Kiwanis and work with them this year to better Kiwanis Family Relations. I also presented President Dave with a CKI Survival Kit! The kit included a plastic red CKI megaphone, CKI navy drawstring bag, DVD on Kamp Kiwanis, Six Cents Initiative pin, and the 08-09 NYCKI pin. Dave was a huge fan of our CKI Megaphone and used in numerous times through the evening!

The purpose for this dinner was to install 12 new Kiwanians of the Ontario Division and also to be the main call center for reporting new members from around the entire NY District. My Kiwanis Governor Don Herring asked each Lt. Governor in the district to hold a "Membership Round-Up" to recruit new members to join Kiwanis. Every "round-up" site called in to our dinner hall and reported throughout the night how many members they had recruited to join Kiwanis. The NY Kiwanis division of Long Island South Central called to report they had recruited 45 new members to join! 45 new members in one night! How incredible? To say I was impressed would be an understatement. The night wrapped up with President Dave installing the new Kiwanians and a very lengthy raffle of nifty prizes including gorgeous dream catchers and gift baskets. At the end of the evening the NY Kiwanis District had gained a grand total of 233 new Kiwanians. After all of the numbers reported were accumulated Governor Don announced that the small goal that was set for the evening was 100 new Kiwanians and the big goal for the district was 200 new members.

Congratulations to the NYD of Kiwanis for not only meeting their small goal but exceeding their big goal as well!

Being that this is the very beginning of our 2008-2009 Circle K year, Representative Eric and I were very lucky to have had the opportunity to spend some quality time with our fellow Kiwanis and Key Club International leaders! After speaking with President Dave on the state of Kiwanis and their fabulous convention in Orlando and talk to President about the new and exciting Key Club Web-site and initiatives in the works I have never been more excited for an excellent year of K-Family Relations!

For more information on the Membership Round-Up (super cool idea!) check out the NYD Kiwanis Web-site and in Kiwanis they always say -- One CAN Make a Difference! Well, it is exciting to know that this ONE event brought in 233 more Kiwanians to join our Kiwanis family to make a difference as well!

K-Love,

--Kristen







In the pictures above you will see Kia, Eric, Jessica, and I "monkeying" around our favorite ficus in the dinner hall. To the right, Kia and I check out each other's new International President's pins. Last but not least, me with Mrs. & Mr. Eppolito. Mr. & Mrs. E, as I like to affectionately call them, were my Key Club District Kiwanis Committee Representatives when I was a KCI Lt. Governor and Governor in High School! Click photos to enlarge.