OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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March 17, 2009
The 60th Annual Macomb Kiwanis Club Pancake Day is Thursday, April 23, at the American Legion. Jeremy Benson has sent out booster sponsor letters and has already received 18 checks and two more commitments.
Our speaker this week was Dr. Tim Van Alstine (on right), Western Illinois University Director of Athletics. He pointed out that John Moon is the oldest surviving football Leatherneck! Tim talked about WIU being a Division 1 school, the highest level of competition, that competes in two conferences: The Summit League, changed from the Mid-Continent Conference; and the Missouri Valley Football Conference, formerly the Gateway Conference. Another change is to a common team name. Instead of the Leathernecks and Westerwinds, all teams will now use the name "Fighting Leathernecks." North Dakota State and South Dakota have been added to the conferences to make them stronger and more competitive. "We want to compete at the highest possible level" he said. Tim also talked about new basketball coach Jim Molinari who, he said, has created more interest in the basketball program. "We've made some tremendous strides in improving our basketball program. We're very pleased with what Jim has done." Molinari is a well known name with 28 years of Divison 1 coaching experience including at Bradley University, the University of Minnesota and Ball State. Tim also gave members an update on football coach Don Patterson who has been battling cancer. Tim said Patterson has been receiving treatments and is doing better. He missed most of the season and said Patterson thought he should have taken the whole season off. Due to retirements, replacements have been hired for softball, swimming and diving coaches. Tim handed out a sheet that described successes on and off the court. The most impressive thing, he said, is the renovation of Hanson Field and he was pleased with the academic highlights. "80 student athletes had perfect 4.0 averages. 57% of all student athletes had 3.0 or better. Herb Donaldson of the football team won the Walter Payton award. A $60 million University Capitol Campaign has been launched with part of that going towards Hanson Field west side improvements with the addition of corporate suites and press box improvements" Tim said.
President Tim Moss presided, John Moon led us in singing "On Kiwanis" and Chuck Nicholson gave the invocation. Tim said five members participated in last weekends Spastic Paralysis Bowl-A-Thon in Abingdon. In addition to Tim they were: Ken Harp, John Moon, Owen Thompson and Debbie Vandemark. Pat and Waneen Stout were there as cheerleaders. Tim reported the team Scored 1,844 total points over 3 games and Debbie had the high score of 156. Tim thanked everybody that supported the event and said our club raised $320 for spastic paralysis. Tim, John Moon, Chuck Nicholson and Ted Pawlias all attended the Industry Pancake Breakfast. Pat attended the Monmouth Pancake Day. Debbie still has tickets for the VolunteerNOW fundraiser dinner Thursday, March 26, from 5:00 to 8:00 PM. Reservations may be made at The Secret Garden. Debbie also had Kiwanis Picture Book of the Month reading lists for Lincoln and Edison schools. Volunteers are needed for April and May at both schools. This is another example of how Kiwanis is serving the children of our community.
 
Owen said they had fish for lunch at the Sea of Galilee. "St. Peters fish is very mild but served "whole". It's hard to see in this picture but there's a coin in the mouth of Joe's fish. (Jesus speaking to Peter: "Go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours." Matthew 17:27 (NIV)."
Susan and Owen with a friend from Indiana.
"Kiwanis International is an international organization of member-volunteers who give more than 6 million hours and more than $100 million each year to help change the world one child and one community at a time. Any community need can become a Kiwanis service project, especially if the need involves children, who should have the help and the right to lead healthy, successful lives. We believe that helping a child helps the world."
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