Kiwanis Club 
I was raised in the far north Midwest country (60 miles south of Canada), so I get a lot of "You're not from around here, are you?" With that in mind I am going to visit far northeast Texas for a week or two to work on my Texas accent. I don't know if it will help at my age and after 50 years in Texas that Midwest twang still finds a way into my speech. At least I got rid of, "You guys" and "Aye, yah" (Canadian slang). And I didn't pick up the "Youse guys" when I lived in the East near New Yawk. Next week the co-editor of the Newsletter will fill in (to be decided this week).
PROGRAM: JANUARY 19th: Kelli invited Steve Meyer from Crime Stoppers to give the club a background on the program. Crime Stoppers is an independent organization that acts as help to police departments by offering "more eyes" to a crime and passes the evidence on to police to help solve a crime. It started in 1976 in Albuquerque by a detective that used a video on television stations to see if anyone had seen or heard anything about the crime he was trying to solve. It resulted in added information and eventually an arrest. San Marcos started a Crime Stoppers program in 1981 and in 1991 it became Hays County Crime Stoppers. The program encourages people that see something suspicious to report it to Crime Stoppers or authorities. One of the more difficult populations to convince the need to report suspicious activity is the younger teen age population. Reminding them that a good friend just died from an overdose because they didn't report the situation. If they had reported the drug situation, maybe their friend would be alive today. This is one approach to make them realize how important it is to report suspicious activity such as drug use or a gun in a backpack. There will be a national program primarily focused on high school students here in San Marcos at Embassy Suites Convention Center on Feb. 2 - 3. They expect over 500 students from all over the country to attend. The program offers monetary incentives for information that leads to an arrest. A person can report a suspicious activity or crime and do it without being identified if they are afraid of any repercussion. The difference with reporting to Crime Stoppers versus a police dispatcher is that Crime Stoppers do not record or report any identification about the source and a police report will have a phone number and maybe a name on a report. It was a very educational and interesting program. Much of the monetary donations for reports comes from individual organizations or persons. Club members had quite a few questions about various aspects of Crime Stoppers and Steve did an excellent job of answering the questions.
PROGRAM: JANUARY 26th: Christi Dame has the Program.
PROGRAM: FEBRUARY 2nd: Charles Johnson will give a program of some stories and his experience with Boy Scouts.
PROGRAM: FEBRUARY 9th: Chester Banks has the program.
KIWANIS EVENTS:
Board Meeting: The members of the Board met January 19th. Several topics were discussed.
- Request for a donation to Southside Community Center. The Center provides food and clothes and shelter to individuals in need. The board decided on a donation of $300 plus any individual donations of money or items the Center needs. A future program will be decided on the time to donate and learn more about Southside Community Center.
- Discussion about upgrading or replacing the Kiwanis Sign located on Hwy. 123. A visit to the location will determine is it just needs cleaning or replacement. It was suggested that we should approach the other civic organizations and install other signs in roads leading into San Marcos.
- Rhonda and Christi went over the upcoming Clay Shoot fund raiser. An increased sponsorship fee is planned, and a tee shirt will be designed for the event. This will be the club's major fundraiser and needs volunteer help from members of our club.
- The new member application for Penny Slavik (Del Brown's daughter) was approved and installation will come at a later date.
- Discussion on requirements for our scholarship offerings to graduating seniors. Main discussion was what criteria should carry the most weight in deciding who receives the scholarships. It was suggested that the scholarship committee report the criteria to the board for consideration and approval.
- Discussion about having a Pancake Breakfast again. Many possibilities as to the date, location, and whether it should be a donation event versus a fee charged. Suggestions of holding it at the Library when they begin their Summer Reading Program or at the Arts Festival with Farmer's Market.
- The high school STEAM program has booths available to promote organizations and it was suggested that Kiwanis host a booth at the event.
- Discussion about having a camp workday was mentioned. It will be a workday for cleaning up and repairing the camp for summer campers and make it a social event for members as well. The date will probably be in March.
- Discussion about long time members writing down events that that they recall about our Kiwanis Club for the last 50 years. Jennifer has agreed to consolidate any stories, reports, and interesting events that members turn in. (Moe has turned in short articles on Kiwanis and Moe's Better Half Marathon and The Clubs participating in the Lockhart Rodeo Cow Milking Contest as examples)
The K-Kids are up and running. Doug and Jeanne attended a meeting and said there are about 15 students attending. They saw a film on Kiwanis and discussed future projects that they might schedule. Be sure and get your background check in to the school. Jeanne sent an application out several weeks ago and if you need a new one contact Jeanne for completing this important program. The K-Kids will meet every two weeks in the early afternoon.
JANUARY 27th: Chamber of Commerce hosts a "Coffee and Commerce" at 1st Lockhart Bank on Hunter Road from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. This is a good opportunity to promote our Kiwanis Club and the 100th Anniversary this year.
NOTES AND QUOTES:
It seems the spam risks are on the increase again. I get as many as 30 in a day between a landline and cell phone. Some have a local area code, but the person talks with a weird accent that is hard to understand. Must be from California someplace. I am tempted to answer and talk about the weather and my day at the office just to waste their time. The problem is I will be wasting my time also.
Yesterday a spider tried to crawl across my hand and now I'm googling how to extract a fork from bone without causing any more damage.
The main difference between an alligator and a crocodile is one will "see you later", and the other one will see you "after a while".
I was talking to my sister the other day and mentioned that I've been going to the gym recently. My young nephew said, "You should go inside when you get there." I don't think I will ever recover from that. So, I'm opening my own gym called 'Resolutions'. It will have exercise equipment for the first two weeks and then it turns into a wine bar for the rest of the year,
My wife had me dust the house one day. It came back. I'm not falling for that again.
95% of electric vehicles are still on the road today. The other 5% made it all the way home.
I overheard a conversation at my mother's house between her and a young cousin. 8-year-old cousin: "Can I have an ice cream sandwich?" Grandma: "Did you finish your dinner?" 8-year-old: "No." Grandma: "Okay, but just one then."
BE AT GRIN'S NEXT THURSDAY FOR GOOD CONVERSATION, GOOD FOOD, GOOD FELLOWSHIP, A PROGRAM FROM CHRISTI. THE CLUB IS ON A FAST TRACK TO A BEING A GREAT CLUB. BRING A GUEST AND POSSIBLE MEMBER. BRING A FUN STORY TO MAKE A MEMBER SMILE OR LAUGH. HAVE A GREAT WEEK.