| Christine's
Connections by
Pres. Christine Semon
 They
say that April showers bring May flowers, however I have
been seeing lots of daffodils popping up recently. They are
probably looking for the sun we have all been missing. It
has been in the high to mid 60s during the beginning of this
week, however the weather ‘experts’ are predicting
that the temperature will drop by about 20-30 degrees by
the end of the week, with some more rain to accompany it.
There is never a dull moment in our Maryland weather, however
hopefully things will settle down a bit soon.
In
March we had a wonderful group of speakers! Thanks Dave
for all
you hard work! On March 8th, we had Dr. Robert Slawson
speak to us about Civil War Medicine. The club learned about
the development of medicine and women’s role in society
and the war during his very interesting presentation.
 On
March 15th, Rick Wilson, President of the Frederick American
Little League (FALL) visited us. He and his wife Kathy (Secretary
of FALL) had a great PowerPoint presentation about the history
of the organization and the team our club sponsors. As a
team sponsor, we are invited to opening day on April 14th
and the games our team plays (schedule to follow soon). If
it works for your schedules, please support our Little League
team and cheer them on! Pictured right club Sec. Rob Summers
thanks Rick for speaking to our club.
The
following week, on March 23rd, our club was honored to
host the Division
9 K family Night, facilitated by Kiwanis
LTG Fred Lohnes and Key Club LTG Ellen Huyhn. Although it
was put together fairly quickly, (within a month) we had
about 60 people attend. Those attending were from all the
branches of our family in our area (Builders Club, Key Club,
Circle K, AKtion Club and of course Kiwanians). Even Governor
Elect Art Riley attended to wish us well, before he had to
run down the road to VA for another Kiwanis commitment. We
started off by playing musical chairs and moved from our
traditional ‘club’ seating arrangements mixed
it up a bit. We got to meet new people, in different branches
of the family, from our own division, during dinner!! Although
Key Club LTG Ellen Huyhn was the ‘mouth’ that
issued the request for everyone to move around, I must confess
that she and I conspired ahead of time, together, to work
on breaking the ‘traditional’ mold of meetings
as wanted people to commingle with others in the division.
Eventually I hope everyone understood the method to our madness.
After dinner we got to work it off a bit and we had an ice
breaker that had each group walking around getting into order
of their birthdates, from January to December (without talking).
It was interesting to see which groups could figure out this ‘simple’ task
and which groups had a little bit of trouble. After we went
back to our seats the best part of the evening came next,
in my opinion. We had each club share and toot their own
horns about what they have been doing and are planning to
do in the future. We were all amazed at all of the wonderful,
different and sometimes similar projects each of the clubs
are involved with!! I personally felt that the best presenter
was from our Middletown Middle School Builders Club. Mitch,
who is a 6th grader, did a fabulous job! Apparently it was
his first time speaking in public, however this was not very
apparent, as he was very poised, composed and eloquent in
what he shared about the many activities his club has been
working on. Mitch seems like a current leader and I am personally
looking forward to following his service learning program
career in our K family! Thanks to everyone that assisted
with making this event a success! This includes Ed and Ellis
at the front door for check ins, LTG’s Fred and Ellen
for running the show and everyone that contributed to Key
Clubs fundraiser for Nothing But Nets. After our own Bud
Jackson wrote a generous check of $100 (and received a genuine
hug from a very happy Ellen) the Happy Bucks basket went
around and collected and other $80!! So, thanks again Division
9 for contributing $180 towards a very worthy cause, sponsored
by Capital District Key Club Governor, Peter Simasek !!
On
March 29th we also had another action packed evening! We
started
off with Dr. Jim Krysek, our club member and advisor
of the Circle K at Mount Saint Mary’s University. He
offered a warmhearted good bye and thank you to his Executive
Board that is retiring after 3 years of devotion and then
he installed his new Board for next year! Lots of gifts and
flowers and hugs! Next we had a special surprise visit from
Past LTG Jim Jacobs and his lovely wife Beth, both from the
Mount Airy Kiwanis club. He was apparently attending our
club meeting to finish up some official business from his
term. He awarded our club with a patch, plaque and letter
from Past International President Steve Siemens, honoring
us as a Distinguished Club for 2005-2006!! What a wonderful
surprise and great achievement for our club!! Great job everyone
and thanks to Jim Jacobs for honoring us with it!
And
then finally that evening we had our planned speaker presentation
from Cindy McGrew, who is the founder and President
of Operation Second Chance. She, and her assistant, Spec.
James Kiklis, spoke to us about their experiences regarding
aiding
in the recovery
and rehabilitation of wounded service
men and women at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington
DC. Cindy’s commitment to this project, as expressed
in her presentation, was very moving and powerful. We all
gave her a standing ovation-a first in my memory as a club
member the last 8 years! We as a club hope to be supporting
her in her efforts by donation or gifts needed, in the future.
We will see what happens at our upcoming board meeting.
As
all of us are looking forward to the upcoming schedule
for
April, please recall that at our last board meeting,
the Board voted to hold our meeting on April 26 in Hagerstown,
at the Governors Visit to Division 9 at Beaver Creek Country
Club. With this in mind, I hope we have a great turn out
and good interclub for this event. Please let our Interclub
Chair, Jim Wiggins, know about your attendance! We will have
a roundtable at the Holiday Inn in the pub upstairs for those
that are unable to attend the event in Hagerstown. Make
sure
you
schedule
yourself to be at our other meetings during the month, because
if they are anything like last months, you won’t want
to miss out!! Keep up the great work Dave!
As
it is my self-imposed tradition, I will end my article
with
a quote a have come across that strike a heart cord
with me this month. Over the last weekend of March, I learned
of the passing of a very dear friend and old restaurant boss
of mine. He was only 63 years old and lost his second battle
with Cancer, this time being of his pancreas. He was one
of the most energetic, dedicated, caring people I have ever
met. His primary profession was being a lawyer, however he
owned several Italian restaurants (since he was Italian and
loved the food) in Columbia and Fells Point and volunteered
a lot his time back to his community. He was also an avid
exerciser, runner, marathoner. This quote I found from Mac
Anderson speaks very accurately as to how my friend, Vince
Guida, lived his life: “Successful is the person who
has lived well, laughed often, and loved much, who has never
lacked appreciation for the earth’s beauty, who never
fails to look for the best in others or give the best of
themselves.” He will be missed by all! I also believe
that our club and Division 9 lives and acts this way, as
much as possible also. Thanks for all you do and all you
will do in the future! |
