President Debbie Vandemark presided. Following the Pledge of Allegiance and Kiwanis Pledge, John Moon led us in singing "Onward In Kiwanis" and Chuck Nicholson gave the invocation.
We had a surprise visit from Santa, Mrs. Claus and two of their elves. If you look closely, you may notice that Santa and Mrs. Claus bear a remarkable resemblance to Pat and Waneen Stout. The two elves look just like Ed and Mary Haney. Pat said they had been visiting children in Galesburg and Abingdon earlier and decided to come in full costime.
We also welcomed Maureen Hazell, Principal of Edison School who told us this was her sixth year as Principal of the 4th, 5th and 6th grade school. She's one of the rotating faculty of the Macomb School District who will be attending our meetings as a corporate sponsor. Waneen Stout introduced us to her guest Carol Gardner
There are a few cases of peanuts left so we'll be back at Hy Vee Friday and Saturday, October 30 and 31 to, hopefully, wrap up Kiwanis Peanut Days.
Debbie announced there will be a board meeting following next weeks meeting.
She is working on putting together an interclub to Carthage for their noon meeting on Thursday. Those going will meet at the Crossing parking lot at 11:20 and Debbie will drive. We have three going and need one more to make it a interclub.
Debbie says the evenings of November 17 and December 1 will not be available for us at Wesley Village so she is looking into other possible locations.
The IDD Worldwide Project was a major Kiwanis International endeavor that virtually eliminated iodine deficiencies worldwide. Nearly $100 million was raised by Kiwanis members and clubs to make it possible for 90 million babies to be born without the threat of mental retardation and other disorders associated with IDD. More than 200 proposals from all over the world have been received for the next worldwide project. The announcement is set for June 2010 at the next Kiwanis International Convention. We're hoping to send representatives of our club.
Jay Carter reported that the members of our Junior Bowling League have received their t-shirts and bowl at 9:30 Saturday mornings. Jay suggested we go there to watch them bowl.
Jay also said the Flags of Love will go up for Veterans Day, November 11, at 7:00 AM and be taken down at 4:00 PM in Chandler Park. The American Legion is primarily responsible but everyone is invited to participate putting the flags up and taking them back down. There will also be a ceremony at 10A at the VFW with our own John Moon as speaker.
We passed around a sympathy card for the family of Jack Stites who passed away earlier this week. Jack was a member of the Macomb Rotary Club, while his son Dave was a member of Kiwanis. Jack had been to several of our meetings over the year and was an advocate and humanitarian for Macomb and Western Illinois. His visitation Wednesday evening drew a long line of people from all walks of life who came to pay their respects.
