| Christine's
Connections by
Pres. Christine Semon
 About
a year ago, I had envisioned that this article would have
been the last I would be writing for The Chatter,
as President. As we all know sometimes the winds change the
direction we
were going in (maybe like the recent heavy rain and winds
we had locally up and down the East coast) and sometimes
one gets voted into being the President of Suburban Frederick
Kiwanis club for a second term. I guess that is what can
happen when you don’t show up for a meeting (especially
when the club is voting on new officers!) So, I will embrace
this change in my initial plans, and I promise to do the
best job I can for our club this upcoming year.
This
past month we had a few of our members receive special
awards and recognitions.
At an official visit (his last), LTG Jim Jacobs
awarded Paul Sheets with a Legion of Honor for his 25 years
of Kiwanis dedication and service.
Thanks for all you do (and have done) Paul! Also Ellis
Stroup
was presented a membership to the Capital District  Founders
Society made possible by gifts offered from Governor Yvonne
and all nine clubs in Division 9 to thank him for all he
has done throughout the years for the Capital District
— as a member and the District's Secretary and Treasurer.
The award
was presented to him at lat month's Capital District Convention
in Reston VA and was respectfully  presented
to him by yours truly! (Picture to the right is myself
and Gov. Yvonne posing with Ellis and his award. For a
movie of the event, click
here.) On
a similar note, we were honored by Terry Proescholdt who
chose to transfer
into our
club
from
his
previous
club
in Iowa.
(Pictured to the left is member Frank Parker (r) "toasting"
new member Terry Proescholdt during our recently-held club
summer picnic.) We have also received an application
for membership from Debbie
Mathews which will be voted
on
at our next Board
Meeting.
 For
last month's speakers, we had a special presentation by
our own Secretary Rob Summers about some of his families’ history
in regards to a Civil War era Confederate calvary officer's
sword that has been in his family since the Civil War.
And he even
brought the sword in to share with us. We also had an official
visit (his first) by LTG
Designate
Fred
Lohnes.
He shared
some of his and incoming Governor Robert Cressy’s
goals for the upcoming year with us. (Pictured to the right
is incoming Gov. Bob Cressy (l) inducting new Div. 9
Lt. Gov. Fred Lohnes during last month's District
Convention.)
 Another
week we were all treated
by an ice cream social, again sponsored by Rob, to
sweeten up the summer, and I suspect to bring back some
fond memories
from our days at the Dan Dee restaurant where ice cream
was a common dessert. (Pictured
left, member Phil Pople pigs out on a dish full of
ice cream.) Thanks again
Rob!
Unfortunately,
our speaker for that evening had a death in his family,
so was unable to spend time
with us this month.  However,
we were honored once again by our LTG Jim Jacobs (shown
right with his wife, Beth, at the recently-held District
Convention) who was visiting
that evening for an unofficial visit. (I think he mentioned
that
he was just
in the area and wanted to stop by.) Jim was able
to pinch-hit for us as a speaker that evening. He gave
us
an overview
of Capital Districts Convention which was held
the  previous weekend, and he shared some highlights with
the
members not
able to attend
the Convention. One of the highlights Jim mentioned
was that our Past LTG
Art
Riley,
from the
Westminster
Club, was elected as the Governor Elect for
2006-07. (Art is pictured left with his family
after his
election.) Way to go
Art!!
Thanks
again to David Maloney and Ellis Stroup for attending
the convention with me this year! As Ellis had
commented, and
I agree, it was one of the best run and organized
conventions ever (and he has attended a few more conventions
than
I have!)
 We
also had our annual
club picnic at
Larry and Judy Fellows'
home in Walkersville
on a lovely Saturday (see picture at lower
right).
Thank you to all who attended and to all who
brought
and helped
prepare the wonderful
food! Thanks to Larry and Judy for hosting
it
again this year — and who ever was in charge
of the weather did a great job also!
As
we move into September, I know
that Eric Gatrell is working on some great speakers
and presentations,
so check out the posted agenda and come by to
listen if you have a chance!
During
the past year I am proud of the many accomplishments our
club has had! As there are many, I know I will
forget to mention them all, so I apologize in
advance. I will
only mention a few in this article. We did have
a fruit sale — it almost wasn’t,
but eventually was — and was a success
in the end! (Thanks to Phil’s persistence).
We had another great year gift wrapping at FSK
Mall! Thanks to the many club members, friends,
family and our sponsored
youth who put many hours in to make this fundraiser
a success. We were also able to add a new Key
club at Tuscarora High
School to our sponsored youth family. Ed Crawford
did a wonderful job, as usual, with his many
projects involved
with the Young Children Priority One committee.
Frank Parker also did a great job taking on the
newly formed (and large)
Community Service committee (International asked
us to combine the Youth Services and Community
Service committees) this
year. Among other things, he put on a superb
and fabulously well attended Middle School Appreciation
Night in May. Our
club also developed a relationship with a non
profit organization called Special Inspirations.
This organization helps families
with special needs children in different areas.
Several members have been able to volunteer their
time as ‘Mothers
Helpers’, which is one of their programs.
Our club has also made significant monetary donations
to assist with
their ‘Respite Care’ program. As
everyone knows, we have the Silent Auction and
Breakfast
scheduled for September
23rd which Phil and others have been planning
for many months. Please continue to sell tickets
for
this and attend it, to
help it to be a great success! The proceeds will
be going to Special Inspirations, to assist them
to continue their
great work in our community.
As
a club we have been struggling (like many other clubs)
with
membership, new projects and
fundraisers
for our
community. This next year I know our club
will continue to develop
new ideas to assist us with these ongoing
challenges. As usual,
I would like to conclude with a few quotes.
I am not sure of most of the authors; however, the
words
and
messages seem to be pretty powerful and appropriate.
In regards
to being
successful as a club with ideas and challenges, “It
is easier to go down the mountain than up,
however the view from the top is the best.” In
regards to strengthening our focus and discovering
the interests and passions for
our club: “People are like sticks of
dynamite, the power is on the inside but
nothing happens
until the fuse
gets lit.” Along similar lines for
us to think about, Norman Vincent Peale one
said “Throw
your heart over the fence and the rest will
follow.”
Lastly, someone was once quoted stating what
I feel we, as Kiwanians, stand for by saying “A
hundred years from now it will not matter
what my bank account was, the sort
of house I lived in or the kind of car I
drove…but
the world may be different because I was
important in the life of a child.” As
the song says, we will take some risks, take
some chances and make some changes. I say
let’s
go for it. I am looking forward to having
fun (again) this year by growing and participating
more with
our family (Kiwanis
club and 5 sponsored youth clubs) and by continuing
to making a difference in the Frederick community
and world,
as we do so well in our Kiwanis Club of Suburban
Frederick!!
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