New York District Division 7
Newsletter May 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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District Governor’s Greeting
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District News
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District Projects
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Spotlights
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Virtual LTC
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Divisional Recap and Event Ideas
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Social Media
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Paperwork Tracker
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Contact Info
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Lieutenant Governor’s Greeting Dear Division Seven, I hope everything is well and you and your families are staying healthy during this pandemic. Feel free to reach out to me if you need someone to talk to, and keep practicing good social distancing. Hopefully we can get back to normal soon! I would like to take a moment to quickly introduce myself. My name is Matt Friedman, and I am the Lieutenant Governor for our division of Key Club for the 2020-2021 service year. I am extremely excited to work with all of you this year. The Covid-19 Pandemic is a unique challenge, but we will get through it together. As crazy as this situation may be, Kiwanis and Key Club are still progressing. Completing service projects may be difficult at this point, but now is an extremely important time for such community service to be conducted because this crisis impacted the lives of so many people. In this newsletter and the coming days, I will touch upon various ideas for virtual service projects. These will benefit our communities, and they will also provide key clubbers with (socially distanced) socialization and activities that can distract them from the current situation. Not only will this help the people we serve and the mental health of our members, it will also help strengthen the membership of our clubs. With that said, welcome to the 2020-2021 Service Year! Best, Matthew Friedman Division Seven LtG New York District Board of Key Club International 2020-2021
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District Governor’s Greeting
Hey NYDKC! I Hope all is well with everyone during these hard times! My name is Mariam Makar and I will be your 2020-2021 New York District Key Club Governor. Key Club has given me a second family and a love for serving others and I want to continue making Key Club grow and develop into higher and better things. My goals are to strengthen and promote NYDKC through Social Media Events and find ways to show off our clubs, and bring more members to want to join. I want to help clubs and divisions find different event ideas and show off our clubs and members and what was up too.I have met so many amazing, dedicated members this year that have shaped the way I view community service. I want to make sure that our members are our main priority. Let’s keep following our four key club core values, leadership, character building, caring, and inclusiveness. Let’s keep making Key Club great! You all have impacted our world in so many different ways. Let’s find ways to try and find ways to help benefit each other’s clubs. We all are a team, and can get through our challenges step by step. Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns you may have! I look forward to serving the district as amazing as possible and working with all of you amazing and dedicated members! Governor's Greeting Yours In Caring & Service, Mariam Makar 2020-2021 District Governor
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District News
Service Hours Goal: 90,000 hours Fundraising Goal:$120,000
District Governor’s Project: District Endorsed Governor Mariam Project: has selected our Governor’s Project for the 2020-2021 Service Year, and it is… Canines for Disabled Kids (CDK). 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.” Founded in 1998, it has worked tirelessly for over two decades to match service dogs with disabled children. Services provided by this organization are completely free to families. Supporting it through fundraisers or service projects will help provide a priceless gift to a disabled child, his or her own service dog. These pictures from CDKs newsletters show some of the kids it has helped. Find out more here: https://caninesforkids.org/
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In addition to the Governor’s Project, numerous other groups are endorsed by Kiwanis as preferred charities. The New York District of Kiwanis endorses three charities: Pediatric Lyme Disease Foundation, Kamp Kiwanis, and Pediatric Trauma Center. Unfortunately, Kamp Kiwanis is not holding sessions this summer due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, but both other organizations are still running. Insurance does not generally cover Lyme Disease, so the Pediatric Lyme Disease Foundation was created to help families pay for the treatment of children with it. Kiwanis also sponsors multiple trauma centers to help provide medical care for children throughout New York State. These are all amazing organizations for your club to help. Some ideas to help support these charities are holding fundraisers, raising awareness of their cause, volunteering at their events, or anything else you can think of.
District Projects Voting for the District Project just closed. The four candidates for it were P roject Hope, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, Shoes That Fit, and the Ronald McDonald House Charity (RMHC). Each of these organizations tackles a different issue, but they are all dedicated to service spending over 90% of their funds directly on projects. Project Hope helps combat global health issues, while the National Alliance to End Homelessness helps tackle homelessness in the US from all angles. Shoes That Fit seeks to provide new athletic sneakers to kids in need giving them an opportunity to participate in sports. Finally, the RMHC supports families and keeps them together during hardships and medical procedures. These are all great charities, and I’ll keep you updated on which one was chosen as the District Project.
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Spotlights Internal Service Spotlight: This 2020 blood drive at Oceanside High School was an extremely rewarding experience. Upon entry to the Blood Drive, I was greeted by extremely friendly and compassionate staff members. They were extremely thankful for our donations, especially considering the blood shortage. They were very professional when taking the blood and alleviated many of the concerns of the people donating. When the process was complete, they were very attentive, and made sure everyone was feeling alert and well. For me, this experience was a very easy way to provide aid for people in need. I felt like I was really making a difference for the people in need of blood donations with very little sacrifice on my end. I definitely plan on donating blood again in future blood drives because of my experience here. Key club does a superb job organizing such an event, as they always tend to run smoothly with great turnouts. I look forward to attending future events run by this organization. - Luke S, Oceanside Key Club member
External Service Spotlight: H i! My name is Amanda Roth. I am the lieutenant governor for Division 26, and I am so honored to be your division’s spotlight! Division 26 just had our first virtual zoom divisional where we discussed future goals, what our clubs have been up to, and brought in guest speakers from “Lone Star Paws 4 A Cause” and the New York State Governor's Youth Council. “Lone Star Paws 4 A Cause” is a complete nonprofit that provides veterans with service dogs. The dogs have proper training, and all pet equipment like leashes are paid for by the organization at no expense to the veterans. We look forward to working with them in the future and encourage you to like their Facebook page. Our second speaker from the New York State Governor's Youth Council asked our clubs to communicate service ideas for future collaborations. The divisional was a success, and we had representatives from all currently active clubs! Outside our divisional we worked with division 3 to put together a thank you video for our first responders! Our clubs have also been busy with online zoom meetings, making cards to first responders, and holding online elections. Thank you so much for including me in your newsletter! I look forward to serving with you all, and becoming more connected as a district. Pictured: Silver Creek Key Club working with Kiwanis hosting this social distancing Easter for the community! Special thanks to Kelly O'Hare Borrello and Senator George Borrello for putting on this awesome event! This allowed the kids in our community to have a Happy Easter and stay safe! The Easter Bunny showed up with some helpers too delivering chocolate bunnies to cars!
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Virtual LTC
Please Note: I CON has been canceled
LTC Recap: Unfortunately, we weren’t able to meet in person at LTC this year. A lot of great activities were missed out on, but last year’s District Board did a great job preserving some aspects of LTC. The virtual LTC website (https://nydkc.org/virtual-ltc/) was created to accomplish this task. Governor Camille’s welcome to LTC, her farewell, awards videos, and videos for the workshops that would have been held can all be found on the site. A virtual House of Delegates was also held to elect the new District officers, and a Year in Review video was created to celebrate the service year. While it wasn’t the same as a real LTC, it was still a nice way to end the service year.
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Divisional Recap and Event Ideas: Divisional Recap: A t our first divisional on Friday, April 24, we discussed the possibility of holding more virtual divisionals in the future and having clubs host virtual meetings. We encourage all club officers to keep their club members involved in Key Club, whether it’s simply through communicating with each other on GroupMe or hosting club meetings on a weekly basis. If you need any help setting up virtual meetings, please don’t hesitate to contact Matt. We also discussed a community service project; making cards for healthcare workers at Mount Sinai South Nassau. It’s our pleasure to let you guys know that all of the cards have been distributed, and the hospital thanks us for our service. Your certificates should be ready within the next few weeks. Divisional Feedback form: h ttps://forms.gle/oUURijnPsfmXybxd6
Virtual Event Ideas:There are many different virtual projects we can do during these hard times to keep serving our communities. One idea is making videos for healthcare professionals. This type of project is simple to carry out, but it is also extremely meaningful to those on the front lines of this pandemic. You could even record a video to make the experience all the more special. Another project idea is online tutoring. This pandemic has disrupted education and limited student-teacher interactions. Many kids are stuck at home and can’t get the academic support they need because traditional online tutoring can be very expensive and parents may not be able to teach their children. We can help families by providing instruction to elementary schoolers through virtual tutoring sessions. This face-to-face interaction with an older kid also provides a sense of normalcy for younger students that makes it easier for them to deal with this situation, and it keeps them engaged in academics. Finally, Key Clubs can do online fundraisers to help charitable organizations and support the less fortunate. This needs to be done now more than ever because of rising unemployment and scarcity. A myriad of problems still exist in the world; Covid-19 has not wiped them out, but we’ve lost focus on many issues fighting this crisis.
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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 12
Anthony Lim, anthonylim.ea@nydkc.org
District Internal Executive Assistant Tatiana Solodova, tatianasolodova.ea@nydkc.org
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