Kiwanis Club of Woodland Hills                                           

7/17/11-Well It has been a while since I have written anything here.  Two consecutive terms as President has been a challenge.  The year is not up, of course, but it is time to begin preparation to turn over the reigns to the new Administration.  (I am watching the USA Women's Soccer team in the World Cup Championship against Japan - Exciting!).  We have had a busy and challenging year...and still more to come....Growth has been a point of concern. We want to do so much but don't have the membership to carry it forward.  This is the responsibility of all our members...not just a committee...Our Music and Magic event was a great experience.  Thanks go to all who helps and especially Jacque Mahoney, who is not a member. 

On Friday some of us will be attending the 20th Anniversary of the Warner Center Kiwanis Club....Just another Kiwanis Club?  Not really.  They are one of the two other existing Kiwanis that this club sponsored...AND They exist because of efforts by our club to recruit members from the area for our own club.  So many of the people we visited said lunch was not easy for them, but if we met for breakfast they could participate....so actually doing something SMART, we organized a Breakfast Club...and our own member, Linda Rice, who was grateful for a breakfast Cub, also, move to WC and became their Charter President.  And By the way, she is their President again, now, as they celebrate this 20th Anniversary.  Congratulations to Warner Center Kiwanis!!

12/15/10-Wednesday evening was a great experience. The Lodge celebrated the Holidays with an cottage dinner and entertainment and gifts. Upon arrival we were all greeted by happy faces and total excitement. Conversation ensued as we waiting for the beginning of the program.

This year the decision was made for the usual play to be done in the chapel. We were joined by the boys and visitors from neighboring Bekins cottage so the audience was abundant....The half dozen or so boys in the cast had a great time presneting their version of a Christmas Carol. It was about 20 minutes and such fun!! It included the reading of a poem by another of the boys....and we sang a Christmas song.

Afterward we headed back to Neimeyer Cottage for dinner. John and Howie and Heidi and Jack, Gary and Jen and Terry and Susie, joined me for a great evening of fun...as the meal progressed we heard a mighty "HO, HO, HO" and in comes Santa (I recognized him!!). I am always surprised by things at the lodge, but the looks on the faces of all the boys from 13-18 were the looks of boys who had never seen Santa! It made the experience even more amazing...the poem read by the young man earlier included a quick referral to doubt in existence of Santa...When Santa came in his mouth dropped and he said he does not believe it! Santa was there to see them...the boys and staff all had their picture taken with Santa and we progressed to giving out the gifts.

Santa did the honors and again a pic was taken as each young man received his gift card. When the poet was there he made a point of the fact that he could not believe he was really there with Santa! After the boys each got their individual gift card we had a few of them come over and open the gifts for the cottage. They included new pool sticks, and a set of pool balls, a box full up marker and color-pencil set and drawing pads, a football and a soccer ball....all items they requested..And I had an opportunity to thank the boys for allowing us to be part of their lives and encouraged them to learn all they can from the wonderful opportunity they are given at the Lodge and take it back with them in their lives. Head counselor Brett also said a few nice words about the club and thanked us...

As a side note Santa also went over to Bekins Cottage and visited with those young men...Same response. In case you have not figured it out yet. Santa was our own Kurt Rice. What a natural!!

We discovered that one of the boys had just arrived earlier that afternoon. I think he was a bit overwhelmed by all that went on. And unfortunately we did not have a gift card for him...But worry not....I will be delivering it to him tomorrow morning...

And those who were there, hopefully, picked up on what I have been saying over and over...our visit there monthly and our quarterly BBQ's mean so much to these young men and the staff. If you have not been there, or if you have, visit with me next month and see what I mean!!Wednesday evening was a great experience. The Lodge celebrated the Holidays with an cottage dinner and entertainment and gifts. Upon arrival we were all greeted by happy faces and total excitement. Conversation ensued as we waiting for the beginning of the program.

This year the decision was made for the usual play to be done in the chapel. We were joined by the boys and visitors from neighboring Bekins cottage so the audience was abundant....The half dozen or so boys in the cast had a great time presneting their version of a Christmas Carol. It was about 20 minutes and such fun!! It included the reading of a poem by another of the boys....and we sang a christmas sone.

Afterward we headed back to Neimeyer Cottage for dinner. John and Howie and Heidi and Jack, Gary and Jen and Terry and Susie, joined me for a great evening of fun...as the meal progressed we heard a mighty "HO, HO, HO" and in comes Santa (I recognized him!!). I am always surprised by things at the lodge, but the looks on the faces of all the boys from 13-18 were the looks of boys who had never seen Santa! It made the experience even more amazing...the poem read by the young man earlier included a quick referral to doubt in existence of Santa...When Santa came in his mouth dropped and he said he does not believe it! Santa was there to see them...the boys and staff all had their picture taken with Santa and we progressed to giving out the gifts.

Santa did the honors and again a pic was taken as each young man received his gift card. When the poet was there he made a point of the fact that he could not believe he was really there with Santa! After the boys each got their individual gift card we had a few of them come over and open the gifts for the cottage. They included new pool sticks, and a set of pool balls, a box full up marker and color-pencil set and drawing pads, a football and a soccer ball....all items they requested..And I had an opportunity to thank the boys for allowing us to be part of their lives and encouraged them to learn all they can from the wonderful opportunity they are given at the Lodge and take it back with them in their lives. Head counselor Brett also said a few nice words about the club and thanked us...

As a side note Santa also went over to Bekins Cottage and visited with those young men...Same response. In case you have not figured it out yet. Santa was our own Kurt Rice. What a natural!!

We discovered that one of the boys had just arrived earlier that afternoon. I think he was a bit overwhelmed by all that went on. And unfortunately we did not have a gift card for him...But worry not....I will be delivering it to him tomorrow morning...

And those who were there, hopefully, picked up on what I have been saying over and over...our visit there monthly and our quarterly BBQ's mean so much to these young men and the staff. If you have not been there, or if you have, visit with me next month and see what I mean!!

12/7/10-We had a great turn out of our members at our Holiday event with Park Ventura Sr. Living Center...
First we really need to thank Ron Felt and his wonderful wife Joy for putting together the visit and Joy for performing and bringing her friends along to play and sing!! (see the pic)
Tonight, beside Ron and Joy were Jen, Gary, Shayne, Don, Terry and Susie and me....And SANTA "Kurt" CLAUS!!!
See the other pic! What was Santa doing? LOL Having fun!!
A lot of these folks don't have outside visitors so when we got there, we were so welcomed!! The group loved our little gift...a gift bag we prepare with Hand Sanitizer, a small note pad, a pen, some candy (Thanks again to Jen for shopping with me, and Jen and Gary and Harriet and my wife, Susan, for putting them together)
And we all had fun in the Bingo Room singing and enjoying the great music....
We will be doing it again in the spring

10/24/10-The new year has started!  Great Installation Lunch on Oct 6th... Thanks to Jack who served as Vice President and Terry and Ron who were on the Board...Your contributions have helped make us a stronger Club!  Welcome to Mark, our New Vice President, and Howie and Heidi to the Board.  Jack is staying on as a member of the Board.  Also, Thanks to John who is a huge part of our continued success. And Kurt and Gary and Carl who remain on the Board, and Patty who remains as Immediate Past President.  My Biggest challenge to the members of the club is to go the extra mile to bring new members to the Club.  There is so much we can do as a group. But we need the membership to make it happen.  

It is only the first month of the new year and we are pleased to have inducted a few new members and accepted another application.  Unfortunately we have had to say farewell to Ralph who has moved out of the area and already chosen a new club!  That says a lot for Kiwanis and this club and Ralph.  We will miss him.  WE have completed TWO Interclubs already...One with Warner Center Kiwanis and one at the District Governors Visit and Division "Pass the Torch".  Interesting to note: Lt. Governor Nick is serving  back-to-back years as is out President and the presidents of four other clubs in our Division...Something new for us. 

9/12/10- I want to thank Heidi, Carl and Jen for joining me at Pacific Lodge, Neimeyer Cottage today to make Lunch for the Boys! Every time we go, there are new boys and each experience is so different. Today was no exception. There were only 8 boys in residence today, but what a great group. Many have finished the program and a few were on home visits. We talked with staff, we talked with the boys, we played pool, we cooked, we ate...Our presence is so important to the boys. Each looks upon our presence in different ways...The minute I drove up, i had a crew to unload, and one of the new boys gave me a hand done thank you card from he and two other boys, and Jenny, a newer staff member...It touches me so much!


A great letter to our Club...                                                                                                                                     Dear Jack,

We look forward to partnering with you as well.  We are so thankful for your kindness.  The members of the Kiwanis’s of Woodland Hills are so generous to volunteer to engage the project of making the resonance boards and the toy bars for our babies.  These items will truly make a difference in many lives.

I will send the plans to you and the others as soon as they are completed for email purposes.

Sincerely,

Sally Walbert

Senior Development Manager

Therapeutic Living Centers for the Blind                                                                                                                       

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The Year is almost up!  Two more Relay's for Life...A BBQ at Pacific Lodge...Cakes nights also at the Lodge....Getting Ready to do Pancakes at the Warner Center Kiwanis' KECSA Challenged Riders Equestrian Event....Another BBQ at The Lodge...Dodger game with the Boys from the Lodge! And we accepted a new member application, with a few more in the making... No wonder I am so tired!! October begins a new Kiwanis Year and a repeat term for a lot of officers and Board Members...This year we will try something new...We will Have out Promotions/Installations at the Regular meeting on October 6th...Guests and loved-ones invited! 

So here we are and it is already April!  We have been busy...A BBQ at Pacific Lodge, Two Pancake Breakfasts for Relay's for Life (Woodland Hills and Agoura) and one to come in May.  Judging exhibits at Woodlake Elementary, and so much more.  Cake Nights every month with the boys at Pacific Lodge.  We keep busy!  Meetings have been well attended and Jack has given us some great speakers.  Don keeps bringing prospective members which we REALLY appreciate.  We need to build our membership so we can do more and continue what we do!  May has us celebrating our 57th Anniversary!! OH MY!!  (See the calendar)

Oh my!  where have the months gone!?!   We are in our 4th month of the Kiwanis year already!   We have enjoyed what we have done so far...Great attendance at meeting..Great speakers...Wonderful Holiday Party, a nice visit to the Woodland Park Retirement facility, Holidays with the boys at Pacific Lodge...Our  January Cake Night was a blast!  Dennis had his dinner all over him!!  Ask him or Mark about it.  We are planning another Cook out (or in) with them in March!  We are making plans to go twice this year to Ronald McDonald House to serve a meal to the families staying there...A visit there includes more than just cooking and serving!  Visits with the families, activities for the kids!...Watch for more news... Our Boys and Girls Club Committee is starting up to get involved with them...Look at the Calendar!!!!

October - A new Kiwanis year!  Let's start BIG!  Invite someone you meet for the first time to a service project or a meeting!

This month is almost over and we were busy!  Two Great meetings this month.  Lt. Governor Nick shared his vision for his two year term ahead.  It will be NEW and EXCITING!  It takes us all to commit to making Kiwanis a household name in the Valley!!  Become a part of it!  On Saturday the 17th we had a crew at Pacific Lodge cooking lunch for the boys in our Neimeyer Cottage.  John, Jen, Gary, Carolyn, Mike, Jack, Ron and Dennis were all present.  WE all had fun and enjoyed our visit ... and they boys especially were glad we were there.  It is so great to be able to leave a positive mark on the minds of these young men.  On Sunday the 18th John, Gary, Carl and Dennis with Willie from the Warner Center Club took down the flags along Ventura Blvd.  Then on Wednesday, CAKE NIGHT at Neimeyer, John and Dennis were in attendance...Some of the boys were down on the field playing a league flag football game against young men from another facility.  While there Dennis visited our own Ashley in her new post as supervisor (hope I got the title right) of the new Transition Cottage which is operating in Sauble Cottage, behind Neimeyer.  The cottage is intended for boys who are nearing 18 and becoming ready for emancipation.  They will spend time learning the skills needed to be successful in the "outside" world...a hard task for us all.  Presently there are 4 young men residing there.  The plan is to move 12 boys there for the program.  NOTE: Sauble is in need of furniture in the living room area and elsewhere.  So if you have an item or items, get hold of Ashley and see if they need it. 

Speaking of Carolyn!!! She is our newest member!  WELCOME TO THE GROUP!! 

We also had a visit from a prospective member, Pierre.  We are hoping he joins us also.  And Mimi who visited with Don at our previous meeting meeting, we hope, is considering joining too....

September 24 - 24 Kiwanians and guests joined in the annual celebration at the McManus home recognizing the end of our great year with Patty at the helm of the club!  After visiting and a wonderful dinner soon-to-be past Lt. Governor Craig promoted Patty and her cabinet to past officers. (Thanks Craig)  Patty thanked the club and her officers and made a special presentation of "Kiwanian of the Year" to Gary!  A very special person!  Patty wrote a cute poem to express our appreciation for what Gary does for this Club...Congrats to Gary!!! Then, Patty, along with incoming President Dennis surprised Kurt by presenting him with his Legion of Honor Recognition.  LOH recognizes Kiwanians with 25 years or more in Kiwanis and service to the community!  Congrats Kurt!!  After being presented with a thank you gift from the club, Patty used the next few minutes to express her thanks to the club for a great year....Following that, Lt. Governor-designate Nick recognized Incoming President Dennis and the Officers and Directors for the upcoming year.  (Thanks Nick)  To close the meeting, Dennis spent a few minutes expressing his goals for the next year of heavy recruiting to increase the size of the club so we can provide more and better service!  We are all encouraged to talk to someone we DON'T know about the wonders of Kiwanis and giving back to the community and especially why our club is the best choice! 

September 13 - Roy and Martha, Dennis, and Michael were all in attendance for this years Division 25 Pass the Torch.  The meal was quite good, the fellowship was great.  There was about 50 people in attendance including soon-to-be-Past Governor Dan Connally, who flew in this morning from his home in the Bay area, and Governor-Designate Roy Talley (a member of the Thousand Oaks Club).  Also present was our Key Club-West Lt. Governor Chris Ratana.  Emceed by the ever-so-talented Scot Spooner (a past Lt. Governor) the event took on a casual and positive air.  Lt. Governor Craig Holman and First Lady Liz were thanked and honored by Dan and all present for his accomplishments this year in leading the Division to overall increased membership in the division.  Craig thanked his cabinet and outgoing club presidents for all their support.  Then Roy installed Nick Montano and his wife Lucia as our next Lt. Governor and First Lady.  Governor Roy's theme this year is that it is now time to get our hands dirty!  Get out there and do the community service we are in business for.  Nick's emphasis follows suit.  Additionally, Nick is really working to improve our involvement in our Key Clubs, our members of the future.  And he encourages clubs to continue recruiting to increase our membership (My main theme for this year).  Presidnet-Designate Dennis (fancy title) had the pleasure of passing on the Division "race car" to incoming Lt. Gov Nick as it completes it's trip around the Division.  The Race Car was the mascot of 2009-10 Governor Dan's year.  The division kicked off last year with a Soapbox Derby at the pass-the-torch and the car began it's trip to all the clubs in the division.  John fisher did a great Job decorating the pig for this event (The pic is in the pic with Craig and Liz and Dan)...Thanks John.. Dennis got a lot of stares as he carried said pig-with-race-car through the lobby of the Hilton Hotel where this Pass-the-Torch took place.    THANKS TO CRAIG FOR A GREAT YEAR!!  And the Kiwanis Club of Woodland Hills strongly supports Nick for his them as Lt. Governor (A two year term!)

August 30 - The American Flags along Ventura Blvd. went back up today to recognize Labor Day, and to remember those who lost their lives in the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on 9/11/01.  This time the effort was greater.  The volunteers replaced the brackets with new ones that were designed and created by Gary in his shop.  Plus, they doubled the amount of flags raised to 100!!  Thanks to Gary and John and Jack from our club and Willie, Ron and Richard from the Warner Center club who did all the work.  Thanks to John and Willie for all they do to maintain the inventory, and to Richard for allowing us to store the flags and prep them in his Pre-School facility. 

August 19 - Our monthly Cake Night was a great time...I am telling you, you need to come!  Wednesday is their in-cottage dinner where the boys and staff cook their own dinner.  I will tell you that the food is great and of an amazing variety!!  We bring desert.  I end up there until 7 or 8 o'clock almost every month!  This month some of the boys were doing a car wash to earn money to go to Universal City!  Jack and I both got a very expensive car wash that night!  How can you say no?!?!?  We were presented a really neat poster and card (huge card) as thanks for the baseball game and all we do for them.  I get so emotional when they do that.  Very touching!  They will be at our next meeting on Sept 2nd....

After Dinner Jack and Jen and Gary and I attended the monthly meeting of the San Fernando Valley Kiwanis Club.  They were meeting in a room at the Lodge Gym building.  So we had an Interclub that night as well as our visit to the Cottage. 

Then after the meeting, Jack and I went back and spent a little more time at the Cottage!  The third Wednesday of each month is my favorite night of the month!!  Join me next month! 

August 18 - Woodland Hills Kiwanis and Pacific Lodge night at the Dodgers...We had a great time...John and his family and Dennis with family and friends took 15 seats and 15 tickets were provided to the boys and staff of Niemeyer Cottage...I know fun was had by all!!  Well, we found out later the Lodge folks had a great time.  Funny how things go sometimes!  The 15 Lodge seats remained empty the entire game.  John and I were worried about what might have happened!  We found out the next night at Cake Night that the Lodge group were there!!  After some confusion on the road (the two vehicles ended up entering at different parking gates) they got to the section we were in, but some how were seated in seats near the top of the section, above the tunnels.  We were below the tunnels!!  They could not see us and we could not see them.  You'd think that in the electronic world the adults involved would have traded cell numbers!! LOL!! Well we blew it!  But everyone had a great time!!!  Next will be a Clipper or Kings game in the winter....

August 13-15 was our California-Nevada-Hawaii District convention in San Diego.  Dennis was the only member to attend.  He reports to have had a great time and learned a lot more to help our club continue to strengthen our Club.  He  will share more as the year progresses.  He encourages all our members to attend Conferences and Conventions as often as they can!  They are a great time...education...fellowship...FUN!!!

July 25, 2009 -  Another great PIG ROAST!  We all had a great time and made some money for our charities!!  We had about 200 people...A great DJ, Sandy of Cherry Sound Entertainment! (Her sister is a member of our Club!-Can you guess who?)  Some wonderful prizes were donated to assist in the fund raising....Thansk to all who helped and especially Gary and Jen who allow us to party at their home!! Pics will be posted soon!!!

July 15, 2009 - The Key Club of Taft High School ran our meeting today!  It was great to have them with us and we had a good turn out.  Our Keynote speaker was Margo Dutton of the Northridge Kiwais.  Margo is also the District Treasurer and plays an active part in The Districts Service Leadership Program (once known as Sponsored Youth). As a child, her life was touched by the Kiwanis in her community and she vowed to pay back as she could.  Well she has and more with her continued dedication to the youth of our communities!  We schedule and Interclub for the following Tuesday

July 7, 2009 - Visited this evening with the folks at Park Ventura Senior Home.  Under Ron's leadership, and with Gary, Kurt, John and Dennis, we sat with the residents at various tables and carried on great conversations!  These nice people have so much to share and love having people visit as we did. This is another of our great and rewarding projects that would be even better with more of our members participating.  Please consider participating next time Ron sets up a visit!!

July 1, 2009 - Our regular meeting today featured our own President-Elect Dennis.  He spoke about two main ideas....On is the future Legacy Project in the planning stages by our Division..The idea is to create a facility in the west valley managed by all the clubs in the Division that provides to-be-determined services.  Ideas include a small shop of clothes for people hard on their luck that are suitable for interviewing for jobs, day care, other child and adult services...Any one who has sincere interest in the plannign and creation of this are seriously request to volunteer.  Please let Patty or Dennis know so they can submit your name to the Lt. Governor...

Dennis began the next part of his program by sharing how important this club is to him.  As a child he participated with his father in the clubs projects...Many members over the years had a profound influence on his life (thanks Milt)...Dennis' program was to share the presentation that got him all fired up to promote modernization of this club...Created by Steve Siemens, Past International President.  Steve's showed how the newer generations think and what motivates them....essentially, we are not your grandpa's Kiwanis any more....The newer generations want to be involved in community service, but are not so interested, or able to participate in, weekly meetings. The cost of meals and the time spent at meetings can be prohibitive to them. They are plugged in, use email, the internet, texting, to communicate...Essentially Dennis' point is that it is incumbant upon all the members of this club to actively sell Kiwanis to the younger people we are in contact with...The club is preparing a new brochure that we can all have handy to give out...Dennis makes business cards with club info (meeting days, location, website address, contact email and phone number, and your name on them...Great for handing out and breaking the ice! 

June 20, 2009...Members of our club visited Niemeyer Cottage and presented the new Bar-B-Que we bought for them!  And we broke it in cooking up chicken and dogs and burgers!  we had a great visit...again, our presence means so much to the boys, and we all have a great time!  Plan on participating at the next one!

June 17, 2009 - Cake Night at Niemeyer Cottage!  Our Monthly visit with Birthday cake!!  Wednesday nights is in-cottage Dinner night at the cottage..The staff and the residents cook dinner in the cottage..and they love to have visitors come for dinner...Tonight Dennis stayed and helpe B-B-Q and set up and then ate a great dinner...chicken and ribs and lots of sides!!  WOW!!