New York District Division 7
Newsletter June 2020
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Table of Contents 1
Cover
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Table of Contents
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Lieutenant Governor's Greeting
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Governor’s Bulletin
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District Project and Service Spotlights
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Other District Projects
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Eliminate Week
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Upcoming Events
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PCM Recap
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Happy Birthday Key Club!
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Service Ideas
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Endorsed Projects
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Social Media
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Paperwork Tracker
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Contact Information
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Lieutenant Governor’s Greeting: Hey Division 7, How is everybody holding up right now? We are almost at the end of the school year, and it seems like New York State will be open soon. I would like to congratulate all of you on pushing through the challenges associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. Each club has adapted to the crisis by transitioning to virtual methods of connecting with members and conducting service projects. We held our first PCM this month, and I felt this was extremely beneficial in giving me insight into how all of your clubs are working. The high attendance at this event was amazing and allowed for better dialogue. I am also proud to announce that the District Board is working on creating booklets and training materials for holding virtual elections, meetings, and service projects. We will be holding another virtual divisional this month. At this divisional, we will go over different endorsed charities. There will also be opportunities for you guys to get to know each other and become familiar with the officers of other clubs. Maybe you’ll even end up planning some joint events with nearby clubs! Hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to meet in person soon. As always, feel free to reach out to me if you have questions about anything. I would like to close out my greeting by mentioning the current crisis in our society: the murder of George Floyd and resulting protests. Please continue to follow safe and healthy practices. Also, remember that Key Club is a place for all. Every person- no matter their race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity- has a spot in Key Club. On a larger scale, I hope we can come out of this as a stronger nation with the ability to find common ground and bring about needed change. Stay safe, Matt Friedman Division 7 Lieutenant Governor
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Service Spotlights:
District Project:
Internal Spotlight:
We selected Project Hope to be our District Project this year. This organization “addresses the world’s greatest public health challenges, transform[s] lives and uplift[s] communities.” In the recent months, Project Hope has worked to help combat the Covid-19 pandemic. It also provides general medical aid to resolve health challenges around the world caused by a lack of access to care. By partnering with local healthcare practices and local officials, Project Hope ensures that adequate care is provided, and it also respects national sovereignty along with local customs and culture. If you are thinking of an organization to support with a service project, consider Project Hope. It’s a great organization that helps people both in the US and around the world. You can help by holding fundraisers or holding a service event with a member of the Project Hope Speakers Bureau to raise awareness. You can find more info h ere: https://www.projecthope.org/ways-to-help/get-i nvolved/
As most people know already, the Corona virus is highly contagious and has spread all across the globe, although currently the highest number of cases is in the US. Health care workers risk their life every single day so that patients can be treated as quickly and efficiently as possible, and over the last few weeks we have made tremendous strength as a country by constantly working together to fight this pandemic. In order to show how much we appreciate all the hard work health care workers are doing, Hewlett High School partook in Project Gratitude, hosted by Senator Todd Kaminsky. Key Clubbers wrote cards to Health Care Providers, First Responders, Sanitation Workers, Custodians, and other essential staff as a way to demonstrate how grateful we all are for them! We encourage everyone to try and reach out however you can to health care workers, and know that you can make a difference by making their day! - Rachel Kshonz, Hewlett Key Club President
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Other District Projects:
Governor’s Project: Canines for Disabled Kids Canines for Disabled Kids (CDK) is this service year’s Governor’s Project, meaning it is endorsed by the New York District. This organization’s mission is to increase “independence for children with disabilities and their families by promoting service dog partnerships, understanding and awareness throughout the community.” It provides service dogs to disabled children- at no cost to families- in order to boost their quality of life Supporting CDK through fundraisers or service projects will help provide a priceless gift to a disabled child: his or her own service dog. Find out more here: https://caninesforkids.org/
Kiwanis District Endorsed: Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Center The Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Center (KPTC) is a clinic here, on Long Island. The KPTC strives to treat children suffering from trauma while also providing their families with any resources they need. The center has a diverse staff of medical professionals to help children suffering from trauma; and they need our help to continue saving lives. Fundraising helps the KPTC continue to provide children with healthcare, while also giving families adequate support and preventing accidents from happening through their Safe Kids Training program.
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The main mission of Kiwanis is to “serve the children of the world.” As such, the Kiwanis family- which includes Key Club- is extremely active in reducing maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT) around the world. MNT strikes poverty ridden mothers and their newborns in lesser developed countries like Mali, Afghanistan, Yemen, and others. It kills both the newborn child and the mother, but it can be prevented. When mothers are provided with immunizations for the disease, they become completely protected, and their children gain this immunity also. Key Club and Kiwanis work with UNICEF to provide needed vaccines to at-risk mothers. Not only does this protect the mothers and their children, it also protects subsequent generations because the immunity is passed on. Each year in May, Key Club devotes one week to focus entirely on eradicating this deadly, but preventable, disease. This year, Eliminate Week took place from May 4 to May 8. Each day of Eliminate Week, Key Clubbers help contribute to the elimination of MNT, but it was slightly different this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On Make it Known Monday, Key Club worked to spread awareness of MNT. This took the shape of spreading informational videos and flyers on social media. This year’s Toss it Out Tuesday asked members to give up on something they frequently buy and donate the savings to Key Club’s Eliminate Project. E-Lemon-Ate Day took place on Wednesday. On this day, Key Clubbers recorded themselves eating part of a lemon before making a donation and tagging three other people to contribute. Throwback Thursday challenged members to share a past event they conducted to help the cause, and Fundraiser Friday was entirely devoted to fundraising. These were online due to the pandemic this year. 7
Upcoming Events: Upcoming Divisional: We’re going to be holding another divisional this month, who’s excited? This will take place on W ednesday, June 17 at 3 PM. Even though lockdowns to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic are beginning to loosen and end, we’re going to keep this divisional virtual. As such, it will take place on zoom. Make sure to spread the word to all members in your clubs. Divisionals are open to everyone in the division, not just officers. I am hoping to hold an in-person divisional shortly before we start up in September for officer training. So what are we going to be doing at the divisional? You know the details about when it will be held, but why join? The main focus of the divisional will be to discuss district charities and endorsed projects. With knowledge of the organizations the New York District and Key Club International partner with, you can better serve them with service projects. You’ll also be able to meet and become friendly with other members of our division. These connections can also help you plan out large-scale, joint club events with nearby clubs in the division. Take advantage of this opportunity by making sure you attend. Empire Key Request: Have you conducted any service projects recently? Do you want to be featured in the District Newsletter (The Empire Key) and get recognition for your club and your event? Fill out the Empire Key submission form with an article on the event and pictures to get featured using this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeWzD7pDYAblSD89ciht35VS WC279AHgVFJM6OerTGOhjIrNA/viewform
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PCM Recap: We held our first Presidential Council Meeting on Thursday, May 28. I was excited to host our first PCM and meet with a representative from all schools except one. During this meeting, club Presidents and I discussed a variety of ways to strengthen ties between individual clubs in the division. We decided to create a division-wide Groupme for all Key Club members and officers in Division 7. This is meant to help members from each club get to know each other and foster connections between clubs. I am also hoping that these connections will facilitate communication between different clubs and lead to joint service projects hosted by two or more clubs in the division. If you still haven’t joined, use this link: https://groupme.com/join_group/60004796/OhDI2U65 We also worked to continue adapting the division to the virtual world created by the Covid-19 pandemic. This discussion revolved around different ways to retain member interest in Key Club. Our ideas included holding virtual meetings on Zoom or Google Meet, talking with members on Groupme, and hosting virtual service projects. If you aren’t sure what you can do for a virtual service project, flip to page 11 for a list of ideas.
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Happy Birthday Key Club! Key Club just had its 95th birthday! Since its founding in 1925, Key Club has changed and expanded. It started out as one club in Sacramento California that had 11 members, but the organization now boasts over 270,000 members in over 35 countries. Let’s take a look back at some of Key Club’s most important milestones. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1925: Key Club is founded 1939: The first district is formed (Florida Association) 1943: Key Club becomes an international organization, and the first President is elected 1946: The first Key Club Week is held 1976: Nassau, Bahamas becomes the home of the first Key Club outside the US and Canada 1977: Females are allowed to join Key Club 1991: The first female international President is elected 2010: Key Club partners with UNICEF launching the Eliminate Project
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Service Ideas: You all joined Key Club because of your love for community service. Restrictions implemented to stop Covid-19 are beginning to loosen as the pandemic recedes, but we can still continue serving our communities with virtual projects while we wait for a full reopening. We’ll get to do some in-person projects soon. Until then, consider some of these service projects that can be done entirely virtually. Spread awareness for mental health problems: As people are trapped in their homes for a seemingly indefinite period, they can fall into depression. You can help these members of your community see the light and save their lives by raising awareness of mental health. You can work with local suicide prevention hotlines or crisis text lines (like Long Island Crisis) to help their efforts, spread infographics on social media, and talk with members of your community about mental health.
Hold a virtual food drive: Millions of Americans, especially blue collar workers who can’t work from home, have been pushed out of work by the Covid-19 pandemic. Government stimulus checks and relief programs have been enacted to help these people, but the funding is not always sufficient. You can help the members of your local community experiencing food insecurity and hunger by hosting fundraisers for food banks, raising awareness of the issue, and hosting virtual food drives.
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Fundraise for an endorsed project: Virtual fundraisers are a great way to continue service while we wait for a complete reopening and return to in person projects. All of the Kiwanis and Key Club endorsed organizations are amazing charities to help with your service. Whether you fundraise for the Governor’s Project, District Project, or our international partners, take heart in the fact that your donations are being put to good use by great organizations.
Endorsed Projects: Thirst Project Key Club and the Thirst Project are currently working together on the Thirsty 30 campaign. Thirsty 30 seeks to get young people more involved in helping solve the water crisis through a 30 day fundraiser. Making sure communities all over the world have access to clean water is extremely important, especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Each year, the District that raises the most money is eligible for Key Club’s Thirst Project District Service Award. Last year, the Nebraska-Iowa District raised $50,000.
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon is one Key Club’s international partners. Key club partnered with Nickelodeon because of its major campaigns this year. The first campaign is Worldwide Day of Play. This reinforces the idea that the world should be more active. Nickelodeon hosts many playful events all over the country. Also, Nickelodeon created the Get Dirty Campaign this year. This campaign’s goal is to educate kids, families, and teachers about ways to protect the planet. Enforcing these projects in Key Club will help many people become more active and teach people the importance of caring for the earth.
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Social Media:
District: @NYDKC Division: @NYDivision7 International: @KeyClubINT
District: @NYDKC Division: @NYDivision7 International: @KeyClub
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Paperwork Tracker:
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Contact Information: Division 7 Lieutenant Governor Matthew Friedman, division7@nydkc.org
Division 7 Internal Executive Assistant Alex Eckstein, alexeckstein5100@gmail.com
Division 7 External Executive Assistant Katrina Tronco, katrinatroncooo@gmail.com
Division 7 Secretary
Chloe Moskowitz, chloe.moskowitz@lynbrookschools.org
Division 7 Editor Wren Allegra, wren.allegra123@gmail.com
Circle-K Lieutenant Governor
Omar Gabr, omar.gabr@nycirclek.org Kiwanis Lieutenant Governor Ralph DeSena, rdesena@aol.com
Kiwanis Committee Representative Rebecca Ovadia, woodsidekiwanis@gmail.com
District Governor
Mariam Makar, governor@nydkc.org
District Secretary
Jason Xiong, secretary.nydkc@gmail.com
District Treasurer Winnie Huang, nydkctreasurer@gmail.com
District Editor Rachel Joh, editor@nydkc.org
District Webmaster Kristen Lew, webmaster@nydkc.org
District External Executive Assistant 15
Anthony Lim, anthonylim.ea@nydkc.org
District Internal Executive Assistant Tatiana Solodova, tatianasolodova.ea@nydkc.org
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