BUpdate… CKI edition September 2016 ||
Third Edition
Check it out… 1. A Month of Great Service! 2. Note from a New Member 3. Apple Fest 4. Day of Caring 5. Member of the Month 6. DLSSP 7. Bake Sale 8. Chintsa Walk 9. Event Highlight 10. Upcoming Events 11. Page of Puns! 12. Contact Us
…And We’re Off!
Hello everyone; what a great month we had! From walks, to fundraisers, to socials, and so much more, we had an action-packed month. Our members were very active with planning and attending events. Many thanks to everyone who has been working hard for Circle K this month. There are a ton of things planned for October, so let’s keep up this amazing work!
A note from a new member by Darrell Robinson What really is Circle K International? I went into the General Interest Meeting at Binghamton University with the intent to partially answer that question. I had been a member of many volunteer and community service organizations and had heard of Circle K before, but there were many community service organizations on the campus of Binghamton University. I wanted to know what makes Circle K different from the other organizations. When I attended the General Interest Meeting, I found out what Circle K was about. I learned and experienced that Circle K International is an organization that brings many people of different backgrounds and interests to volunteer and perform community service to make a positive impact in the state, country, and international arenas. After the introduction to learning about Circle K International and the events that Circle K would be performing in the following months such as the Apple Fest, the New Member Social, and the District Large Scale Service Project during the meeting, the officers had everyone introduce themselves talking about who they were, what they were studying in college, and where they were from. Mostly everyone was from around New York or from the East Coast and was an undergraduate student, but when it was time for me to introduce myself, it was a little different. I introduced myself as a graduate student that was from Texas. Most of the audience was surprised that I was from Texas instead of New York. I also saw a lot of residents of Mountainview College that were already members and new incoming members which was really good indicator that I chose a great organization to work with and that Mountainview College has a great sense of volunteerism and community. At the end of the meeting, everyone took a sticky note to write on it who they were, why Circle K is great, and #CircleKInternational. I feel that Circle K is on a great pace for not only a great semester, but a great year.
Apple Fest… How Appeeling!
Circle K helped our Kiwanis family by tabling to help sell raffle tickets at Apple Fest. Sounds like an easy feat, right? Well sometimes things like that are a little harder than they sound. Our members tried to flag down some residents of Endicott to show them our attractive baskets (one of them was even 100 dollars-worth of scratch off tickets so obviously all purchasers had to be of eighteen years of age or older) and they were pretty successful for the most part. We were able to get a good number of people to stop by our booth, and it seemed like there was an endless number of people that would stop by… if one person left, another stopped by. By the end of the day, we had raised enough to feel good about ourselves and the service we had done for our community. It was definitely a worthwhile experience, and I'm glad we had the opportunity to bond with our fellow Kiwanis members. —by Melanie Dietrich
Day of Caring! by Greg Todd Every year, Chenango United Way organizes a Day of Caring in which volunteers participate in various service projects in our local community. For this year’s Day of Caring, Christina, Julia, Melissa, and I had the opportunity to stain an outdoor deck at an adult care home for people living with autism. We enjoyed our time riding out to the home on what seemed like a never-ending winding country road. When we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by a rather raucous rooster. Hoping that it wouldn’t rain, our quartet skillfully stained the second story and staircase of the outdoor deck leading into the back of the home. By the end of the project, we were all exhausted and absolutely covered in stain. The people at the home were happy to see how different their deck looked and were grateful for the work we did. It was a rewarding experience and it felt good knowing that just a few hours of our time provided an outdoor space that could be enjoyed by everyone living there.
Meet Elle Swete‌ The Member of the Month! What a Swete choice! Name: Gabriella Swete Major: Accounting Hometown: Syracuse, NY Fun Fact: I love everything nautical and I have a dog named Scruffy Favorite Circle K memory: My favorite service event was the OurSpace Project in the spring. We helped to build a playground that was handicap accessible
Elle was chosen as member of the month for her hard work planning fundraisers as our fundraising committee chair. Thanks for your effort, Elle! Check out the calendar to see what she has planned!
Goals for the year: To raise $1000 that we can use to donate to local causes and help our club Why I love Circle K: I get the opportunity to give back to others and help people in the local community. I like that I have gained experience in planning events, while helping the people around me.
DLSSP by Emily Saba From September 23 through the 25th, several of our Circle K members attended DLSSP (District Large Scale Service Project) at Kamp Kiwanis. Kamp Kiwanis is a volunteer-run camp specialized for economically disadvantaged children, along with high functioning special-needs adults. With the help of Circle K, we are able to make the camp functional, clean, and safe for the following season. Throughout the 3-day weekend, we participated in several service opportunities while also meeting new Circle K members and embracing fellowship. On the first night, we attended a bonfire alongside our fellow members and ate yummy s’mores! We woke up early the following morning to kick off our service day. From there we gathered into our assigned groups and completed our specified assignments. My group and I organized the camp’s library attic, cleaned outdoor grills, and moved bikes into storage from the winter. With any remaining time we had, we helped other groups complete their tasks until our 5 hours of service were complete! After dinner came the infamous fashion show. Each school chose a song to dance, sing, or perform to, with the winner receiving the CKI Spirit Bear. Even though our creative gym routine didn’t place, we loved participating in the fashion show and showing off our school spirit. The night ended with a second bonfire, along with a game of manhunt. With the help of over 150 members, we were able to prepare Kamp Kiwanis for the next camp season. It was great to embrace both fellowship and service throughout the weekend!
September
Bake Sale —by Cassie Jiang
We had a bake sale on Thursday, September 15th and sold cupcakes, cake pops, Oreo truffles and red velvet cookies with cream cheese filling to raise awareness against rape, sexual assault and gender violence for women. We raised ninety-three dollars and all proceeds go to Tau’s Walk in a Mile in Her Shoes.
Chintsa Walk by Courtney Aronica This September Circle K helped sponsor the Helping Chintsa Shoeless Walkathon. Helping Chintsa is a new organization on campus, and their goal is to raise money for shoes for children in Chintsa, South Africa. During the walkathon, I along with 15 other members walked without our shoes around the Peace Quad. The goal of this walkathon was to raise awareness about what it is like to live without shoes. We were able to raise $160 for the event and helped Helping Chintsa exceed their fundraising goal of $2000. It was really fun to collaborate with another organization on campus and help a really great cause!
Event Highlight‌
WILLOW POINT BINGO —by Christina Holzhauer This past month we went to Willow Point Nursing Home in Vestal. We were helping out with their event for Jackpot Bingo. We helped bring the residents to the cafeteria and then assisted them with their bingo boards. We played 10 games of bingo for a nickel a piece and residents who won the game collected the money as the jackpot! We then helped the residents get back to their respective rooms. We have done multiple events with Willow Point and I always enjoy interacting with the residents. Not everybody who lives there has someone that comes to visit them so it's a great feeling to be able to put smiles on their faces. The residents and the staff are always super grateful for volunteers. Visiting Willow Point is an easy and fulfilling way to give back to our community here in Vestal. I'm really glad that Circle K gives me the opportunities to give back in ways that I may not do on my own.
What’s Happening this Month?
Howloween 12:30
Food Recovery 5:30 PM
Food Recovery 5:30 PM
Food Recovery 5:30 PM
Food Recovery 5:30 PM
Uno’s Fundraiser
Community Meal 4:30
Food Recovery 5:30 PM Glow Golf Fundraiser
Candygram Tabling
Food Recovery 5:30 PM
Food Recovery 5:30 PM
Food Recovery 5:30 PM
Food Recovery 5:30 PM
CCE Fair 12-4
Southern Tier Divisional
Trick-orCanning
Bake Sale 12-4
Halloween Social 6-9
Boo at the Zoo 4:309:30
Corn you believe these puns? They’re amaizing!
Contact Us! Executive Board 2016-2017 President
Treasurer
Courtney Aronica
Tim Leung
caronic1@binghamton.edu
tleung@binghamton.edu
Vice President
Editor
Melissa Levine
Kora SIleo
mlevin10@binghamton.edu
ksileo1@binghamton.edu
Secretary
Webmaster
Emily Fenter
Kayla Bautista
efenter1@binghamton.edu
kbautis3@binghamton.edu
International Project Emily Saba Service Project Christina Holzhauer Fellowship Kester Francis
Bake Sale Cassie Jiang Fundraising Elle Swete Historian Anne Quirk
Public Relations Melanie Dietrich Governor’s Project Jessica Siegal District Project Oluponle Iluyonmade
K Family Relations Paty Acipreste bingCKI
@bingcircle k
Binghamton Circle K
@bingcirclek