REPORTS:
Jennifer:
She needs attendance for the April 4th meeting and May 9th Round Table meeting. This helps with record keeping for perfect attendance and any make ups for missed meetings. She asked to be notified of who was there at either or both meetings.
Rick:
Rick reported on the camp work day for May 4th. Kristin, her husband Steve, Rick, Rhonda and one of the neighbors came to help. He encourages everyone to help out as does Lon. Lon commented that the river is flowing and flowers are blooming so the camp is looking great.
Lon:
Lon read out the final notification of the officers and board members for 2024-2025. They are Rick Pickering for President, Kristin Wingard for Treasurer and Jennifer Richmond for Secretary. New board members are Willie Garza, Penny Slavik and Rhonda White. Members present voted to approve the slate of officers and board members. The names will be submitted as read.
Today, Moe is recognizing one of the scholarship winners, Austin Ault. Next week the other scholarship winners will be attending the meeting. Lon thought it might be a good idea to have a parent of a scholarship recipient become a Kiwanis member.
Austin Ault and Moe Johnson
Moe introduced Austin Ault who thanked the Kiwanis Club, saying the $1000 scholarship will greatly help him out. He is going to the University of Texas at Austin. He is not sure, yet, in what he will major. He shared that one of his proud accomplishments as an Eagle Scout was to build a storage shed for a middle school tennis coach to make it easier on the coach for moving equipment for the players. Moe said he was amazed at the quality of applicants this year.
PROGRAM:
Glen introduced Ashley Schimelman who is Director of all library programs at the San Marcos Public Library. She started working in the children's library area 23 years ago. She noted that they are able to do these programs because of the San Marcos Kiwanis Club's sponsorship for so many years. Glen said our donations started in 1971. Ashley said she saw the need for a reading program in the summer due to what she called the "Summer Slump." Children were losing their reading skills over the summer with having little opportunity to read. There were not enough affordable camps. They needed educational opportunities and an incentive to read which would help them have better reading skills and a greater desire to learn when back at school. To fill this gap, the Summer Reading program was born. She handed out a calendar for the June. 2024 events which occur six days a week.The "Big Rigs Kickoff Party" is May 31st from 9:00 am-noon. Events include science activities (our own Jeanne and Doug present this), animal shows, arts and crafts and puppet shows. Volunteers are needed. There is also a reading competition for ages 0-5. 6-11, and 12-17. Adults may also participate by reading books and creating reviews. "Logs" may be picked up at the library.
This program is very successful marking 7,080 participants in one month. Last summer had 198 free events. She also said it is important to simply take children to the library to check out books to encourage reading.
Glen gave a personal gift to Ashley in the form of a Kiwanis pin that had Kiwanis International and Reading is Fun included on it. Very fitting.
UPCOMING PROGRAMS:
May 23rd: Moe, Scholarship Winners
May 30th: CASA
Moe wrote the following item on his visit to the Chamber of Commerce cookout on May 17th, the day after our meeting.
"Moe went and represented Kiwanis. The visit was worth the time as a possible three programs for our meetings was provided. Moe sat with Mayor Hughson, and she is willing to give our club a "State of the City" talk to our club anytime we ask. It was a nice turnout, and the hamburgers were delicious. Jesse Ramos also attended later in the afternoon. Moe said he missed a couple of opportunities to hand out 'Kelli Cards' to potential visitors because he didn't want to interrupt who they were talking to and when he went back, they had left. The Chamber passed a folder around about the business expo at the Embassy Suites on August 23rd. Last year we found several new members at the Expo so put that date on the calendar."
Regular Reminders:
Don't forget to click "like" and "share" on Facebook and other social media to promote the Kiwanis Club. We need to keep getting the club's name out there to promote our community involvement and to add new members to help in our endeavors.
Be sure to check the Calendar posted on the San Marcos Kiwanis Club website to stay up-to-date on what is happening.
Humor and musings:
"The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man." T.S. Elliot
"The only absolute thing you need to know, is the location of the library." Albert Einstein.
"Librarians are committed to promoting lifelong learning in order to create a community of well-informed individuals. Librarians are catalysts to enlightenment for their communities." Louise Capizzo
bring a guest to an upcoming meeting!
