Lon introduced our guests which were Chase Dame, former member Gary Strunk and Debbie Lawrence from the Bluebonnet Lion's Club.

 

Rick made a report on the Pancake Day event. He has given everyone their assignments for the day although it is a flexible schedule once there so that what needs to be done is taken care of as needed. There will be live music from 9:00-11:00. He brought business sized cards promoting the event that everyone can hand out as an invitation to friends, family and anyone who is shopping on the Square the morning of March 9th. 

A little over $1500 has been raised already.

He is considering having a "Kiwanis" table with our brochures available to promote the club and hopefully get new members.

 

Lon spoke about striving for cooperation on projects with other clubs. One suggestion is getting together with the Lions Club, Rotary and Bluebonnet Lions Club to work with the schools on Service Leadership clubs.

 

Moe and Willie did the honors of inducting Cheryl Petre into the club today. She has served as a speech and hearing therapist in schools 3^rd grade to junior high school.  She also worked with special needs children.  She worked at several hospitals in Texas in a medical social work capacity.  She volunteered with an organization called Daughters of Charity.  One of her hobbies is cooking.  In fact, she was a private family chef at one point.  The committees she would like to serve on are the Flag committee as she is already taking a route for President’s Day and the Youth sponsorship committee as she says she would like to help with K kids or Terrific Kids or wherever is needed and is willing to go to the schools. Welcome, Cheryl!

 

Lon made the comment that since Stacie did not attend the meeting and therefore did not bring back the Kiwanis bell, Cheryl will have to do the "polishing of the bell" another time.

 

Moe introduced Dennis Gutierrez from the San Marcos Lions Club. This is the first of presentations from other clubs with whom we would like to partner in various projects. Dennis retired from the police department after 36 years of service. He joined the Lions Club and became a 2nd Vice District Governor. He has high praise for the leadership training he received for that position.

His focus today was on presenting the history of the Lions Club. It was started in 1917 by Chicagoan Melvin Jones in response to social problems that occurred due to WW1 and industrialization. It went international in 1920. In 1925, Helen Keller challenged the club to become "knights of the blind in the crusade against blindness." The club began with vision screening which expanded to addressing hunger, diabetes, childhood cancer, and the environment. This is what they call the 5 pillars or 5-Core of Global Causes.

The history is too extensive to write here but one thing that needs to be mentioned is how the San Marcos Lions Club started up the Tube Runner Rental Business that is extremely popular. The original vision was to preserve the waterways and greenbelts throughout San Marcos for the pleasurable use by residents and tourists while being environmentally responsible. This is their main fundraiser with all net proceeds going back to the community.

The Lions Club is a very dynamic group contributing greatly to the community. The San Marcos Kiwanis club looks forward to working with them in the future and thanks Dennis for his time today.

 

UPCOMING PROGRAMS: (Through March)

Feb. 29th – Charles Smith, Battleship Texas

March 7th – Victoria and Marissa, Greater San Marcos Youth Council

March 14th – Radio Station

March 21st- **Tentative** Peter Baen, History of Rotary Club

March 28th – Debby Lawrence, Bluebonnet Lions Club

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.