Happy Birthday Tracy!

Happpppy Birthday to International Representative Tracy! =)

You can help give March for Babies $25!

Greetings CKI!

♥ Every Circle K'er who registers = $25 donation to March for Babies! ♥

Farmers will be donating $25.00 to March for Babies for each walker who registers from now until December 31st, 2008.

Don’t wait to register for this exciting event! Do so today at http://www.marchforbabies.org and register by clicking on Join a Team, Start a Team or Find an Event.

Please tell your friends about this fantastic incentive by emailing them a link to this blog post, so they can register early and join you at March for Babies 2009! Celebrate the season by knowing that you and Farmers are helping to give every baby a healthy start.

UPDATE: If you registered for March for Babies prior to this announcement, the $25.00 Farmers donation for your registration will still apply. Please note that Farmers is making these donations to March for Babies in order to encourage participants to register before the end of the year and that the donations will go directly to March for Babies - NOT to the individual walker, chapter or team.

Please register today!

DOWNLOAD RESOURCES: http://slp.kiwanis.org/CircleK/Resources/Service_Partner_March_of_Dimes.aspx
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=39847915885

Yours in the spirit of healthy babies,

--Kristen

Prez Picks 2008 CKI Awards

Greetings CKI!

So with only a little over a week left to the year 2008 I have been taking time recently to reflect on our CKI year since August. Without a doubt I can say that I have never been prouder of CKI.

The best part of my job being International President has been receiving the e-mails from District Governors and Club Presidents giving me updates on how things are going in their club. Whether it’s a short e-mail to ask me for ideas for recruitment or a long email to tell me how a recent fundraiser or service project has gone I have absolutely enjoyed reading and getting feedback on all of the excellent things our organization has done.

Because of all of the excellent communication this blog post is dedicated to those who have done excellent service and I hope you enjoy my “Prez Picks 2008 CKI Awards.” These acknowledgments aren’t based on any International approved criteria or any special requirements. They are simply my notes on what I have seen cross my desk as the best in service, leadership, and fellowship since I have been elected in August and what better way to thank everyone for being so fabulous then my blog?

Enjoy and congratulations to EVERYONE in the Kiwanis family for an excellent 2008 year.

Live to Serve – Love to Serve,

--Kristen

Outstanding Service to Service Partner – STUFH
Arizona State University CKI
ASU surely does know how to put the FUN in funky fun service. CKI’s recent partnership with Students Team Up to Fight Hunger has fostered local food drives as the key to making an impact globally. ASU CKI held a really neat service project collecting canned goods for the St. Mary’s Food Bank this semester and the innovative idea of creating a “Castle of Cans” gained a lot of attention and in return helped collect many, many cans for the Food Bank. Congrats to Club President Amanda Badali and all of ASU CKI for an excellent project.

Outstanding Service to Service Partner – March of Dimes
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh CKI
Sometimes it can be difficult to fundraise for causes all of the time especially since we are broke college students. The UW-Oshkosh club did an excellent project during Prematurity Awareness month making Thanksgiving decorations for their local Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. It was a fantastic and easy way to help out our service partner without having to fundraise or burn too much cash. The turkey decorations were adorable and definitely appreciated by all. Congrats to Club President Lyssa Bergstrom for such a sweet and heart felt project this November!

Outstanding Service to Service Partner – UNICEF/Six Cents Initiative
Capital District CRABS
Since the launch of http://www.unicefusa.org/sixcentsonline many teams have been competing for the top spot as the #1 fundraising team for the Six Cents team. The Capital District CRABS have been pinching their way to success by making every last penny count. With their current donation reaching well over $1000.00 we surely do appreciate all of the fundraisers and fund solicitation they do to help save lives, $0.06 at a time.

Outstanding Service to Service Partner – Better World Books
University of Manitoba CKI
To date, the University of Manitoba Circle K has shipped out over 200 boxes of books to help improve education out in Africa, with another shipment of 125 boxes collected over the summer to be sent out later this week as a part of the Books for Africa Program with Better World Books!

Outstanding Key Club Alumni now CKI Member
Sarah Smith, University of Delaware CKI

Sarah is an awesome example of continuous service in the Kiwanis Family. After her year as Governor of the Capital District of CKI Sarah decided to not let the fun stop there and has been serving CKI and the world through the U of Delaware CKI club. It’s true what they say that once you’re in the Kiwanis family you are always in the Kiwanis family.

Outstanding Key Club Alumni now CKI Member
Jeremy Missuk, Washington University in St. Louis CKI

Jeremy served Key Club International as District Governor of the New Jersey District back in 2005-2006. Although he may have moved from New Jersey to Missouri he didn’t leave his love to serve at home. Jeremy is currently serving as the very hard working Club President for Wash U in St. Louis’ CKI club and continuous to publicize the “K-Fam” and CKI on his campus.

Outstanding Key Club Alumni now CKI Member
Imran Yassin, New York University CKI

Imran is a past Key Club Lt. Governor from NY and ever since this summer he has done nothing but non-stop work for the NY District of CKI. His outstanding enthusiasm and hard work ethic is something he brought with him from Key Club and he continues to impress me by serving on one of our CKI Ad-hoc Committees and as a NYCKI District Chair. Thanks for all of your hard work and dedication Imran – it doesn’t go unnoticed, that’s for sure!

Outstanding Key Club Alumni now CKI Member
Joe Denoncourt – Arizona State University CKI

Joe has taken his heart of a servant leader from being a past District Governor of the NY District of Key Club and has brought it to the sunny state of Arizona. He quickly became involved with the ASU CKI club and has even volunteered as a member of our Circle K International Blood Drive Ad-hoc Committee. Thanks Joe from not only bringing your service to another branch of the Kiwanis family but also another coast as well. It’s great to have you as a member!

Outstanding Enthusiasm

Michelle Clemens, Mercyhurst University CKI
I love Lt. Governors. I served as an LTG myself in Key Club but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with all of our Lt. Governors in CKI and especially Michelle Clemens. Whenever Michelle signs online to Google’s GChat she gives me updates on the projects that the Erie Division is up to in Pennsylvania. Whether it’s offering me the opportunity to write an article for her publication or give her recruitment and retention advice I have loved Michelle’s up beat attitude and grace that she has whenever she has tackling any task for CKI.

Outstanding Enthusiasm
Minerva Thai, Duke University CKI

Minerva is serving this year as President of Duke University’s CKI. I always hear updates via Facebook from Minerva on nifty projects that Duke is up to. Minerva is one of those club presidents that an IP loves to work with simply because she always takes the time out of her schedule to give me a heads up on their latest and greatest strides towards changing the world.

Outstanding Service Project
Austin State Sensory Room Project
This project created a sensory room for developmentally impaired residents. With help from 4 chapters in her division and donations from Kiwanis Clubs in multiple divisions, Brittany Davis, Hill Country Lt. Governor of the Texas-Oklahoma District planned this extraordinary project that is simple service but leaving a serious impact to children in her community. Great project Brittany!

Outstanding Service Project
Service in Da Burgh
This project was an overnight event held at the University which held true to the fellowship aspects as well as the service and leadership. Many service projects were "going green" and there was even an ice breaker relay race. Steph Young and Justin Aaron should be commended for doing such a fantastic job organizing a service event with so many bonding experiences available as well. Thanks Steph and Justin for bringing service to Pittsburgh!

Outstanding Service Project
Camp Wawbeek Clean Up
This project was organized by Sarah Rihn as a part of the Wisconsin-Upper Michigan District’s Membership Awareness Conference. This project winterized the camp by chopping wood, painting, and cleaning. The CKI members in attendance truly had a fantastic time and between the beautiful fall sunny weather, hard work ethic of enthusiastic CKI members, and work to be done it was the perfect atmosphere for a great afternoon of service.

Outstanding Service Project
Free Rice
The University of Tampa has continued this semester a "FreeRice.com" campaign. Members are promoting the website, which donates grains of rice to alleviate hunger for each correct answer in grammar, foreign language, arts, or chemistry, all around campus as well as holding projects where everyone brings a laptop and "freerices" together! Keep up the amazing work Tampa!

Outstanding Service Project
Boo in the Zoo
The Purdue University CKI Club put on this year their annual Boo in the Zoo. The club attends a couple days before Halloween and sets up a bunch of "haunted" stations, and then attend Halloween night and dressed up in different costumes. It was an excellent project to bring the haunted zoo to life and congratulations to President Ray for such an excellent project by the Purdue U CKI Club!

Outstanding Service Project
Family Christmas Party
The Concord University CKI Club held a Family Christmas Party with many families in attendance as well as selling their CKI Cookbook. Some of the children from the daycare center put reindeer atlers on and presented a program of Christmas songs as well as a gift auction, cookie tray sale, and special visit from Santa occured. All of the fundraiser sales are going to help build a new playground for the campus daycare center. Great job to Ashleigh Glass and the whole Concord University CKI Club for a holiday sweet treat for your campus and families!

Outstanding Service Project
24 Hours of Service
The University of Michigan Circle K Club put together a total Serve-a-thon for the Fall 2008 semester! Projects during the 24 hours included Kiwanis Rummage Sale, Ronald McDonald Dinner Preparation, Hospital Dolls, Bottle Drive for Habitat for Humanity, Card Making for Hugs for Hope, Mitten Making, and much much more. For more information on the 24 hours of Service feel free to check out http://www.umcirclek.org/serviceday.php for all of the fun that U of Michigan was able to have with changing their campus and community around them!

Outstanding Fundraising
California-Nevada-Hawaii District
The CNH District has made a promise to CKI to raise $10,000 for the Six Cents Initiative before the year is over. Not only is this a remarkable amount of money but the commitment that this district has made to bring safe drinking water to children around the world is very inspiring. Whether it has been through poker tournaments or singing for donations at International Convention this district is motivated and driven to do their part and has already raised over $6,000 for the Six Cents Initiative with UNICEF.

Outstanding Fundraising
Elmira College CKI
This Circle K Club is known on campus for putting on the most fun event all spring at Elmira College! The Circle K Olympics includes silly field games such as dipping a leg in Vaseline to see how many cotton balls one can collect, wheel chair raises, shaving a balloon, and much much more. This annual project raises funds for a local cause and this year the club donated their profits to the ARC in Elmira. Congrats to Elmira for putting on a fun in the sun day for your campus while helping out others!

Outstanding Fundraising
Carolinas District CKI

http://sixcentsbook.com/ is the link to the Carolinas District site to order their Live to Serve, Love to Serve Book being sold currently to benefit the Six Cents Initiative. Assistant District Administrator Jeffrey Marsocci worked extremely hard to collect stories from Circle K members all over the world to be compiled in this book to benefit our signature charitable fundraising initiative with UNICEF. Thanks Jeffrey, Domestic Partner Publishing, and to the Carolinas District for an awesome fundraising idea.

Outstanding Support to CKI

Kasey Jackson, Kiwanis International Office

Honestly, Kasey is one of the biggest reasons why I always boast about how well the Kiwanis International Office supports CKI. She has served formerly as our CKI Magazine Editor and although she has moved on to a new position within Kiwanis International she has continued to support CKI every chance she gets. Whether it was in May when we first spent 12 hours together drafting and brainstorming the new CKI Web-site or the hours she spends outside of the office posting news headlines, tip me sections, and new polls Kasey always supports and dedicates time to CKI. We’ve joked from time to time that she has “neglected her three little boys to help Kristen slave over the CKI site” but without her creative nature and fun to work with personality I don’t know how the web stuff would have gotten completed. Thanks for all you do Kasey, it means the world to me!

Outstanding Support to CKI

Jeff Wolff, Kiwanis Club of Tysons Corner
Being District Administrator to the Capital Crabs is no small task. Jeff is constantly fostering leadership skills and being a great advisor to the CDCKI Board while also serving as Lt. Governor to Division 20 of the Capital District. He is one of my favorite Kiwanians in all of Kiwanis and always inspires me to not only be a better president but is personal and a fantastic advocate for CDCKI in the Capital District of Kiwanis. At the 2008 Capital District DCON Jeff even had the Club Achievement Award named in his honor. Thanks Jeff for all you – you’re truly a role model for what a Kiwanian should be!

Outstanding Publication

T-O Today
District Editor Jessica Burkemper can put together one rockin’ publication! The T-O Today is one of those newsletters that I look forward to receiving a copy of in my inbox. Editor Jessica’s eye for layout, content, colors, and CKI graphics is so impressive and truly a talent. I know her publication is a remarkable resource for Texas-Oklahoma and many props go out to Jessica for one of the prettiest publications I have seen all year.

Outstanding Publication

The Ace
The Ace is the publication by the University of Nevada Las Vegas Club. The Ace contains the weekly agenda, calendar, and service project highlights for the club. I remember seeing this publication when I was judging the outstanding newsletter award last year at ICON Denver in August. Although the UNLV has much to be proud of including their incredible web-site their newsletter is an excellent resource and publication to it’s member. Mad Props UNLV! Keep up the awesome work!

Outstanding Support from Key Club

Zac Underwood, Georgia District Key Club Governor
I hear nothing but praise about Zac’s dedication to the Kiwanis family and promoting relations between Key Club and Circle K. Governor Scott Barron of GACKI has even nominated Zac as an outstanding member on his Monthly Report Form. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to be teamed up with Zac as co-facilitators at this year’s Kiwanis Family Conference for Team Bobsled! His sense of humor and service to the whole “K-Fam” will surely take him far in the future. Thanks for all you do Zac!

Outstanding Leadership

Lukas Rix, Wayne State College CKI

Good Luck to anyone who tries to find a more caring and intuitive person then Lukas! Lukas is always lending a hand to CKI by being an active member of his home club, Governor of the Nebraska-Iowa District, and Chair of Circle K International’s largest service project of the year, Large Scale Service Project in Birmingham. We are so happy to have Lukas as a club, district, and international leader and he always puts his heart into every task he can. Thanks for all you Lukas – your priceless to CKI!

Outstanding Leadership

Monica Van Den Hurk, Carleton University CKI
Have you ever tried chartering a district? Monica has! Monica Van Den Hurk spends her days as an active member of the Carleton University CKI club outside of Ottawa, Ontario Canada. I have been working side by side with her, Representative Hotchkiss, and Representative Geiger to get Eastern Canada chartered as their own district this year. Monica’s passion stems from her past involvement as a Key Club Lt. Governor and she puts the same heart into everything she does with EC. It’s not easy working with a district that speaks both French and English but I am very proud of the inspiration she has instilled in her members and all of her hard work towards compiling a nice profile for her Kiwanis district to review on Eastern Canada.

Outstanding Dedication

Toby Markham, Rio Grande CKI

Toby is serving this year as a member of the Marketing and Kiwanis Family Relations CKI Committee as well as Treasurer for the Ohio District. His dedication to making sure that all of his directives are done truly astounds me. His specialty has recently been developing a KCI to CKI survey to help us assess as an organization what we can do to have our high school counterparts continue on by joining CKI. Thank you Toby for always being on time, doing excellent work, and showing everyone what a heart of a true servant is!

Outstanding Dedication

Andrew Horn, Knox College CKI
Andrew spends his time not only making the district publication for the Illinois-Eastern Iowa District but he is also their District Treasurer. His dedication to making sure that he can help I-I succeed in every way always impresses me. He is eager to help in any way and encourages others to lend a hand as well by getting their articles published. Thanks for all you do Andrew!

Outstanding Dedication

James Pouliot, Michigan Tech University CKI
James, Jimmy, or Jimmy P are just a few of the nicknames that James gets called oh so affectionately by his Wisconsin-Upper Michigan CKI members. Not only has James dedicated his time this year by serving as Governor of one of CKI’s finest districts but has also taken on the task of being our CKI Ad-hoc Chair for Corporate Sponsorship, Internship, and Scholarship. His e-mails and updates are always filled with humor and charm and he always makes sure that the clubs and service are at the forefront of every action he takes. Thanks for all you do James, you rock.

Outstanding Work Ethic

Gerard Sukhram, University of Tampa CKI
Gerard is serving as this year’s KCI to CKI Chair for the Florida District. I am constantly getting comments from Governor Kadie and other members of the Florida District on how hard he works to foster relations between the two branches. He has made it a goal to have CKI representation at 75% or more of Key Club's Fall and Spring conferences and has been communicating regularly with Key Club Lt. Governors and Executive Board members. Thanks for all you do Gerard!

Outstanding Work Ethic

Jess Maguire, Richard Stockton College CKI
Jess is serving as this year’s District Treasurer for the NJ District. Her positive attitude and optimism makes her easily approachable especially on the tough subject of dues and dues collection. She is an up and coming leader in the NJDCKI and graduated last spring from the CKI Leadership Academy. Thanks for all you do Jess and hard work ethic towards dues and fundraising in New Jersey Circle K.

Outstanding Web-site
California-Nevada-Hawaii District
Francis Casanova is seriously the king of the web. CNH’s Web-site is extremely attractive, colorful, and most importantly member friendly. Through the CNH Community you can visit different areas such as the CNH blog, newsletter, and YouTube Channel. The updates are always continuous and the layout of District Board information is personal and welcoming. To check out the great work for yourself visit http://cnhcirclek.org/. Congratulations to Webmaster Francis and the whole CNH District for an awesome presence on the World Wide Web.

Outstanding Web-site
Capital Division, Alabama District
Lt. Governor T.J. does an excellent job updating http://www.capitaldivision.webs.com/ with relevant information for club officers, members, and Kiwanis family members. The web-site is very user friendly and highlights the division newsletter on the very front page. In addition to a plethora of downloadables there is a nifty Podcast for members to take a listen to on their visit to the site. Great division site T.J. – keep up the good work!

Outstanding Web-site
Wayne State CKI
http://www.cki.wayne.edu/ is a fun place where you can find the happenings of the Wayne State Circle K Club of Detroit, Michigan. Their friendly icons and easy to navigate sections of their site make it an excellent asset to current members and attractive selling point to prospective. Their CKI promotional video on the front page is a nice addition as well as the minutes posted for those who are interested in what the club is up to. Awesome interface, awesome user friendly ability, and awesome web-site Wayne State!

Outstanding Support to the CKI Prez
My puppy Buster :)
Many of you may find this dorky but my new puppy has been my biggest stress reliever this semester. He is only 4 months old and every time I’ve needed a break I’ve come home to walk him or play Frisbee. With the new snow and winter weather he is now fully equipped with a jacket, boots, reindeer antlers, and Santa hat (I promise to upload pictures at a later date.) If I could bring him to International Board Meetings with me I surely would because he is the cutest thing on the planet. Lastly, he is named after my favorite NFL Player of all time Jerome Bettis of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Woot Woot! =)

Outstanding Support to the CKI Prez
Danielle Iwatsu, Kiwanis Club of Fletcher Hills
Danielle is one of my favorite people to pass ideas by. Her enthusiasm as immediate past Governor of the CNH district and now her knowledge as a Kiwanian have been invaluable to me. I look forward to bounding ideas off of Danielle and seeking advice in her on my hard days. Thanks Danielle for being one of my biggest supporters and CKI role models. :)

Outstanding Support to the CKI Prez
Ronald Liu & Chris Plasterer, Cal-Nev-Ha
I love you both dearly...need I say more? :) Thanks for always offering helpful suggestions and ways on how to improve Circle K International and fostering service, leadership, and fellowship. Your advice, talent, and wisdom is ALWAYS appreciated.

Outstanding Support to the CKI Prez
Ricardo Torres, CKI Vice-President
Thanks for always being the "bestest most amazingest." I appreciate all your hard work and help with keeping our committees at tip top shape and helping me with the board. :)

Outstanding CKI Board
Tracy, Sarah, JJ, Tiffany, Christa, Eric, Kathryn, and Ricardo
Congrats a job well done in 08! Can't wait to see you all in Chicago for our Board Meeting and each and everyone of you has been doing a phenomenal job -- I couldn't be prouder. :)

CKI wants your pictures!

Hey CKI members!

Want to see your photo in future publications by CKI?

Check out: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=40731403611 for more information and the below message from Representative Fry!


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The MKFR Committee needs some pictures of CKI members for our newsletters and publications. We would like to have pictures from service projects, club meetings, conventions, or whatever fun CKI events you have photographed.

Please upload your pictures to this event or email some of your CKI pictures (especially high resolution) to ckimkfrcommittee@gmail.com so that all of our committee members will have access to these pictures.

Although we might not use all of them immediately, we will have them for stock photos and will hopefully not need to bother you in the future to ask for more pictures. Thanks for all you do for CKI!

--
In friendship and service,
Christa Fry
International Representative, Sub-region E
subregione@circlek.org
Marketing and Kiwanis Family Relations Committee Chair
Circle K International "Service, Leadership and Fellowship"

Happy Holidays

Holiday Cheer

Greetings CKI!

Looking for a way to spread some Seasons Greetings?!

Check out http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/hannahgarman
for more information on how you can make a difference in the life of a child this holiday season.

Keep warm, serve often, and have a fantastic winter break!

-Kristen

End of the Semester Food Drives

Hi Everyone!

It's the end of the Fall 2008 semester - woohoo! Now is the perfect time to host Food Drives for Students Team Up to Fight Hunger. Check out the video below for more information!

Live to Serve -- Love to Serve,

--Kristen

New Service Ambassadors Appointed

Hi friends!

I am very happy to announce that our two service committee vacancies have been filled by fantastic appointees.

Congratulations to Monica Caudillo of Texas A&M University in the Texas-Oklahoma District for being appointed our new CKI Service Ambassador to Better World Books. Also, Rich Henderson of Bridgewater State in the New England District was appointed last week to serve as our CKI Ambassador to UNICEF/Six Cents Initiative!

Congratulations to both and welcome aboard! From the East to the West, CKI is the best!

Live to Serve -- Love to Serve,

--Kristen

December is veryyyy cold!

Greetings CKI!

I thought everyone would be interested in checking out a screen shot of what my desktop says it is outside. Feel free to click the image above on the right and see what the lower right hand yellow box says, it's a very chilly ZERO degrees here in New York.

Today I had an excellent conference call with the Wisconsin-Upper Michigan District Board. Congratulations to them for a very successful board meeting and deciding to have it on the phone rather then people driving through dangerous conditions. It's always important to make sure that we are staying safe this holiday/winter season with our travels.

If you are looking for a fun way to get your club involved although when there is very chilly weather I highly recommend having social nights in where your members can enjoy hot chocolate, cookie making, gift wrapping, watching movies, playing board games, or maybe even having a mystery gift swap. You can also try fun activities like ice skating socials or hockey game socials. Above is a picture of myself and my friend Brittany at a hockey game, clearly I went all out to support my Potsdam Bears by painting a bear paw on my cheek! haha! It's always nice to plan fellowship activities not just because it is cold but also because it's a nice opportunity to give members a stress reliever from studying for final exams, we all know how stressful the end of the semester can get!

So thanks for reading my update and keep your eyes peeled for the CKI Board Book being released soon!

Live to Serve -- Love to Serve,

--Kristen

p.s. The International Board is holding a Holiday Mingle in Chicago, Illinois this January! If you want to meet us click here for more details or e-mail me at president@circlek.org. Hope to see you there!