HOBY Youth Leadership training

Morgan McKinney was our speaker this past week and she talked about the HOBY Program. The Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Program (HOBY) was created years ago by actor Hugh O'Brian from "Gunsmoke" fame. This program was created years ago to help our youth gain leadership experiance. Today, some of the orignal youth trained are now training others. Morgan McKinney received a check to enable her to attend training towards her goal to be a HOBY counselor. This funding came from last years sale of "Queen for a Day" tickets.

URGENT - We need someone to take speakers

We are in need of someone to coordinate the speakers for the month of Feburary. Dawn Banker is going to be out of town and needs to switch with someone. Please help!!!!

Refurshment of the Valcour Lighthouse

The speaker this week is Roger Harwood. Roger is involved with the Clinton County Historical Headquarters but this week he'll be addressing the refurshment of our local landmark, the Valcour Lighthouse.

Last week's speaker:

Last week, we had Margaret Malone speak about the Coast Guard Auxiliary. The Auziliary does much of the same work as the Coast Guard and it is a valuable service for boaters on Lake Champlain. They are looking to increase their membership. Let me know if you're interested in serving.

Queen for a Day event

Our club will for our third year be having a Queen for a Day fundraiser. One lucky winner will be treated to a full day at Adirondack Day Spa in Lake Placid to include a massage, manicure, pedicure, hair, makeup and lunch. A gourmet dinner for two will be enjoyed at Nicola's On Main and overnight accommodations at the Hilton Lake Placid Resort with their famous Sunday Bunch that helps to conclude the weekend - But wait, there's more! A bouquet of flowers from Lake Shore Candy & Flowers, a $100 gift certificate from Home Bistro, a one hour consultatation from professional organizer Spatial Solutions, and a one room re-design from Sam & Co., two room carpet cleaning from Golden's Janitorial, spring law clean-up from Rand Hill Lawns and More.

Tickets are only $5 each and the drawing will be held on Saturday, May 12th with the actual events taking place on May 19th and the dates coordinated with our vendors. Winners must be at least 21 years of age and all proceeds will benefit the three Key Clubs that the Plattsburgh Kiwanis Breakfast Cluc supports: Plattsburgh High, Saranac Central and AuSable Valley School. Contack Sam Witherwax for tickets.

Mission of Hope update!

On February 4th, at Seton Academy (formally St. Peters school) we'll be having our Mission of Hope fundraiser breakfast to raise money for the Mission of Hope. The breakfast will take place from 9 to 12. There is no charge, but donations will be gratefully accepted. Last year we raised enough money to give the Mission of Hope $500.00 to build a house in Nicaragua that now has our name on it. Please help with this event - It's what we're all about - Helping others.

Prez Tonia presents a check

We were very please to present a check to a young lady who will be going to Nicaragua to help with the Mission of Hope. Funds for this were created thru our Queen for a Day fundraiser last year. We had voted to use the profits from that event to help with youth leadership issues. April Yearney (I hope I got the spelling of her last name correct - but know me, I probably didn't). In any event, I'm sure that Prez Tonia spelled the name right on the check!

Our California Connection

MIKE CLEVELAND attended our last meeting while he was in town. For those of you that may not have met Mike, he's our member who perhaps lives furthest from his home club than any Kiwanis member in the country. Mike joined our club many years ago when he lived in Plattsburgh but he now resides in California. He's been faithful to our club over the years and he attends vertually every meeting when he's in town. Mike hopes to return to Plattsburgh in the future and we sure look forward to his return.

Presentation by our Key Club Lt. Gov. Alicia

We were all very impressed with the great presentation given by our own Key Club Lt. Gov. Alicia Winterkorn. She said that although she was having a problem getting the clubs dues paid everything else is under control. the Key Clubs are going to split the division into two separete organizations "A" and "B", each with their own Lt Gov to provide for better training and project control.

Farm - City presentation this past week

Our guest this week was Amy Ivy who was presented a proclamation from the County Legislators. Bill did a nice job of the presentation and as always, it was a pleasure to have Amy as our guest.

Latest info on our "Queen for a Day" fundraiser

It's moving along well under "Sams" leadership. Several contributions were already received and letters have gone out to businesses for this year. Lake Placid was again the venue selected for the event.

Julie picks the "Joker"!

$281 was the amount in the pot that Julie was able to pick up. It's kind of hard to see the expression on her face on this small photo. A larger one will be posted this week.

Our "Toys for Tots" effort a problem this year

We were notified by Keith Defayette of the Noon Club that the supplier has not come thru this year for our Toys for Tots effort. We had donated $100.00 to that project which will be returned to our treasury and we'll have to decide what to do with the money. It will no doubt be brought up at this weeks meeting.

Whoops - I forgot to add the picture of our guest

Kathleen Hazel had a guest this past week. I'll have to pay a "fine" if I got the name wrong but I thought it was Wayne Farr from Tri-Lakes Medical. Who's going to bring up my error at this weeks meeting?

Business Meeting this week

No speaker this week, but we will be having our business meeting. This is the member opportunity to provide input for our upcoming projects and perhaps new projects or events. While the officers and board make the final decision, everyone's imput is sought. Please participate.

Prospective Kiwanian?

Kathleen Hazel brought a guest to our meeting. Mr. Wayne Farr (I hope I got that name right) attended our meeting. He's affiliated with Tri-Care Medical Services.

Hey! Don't forget to mark your calendars:

Don't forget that we're having our Christmas Special Joint Meeting with the Rotary AM Club on Tuesday, December 19th at 7:30AM. Elks is located on Cumberland Ave in Plattsburgh.

Eye Care Auction

This past week, Kathleen Hazel and Bob Turoff helped with the set up of the Auction for Eye Care for the Adirondacks Charity Auction. Over 150 gifts were donated to Eye Care which will benefit the food shelf. It’s very appropriate that this is done yearly around Thanksgiving.

Rotary / Kiwanis Joint meeting Breakfast

Don’t forget to put it on your calendar to attend the joint AM Rotary and AM Kiwanis joint meeting at 7:30 at the Elks Club on Cumberland Ave. Each year we get together with this fine group of community minded folk like ourselves to break bread over the Holiday season.

Trooper-Toy's-for-tots Campaign

In 1988, Kiwanis in the North Country first joined up with Keith Defayette of Kenwood’s Moving & Storage, to bring $45,000 worth of toys to Plattsburgh for the benefit of needy children. This very successful project continues today and our club has donated funding to continue the project this year as in the past.

Last week's speaker:

Bruce Steadman, CEO of P.A.R.C. gave an excellent power-point presentation and he filled us in on the history of PARC and what we will look to in the future. PARC is certainly going to continue to be an economic kingpin to our regions future success and development.

Thank's again Bruce!

This week's speaker. . .

The future of our nation depends on the leadership of today’s youth. We’re proud to have the Lieutenant Governor of our areas Key Clubs, Alicia Winterkorn who will bring us up to date as to what’s been happening with our Key clubs and their projects.

Special Guest at this weeks meeting:

A special Kiwanis presentation is to be given to our guest, Amy Ivy from Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Important Interclub this week. . .

It’s the eightieth anniversary of the Lake Placid Kiwanis Club which is being celebrated on Tuesday evening, 28 November at 5:30PM. Four of us have signed up already and there might be room for more. Reservations are required and the cost is $25 per person.

Do you know someone to be a Speaker?

Kathy Mark is in charge of speakers for the month of December. That’s who to contact with your suggestions. If she has her agenda filled, she’ll pass it on to the person handling speakers for January.

Our Mission of Hope Breakfast

Our planned Super-Bowl Breakfast is scheduled for February 4^th. Put it down as a “must attend” event. Sam Witherwax is running the show.

Our Kiwanis Club to ring the bells. . .

We’re ringing the bells on Saturday, December 2^nd. We still have a few sign ups needed. Come freeze with us and get the “warm fuzzy” of the holiday time.

Mission of Hope

We’re ringing the bells on Saturday, December 2^nd. We still have a few sign ups needed. Come freeze with us and get the “warm fuzzy” of the holiday time.

Salvation Army Kettle Drive w/ Kiwanis

We’re ringing the bells on Saturday, December 2^nd. We still have a few sign ups needed. Come freeze with us and get the “warm fuzzy” of the holiday time.

Here's an idea for you. . .

Why not print out this blog and use it to fill your wall calendar with the info.

Did you notice???

This month’s issue of the Empire State Kiwanian (ESK) featured our clubs work during an adopt-a-highway cleanup.

Now who's going to mention my error.

To answer your probable question.... don't you have a spell check?.... YES I DO! All I've got to do is remember to use it! . . . . OK So I'll pay a fine - allright!

And a note about membership.

Statistically speaking, Kiwanis clubs lose about 17% of their members each year due to a number of various circumstances - many of which are beyond our control. Our club members must keep that in mind and simply aske other to join Kiwanis. The quality and quantity of our community service is directly tied to the number of members in our club. Who have you mentioned Kiwanis to today?

Our 1st new Kiwanian inducted for this year.

We're most pleased to have added another Kiwanis member into our club. Lisa Zmijewski was inducted last week at our meeting. Lisa lives in Keeseville with her family. She is employed with the Girl Scouts of America. Welcom Lisa - we're looking forward to working with you with our Kiwanis activities.

A special Guest will attend our next meeting...

Amy Ivy from Cornell Cooperative Extension will also be at this meeting. She'll receive a County Legislature proclamation for the week of November 17th to the 23rd as National Farm-City Week which is a Kiwanis sponsored program.

Next week's speaker. . .

Key Club LtGov Alicia Winterkorn Will be bringing us up to date as to what's being happening on our Kiwanis Key Clubs.

Our speaker this week will be:

P.A.R.C. CEO Bruce Steadman will provide us with a presentation as to what's going on at PARC. Bruce is bring a visual presentation that I'm sure we'll enjoy seeing.

Last week's speaker:

Jim Aquila from the "Geek Squad" gave a great presentation about the wonderful world of computers and the frustrations associated with them. He has ways to get your computer more efficient and help with your productivity.

Newsletter for 14 November 2006

Highlights from last weeks meeting:

• We're again looking forward to working with our Key Clubbers on the Salvation Army Kettle Drive on December 2nd. We're going to be at Price-Chopper all day ringing the bell. This is a great project that gives you the "warm Fuzzys" during the holidays. If you haven't signed up yet, you'll want to join in and freeze like the rest of us. .
  

• We're looking to find a family with a solder in Iraq or Afghanistan that we can "adopt" by helping with a meal for them over the holidays. If anyone knows of such a family, please let us know.
  

• Once again, we're helping with the Eye Care for the Adirondacks Charity Auction by unloading the auction items at the Gym at the Senior Citizens Center at 3PM on Friday, November 17th. We could use a couple of additional volunteers for the project. We estimate less than an hour to get the job done.

• Mark your calendars to plan to atten the joint Kiwanis/Rotary meeting on Tuesday, December 19th at the Elks Club at 7:30AM.

• We're in contact with the Dale Carnegie Training folks to provide us with a proposal to give leadership training for our sponsored youth. More to come on this...

• We cut a check for $100.00 this week to the Saranac Central Key Club - Our Key Club members there will buy baskets for the needy over the Thanksgiving Holiday.

This week's speaker. . .

We're please to have Jim from the Geek Squad as our speaker. Jim is going to bring us up to date on the latest changes in the computer field.

Hey folks, I'm new at this blogger thing....

I'd like to know if any of you would like to help with our AM Blogger.... I'm sure some of you are better at this thing than I am. I could use a "co-pilot" on this Plane.....

Thanks to the editor

I couldn't publish this "blogger" without someone providing the details. Kathleen has been great suppling the data.

Everyday Heroes project

"Everyday Heroes" project is to be adopted by our club. We're all asked to look for people within our community who are deemed worthy of this recognition by rendering service that goes beyond the ordinary or expected, without regard for attention or receiving awards. We're looking to honor firemen, policemen, doctors, medical professionals, coaches, educators, or any individual deemed worthy of this recognition. Selected individuals will be invided to our club this coming April to receive an award. This is a perfect opportunity to give credit where credit is due to the many "Heroes" in our community.

Super-Bowl Sunday Pancake Breakfast planned

Our Mission of Hope pancake breakfast project is underway with "Sam" Witherwax chairing the project. We're planning the event to be held at Seton Academy on Super=Bowl Sunday. The event date is Feb 5th. More info is to follow.

What a great success!

Our Community Kitchen

Our Community Kitchen project worked extremely well. Over forty were served and reports were that the meat loaf was delicious. Our Key Clubbers participated and also had a great time. We'll be working on this service again soon.

Joint meeting with AM Rotary planned for 12/19

As is our yearly tradition, we'll be having a joint meeting for breakfast with the AM Rotary Club. We'll be hosting the event this year that will be at the Elks Club in Plattsburgh. Diana is working on the entertainment for the event.

"Kettle Drive" in the works for Dec 2nd

As we have in past years, we're looking forward to "Ringing-the-bell" to collect donations for the benefit of those served by the Salvation Army. December 2nd is the date we'll work and we will be ringing the bells from 10AM till 8PM. A sign-up sheet will be passed around at our meeting.

Dozer Days is in the works. . .

The upcoming "Dozer Days" project is moving along well. On November 9th is the secheduled meeting at JCEO for the committee. We ned to identify what projects that our Kiwanis club will take on during the event. Move was discussed at our Noveember 3rd Board Meeting and additional information will be given.

This event promises to be something really beneficial and unique for our area children. Our Kiwanis club members are looking forward to working this project.

Our Sponsored Saranac Key Club works. . .

One of our sponsored Kiwanis Key Club (Saranac) distributed the Halloween Bags we provided to the "small-fry" at the Saranac Central Head Start. As you can see, our bags went over very well. The bags were highly reflective during the trick or treat efforts of the kids and also had safety imprints for the parents to heed. The bags were also distributed by us to other area clinics to provide for area children.