KIWANIS KEY
Volume LXXX Number 18 February 28, 2025
Today’s meeting was very inspiring! More later.
PRAYER LIST: Jean Moore, wife of Kiwanian Steven Moore; Anne Keith, wife of Kiwanian Tom Keith; Barbara Porter’s daughter-in-law, Nicole; Kiwanian Bobby Bleecker; Robbie Talton’s wife, Deanna; Bob Ervin; Family of Dick Lewis; Kiwanian Kalli Ziegler’s brothers, Jim & Paul; Kiwanian Cheryl Gleason’s daughter, Amy Moses; Debbie Best’s sister, Kara Brittain. Please remember all of these in your thoughts and prayers.
BIRTHDAYS: Happy Birthday wishes go out this week to Barbara Porter (2-19) and Jay Gothard (2-22)!
GUESTS: All guests are special, but today we hosted the Governor of the Carolina’s District of Kiwanis, John Chiesa! John Malzone’s grandson, Jonathon; Ruth Carr from Methodist University; Ken Smith, guest of Judge Robbie Hicks; and Nancy Yount, a nursing student at Methodist University. We are always delighted to have guests join us!
NEW MEMBER INDUCTION: Tricia Moreno, sponsored by Debbie
Best was formally inducted by Cheryl Gleason. Tricia has really hit the ground running. Tricia, Worth and Felicia Smith’s family and I rang the Salvation Army Bell together at Sam’s Club before Christmas. Welcome to our club, Tricia. We know you will be an outstanding Kiwanian!
INTERCLUB RELATIONS: Richard Everett reported that three (3) Kiwanians traveled to the Lillington Kiwanis Club this week (meetings held at Keith Hills Country Club). Unfortunately, we always need four (4) Kiwanians to attend an Interclub in order to satisfy Kiwanis International. This means we will be making another trip to the Lillington Club soon. If you have never attended an Interclub meeting, it would be worth your time to do so. You’ll meet Kiwanians in another club and enjoy fellowship with your fellow club members traveling to and from the Interclub meeting.
KIWANIS SOCIAL: was held last night at Logan’s Roadhouse. Lee Warren and George Turner were the sponsors. A good crowd on hand and there were two visitors, Ronnie Luck (guest of Shirish Devasthali) and Tim Pope (guest of George Hendricks). The fellowship was outstanding, and the food provided by Lee and George was OVER THE TOP! Thank you, Lee and George, for jobs well done! Next month the Kiwanis Social will be held at the Carolina Ale House. More information and we get closer to the event.
AWARDS NIGHT: As you know (or should know), our club’s Awards Night took place last Friday evening at Segra Stadium. We had a great crowd, and a good time was had by all. Thanks again to President-elect Stephen Wheeler and his committee for doing a splendid job of planning and executing a wonderful evening!
REVERSE RAFFLE: Garry (2 R’s) Winebarger, Chair of our Reverse Raffle, reported today that we still have 40 tickets left to sell. If you have not bought your tickets yet, be sure to see or call Garry. The raffle will be held on Friday, March 14. It will again be virtual this year, so you can watch it on your computer.
YOUTH BASEBALL: 400+ youngsters normally take part in our Youth Baseball program. The Opening Day will be Saturday, April 5th at 9 AM at the Kiwanis Field (next to the Kiwanis Center). All of the teams will be present for Opening Day and it is an impressive sight to see all those youngsters in their baseball uniforms ready to hear PLAY BALL!
DID YOU KNOW: This is a relatively new portion of our Friday meetings, where a club member has 3-5 minutes to honor a current or former member; present a Public Service Announcement or to present themselves to the club with a personal history. Today Kiwanian Debbie Best talked about the most impressive subject, HUNGER (especially hungry children). Debbie says North Carolina ranks 9th in food insecurity in the nation; in Southeast NC, 1 in 6 people are dealing with food insecurity! She had more statistics, but you understand the problem we deal with here in Cumberland County and in the State of North Carolina. Debbie urged us to think about how we as a Kiwanis Club can help alleviate childhood hunger. There certainly should be some way we can do something to initiate a program to help with this problem. Great job, Debbie!
PROGRAM: Our program was brought by Kiwanian George Hendricks. George introduced Jazmine Valdez, a native of Miami, FL, but now a nursing school student at Methodist University. Jazmine’s background is interesting. Several years ago, she joined the Florida National Guard and became a Combat Medic. She worked overseas with the US Army as a medic, which led her to enroll in nursing school at Methodist University. In addition to being a full-time nursing student, she is President of the recently formed Circle K International Club at MU. Even though the club is young, she has initiated several endeavors to help children in our community. She is a very impressive young lady who is doing a great job with the Circle K Club and her nursing studies at MU. OUTSTANDING PROGRAM!
50-50 RAFFLE WINNER was Kiwanian Tim Dunn. Tim took home a whopping $61.00! Congratulations Tim!
In conclusion…
Kobe Bryant’s Top Ten Rules for Success…
- Get better every single day
- Prove them wrong
- Work on your weakness
- Execute what you practice
- Learn from greatness
- Learn from wins AND losses
- Practice mindfulness
- Be ambitious
- Believe in your team
- Learn storytelling
That’s it for another week. Be sure to join us next Friday for good food, good fellowship and a good program at Kiwanis.
Danny Highsmith
910-978-3947
