A boisterous group greeted PrezPhuoc as he aggressively gabled us to order. He called on BobR to lead us in our GBA and RevBill called for God's blessing on all of us and on our service. JohnP greeted folks at the entrance, collecting lunch money, and then greeted folks during the meeting, collecting for the Fine Fine Box. RevBill proudly introduced his son Jim and daughter-in-law Mary Lynn.
CircleK'ers were present in impressive numbers: Monica, Alexander, Gail, BJ, Josh, Gerald, Tiffany, Joe, Linda, James! They are in Final Mode so no activity report. Joe, though, took the lectern to make a series of presentations to Special Kiwanians who have taken CircleK'ers under wing in all sorts of ways: Virginia and Bill, Roberta and Frank, Jack, Phuoc, Jane, JohnP, Debra, Linda, Denise, NewBob. Their recognitions were long and varied—dancing, cooking, providing vans, baking, overseeing projects, providing money….
Joe then presented an "art show", a series of photos of Kiwanians and CircleKers in all sorts of activities—dinners, projects, feasting, laughing. Was there a dry eye in the house? What a wonderful gift to us. Thank you CircleK'ers.
Two mysterious items were auctioned off: A manila folder and a weird container. Yes, two people were being mischievous to each other. Bill had the folder Tamara needed (containing Sharon-calligraphied scholarship certifs.) and Bill wanted their pie holder back from Tamara's St. Pat's party. A jar of strawberry and kiwi and rum jam then went for a large amount. At least folks knew what that
one contained and I am sure the "rum" contents upped the bidding.
Congratulations from PrezPhuoc and the rest of us to Hayley for her Graduation!
InterClubChairExtraordinaireBill announced three interclubs:
--Number 25: Division 2 Official Governor's Visit
--Number 26: CircleK'ers banquet
--Number 27: Albany/ElCerrito
Planned Activities:
--Tennis ball work day TBA soon
--June 7, 9-12 King Middle School
--This coming weekend: Linda's project (contact her for the details)
Tamara reminded folks that next Tuesday's luncheon is the annual Scholarship Winners Celebration (and a celebration for Kiwanis because of the scholarships we provide). Five students, their parents and counselors will be present. And for this special event, we will meet on the patio. Remember to greet our guests and make them feel welcome.
Two birthday kids this week: JohnP on the 24th and VC on the 25th. Happy Birthday to both of you.
Happy J Sad L Dollars:
--Happy Hayley that her Dad is visiting from Hawaii
--Sad BillC for being the Secret Greeter and the Prez hadn't called on him to "nail" the nonshakers
--Happy Evie that her car is fixed
--Happy Ed about something (scribe couldn't hear)
--Sad RevBill for missing the Scholarship luncheon but happy to be heading to Buffalo
--Happy Duane for something about Butte Montana
--Happy Jeff heading for Croatia
--Happy Linda for feeding the CircleK'ers
--Sad Josh 'cuz this is the last Kiwanian meeting for him 'til the next school year
--Happy NewBob noting the colorful ties
--Happy BobS for a trip to receive an award at the Ice Skating Convention in Anaheim
--Happy Phuoc for the graduating CircleK'ers
PrezPhuoc then introduced Claire Null, a graduate student in Agricultural & Resource Economics at UC Berkeley. She is conducting research for her dissertation on the factors that discourage or encourage people to make charitable gifts. A portion of her talk was our participation in her survey.
The internet has changed the way folks donate to charities—transaction costs are down and it is cheaper to get info out to the public about the charity. More and more donors are calling "the shots", making donations with restrictions. There is a downside to this, though; donors can make poor choices. And, she wondered, why folks tend to give to a variety of charities, instead of to just one.
Claire noted we give for two basic reasons: charity does good in the world and we get a good feeling when we give.
Each of us received a packet to fill out. We were given an imaginary $100.00 and through various scenarios, we were asked to divide that $100 between our club and other charities, under different circumstances. And there was an incentive. One person would be chosen and his/her distribution would be in "real" money. (Phuoc's name was drawn at the end and part of his division went into the Kiwanis Foundation. Thank you Phuoc.)
So with pencil in hand we made many decisions with our $100:
--Would we keep all for our club or give some to a specific charity
--Would we give more to the charity that had matching funds provided
--Would we give more to the charity that had the highest matching fund (one charity has $1.50, one has $1.00, one has .50)
--A variety of matching fund scenarios were listed
--Risk factors were then thrown in—would you give more to the charity that you knew would get the money, rather than to one charity that may not be carefully regulated.
The final part had questions of a personal nature-- how do we chose a charity, do we give more money or time, etc.
In addition to providing info for her dissertation, Claire's presentation made us all think and, perhaps, re-evaluate the way we choose our charities. It would be interesting to hear about the results (hint to the Kiwanian who asked Claire to speak).
We Pledged Allegiance to the Flag and many lingered for quite a bit, catching up on news and info and perhaps a tidbit of gossip.
REMEMBER
NEXT TUESDAY
SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS LUNCHEON
(tjp)
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