Okay - you guys need to show your love for this blog... judging from the Shoutout comments, only 11 people check this blog. I really hope that's not true, right? So -- if you read the blog, or if you've EVER looked at it - please scroll down to my post on 4/28, and leave a Shoutout with your name and school. We may have to *sniff* discontinue the blog, or focus our attention elsewhere if it's true that not more than 20 people are reading it. Show your love!

Thanks to Alison for sending out the list of deadlines. And the district board for doing a great job, and almost finishing the first month in office. They get the shoutout for the day.

Regarding deadlines - May 4th is the deadline to get your stuff in for agenda points. Yes. Two noted agenda points that will be discussed are District Convention, and Summer Rally. If you have a location or proposal for either of these places - you need to make sure we get your agenda point/proposal packet. In the packet, what should be included is: what will we be doing, what activities will be planned, where will we stay, estimated cost, theme, etc. You cannot, and I repeat CANNOT complain about where the location of these events are if you didn't try to submit somewhere that you wanted it to be.

Today's International Corner: So.. you are all familiar with Aktion Club, correct? I hope so. There is Circle K, Key Club, Builders Club, K-Kids, Kiwanis, and Aktion Club. Aktion club is a branch of the Kiwanis family specially for those mentally challenged individuals. It really makes them feel special to be able to contribute to their community, and they do complete community service activities and have fun doing it. I've been asked to inform you that a special documentary, called the Collector of Bedford Street, has been made about Aktion club, and is a recipient of the Heartland Film Festival award, and other awards.. and is being shown on Cinemax. Here's more information:

The Collector of Bedford Street is a recipient of the Heartland Film
Festival's Crystal Heart Award and will debut on Cinemax the evenings of May
14 and 20 at 7 p.m. and the morning of May 27 at 7:15 a.m.

The film explores issues facing adults with disabilities and the need to
promote understanding and acceptance. It also sends a strong message about
how Aktion Club members (adults with disabilities) are important
contributors to the Kiwanis family and how they also make a significant
difference within the community.

To learn more about how your club can conduct a special club event during
the film's television debut visit the Aktion Club Web site at
www.aktionclub.org .


That's it for now - talk to you all later!!

Welcome to the last week of April, everyone! Can you believe it has almost been a month since we had DCON, elected this new board, and watched them take over the district?? I'm having a hard time believing it myself. But now that the transition is nearly over, it is time to step into the spirit of deadlines (insert panic attack here)

So to keep you all from flipping out and racking your brains trying to remember when stuff is due, I am going to tell you right now! I also told you over an email to the reflector, so you have no reason to not remember these dates.....so here we go:

May 1 - Deadline to have ICON registration to Tommy Stephenson (OTIC
Chair) if you choose to send your club members' registration off with
the rest of the district. If you have questions, email him


and ask away, that is why we have him!!

May 4 - Deadline for submitting agenda points to the District Board
for consideration at the board training/meeting to be held May 9-11
in Pontchatoula. If you have an agenda point, please send it to me
at lmt_sec_treas@yahoo.com no later than May 4 for it to be
considered.

May 5 - Applications for the District Cabinet are due to me! These
positions will be appointed on May 9, so please do not forget to
apply!

Also, monthly reports are due!!

May 8 - Deadline for International to receive your ICON
registration. If you want to send it directly to them, have it there
by this date

May 9-11 - Board training and meeting

May 12 - Deadline to submit agenda points for consideration at the
May 24-25 Board meeting

May 23-25 - Board meeting and Cabinet training in Baton Rouge. More
details to follow soon.

So keep those things in mind this next week and into the month of May. Also, let's try to get a great theme organized for ICON this year! Send your ideas to him

asap. Some ideas to think about from past years include LaMissTenn's HOT and Service in the Sun Southern Style. Think of things that relate to our entire district (maybe other than hot weather this year) and also link us to the host city (Indy).

Also, I'd like to congratulate a few people who were awarded this Sat at the LSU Banquet. Outstanding committee chair awards went to Monique Sammartino and Laura Falati, Outstanding Member of the Year went to Candace Griffin, Kiwanis Family Award went to Chassidy DuPont, Club Fellowship Award went to Eddie Ward, and Cap CIty Kiwanis scholarship went to Shannon Tharp. Good job all of you and keep up the great work!

That is all from me for now, hope everyone does well on finals!

One more time --

If everyone would please do me a favor - I'd greatly appreciate it. See, the reason we started this blog was because of a few things. We wanted to open up more casual, frequent communication. We wanted the entire district to get a feel for what the district board was doing for them, and we also wanted to stop overloading the reflectors. Don't get me wrong, the reflector still needs to be used... but I think ya'll might be a little angry if I e-mailed you every day with updates on what I was doing. This way, you can check and read when you want to. But--- I'm a little worried that people aren't reading here. I see 650 hits, which makes me very happy, but I'm not sure if it's everyone from all schools, or just 5-6 people who check 30 times each a day! Know what I mean? So, if you could do two things for me... 1) Ask around at your school to find out who is reading this, and spread the word about it... and 2) just leave a comment, by clicking on the Shout Out, with your name, and your school (or affiliation, if you're Kiwanis, another district, etc). That way I know who I need to talk to to make sure they are getting this information!! :) Thanks!

Also, another shoutout and a very special shoutout. The shoutout goes to Northwestern State University, who I've just discovered is trying to implement Roberts Rules of Order at meetings. You guys should be commended, I know Roberts Rules is VERY boring, and VERY aggravating at times - but it's the best way to run efficient meetings. By using that it's clear you want to get the job done. If anyone wants copies of my Roberts Rules cheatsheets, let me know - I'll try to upload them to the files section of the e-group soon.
Also, a special shoutout to Matt M. and Katie B, from UTM... they were in a very serious car accident recently with almost tragic results. They were incredibly lucky, but have been through a LOT these past few days. Please give them your support and prayers through this hard time.

That's it folks!
-Rebecca

Hi again--

So, Sec/Treas Alison decides today it would be funny to say "I've got bad news" followed by "I'm not going to grad school, therefore I can't be in CKI next semester, therefore I have to resign as your Secretary Treasurer" - so of course, I almost have a heart attack. She then responds with "Haha, just kidding." So--- your ST is definitely keeping your Gov on her toes, and making sure that my heart is in working order! Make sure you thank her for that! Oh-- and if you have a chance to get her with some kind of prank.. feel free to do so, on my behalf! :)

Congrats LSU, on a fun picnic & great banquet. I'm really glad I finally learned what Disc Golf was... even though I suck at it. But not as much as everyone else (excluding Shannon & Todd). I even got to wander around the woods for awhile-- always fun. As for the banquet I sent lots of fun happy grams (To all who are wondering, I'M "Stan G." and the wreath sent to the LSU board came from me.) Also, yes, yes it's true, I sang the LSU fight song, complete with a tiger ribbon & purple antennae. But I got my gavel back!!! Victory is mine, Tigers!! :) So, UNO stole my bell and I had to go watch (cringe) wrestling to get it back.... LSU has my gavel & I have to sing like a Tiger fan. Who's next? I can't wait to see how creative you all can be.

Speaking of creativity, I've gotten no more offers on club goals for me to do stupid things! Hurry up and decide, this offer is for a limited time only. (No, you cannot wait until March, see how much improvement you've made & then set your goal at that.)

May 1st is a very important date. It's when your I-con stuff is due to Tommy. By stuff I mean registration & check.
May 5th is also a very important date. It's when cabinet applications are due, cabinet director applications are due, and also when club secretaries should be completing their first ever monthly reports (if they didn't help with last months). New Secs and Presidents should try to sit down and do this together, and if the old Sec can help -- that's great, at least for the first time. If you have any questions about the MRF, please ask Alison. May 5th is also the deadline for you to get anything to me that should be presented at our first board meeting. If you have a proposal for Summer Rally, or something you want included with your cabinet application, a proposal for D-con, or any agenda points/items you want discussed, I need those in my hand, either hard or electronic copy, by May 5th.
May 9th-11th is our upcoming District Board meeting, at the Ponchatoula Kiwanis Log Cabin, in Ponchatoula, LA
May 24th-May 25th is our next District Board meeting. All selected cabinet are expected to be present on May 24th.

Governor Shoutout today goes to any club who is sending a full 2 members to I-con, and taking advantage of the delegates they worked so hard (by getting 20 paid members) to have!

International Corner: CKI has just put something on the front page, a "Key Club Invitational" for Key Clubbers that are interested in joining Circle K. They fill out a form with the top 3 schools they are looking at, and that information is forwarded to me and Mark Mobley, our DA. As soon as we get that information, we will forward it to you (and btw, we still owe you some info from Key Club Convention) -- so please contact those Key Clubbers, they could be your next Club officers!

That's it for now.. I'm feeling a little sick (sore throat, etc) - so if you call me and I have no voice, please forgive me :)

-Rebecca