Thank you 2008-2009!

Hey there CKI-

Whether you know this or not there are probably over a hundred Circle K'ers around the world right now waiting and counting down til their clocks hit 12:00am EST. Well, with that being said I know I will be one of those people and I am just as sad as I am excited.

April 1st, 2009 at 12:00am EST marks the brand new 2009-2010 service year and while I am absolutely ecstatic about the opportunity to meet with new bright and brilliant leaders this year I can't help but also be sad and say goodbye to the leadership team family I have known to grow and love this year as well. Thank you so much to every officer and member who helped your districts succeed. The year that we had would not have been as great without any single person missing from the equation and I am very proud to have been along for the ride as International Representative and to finish it off as President. I hope that every single person knows how thankful I am for the great things that they have done and I know will continue to do inside and outside CKI.

May your hearts always be warm 08-09 & gear up 09-10!

--Kristen

UNICEF Videos

New Videos from unicef

• UNICEF: Slavery Victims Remembrance Day Video debuts
• UNICEF: Rwandan girls awarded for academic excellence
• UNICEF: New Yorkers walk a mile on World Water Day
• UNICEF: International Youth Conference meets in Liberia
• UNICEF: Joel Madden and Tap Project for safe water

By Popular Demand: Boo Boo Bunnie Directions

Hi to all my friends who attended the Member's Workshop this morning at NYCKI DCON 09!

By popular demand here are the directions for BooBoo Bunnies. I know you guys were interested in doing them for the service project at your club meetings and I hope you have a ton of fun!

Supplies:

• googly eyes
• pom poms (small and mini sized, small = tail, mini = nose)
• rubber bands
• glue (tacky glue works)
• washcloths (square, can get like...an 18 pack at walmart or something)
• thin colored ribbon
  

To make a booboo bunnie:

• fold the washcloth in half diagonally
  
• start rolling the washcloth from the shorter side (not where the fold is in the washcloth, but where the two points met, if that makes sense)-this will be the bunny's body
• fold the cloth in half; the fold will now be the bunny's butt. secure with rubber band about halfway
• fold the cloth in half again and secure about 1/3 way with the rubber band. cover the rubber band with a thin ribbon. this side will be the face. the excess towel part will be the ears, make them look like ears
• glue on googly eyes and mini pom pom for the nose
• voila! you're done and now have a beautiful Boo Boo Bunnie

(See Picture for CNH members with finished bunnies! How cute!?)











For those of you who weren't at my workshop this morning (haha, most of you reading this) I hope you find this as a fun project to do for children and seniors as well.

Take Care!

Live to Serve -- Love to Serve,
--Kristen

There's no place like HOME!

Hey there CKI!

I arrived this morning with my District Treasurer Gabby to the New York District's District Convention. It was really great to be welcomed by my fantastic Assistant Administrators as well as the rockin' SUNY New Paltz CKI club and their great decorations. This year's convention is themed "Service: Gettin' jiggy with it!" It's pretty rockin because everywhere you are you can find pixie sticks, pokemon cards, Power Ranger action figures and much more. When I get home I will upload pictures of the cute table decorations varying from Salut your Shorts to Rugrats.

The clubs were the most enthusiastic I have ever seen them before and the dance was awesome with things like the alligator dance, cotton-eye joe, and karaoke.

Congrats to NY for having 21 clubs in attendance this year - that is quite the milestone!

Cal-Nev-Ha, Capital, and Pennsylvania: I hope you guys are having a blast at your DCON too! :)

Yours in the love of NYCKI,
--Kristen

March for Babies Call

YOU'RE INVITED!

Want to share your best fundraiser? Looking for new ideas to recruit other students to your team? Just curious as to what actually happens on March for Babies day? Gear up for the big day in April! Join us on this call led by March of Dimes National Youth Council members to chat with other students from across the nation about the March of Dimes’ major event, March for Babies. Please pass this call information on to anyone you think could benefit!

DATE: March 30th
TIME: 9 pm Eastern CALL-IN: 1 800 411 7650 code 0820#

Yours in the Spirit of Saving Babies,
--Kristen

April Board Book

Hi there CKI!

The International Board will be holding a meeting next month in Indianapolis, IN. For Committee Updates and Reports from the International President please click here to view the April Board Book. Feel free to e-mail any member of the International Board if you have any questions.

Live to Serve -- Love to Serve,

--Kristen

Catch the Bracket Fever! Join the "CKI Bracket Madness" Facebook group!

Hey CKI!

Whether it's in class, during your club meetings, or at work I am sure during one place or another you have been invited to join a Bracket pool or you've seen printed empty brackets waiting to be filled up. Never fear CKI is here!

One of our greatest strengths as an organization is our fellowship and what better way to celebrate this then with a little help with the good ole' NCAA.

To help make this March Madness a fun CKI time I've created a "CKI Bracket Madness" group on Facebook that will allow you to make your bracket, dish out smack talk, and interact with out CKI members from schools all over the nation and world.

So upload your bracket, get your smack talk ready, and visit the group for a friendly competition and great time with fellow Circle K'ers.

Live to Serve -- Love to Serve,
--Kristen

Year-to-date Statistics

Below is an e-mail I received from our helpful friend Tony Cooper at the Kiwanis International Office. Check out these awesome statistics!

Keep growinggggg, growinggg, strong CKI and thank you to everyone who helped us exceed our 10,000 threshold. These new totals bring us to 83.66% towards our year goal of 13,125 members!

Live to Serve -- Love to Serve,
--Kristen

-----------------------------------------

Hi Kristen,

Here are the Y-T-D club and membership stats for CKI.

CLUB STATS

Paid clubs: 416

Suspended 58

Retained 60

New 11

TOTAL 534

MEMBER STATS:

Paid members: 10,980

Have a good day!
Tony

Tony Cooper

Kiwanis

International

Area Director

Service Leadership Programs

New CKITV Video: "District Convention in 5 minutes!"

Ahoy, me harties from Michigan!

Yo ho ho! Ahoy, mates!

I wanted to take a quick second to hop online and send you pirate love from the amazing Michigan District of Circle K! This evening and weekend have sure been a lot of fun and I am very blessed to have had the opportunity to spend this weekend in such remarkable company. I've always been impressed by the potential and sparks of enthusiasm that occur when people gather for one common purpose and this District Convention is no exception. This weekend through Penny Wars, Costume Contests, games of "Guess how much Booty is in the jar?" and other friendly competitions the clubs of Michigan have come together to raise money for the Six Cents Initiative. As soon as Governor Ashley gives me an update on the Penny Wars I will surely keep all of you posted with how much they raise. I always love it when I can visit some place and immediately feel welcomed as if I was at home. It was also great to see our CKI Director Erin Fischer visit to lead the Michigan District's advisors and Kiwanians in Advisor Leadership Bootcamp: Fischer Style! Thank you to the Michigan District for being such a "warm home feeling" place, attending my early 7:20 am Officer Workshop with the District Exec Board (remember, "I AM SO NOT TIRED!"), and participating in this DCON.

This evening continued with a Keynote Address from Jim Dreyer, a world class swimmer who has swam all 5 of the Great Lakes, a few tid-bits of motivation from moi, and well deserved awards. In addition, I also got to meet in person a huge group from the amazing CKI Club at the University of Michigan who is renowned for their 24 hours of Service and large dues-paid roster.

Prior to attending District Convention I only knew about the University of Michigan for 3 reasons. 1.) The school is mentioned in my all time favorite movie "The Break Up" 2.) I bought a U of M shirt one time at Steve & Barry's for the sole reason that I knew they had a Circle K Club, and 3.) meeting our fabulous IP Blood Drive Committee Chair Jenna Dahn at ICON last year. However, this evening I was able to witness first hand the true testament to the type of leadership they foster with their 163 member CKI Club. I say I got to witness this because at this evening's award ceremony the entire 2008-09 Leadership Team for U of Michigan CKI received Outstanding Officer Awards! Congratulations to U of Michigan for becoming such a well oiled service machine and to all of the clubs who won awards including Central Michigan for growth, Wayne State for Scrapbook, and Michigan State CKI for their distinguished officers.

The evening ended with a dance and you can bet that Editor Kristina Croes, myself, and Governor Ashley Malmsten did the Leadership Academy dance to "The Way I Are" in honor of our friends from Leadership Academy as well as the Alligator Dance (shorts and all!) dedicated to Sub-region C! ;) I promised the UMich CKI Club that I would wear my lovely UMich shirt and sing their fight song with them if they donated $6.00 to the Six Cents Initiative (I know, cheap but it's still a lot of lives) and returned the District gong. Although I will admit that I butchered it because I couldn't remember where I put down the lyrics I did however know the beginning line and the last one "the champions of the west!" It is my goal before International Convention to learn it in it's entirety so that I can sing along with them at the CKI Tailgate at our Birmingham International Convention.

Tomorrow morning the House of Delegates will reconveign at 7:00am and then I will be off to catch an early flight out and return back to Syracuse before the CKI Board meets for our evening bi-weekly phone conference.

Lastly, shout out to my fantastic roommates: Governor Ashley, 0910 Michigan State President Karen, and 0809 Michigan State President Kate for a great time guarding the gong, printing ridiculous amounts of paper, complaining about the lack of lighting, and overall just having a plain awesomely great time.

Weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen!

--Kristen

Have you hugged an advisor lately?

Hey all-

I hope everyone is making it through midterm season and has managed to take a break from working, volunteer, and spend some time with your club.

At my Circle K meeting last night we had our nominations for officers and I am ridiculously excited for what the year will bring next year and proud that I have one more year to dedicate to my club and CKI (woot go Class of 2010!). All the candidates who were nominated would do a phenomenal job in any office and I'm looking forward to another great SUNY Potsdam CKI E-Board.

The picture above is with Joe Swan (our FANTASTIC advisor), my Club President Lauren, Club Secretary Kari, Club Comptroller Liz, Club Treasurer Kari, and Club Editor Jen. I wanted to post it and congratulate them as well as the retiring 08-09 Club Exec Boards for working so hard all year to promote service, leadership, and fellowship. This thanks is also especially deserved to the advisors and Kiwanians who dedicate their time to helping our organization succeed. Truthfully, without my Kiwanis Advisor Joe or Faculty Advisor Karen I don't quite know how successful or how much service would get done.

With that being said, take the time at your next club meeting to hug your Kiwanians and thank them for all they do. I encourage all clubs to hold surprise Thank You parties for your advisors and honor them in any way you can through cards, awards, etc.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and have an amazing rest of your week.
Michigan District CKI, Seeeeeee you this weekend at DCON! =)

So Proud to be a Potsdam CKI'er,
-Kristen

Cutest Project Ever: Austin State School Sensory Room

Hey all-

If you have a quick minute click here for the latest Megaphone Highlight on the CKI Web-site. One of my favorite projects I have heard of this year is being highlighted from the fantastic Texas-Oklahoma District. Congratulations to Hill Country Division Lt. Governor Brittany for planning such a moving and beneficial project for the kids of Austin. Live to Serve -- Love to Serve,

--Kristen



Photo Credit: Eric Carter, UT CKI

Congratulations CNH!

Photo Credit: www.cnhcirclek.org

Congratulations to Governor Chris and the entire CNH District on their excellent fundraising efforts and initiatives. Keep up the amazing work :)

Live to Serve -- Love to Serve,
--Kristen

$400,000 Available for Service Projects!

Hi all-

The Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) Outstanding Commitments Awards are an opportunity for students to receive funding for innovative projects and initiatives (Commitments to Action).

We are very excited that CGIU has extended it's application for commitments to all Circle K Club Presidents to submit applications for consideration!

CGI U has partnered with Pat Tilman Foundation and the Wal-Mart Foundation to make available a total of $400,000 for 2009 student and student group commitments, across all five CGI U focus areas of education, energy and climate change, global health, peace and human rights, and poverty alleviation.

Applicants do NOT need to be CGI U attendees, and the application is open to all students (grad and undergrad.) If you are applying on behalf of a Circle K Club please submit the application in the name of a club officer.

The CGI U Outstanding Commitments Awards will provide recognition and financial support for a select number of CGI U commitments. To apply for the awards, students can fill out an Outstanding Commitment Award application here: http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=3363&srcid=3364.


The deadline for the CGI U Outstanding Commitment Awards is Friday, April 3, 2009. Any questions about the application can be directed to cgiu.applicant@clintonglobalinitiative.org. Feel free to browse the CGI U website www.cgiu.org for ideas and examples of CGI U Commitments to Action.

Commitments to Action will be judged on the following criteria:

Sustainability: How well does the commitment integrate principles of sustainability? CGI U assumes a broad approach to sustainability that incorporates economic, social, and environmental components.

Innovation: Does the commitment approach social issues in novel and interesting ways?

Replication: Can the project be replicated in different locations by new groups?

Impact: Does this commitment demonstrate a real and lasting impact in addressing global and/or local challenges? During the selection process both depth and scale of impact will be considered.

Leveraging Available Resources: Can this project effectively capitalize on the specific resources available to students?

This is a great opportunity for your club to receive funding for service projects in your area! ♥

Live to Serve -- Love to Serve,

--Kristen