Key Connect | Mansfield Lake Ridge Key Club | September 2019 | Volume 3

CONNECT KEY

President's Letter

Fall Rally Information

Calendar

Word Search

Service Activities

Featured Article

Allies In Youth Banquet

UNICEF Flyer

Contact Information

Stay Connected

Editor's Note

Turn on our social media notifications for the latest updates!

RECAP ALLIES IN YOUTH BANQUET On September 15th, members gathered with close non-profit partner Allies In Youth Development to commemorate all their hard work. Members volunteered by setting tables, handing out t-shirts, and greeting guests. Being able to celebrate with our friends at Allies reminded us of the work that still needs to be done and how hard work goes a long way.

NURSING HOME BINGO On September 12th, members volunteered at Mansfield Nursing and Rehabilitation to assist at their bingo night. Members helped by calling out bingo numbers and facilitating the game all while keeping the elderly company. Being able to interact with the elderly made for a beautiful and heart warming experience, reminding us that you can never be â&#x20AC;&#x153;too oldâ&#x20AC;? to have a youthful spirit.

Alan Phan

TNEDISERP ECIV RUOY

MORF EGASSEM A 4

Hey Key Clubbers! I’m Alan Phan, your Vice President for the 2019-2020 term! If you all haven’t met me before here’s a little introduction! I’m currently a Junior & I’ve been in Key Club since my freshman year and have been an officer ever since sophomore year. I hope everyone is excited for another year of service! October is dawning upon us which means Halloween events! Personally one of my favorite times of the year in terms of service. We have fun events coming up such as Boo Bash, elementary school events, fall festivals, etc. As the year persists, your activeness in the club may decay due to school work, band, etc. Remember that this club is as great as you make it! Volunteering is a great way to cool off from the stress of school and extracurriculars as the feeling after completing an event is so rewarding! Thanks again for deciding to join this wonderful organization! Yours in service, Alan Phan

TX-OK Key Club

FALL RALLY at Frontier City, OKC October 26, 2019

$30

For more, visit tokeyclub.com.

VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES RECURRING EVENTS SUNDAYS: Allies in Youth Development 2 PM - 4 PM and 9 AM - 11 AM at 1315 Hwy 1187, STE 107, Mansfield Help sort necessities into boxes to send to orphans in Eastern Europe. *Excluding the 1st Sunday of every month*

WEDNESDAYS: Kiwanis' Feed The Kids 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM at 150 S 6th Ave, Mansfield, TX Help pack food and other necessities to be given to children who live in economically disadvantaged households. No sign-up required. SECOND THURSDAY OF THE MONTH: Nursing Home Bingo 7 PM - 8 PM at 1402 E Broad St, Mansfield, TX Assist the nursing home residents play bingo. GO to the front door and tell them you are there for bingo. No sign-up required.

ONE TIME EVENTS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4TH: Mary Lillard Fall Social 4 PM - 5:30 PM or 5:30 - 7:45 PM Mary Lillard Elementary School Help pack food and other necessities to be given to children who live in economically disadvantaged households. No sign-up required. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25TH: Mansfield Boo Bash 5 PM - 8:30 PM at Mansfield Activities Center, 106 S. Wisteria Street Annual carnival-style Halloween event held at the MAC. Help run carnival games, arts and crafts, serve food, and any other activities.

OCTOBER 2019 SUN MON

TUE

WED

THU

FRI

SAT

Key Club Pledge I pledge, on my honor, to uphold the objects of Key Club International; to build my home, school and community; to serve my nation and God; and to combat all forces which tend to undermine these institutions!

THE THIRST PROJECT The Thirst Project actively works with Key Club to bring awareness to the water crisis and promote alternative solutions to the ongoing issue.

CHILDREN'S MIRACLE NETWORK Children's Miracle Network treats 62 kids every minute — that's more than 10 million kids a year. Their mission is to generate funds and awareness programs for their 170 member hospitals.

S E R V I C E

P A R T N E R S

UNICEF UNICEF works to help children all around the world and is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of their rights.

MARCH OF DIMES March of Dimes works to improve the health of mothers and babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.

PROJECT HAPPINESS Together with Key Club, Project Happiness aims to combat the issue of bullying in and out of the classroom. Through raising awareness and promoting positivity, they continue to minimize its impact.

CHANGE IS COMING A FEATURED ARTICLE WRITTEN BY OUR SENIOR REPRESENTATIVE

BY ABIGAIL NGUYEN Every other Wednesday, the Key Club officers hold a meeting. First, we stand up to recite the pledge. Next, we present the same, recurring volunteer opportunities and hope that people will go. Some people even begin to ask their friends to sign them in, and others don’t worry about attendance at all. This is how every single meeting went for as long as I have been in Key Club. And even I’ll admit, they were SUPER boring. However, with the new board that shares the same passion not only for service, but the many other values of Key Club, we promise to leave such meetings in the past and grow our club

in numerous ways. First, I’ll state the obvious—FOOD! Food is one of the best ways to win someone’s heart. The first club meeting was a success, and people were eager to hear what we had to say while they were snacking on dips, fruits, vegetables, and homemade cookies. Although we wish we could have food at every meeting, that option would be out of our budgets, considering that we paid for everything out of our own pockets. To compromise, we made it our goal to host a food meeting at least once every month. We strive to be creative about the snack options in order to keep people excited for the

following meetings, and pay attention to what people like and dislike. Another change that we are planning to implement into our club this year is to replace the regular presentation of volunteer events with social activities, smaller service activities that everyone can easily attend, and speeches that emphasize the values of Key Club International. This can include playing games, hosting drives, or making cards for ill children. The anticipated guest speakers can range from professional volunteers to passionate members who want to share their thoughts. I truly believe that each member has the potential to influence numerous people throughout their lifetime, and that Key Club International provides a great foundation to teach and share the values essential to this action: leadership, character-building, and the importance of service. The volunteer events will, of course, remain accessible to all members through the website, which is another thing that we will strive to utilize this year. The officer position of Webmaster will be elected next month, and will attend all possible opportunities of training in order to create an organized, efficient website that all members are able to navigate through. In order to ensure active participation amongst all members of Key Club, the officers have put together a system that requires 5 volunteer hours per six weeks grading period. The class reps are in

charge of reviewing the hour logs, and each member that fails to meet the requirement will be talked to. These 5 hours are split among individual, group, and club events in order to encourage diverse volunteer work for each member. Students who continuously neglect this system will have their membership revoked and will no longer be able to attend future events held by Lake Ridge Key Club for the rest of the year.

Last but not least, the officers would like to implement more enthusiasm and passion into our work for Key Club. We want to be able to provide a positive experience for those who decide to join Key Club, and hope to create a friendly relationship with all of our members. I’ve met some amazing members from all grade levels volunteering for Mission Arlington, which required a lot of teamwork. With this new mindset, we definitely strive to “practice what we preach,” and set the best example of the core values that we want our members to pick up and serve with. Personally, I hope that each member is able to benefit from this organization beyond the volunteer hours and applies the core values of leadership, characterbuilding, caring, and inclusiveness into their daily life. For all members, I want you guys to know that change is coming—and it will be for the better.

y o f g r a n t Y O F G R A N T WHAT IS A YOF GRANT? The Youth Opportunities Fund, or YOF, is an endowed fund of the Kiwanis Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fund which provides grants to Key Club for scholarships and service opportunities.

DON'T F ORGET

A p p ly f or

th e Y O F !

- Grants are only given to Key Clubs and/or individual club members. Grants are not given to divisions or districts. - Grant amounts between $100 - $2,000 may be requested. - Applications must be submitted online by October 15 at 11:59 PM, EST. - Grant applicants are emailed of outcomes the first week of January. - A list of grant recipients is posted online the third week of January. - The clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2019 - 2020 dues must be payed before YOF grants are issued.

HAS OUR CLUB APPLIED? Our club is planning to submit an application for this year’s Youth Opportunities Fund, in which you will be notified when the time comes! Last year, however, we partnered with non profit organization Project Color for their first annual Gift-N-Dash, receiving about $300 worth of funds in which we are still so thankful for. The money went to buying art supplies for children who may not have the means of doing so. This year, we are aiming to make just as big of an impact—so stay tuned!

HOW OUR MEMBERS CAN GET INVOLVED Our members are always welcome to suggest ideas and organizations to work with for our Youth Opportunities Fund! It’s as simple as sending us a message on remind and explaining why you think we should support the cause. Otherwise, hold tight for the grant results in January!

COMMUNICATION: A NECESSITY A FEATURED ARTICLE WRITTEN BY OUR VERY OWN TREASURER

BY KWAME MORRISON As James Humes once said, “The art of communication is the language of leadership.” This quote really emphasizes and embodies the importance of communication in a club as large as Key Club. In order for a club to function properly, there have to be good leaders in place, and in order for good leaders to exist there has to be good communication occurring. Through many historic accounts, good leaders have always been the ones that could clearly articulate their ideas and motives. Leaders such as Napoleon, MLK, and even Hitler, were good leaders and stood out because they could garner support for their cause, though their intentions were not always pure. These leaders were able to convince

people to act due to the conviction they spoke with, and the way they interacted with their followers and supporters.

Through the Lake Ridge Key Club Instagram account (@lakeridgekc), our club is able to maintain a social media presence while engaging with members outside of school, while also interacting with other clubs in the Texas-Oklahoma District. Though our club hasn’t

integrated with the community. Such involvement has also prior to this year, we have made it a priority to maintain a boosted club involvement in volunteering opportunities; by good relationship with our posting new events and sign up social media community this links with the story feature, we year. By re-establishing our are able to remind members of presence on Instagram, our upcoming events, and give club has been able to attract them a convenient way to sign more people to the idea of up for events. Also, by posting volunteering while keeping in pictures from events, we are touch with our community. able to show the community, as Through daily interactions on well as other clubs and people, the account, our club has been how we are staying involved in also been able to keep in the community and making an touch with local businesses impact. This also serves as such as Sharetea. motivation for those who see the posts to go out and volunteer, and become more integrated in their communities. really been using the account

As of the 2019-2020 school year, our club is trying to stay involved in our community, and with the future involvement of a webmaster, we will be able to stay more involved and

AL LL L II E ES S IIN N Y YO OU UT TH H A B BA AN NQ QU UE ET T

At the Allies In Youth Banquet on September 15th, members gathered with Allies In Youth Development, a non profit who works closely with our club, to celebrate months of hard work and the strides made towards their cause of providing for orphans in Eastern Europe.

Members volunteered to hand out tshirts, set tables, and greet guests. Working with our local Allies In Youth Development branch has been such a great opportunity, and being able to celebrate with them reminded us of the work that still needs to be done.

OFFICER CONTACT INFORMATION PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT

Christeen Nguyen Alan Phan lrhskcpresident@gmail.com lrhskcvicepresident@gmail.com

SECRETARY

EDITOR

Michelle Nguyen lrhskcsecretary@gmail.com

Gilliana Tawaran lrhskceditor@gmail.com

TREASURER

SENIOR REP

Kwame Morrison lrhskctreasurer@gmail.com

Abigail Nguyen lrhskcseniorrep@gmail.com

JUNIOR REP

SOPHOMORE REP

Ethan Vu lrhskcjuniorrep@gmail.com

To Be Elected! lrhskcsophrep@gmail.com

FRESHMAN REP To Be Elected! lrhskcfreshmanrep@gmail.com

WEBSITE Visit our site for more!: See page 18.

MORE CONTACT INFORMATION DISTRICT GOVERNOR

DISTRICT SECRETARY

Ashna Patel Kareena Patel governor@tokeyclub.com secretary@tokeyclub.com

DISTRICT EDITOR

DISTRICT TREASURER

Katherine Chao treasurer@tokeyclub.com

Vivian Thai editor@tokeyclub.com

REGION 7 ADVISOR

DIVISION 39S LTG

FACULTY ADVISOR

TOKEY WEBSITE

Gretchen S. Wamer docgretchen@gmail.com

Sharlene Garcia ltg39s@tokeyclub.com

Kandice San Miguel kandicesanmiguel@misdmail.com

TWITTER Follow us on Twitter for the latest updates! @LRKeyClub

tokeyclub.com

KIWANIS ADVISOR

Todd Simmons todd.simmons@lpl.com

stay

CONNECTED

Let's keep in touch.

TEXT @LRHSKC19 TO 81010

@LRKEYCLUB

lakeridgekeyclub@wixsite.com

@LAKERIDGEKC

a word from tbe EDITOR Hello Key Clubbers! I hope the 2019 - 2020 school year is treating you well! My senior year has been filled with more blessings than I can count and for that, I couldn't be more thankful. I have realized over the years that it's when I'm serving others that my heart feels truly at peace, and that has been one of the most beautiful epiphanies to discover about myself. In fact, it has been this very organization that has given me a multitude of opportunities that have shaped my life in so many ways for the better. Before I get too sappy about Key Club (as I always do), I want to thank all of you. For saying yes to service. I hope this organization serves you in return. In ways that you neverÂ imagine it would. With Love & Service,

Gilliana Tawaran Gilliana Tawaran

Want to be featured in our next newsletter? Contact our editor! Thank you for reading!

@LRHSKC19 TO 81010

@LRKEYCLUB

@LAKERIDGEKC