Bridgeway President/CEO Jim Starnes (on left) spoke to the Macomb Kiwanis Club this week about the Bridgeway mission and the various programs and projects it is involved with.
According to its website, Bridgeway was established in 1993 by the merger of McDonough County Rehabilitation Center and Spoon River Incorporated. A vocational program for disabled persons in eastern Iowa was added in 1998 and in 1999 there was further Bridgeway expansion in Iowa with the official transfer of services previously provided by River Center.
Starnes stated over 10,000 people were helped last year in the Bridgeway service area that encompasses 10 counties in Illinois and three in Iowa.
He pointed out that Bridgeway is actually a variety of companies providing a multitude of different services including being a mental health center and a residential training center which has grown into a $5 million company. Starnes said "we have vocational centers in five different communties doing contracts for several companies. Bridgeway is into everything from making bee hives and bee food to its newest venture, making plastic bags. Your state income tax return was processed by Bridgeway data services. 140 different people were hired to process the forms." Bridgeway also runs a recycling center and the demand response service for McDonough County Public Transportation. "It's really been exciting for me over the years to see the company grow and serve thousands of people."
"What disturbs me," he says, "is that there's a waiting list of people who want to join a residential home because only so many people per year are allowed." He also mentioned that "Illinois is 51st in the nation in terms of spending money to help developmentally disabled people. Bridgeway stands to lose a lot of money due to cutbacks proposed in the new state budget. We're actually pushing for a tax increase because we deal with the sickest and the poorest and they need help. By comparison, last year we received cuts of 10-14% in Illinois and in Iowa it was increased by 1%" Starnes said.
For our May 26 meeting, when we'll be back at St. George's Church, May program chairman Tim Moss has a representative of MOSAIC, another social service agency, as guest speaker.
President Tim Moss presided at our weekly meeting held at the Ponderosa on East Jackson.
Following the Pledge of Allegiance and Kiwanis Pledge, John Moon led us in singing "You're In Kiwanis Now" and Chuck Nicholson gave the invocation.
Tim conducted the official vote for new officers and directors in our 2009-2010 Kiwanis year. Debbie Vandemark was proposed as President, Pat Stout as President-elect, Tim Moss as Treasurer and Jeremy Benson for Past President. Board members nominated were Rick Bulger, Ken Harp, Waneen Stout, Owen Thompson and Joe Vandemark. It was moved by Hassan Espahbodi and seconded by Ken Harp to accept the nominations and then approved by a voice vote of the membership.
Jeff Paisley reported on last Wednesdays Macomb High School Honors Night where he represented the club and presented sophomore Alissa DeRoos with the Macomb Kiwanis Club Hugh O'Brian Youth Fellowship Seminar award.
Tim passed around the signup sheet for the Cub Scouts Day Camp at Spring Lake in June. They need help checking scouts in each morning and we're looking for more volunteers for about an hour each day.
Jeremy has the final expense report for Pancake Day and said "I'm certain we netted close to $10,000 this year!"
Tim would like to set another date to clean up the pancake griddles before next year.
George Hermann had the results of the 25th annual Kiwanis Youth Olympics held earlier this month. He said "while attendance was lower this year, we had good weather and good help." He thanked all the Kiwanis members that helped out. George said we might want to think about including third graders instead of sixth graders next year. Ken said he heard a lot of good comments from families that participated. They appreciated our sponsorship of this event. 120 ribbons were given out. Jerry Carlson suggested getting more support from the school superintendent and principals and possibly even the physical education teachers to help plan future events. Jeremy suggested members make personal contacts with the schools and encourage them to get more students involved.
Ken Harp said our 2009 Membership Drive is underway and Ron Runser re-joined us at this weeks meeting. As mentioned last week, the club has been divided up into two teams with points awarded for bringing back a former member, bringing in a guest and bringing in a new member. The losing team will be responsible for feeding the winning team at a future meeting. The drive will run for six weeks.
Tim reminded us that the Flags of Love will be on display the first time this year on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25. Kiwanis is the primary group responsible for putting the flags up at 6 AM and taking them down at 6 PM but everyone is invited to help out at Chandler Park. There's over 700 flags that will fly in memory of armed forces personnel that have served from Macomb and McDonough County.
Have you ever gotten stuck when trying to answer the question "what is Kiwanis?" Here's a quick 30 second response direct from Kiwanis International.
"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."
