The T-O Today - Volume 31, Issue 2

a Kiwanis-family member www.circlek.org 3636 WOODVIEW TRACE INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46286 USA 1-317-875-8755 ● US AND CANADA: 1-800-KIWANIS ● cki@kiwanis.org

Table of Contents 1 2 3 4 5-6 7 8 9 10-14 15 16 17 18 19-20 21 22

Table of Contents Introduction A New LTG Sub Region D International Representative Summer Reunion Boys and Girls Club KVET radio-thon Reaching out to BUG Fall Rallies Ramp Project Diversity Dinner Socials

With autumn leaves falling and Thanksgiving right around the corner, chapters are finding ways to serve their community while spreading the holiday spirit. Our motto of Live to Serve, Love to Serve is an excellent demonstration of this holiday spirit that we live each month. However, this spirit is even more evident in the fall and winter months due to the holidays. It is at this time where we see the biggest visible impact of our service to not only our local communities, but to the world.

Our International Service Partner, STUFH (Students Team Up to Fight Hunger), would make a great service project during these holiday months. Lt. Governor’s are also planning a service opportunity for your chapter to participate in this fall that will allow interaction with other chapters in your division.

Enjoy the service, enjoy the turkey, and see you in the spring!

Monica Caudillo Governor

Treasurers ICON K-Family Contact Your Board

Hey guys! This is the second newsletter of T-O Today! I hope you guys like it and if you guys have any suggestions or anything I need to improve on PLEASE tell me! Also, I will be super duper happy if you send me articles! :) Enjoy the article! And good luck with everything.

Yan Ou Editor

Southeast Texas/ Gulf Coast

Sub-Region D Representative

Lt. Governor Howdy! My name is Steven Spriggs and I will be serving as the new Southeast Texas/Gulf Coast Lieutenant Governor.

But most importantly, I’m the loudest, proudest member of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of 2013! AAAAA! I’m majoring in Business Honors and planning on attending law school after I’m done with my undergraduate work.

I attended Eisenhower High School in Lawton, Oklahoma, where I was involved in a variety of organizations, including Quiz Bowl, Academic Decathlon, and Key Club. I’m happy to say that I was a twotime Oklahoma Academic Decathlon state champion. My biggest involvement, however, was in Key Club. I served as a club vice president my junior year and as both Division 18 Lieutenant Governor and District Convention Liaison my senior year.

I strongly believe in the power of education and hope to participate in many service projects that encourage elementary, middle, and high school students to take advantage of all educational opportunities.

Furthermore, I believe that the law is the fundamental language through which the world operates. It is a tool to significantly impact and improve the interests of people. In the future, I hope to serve people who don’t understand the law and don’t have the means to help themselves.

I enjoy scavenger hunts, CNN, and learning new things. I like to keep busy and am greatly looking forward to serving not only my division, but also our entire district.

Steven Spriggs

Let me introduce myself: my name is Amanda Marfisi and I serve as your Subregional D Representative. I completed my B.A. of Psychology and am now pursuing a M.A. of Industrial/Organizational Psychology. My hobbies include playing competitive volleyball, performing in musicals, playing guitar or my french horn, and singing. My Circle K career has led me to many places including Texas-Oklahoma. My journey started in Key Club as a chartering president, and then into Pennsylvania Circle K. There I served as Club Kiwanis Family Chair and President for two years, and District Kiwanis Family chair and Governor. Now I'm a member of the T-O District.

In addition to working with the wonderful T-O, I am also serving for Louisiana-Mississippi-Tennessee, Missouri-Arkansas, Kansas, and Nebraska-Iowa. As an International Representative, my job is to serve each one of you and provide the resources your clubs, divisions, and districts need in order for each to succeed. In this respect, if there is ever anything I can do for you, please do not hesitate to ask! However, at the end of the day I would also like to remind the membership that I'm a Circle K member first and foremost. With this thought I hope that sometime throughout the year we are able to share in serving together!

Amanda Marfisi

It was a time of bonding for many members in the Texas-Oklahoma CKI District during their annual Summer Reunion! Members from different chapters in the district reunited for service, leadership, and fellowship one weekend in July. After arriving and unpacking, many members were introduced to “Big Booty� as an icebreaker. It was fun, but a challenge for many as well! We spent the rest of the first night making tie-dye shirts, playing mafia and enjoying some delicious pizza!

The next morning we all woke up and went to the Washington on the Brazos State Historic Site to help clean it up for our service project. We broke up into groups to get done with everything faster. Some groups helped clean the grounds while others helped clean and organize inside. After three hours of service we had a nice picnic in the park for lunch! After lunch we had some downtime before we headed out that evening to a concert in downtown Brenham.

We walked around Brenham, bonded, and got to eat at some delicious restaurants. In order to lose those extra pounds that we put on during dinner, we all decided to do what CKI does best: dance! The dancing was great, but we still had one last activity for the night. Thanks to our wonderful District Events Chair, Kristin Mattingly, we had a scavenger hunt! We split into groups and ran around looking for hearts, bluebonnets, handprints, and eagles among other things. After that was all done we went back to our dorm and some people started more board games, while me and a few others had an awesome water balloon fight!

The next morning we woke up got updated on CKI information and said our goodbyes. Spending time with my fellow CKIers is always awesome and I will never pass up an opportunity to reunite with old friends and to make new ones.

Raquelle Gonzales Texas State University

Boys and Girls Club Southwestern University’s Circle K International Chapter participated in a unique drive during the last month of the school year. We collected backpacks and school supplies to donate to the local Boys and Girls Club, a club that helps children in all levels of schooling. After visiting the Boys and Girls Club several times, it was apparent that many of the children did not have backpacks that were in the best condition. Many of them had broken zippers or holes in the bottom. We realized the amount of pencils, pens, paper, and markers we had left over from this previous year as well as some noted interest in donating some backpacks from the professors. So, the Backpack Across Georgetown drive was started. For the last four weeks of school, the Circle K International Chapter at Southwestern University collected backpacks, totaling 20, and school supplies. President Kelsey Kurth says, “it's so easy! After we set out the bins, especially towards the end of the year, something new would appear in them each day: a pack of pencils here, a pile of notebook paper there, and a few new backpacks. My favorite was the brand new pink Hannah Montana backpack that made its way into one of our bins (roller wheels and handle included).” We are trying to help all the age levels, so any supplies such as glue sticks, colored pencils, paper, spirals, binders, markers or pens would be greatly appreciated. We are continuing to collect backpacks over the summer, and if you are interested in sending us supplies or a backpack, please contact Andrea Plybon at pl bona@southwestern.edu.

Andrea Plybon

Southwestern University

KVET Radio-Thon The KVET radio-thon for the Dell Children’s Miracle Network was a life-changing event.

Kiwanis and Circle K have been the biggest source of volunteers for this event for the past several years.

Shifts started at 5:30 am and ran till 7 on both Thursday and Friday. Several of the UT CKI members took on multiple shifts, and some even stayed for the whole day. I had never been to a service project that had such a big impact on our community.

Collectively, we were able to raise over $400,000 by picking up the phone and taking pledges from callers around the Austin area. It just felt so great to be able to help out this hospital that has saved the lives of children—some of which came by the facility to thank us for our service. UT CKI was even able to win a year’s supply of Blue Bell Ice Cream. It was a tremendous experience and I definitely recommend attending this next year. In the words of the hiphop super star Lil’ Wayne: The Word today and the word forever is- Kids.

University of Texas Austin

Lance Demonteiro

Oklahoma-Panhandle

FALL RALLY Recently, our mother organization, Kiwanis, started up a new tutoring program in Waco, Texas: BUG (Bringing Up Grades). Because of this new program that seeks to help out underperforming Waco middle schools, there has been a notable increase in the percentage of students passing their classes and showing an interest in their school work. How was the task of improving grades so successfully accomplished? Reward for hard-work. Each student is asked to bring up their average grades in their classes by a letter grade.

If they do so successfully, they are entered into a drawing for a bicycle and other prizes. However the “A” students aren’t neglected. They are also put in a separate drawing for maintaining their high standards. This beautifully helps the “A” students to challenge themselves to reach above and beyond. The rate at which the students are improving their grades is remarkable. Now, nearly 90% of the students of the schools that BUG reaches out to have passed all their classes. Circle K’s oldest chapter, Baylor University, is now stepping in to lend a helping hand. Every week, members of the Baylor Circle K chapter will be visiting the schools that BUG targets. During these visits, our fellow CKI members will not only be tutoring these students, but will also be mentoring them and connecting with them. We can only hope that more programs like BUG will be created to help our communities grow and become stronger.

Sushmitha Kosuri Baylor University

On Saturday, September 26th, 2009, the Oklahoma-Panhandle Fall Rally was held at the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. About 12 college students came to represent Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Oklahoma.

The event started at 1:00 pm and lasted until 4:00 pm. The CKI members and District Administrator, Kelly Wood, immediately got to work in an assembly line, filling boxes with food. Some members also made new boxes or broke down old ones. Oklahoma-Panhandle Lieutenant Governor, Caroline Burnett, led a short information session and handed out flyers about upcoming district events during a water and snack break. The Fall Rally participants helped the food bank pack over 450 food boxes that will be used to help those in need.

Rachel Heick

Oklahoma State University

Southeast/ Gulf Coast

FALL RALLY

During the weekend of September 26-27, I had a Circle K filled weekend. On Saturday I had been in San Marcos all day at the Hill Country Fall Rally, and arrived back in College Station to attend a football game later that evening. Then I had to wake up at 6 A.M. on Sunday to go to Houston to attend the Southeast/Gulf Coast Fall Rally.

The Texas A&M group ended up leaving College Station around 7:10 and arrived in Houston at about 8:30. The drive there was quite peaceful as we passed all of the fog covered fields along TX-290. Once into the inner-city we arrived at the Houston Zoo where we met up with Lauren, the volunteer coordinator from the zoo that would be supervising us for the day. Texas A&M Galveston and Lamar University had also arrived at the zoo.

Once we arrived at the project sites we were spit up into two groups. One group was to pull weeds in an overgrown garden and the other was to move gravel and sand into animal pins that were subjected to a flood plain. I happened to be in the group moving the gravel, and we ended up moving carts of gravel and sand for about 2 hours until the ground level in each pin had raised 3 inches. Sam Houston State University showed up after a while and joined in on the weed pulling project.

Bregg Reedy ict Treasurer Distr

After we had completed our project, some of the staff took us into a back room where they keep some of the exhibit animals for the children’s zoo.

There were snakes, turtles, a crow, some baby alligators, giant rabbits, and a hedgehog. After this we ended up taking a really brief tour of the zoo and headed out.

We ended up going to lunch at Chipotle (my favorite) and had our divisional meeting there. We talked about upcoming events and what chapters should be doing over the next few months. Once the meeting had adjourned we loaded up into the cars and headed back home.

FALL RALLY

Hill Country Division The Texas-Oklahoma Hill Country Division enjoyed its annual Fall Rally in San Marcos, Texas on September 26. Teaming up with Habitat for Humanity, CKI members from Baylor University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at San Antonio, and Southwestern University came together (very early) for a day of service and fellowship.

Juan Juarez, Lieutenant Governor of the Hill Country Division, organized this year’s Fall Rally. “Fall Rally is designed to promote fellowship within each division and educate members about the T-O CKI District and divisions. In addition to this, it was my goal to incorporate service into our Fall Rally because it is very important, as a service organization, to provide service at every single CKI event,” Juarez said.

By Laura Romer, Southwestern

University

Between nailing boards and finding scary animal bones, members had the opportunity to interact with one another. “My favorite part was seeing my friends from the division along with some new faces out there getting sweaty and helping build the house,” said Eric Carter, vice president of UT Austin’s CKI chapter.

With over 30 participants, Juarez considered Fall Rally a success. “The bonding and fellowship that occurred was amazing. It was great to see how everyone got along so well even if they were from different chapters,” he said.

District Treasurer Bregg Reedy also noted Fall Rally’s success. “I liked seeing the large turnout of students from the Hill Country Division. It shows their support and dedication toward CKI.” A total of 32 members came together for Fall Rally. Reedy, an Aggie, also jokingly added, “Hanging out with Longhorns is not as life threatening as it is thought to be.” No, no it’s not.

Lt. Governor

Juan Juarez

Ramp Project

Diversity Dinner

The ability to walk is one most people take for granted. And why not? It’s something we do every day. It’s something we’ve done for years. More importantly though, walking is a core part of our self-sufficiency.

Imagine that after years of having this gift, you suffer a debilitating stroke and are confined to a wheelchair. Unfortunately this isn’t just an imagining. This is a true story.

This is the life of a resident of Navasota, Texas. Adjusting to life in a wheelchair is difficult enough. It’s an even harder task when living in a mobile home that sits several feet above the ground with a lone, uninviting staircase. The Navasotan man was only able to leave his home by having family members carry him up and down the stairs. Thankfully, members of the Kiwanis family were willing to come to the rescue.

Two members of the Bryan Kiwanis Club, three members of TAMU CKI, and a trailer full of wood ventured to Navasota early on a Saturday to build a wheelchair ramp. The precut pieces of wood had to be laid out and assembled with exactness to craft a sturdy ramp. After about 5 hours of measuring, sawing, and drilling, the ramp was completed. It took much sweat and hard work, but the end result was worth every ounce of effort. Hopefully, the home addition will help the resident to maintain his standard of living and independence.

Steven Spriggs

ast Lt. Governor Southeast Texas / Gulf Co

Putting the CKI tenet of fellowship front and center, the TexasOklahoma Hill Country Division hosted a Diversity Dinner of delectable proportions. On a Friday night in the heart of downtown Austin, 29 members from Aggies to Longhorns, to Pirates to Bobcats came together for a meet and eat.

Thai Passion served as the dining of choice while members shared their highs and lows of the week as an icebreaker. A night full of chatter and laughter, Raquelle Dion Gonzalez, the president of CKI at Texas State University, enjoyed the evening. “I liked getting to see friends that I hadn't seen in a while and meeting new ones,” she said. “And the food was good, too!”

Gonzalez added.

Lieutenant Governor Juan Juarez explained the purpose of a Diversity Dinner. “I want members to be able to try different ethnic cuisine, but also be able to meet other members from the division. One of my goals is to unite the Hill Country Division and a Diversity Dinner is a great way to get to meet other CKI members! CKI prides its self in the tenet of fellowship and this is one way to bring fellowship within the division,” Juarez said.

Southwestern University

Laura Romer

SOCIALS

of Ideas for Different Kinds

Socials

Socials are a great way to get to know the other members in your Circle K chapter outside of the realm meetings, and are very simple to plan. A social is basically some fun activity that you would typically do with your friends; instead just replace them with Circle K members (it’s not like Circle K members are not your friends to begin with).

For an activity to count as a social every member of that Circle K chapter must be notified of the event beforehand. Notifications could be given as an announcement at a meeting, a mass text message, a phone call, a facebook message, or even an e-mail. Once a social has been decided on it takes two or more members from that Circle K chapter for the event to count as a social. Socials can be any kind of fun activity. Here are a few ideas: Go to a school sporting event Tie-dye T-shirts Have dinner at a restaurant Have a board game night Go on a camping trip Cook a diversity dinner at someone’s place Go bowling See a movie Travel to an amusement park Any fun activity you can think of!!!

Don’t forget to invite other Circle K chapters as well to build up on your fellowship, not to mention the interchapters!

Delisa Arrendono District Secretary

TREASURERS Treasurers, October 1st is the first day that dues are payable. If a chapter does not pay for a minimum amount of members by November 30th, the club will be put on retained status; and if the club does not pay any dues, it will be put on suspended status. What the club needs to be doing now is recruiting members so the club is able to pay its dues as quick as possible. Each CKI chapter needs to recruit a minimum of 20 paid members to remain active- (except for schools with a student population of less than 1,000, these schools only need a minimum of 15 paid members).

The required dues for each member this year will be $37. International dues at $25 combined with the District dues at $12 create the minimum amount of dues per member $37. Each chapter may choose to raise the price of dues even more if they feel the need to have chapter dues.

If your chapter is having trouble raising the funds, please contact your sponsoring Kiwanis Club. Your Kiwanis Club should be able to find a way to help your chapter pay for its membership dues.

If you have any questions or problems about paying dues call 800KIWANIS or send me an email at treasurer@txokcki.org . Also take a look at the Dues Processing Power Point at: http://slp.kiwanis.org/CircleK/ Resources/Presentations_PowerPoints.aspx

Bregg Reedy District Treasurer

Circle K International

ICON

John Cano

Convention [ in Birming ham, AL]

The 54th Circle K International Convention in Birmingham, AL was one of the best CKI events I've attended! Probably the biggest contributing factor to the fun in Birmingham was the 9th annual Large Scale Service Project. Hanging out with over a hundred service-minded college students all working to make a difference in Birmingham for three whole days of service can give anyone great new insights into what CKI members can do through a group effort. Each attendee completed over 20 hours of service during the stay. Even people who were attending the event for their first time jumped right in with energy and enthusiasm. We worked throughout the Birmingham Zoo, some urban gardens and eco-scapes, and a number of projects with Habitat for Humanity.

When ICON activities began there was a huge shift in focus - now we were all about leadership. The dozens of friends you made while sweating and getting dirty were instantly transformed into sharply-dressed professionals ready to set a course for the next year in CKI. Workshops to bring new leadership and service ideas back home, caucusing of international officer candidates, and voting during the House of Delegates were the highlights of the convention. Wait - I didn't even mention the dancing! Yes, we danced, a lot. Undoubtedly, the proudest moment was seeing the district recognized with some amazing awards: Southwestern University received 3rd place in the Bronze Division for Single Service Project contest, and the Texas-Oklahoma District was recognized as one of just a handful of distinguished districts in CKI. The group of T-O members that came to LSSP & ICON were the best and brightest we've got and I could not have been happier to spend my last CKI event with such an amazing group. I would encourage every chapter to plan on sending at least three members to the next convention in St. Louis if they want to see new ideas brought back that will make their chapters grow and succeed in the next year.

Immediate Past Governor Member, University Area Kiwanis and Austin Kiwanis Young Professionals John Cano

At ICON, John won the award of

DISTINGUISHED GOVERNOR!

hn! o J s t a r Cong

Daniel Hollingsworth

District Membership/ K-family Chair

Treasurer—Bregg Reedy treasurer@txokcki.org

Delisa

Editor—Yan Ou editor@txokcki.org

Bregg

Monica

Secretary—Delisa Arredondo secretary@txokcki.org

Yan

Oklahoma/Panhandle oklahomaltg@txokcki.org Hill Country hillcountryltg@txokcki.org

South East/Gulf Coast southeastltg@txokcki.org

Chalmers

Membership/ K-Family Chair kfamilychair@txokcki.org

Steven

Red River/Metro redriverltg@txokcki.org

Juan

Caroline

District Events Chair districteventschair@txokcki.org

Kristin

Kiwanis, Key Club, Builders, Aktion, TERRIFIC Kids, KKids, and of course Circle K are the clubs that make up the KFamily all with a common goal, changing the world one child and one community at a time. The Month of November is dedicated to the K-family, so what does this mean? It means that we should celebrate not only with CKI, but with our K-Family cousins. K-Family Month is a wonderful opportunity to build morale with your local K-Family Clubs, build support for your club, and show support for your local clubs through socials, and, of course, service.

November has a big holiday, Thanksgiving! This is a wonderful opportunity to invite your local K-Family clubs and all have a dinner together to let each club catch everyone up on what they are doing. Ask each club to bring a dish to save on cost and to make it more “Family” oriented. Also Thanksgiving is a good thing to think about when it comes to doing service. One of our service partners is STUFH, so doing a canned food drive or helping your local food bank deliver to families in need would make a great joint project!

Remember that building the relationship with your surrounding KFamily clubs will benefit your chapter.

It will make it easier to find helping hands when your chapter needs more hands at a service project, make your fundraising goals a bit easier to attain, give your big events an even bigger turnout, and give your chapter a bigger name and a better reputation in your community. Increasing K-Family relations is a wonderful way of meeting warm-hearted people and turning them into friends, no matter the age difference (or lack-there-of!).

Governor—Monica Caudillo governor@txokcki.org

Daniel

K-Family

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