Sec/Treas Tom's Message

by Sec./Treas. Tom Varner

Thanksgiving is now gone, it is Black Friday, and it is one month to Christmas. For some reason these two holidays for Americans have become even more linked with the rush to go to stores and make money. Sometimes, we gobble the gobbler, tape the football games, and visit as many family members as we can in the shortest period of time all to be ready to spend our money by joining with the one-third of Americans who will participate in the Black Friday craziness.

In all of the hustle and bustle, did we remember to say "Thank You?" We really do have much to be thankful for these days. Most of us are enjoying good health (age adjusted of course); we have loving families and friends; we have many brave servicemen away from their homes so we can enjoy our peace and security; and we have the opportunity to help and to serve others. We should be thankful that Kiwanis gives us the opportunity to join together with our fellow members to serve the children of the world and to make communities better places to live.

I would suggest that we can do a couple of things to show our thanks for being able to serve. First, find your Kiwanis sponsor and thank them for giving you to opportunity to be a Kiwanian. Second, find some place in your community where you can give back for what you have received. Get your club involved if that is appropriate, but serve those who need your help. Finally, find someone who needs to be a Kiwanian and invite them to join. In this issue there is a list of 34 of our newest members and the Kiwanians who sponsored them. If you know them thank them both for being in Kiwanis.

As we move into the third month of the year, there are some opportunities that must be addressed by Club Secretaries. Let me mention two. First is the matter of Monthly Reports. The prior months report is due to Kiwanis International via the electronic reporting stem by the 10th day of the following month. So by November 10th we should have had all of the clubs October reports. We are missing over 49 of them.

A couple possible snags could have occurred. First if you are a new Secretary, your predecessor did not complete and submit the Club's Election Report last spring. Or, your name was entered but you email was not correct. In either case you cannot get into the system because your email is the key to accessing the program. To solve this check with last year's Secretary and insure he entered your email correctly. Second, if you still have problem contact Member Services at Kiwanis International at 1-800-549-2647, ext. 411 and explain your problem.

The other opportunity for Secretaries to assist their clubs is by making sure all for the email addresses and other information on each member is correct. Many members do not believe it is important or they forget to notify their Secretary when their contact information changes. Only the Club Secretary can change the email address in the Kiwanis International files. The fallout of this carries forward as every three months the Kiwanis International directory for the District is downloaded to the District Directory and if the member information has not been corrected it will be wrong in our directory.

These are two parts of the Secretary's job that can make a big difference for their Club and the Members.

Tom Varner
Secretary/Treasurer
secetarty@captialdistrictkiwanis.net