Newsletter 051909

Soon-to-be-Co-Prez Roberta presided over today's meeting. Her husband
was heard saying in a loud voice, "you all better stand up and pay
attention, just like I do at home"! BobR led us in a rousing rendition
of GBA. Rev Bill thanked The Lord that the weather was perfect-- not
too hot; not too cold—and the sun was shining. He called on His
blessings as we save one child at a time. Bettye had the Fine Fine
Box. Rev Bill, in his second role, Secret Greeter, pronounced most of
us friendly (the two culprits had paid insurance, based on advice from
Frank "insurance is a good thing" Bliss).

Art was recognized (or was it not recognized?) and stated he was a
Kiwanis junkie—two meetings in two days. Welcome back, Art. VC gave a
report on her Lt. Gov training over the past weekend.

CircleK Diane reminded us of their garage sale in a few months. Find,
gather, save those treasures you find around your house, for the sale.
Josh, Nina, and Kenneth were introduced.

VC noted that there were quite a few "cute knees" around. Chaos ensued
as many jumped up to show off their "cute knees". A spontaneous
contest was quickly announced—who could gather the most $$ for their
"cute knees". Competition was intense. I am not sure who actually
won; but the club sure won with the $$$ collected! Josh did end
up a
winner, with a jar of Roberta's pear jam.

Schedules, Schedules:
May 21: Board Meeting at the Bliss'
May 22: Quilt distribution at 2131 Carleton; 10:30 (Bettye has the
details)
May 26: Induction of new members during the luncheon meeting
May 29: Participation in the Senior Center Fish Fry at the Bliss'; 6PM
social hour (Frank/Roberta hosts)
June 6: Longfellow work party. 9AM. (JohnP in charge)
June 7: YPSO at 2PM. (Frank in charge)

Frank, June Chair, presented "inventions; inventors; inventiveness" as
the June luncheon theme. Potentially a rep from the Aviation Museum, a
VC cousin who traveled to Nigeria to build homes, a person who has
started 6 companies and even a rep from Google are all in line as
speakers

Phuoc reported on the recent DCM. Jack noted that we were getting
recognition from KI for the number of Circle K'ers joining the Kiwanis
Club of Berkeley.

Bill announced the completion of 3 more interclubs (thanks Bill for all
you do to coordinate these successful interclubs): Interclub 20:
CircleK Banquet (NewBob, Frank, Roberta, VC, Denise, Phuoc, TonyN.);
Interclub 21: DCM (Jack, Denise,

Phuoc, Alex); Interclub 22: Oakland Scholarship Award Luncheon (Bill,
VC, Art, Tamara).

Phuoc updated us on Sponsored youth:
--June 20: Key Club Officer training. Help is needed (contact Phuoc)
--Oakland Tech installation
Banquet end of June
--June 31: Key Club has a DCM

Deborah announced the next Dine Out—May 26 at 5:30.
We will have a special guest for next week's luncheon: Lois Brown.
She will be accepting a Special Certificate in honor of Bob. (RevBill
is the host)
VC received her 21 Years Of Perfect Attendance. VC, we are proud of
you!
Birthdays Birthdays Birthdays: JP on May 24; VC on May 25 (she sang to
us!); Tammy's on June 1 (we sang to her)

Roberta tried to collect fines from those without "I have voted"
stickers. Scribe not sure how that went. Lots of folks looked proud;
lots of folks looked guilty.

We were HAPPY:
Rev Bill: For his grandson's graduation from CAL in Poli Sci
VC: Four Scholarship-Winners from Oakland are coming to CAL and,
hopefully, to CircleK
Phuoc: For all the graduates he knew
VC: For the mats on the table (scribe comment: thank you VC for all
you did to make them)
Art: Two Kiwanis meetings in a row; birthday trip with Tammy
Josh: Visiting his family and his coming 21st Birthday
Deborah: For her new gadget and for her thesis almost completed.

BobS: For his grandson graduating from pre-Kindergarten
Duane: Just 'cuz
Diane: Heading home to New York
Frank: Congrats to Deborah, a weekend at the Family Farm where his
composition "Reflection Time" was performed; a picture in the

CazMatters of Duane digging while supervised by CircleK'ers; Emil is
healthy; a third grandchild on the way.

Jeff was sad that the OktoberFest coming up was not noted (Jeff is the
organizer). Jack announced that Leo was in surgery. A phone call and
cards would be appreciated.

Our Own Betty was the Featured Speaker: "That's Me".
Highlights
--She was the 13th of 14 kids.
--Her family moved from Mississippi to Sacramento.
--Her dad died soon after and her Mom went to work. The home her Mom
purchased was $13,000 in those days.
--She graduated from Berkeley High and has an AA from Laney, BA in
Social Work at SF State, and almost finished with a Masters in Early
Childhood Development.
--Her brothers and sisters are equally successful: nurses and doctors
and officers in the military. (She mentioned one of her brothers and
both Duane and Phuoc had worked with him!)
--Be sure to ask her about her short shift as a GoGo Dancer (and her
brother who caught her doing it).
--She has a son 45 and a daughter 43.
Bettye, that was a great talk! The next Co-Prezes are planning on
making "That's Me" a frequent presentation by our members.

Josh led us in The Pledge.
(scribe: tjp)

Newsetter 051209

Not Much Going On??

The good news is that the City Club ran out of food (usually they recover quite nicely and come up with a savory secondary offering, but not today…). Yes, we had guests, special surprises and otherwise: to start with, mucho CK'ers, and THEN a very notable Interclub from Alameda, and THEN some very special others.

The crack team today consisted of B. Lowman on the ticket box, B. Rice on the vocals, E. Levitch on the thankful word, and Alex (you know Alex) on the ruptured fire extinguisher (aka Fine Box). It could have been worse (but not much).

Yes, the Alameda Club was there in force, led by perennial favorite Dave D. who promptly introduced his co-conspirators (including a certain former BK member).

There was at least one more special guest: feisty C. Fitch (hey, maybe that'll catch on – Feisty Fitch – maybe not) intro'd #1 son, Robert!

PrezFireX then announced, to great accolade, a rare gathering of esteemed former Div 2 Lt Gov's, with the likes of F. Bliss, R. Bliss, E. Levitch – all of whom have something in common (You guess?)

                       

 

 

 

More Goings-On

 J. Piercy reconfirmed the next Longfellow School project, which is on Sat, June 6 – to move them out of a building being renovated (wonder who's doing the renovation – could it be a certain BK architect?)

Next there's a DCM this Thur at the usual place (San Leandro hospital). This prompted our prez to remind us of the goal to do a Super Round Robin this year. This means that each and every one of us needs to do at least one Interclub. The DCM is a good place to start. See you there!

F. Bliss gave us a YPSO report and reminded us that the BK-sponsored Pops Concert is coming up on Sun, June 7. Sign-ups for jobs such as selling sodas are needed, but in any event, you just need to be there! He also reported on another concert this last weekend, which was wonderful! And spotlighted a cellist who debu ted with YPSO in the 1940's! Wow!!

Also-ran reminders: B. Lowman reminded us of the quilt project on May 22, and J. Egeberg issued another annoying reminder that Oktoberfest 2009 is "coming right up" on October 17 (which year?).

R. Bliss had a heart-warming report on pediatric dolls, having delivered a bunch to a certain doctor who was taking off to lands unknown somewhere within the boundaries of the country of India.

 

 

 

 

 

J. Rosano presented a much-deserved perfect attendance award to #1 daughter D. Haughin.

Finally, Dave D. was prompted to remind us of Alameda's annual Pancake Breakfast this coming Sunday at the Elks Club.

 

The Circle K Expedition

With no Diane in sight (never fear she showed up shortly), good ol' Monica filled in nicely (until she teamed up with Josh a little later on!). She introduced a quagmire of energetic CK'ers including Alex, Shannon, Tiffany et al.

She rattled off a plethora of activities too fast to catch – about various parties and walking events and helping out with campus events. But this all comes to an abrupt halt! Because of the F word: FINALS!! (coming right up).

Which reminded us to congratulate the amazing class of 13 graduating CK seniors – those who were present stood up to thunderous applause.  And then no wonder tha t Membership Chair D. Wong jumped up to point out that no less than 7 of those have submitted membership applications to Berkeley Kiwanis!!!

This prompted a little competition and bragging that this would put BK at 50+ members, compared to the "BIG" club around (happens to be Alameda somewhat adequately represented today) at about 60+. Watch out, Alameda!

AND a final word about those graduating seniors. Diane brought up a beautiful Circle K banner to present to us at BK in appreciation for our support Circle K replete with personal signatures from all. Prez Denise was duly overwhelmed.

 

H/S $$$$

§  D. Leonard was so happy to see Dave & his entourage from Alameda that he threw in a $100 federal reserve note!

 

 

 

 

§  J. Piercy had an extremely boring story about cutting down a sad-looking tree at his house and kept offering up more $$ to finish it off (was anybody listening?)

§  F. Bliss bragged that his lame partner just logged 3.2 miles in spite of her recovering ankle (do we believe it?)

§  This prompted D. Wong to admit that she has just taken up running (Careful, Debra, this could be dangerous)

§  Other meaningful (at least, well-intentioned) $$ were offered up by J. Rosano,  B. Rice. B. Fay. C. Fitch, E. Levitch, B. Barnwell & others…

 

A Socially Acceptable Program

B. Lowman introduced our esteemed program today in the person of Deborah Jordan who is the new director of the West Berkeley Senior Center. Barbara spoke of her career and interests and objectives in her new job. They presently offer a wide variety of craft and other classes and many social services, which she plans to expand. In response to questions, she pointed out that West Berkeley serves about 55 seniors, South Berkeley 150, and North Berkeley about 200.

Finally, she issued an invitation to their Fish Fry on May 29, including free delivery on orders of 520dinners or more. Call 981-5180 now.

Final Reminders!

New Berkeley Kiwanis Cookbook! Bring your recipes now!

Placemats! Did you see those eye-catching versions on each of our tables? Be sure to get in on the very next opportunity. Get your listing/ad in on time and reap the benefits from such exposure!

                                                                            

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Newsletter 050509

This was the meeting you shouldn't have missed!  It's great to have all the scholarship winners, families, counselors, and a big bunch of our UCB Circle Kers joining in the festivities. 

 

Pres Denise opened the meeting and got us thru the Song (Frank) and Invocation (Roberta), welcomed everyone, and turned it over to MC for the Day, Scholarship Chair (and Pres. Elect and Foundation Board Director, etc., etc.) Tamara Paradis.  And, boy was she prepared.  Maybe a bit sleepy, but PREPARED!  And we were off and running.  She never did eat her lunch!!

 

After a short review of our scholarship program, Tamara invited John P. to give his "speal" on where the Foundation came from and why.  That doesn't change over the years, but the visiting audience does, so maybe it's worthwhile!  JP was (for him) reasonably short and ended with the note that donations are always appreciated.

 

Then we were off on a trip thru introductions and awards to the winners.  Just to mix things up, Tammy had asked 7 members of the Scholarship Committee each to "host" one of the awardees and their family members and counselors who were present.  Her order of selection was alphabetical by first name (nickname) of the host – no favorites that way!

 

The recipients all expressed appreciation for the recognition and in turn recognized their family members and Counselors for their support.

 

Bill K'Berg of Albany/El Cerrito was first up and=2 0introduced Kiana Ward of El Cerrito High.  Kiana reported that she had tried "early application" at Brown University and it worked – she was accepted.  She was most appreciative of our scholarship; she had received several but ours was the most generous.  Her current plans are to major in International Relations.

 

Debra was next and introduced David (Dah-Veed`) Trejo who is graduating from Albany High and also planning to attend Brown University (now that he has a scholarship and the school has coughed up more support!).  David reported that he wants to major in Computer Science, start his own business and perhaps his "own country" and knows he has lots of work ahead of him!

 

President Denise was selected to re-introduce Arianna Deisman.  Re-introduce because Arianna was an active Key Clubber at Berkeley High and President these last two years so we've all  

 

 

 

seen her on more than one occasion (and given up $$$ at the Key Club "take-over" of our meetings).  She is planning to be active in Circle K at the University of Washington, Seattle, where she will study Linguistics as an entry to International Relations.

 

Foundation President Duane Leonard was privileged to introduce Jennifer Kuang of El Cerrito High School.  Jennifer has chosen to attend (ahem) Stanford (sorry about the Booooos!).  She is the first generation of her family to attend college.  I didn't note a proposed major but her goal is to enter community service, perhaps working for nonprofit organizations that benefit children.

 

Secretary Jack introduced Janie Gu of Albany High School.  Janie will be attending UCB (cheers of "Go Bears") and claims to be undeclared, but leaning toward Business or Science.  That sou nded like an impossible pairing,   Reviewing her transcript, though, she could certainly do just that – double major in a science and business.

 

Jeff was next and as he moved up to the front didn't even notice that his honoree, Keng Lam, was close on his heels, so Jeff got a lot of laughs when he opened by asked Keng (who was standing behind him) to come forward.  Keng's Chinese family moved to the Dominican Republic where he grew to 13 and thence to Albany where he is graduating.  He will attend UCB (more cheers) and his plans are to study in the Public Health field.

 

Phinally, Phuoc was called upon to introduce Robert Luan of Berkeley High.  Robert is also entering UCB (still more cheers) and it looks like the UCB Circle K will get 3 new members from the way the current members swamped the soon-to-be frosh (Note I did not call them freshmen!).  Robert's note that he plans to "do" engineering (undefined) brought groans from many of the attendees. =2 0Later, Roberta noted that there were at least three successful UCB Engineering grads in the audience.

 

And there you have our 7 scholarship winners for 2009.  There were congrats all around to them and their families and special thanks to their counselors who were present to enjoy the fruits of their efforts.

 

There were a few short announcements.  JP a "heads up" for a work party to move "stuff" from one building to another at Longfellow on June 6; VC planning a RIF distribution towards the end of May; Bettye H$ for our other work in Community Service; Frank for the YPSO Pops Concert coming up June 7; and VC for 4 more applications from graduating Circle K members to join our infamous Kiwanis Club.  Frank also noted that he has only 1 program lined up for June and would appreciate any suggestions; he wants to follow the theme "inventions".

 

If you missed today, sorry – but this time you WERE NOT MISSED – we had too much fun=2 0recognizing the great kids who make us realize that in our "golden years" we will be in good hands.

 

jp

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