Hey Everyone,

It's 9:20am, and I'm awake-- WOW. That's an amazing feat, especially since I've been up to about 3 or 4am almost every night this week. Just goes to show what Kiwanis meetings will do for ya!

What Alison said about Monthly Reports is RIGHT ON-- And, this month, I know is a special one with I-con and all... but in May, I received 23 MRFs.. in June, only 17. I SHOULD be receiving somewhere between 30-35. So... my question to all of you, and PLEASE answer this in the blog-- is why don't we get more of them?

I know that I'm preaching to the choir here, I understand that -- but maybe you all can help me figure out what we can do to receive the information we need on our MRFs. Because if I have to "guess" on my Governor's MRF one more time, I'll be a very unhappy camper :)

I don't really have much else to say at this point.. Alison and I have been super busy attending Kiwanis meetings this week, to promote our new Tomorrow Fund, as well as to just make the point the Circle K WILL be active with our Kiwanis counterparts this year... we were the guest speakers at the Algiers Kiwanis Meeting on Wednesday night, which was a lot of fun-- and we attended the Lakeside Kiwanis meeting this morning.

The District Cabinet has been working tremendously hard this past week to get everything in gear for the Fall-- here is a brief summary of what each of them are working on.. I'll do some today, and some more tomorrow!

Tommy (OTIC/Travel): Is finishing up I-con.. a list of interclubs will be sent to Club Secretaries soon for your MRF..
he's pretty much paying who needs to be paid, and wrapping up the loose ends. He'll
probably be working on advertising Leaderscape for us, which is coming up soon.

Bobby (Tioga): Bobby is working hard on getting a fabulous Tioga together. Most of the details are already in place,
but he's seeking donations for the event, as well as a logo for the t-shirt (see the monthly mailing
for more information on that) Registration is due on September 26th.

Brandy (K-Family: KC, AC, KK, BC) - As you read, Brandy planned an awesome ice cream social for I-con, and is
working on a K-Family picnic that will possibly occur, as well as finding out
what Builders Club, Aktion Clubs, and K-Kids clubs we have in the District. She's
also looking into the Key to College Program, which will be used heavily in the
month of October.

Chassidy (K-Family: K, CK) - Chassidy is hard at work working on the new Kiwanis Career Contacts (or KC squared)
program. She's working on forms for both Kiwanis and Circle K that will be made
available soon. She's also helping us prepare for our appearance at the Kiwanis
District Convention in Memphis.


Michael (Technology) - Michael has been working so incredibly hard on the new District webpage. Many of you
have had feedback, suggestions, complaints or comments, and right now he is working on
fixing all of them. If you have a suggestion for the new webpage, be sure to get that to
Michael. Also, he is assisting with clubs who need to get reflectors and webpages set up to
get ready for the start of the new year, and recruitment efforts!

Sharron & Angela (D-Con) - Sharron and Angela have been trying to pick date and hotel for convention. They
have a top 3 for hotels, one of which is on U of M's campus, if you or anyone you
know has any hotel connections in that area (Thanks to Brian for already trying)..
please let them know. Sharron will be with us at the Kiwanis Convention!

Ralph (Tomorrow Fund) - Ralph is one of our newest members, but is already working really hard on the
Tomorrow Fund. He is working on the image of the District Tomorrow Fund, the
template letters for the letter writing campaign, as well as new pin/banner-patch
designs, and the Speakers Bureau. If you're interested in being on the Speaker's
Bureau, please contact him.

Lisa (Bulletin) - Lisa is hard at work on the first edition of the District Bulletin, to be distributed at
Summer Rally. Articles are due to her on August 1st. If you have any ideas for
articles, pictures, etc... please get those to her.. the bulletin will only be as good as
YOU make it.

Robert (New Club Building) - Robert is still looking for people who are interested in serving on the Task Force for
New club Building. Especially needed are people near Lafayette/Eunice to assist
with the new LSU-E club... and people in Piney Hills near Centenary. People in Gulf
Coast are needed for efforts at Xavier as well-- although we really need ALL five
divisions to be represented.


That's it for now... as soon as I get the DL on what's going on with the other Cabinet members, I'll be sure to let you know!


More updates throughout the week (as I'm busy working to serve YOU, the member)... start the comments coming though, will ya? I'm sad and lonely without them... no one reads this blog anymore, I guess. :)

Hello LaMissTenn and welcome to the middle of the week!

This one has been a busy one for me so far as I have been working to get a mailing together and figure out some missing contact information. Club officers, please be on the lookout for emails from me about missing information for your club boards. I will be contacting several of you between now and next week to get the missing information collected and on file.

The July mailing was mailed out yesterday to all club presidents, District board members, administrators, and advisors. Everyone else will have access to it as it will be posted to both the LMT yahoo group and the website by Friday of this week at the latest (as a PDF). If anyone would like me to personally send the mailing to you via email, please let me know and I will be happy to do so. Be aware that it will come as an attachment and will probably be rather large!

I hope that all of you are geared up for Summer Rally 2003! Registration was due on the 15th of the month. If you have not registered yet, get in touch with Becki Simonis ASAP to complete your late registration at the price of an additional $10.

A big shout out to UNO CKI who has been very busy this week with service projects. Remember that UNO projects are open to anyone, so if you are in the New Orleans area and want to do some service, get in touch with Lauren Call (lcall@uno.edu) I have attended several projects with them this month and it has been a great time in service and fellowship.

MRF UPDATE
Club and Cabinet reports are due on the 5th of the month
Board reports are due on the 10th of the month
Governor reports are due on the 15th of the month
Trustee reports are due on the 20th of the month

Please respect these deadlines, if you are late with your reports, then you will cause the chain to become a mess, making others late with their reports. Each one is spaced 5 days apart because each one is dependent on information from the others. Some of you have been falling behind with these deadlines, if you have been, you will be hearing from me soon....so please try to get them in on time for the month of July!!!

Also, everyone remember that Bulletin articles are due August 1 to Lisa Ashby at pcr_eaa_utm_cki_lmt@hotmail.com and be sure to check out the district website and offer your feedback to Technology chair Michael Arcement at chaos986@yahoo.com

Enjoy the rest of the week and feel free to comment if you have comments or questions!

Oh, and if anyone cares to know what Trustees I've requested-- I won't publish that online, as some of my comments were very blunt-- but I will be sure to let you know if you e-mail/call/IM me, or catch me in my online office hours-- if you're interested. We will know the first week in August who our assigned counselor will be.

Also.. LMT pins (the red/white/blue ones we've been using for the past 2 years) are on sale... I only have about 100 left, and they are $1 a piece. If you want one, you better act now-- because you'll never be able to buy these again (or at least for the next 2 or so years, they can also choose to reprint them at a later date). Also, Tommy still has goody packets & I-con stickers/pins for sale.. even if you did not attend I-con, you can still purchase one. Packets are selling for $20, but perhaps if you contact Tommy you can bargain with him, or just buy the shirt, etc.. the shirt is our DISTRICT theme for the entire year (and not an international convention theme)-- so we will be wearing them all year long! And, I have Circle K International Tomorrow Fund Pins on sale for $3 each, benefitting the CKI Tomorrow Fund. If you'd like one, or you have questions, contact me, or Ralph.

And, check out our new website--- Michael has been working very hard on it... it's still obviously a work in progress-- but there is lots of great information up there already, and new stuff EVERY DAY-- so be sure to check it often. And if you have a suggestion, be sure to let Michael know!

Hey LMT,

Welcome back from I-con, if you attended. LaMissTenn had 36 people in attendance, which I've just recently discovered was less than only Cal-Nev-Ha, EC&C, and Capital. So, we did pretty well, and got a lot more people there than anyone expected! Most of the other districts had between 2-10 people attend, and the other Governors were shocked (and still are) when I tell them how many people we had. So... not the 69 people we had in Orlando, but still an awesome delegation (especially considering the location)!

Indianapolis, like I've said before in my GATC blog entries-- is NOT a bad city. It's actually a very nice city. We didn't have as much free time to see it as we did in Orlando/Buffalo, but we made do with what we had! The convention definitely had a different feel to it, with the Key Clubbers there, and the way the sessions were scheduled, but all in all-- we had a great time together as a District. The suite was decorated in our "The Sky's the Limit!" theme-- and we wore our shirts/pins proudly, and had our usual LaMissTenn charm.

We also had several award winners that Alison detailed below... congratulations to them! I must admit that I'm slightly disappointed that we didn't have more clubs/people submit entries-- but, we'll learn for next year. The Summer is a great time for club boards to check out the CKI Website for those International awards packets-- so that you'll know what IS required, and what your clubs standards should be to be "award winning" -- so that if you want to apply for next year, you'll have nothing standing in your way. District officers & committee chairs should look at their awards binders too-- as they are much easier to compile as you go through the year, and not all at once at the end.. but we'll talk about that some more at Tioga too.

I have a "Lost and Found" - that I've set up.. it's an entire BOX of stuff that was found in the District Suite. I have a pink ball (Tasha's?), a hairbrush with a pink ribbon on it (Bich/Tasha?), some lavendar body spray, an XL goody packet t-shirt, and a few other random items. If you've lost anything-- let me know, and I'll be sure to get it to you somehow!

At our board meeting, we announced our two cabinet chairs-- Lauren Call from UNO for Service Initiative, and Ralph Johnson from LSU for Tomorrow Fund. Congratulations, Ralph/Lauren (ooh.. Ralph Lauren.. get it?) and these chair positions will go into high gear into this Summer. Keep in mind that our Service Initiative, "seasons of service" - focuses on the Elderly in Summer, Kids in Fall, Families during the Holidays, and Teens in Spring. As Summer is coming to a close soon-- we need to all work on our Elderly projects, and begin to prepare for a change in gear to Kids.

As for the dues increase, I will be talking the board/Alison about it-- and we will make sure to contact all the club Presidents, to explain the change-- how it will affect your invidual club's $amount, etc.

I guess that about wraps up I-con.. if anyone has any pictures they'd like to share, please get them to Michael so he can get them on the new district website...

Now we start moving high gear into Summer Rally... this again, is a Casino/Los Vegas themed event, and will be in the beautiful/lovely Starkville, MS (I've been there before, too.. it's loads of fun, with a great bowling alley and awesome cheese... to understand that, you have to see for yourself!). Becki Simonis and her crew at Mississippi State have been working really hard to make this event a GREAT one. We're trying something new by having Summer Rally a little later-- and this will be just the added extra motivation that people need before we start the school year. If there is a new member in your club that needs to experience the benefits and fellowship of Circle K-- or an old member who may seem to be losing their energy and becoming burnt out, or a member that was not able to attend I-con-- you NEED to bring them to Summer Rally! Again, Registration is due on the 15th of July, and is $40.. There are a LOT of events we have during the year, and the ones that are low cost like this-- you should take advantage of. $40 is NOT bad, when it covers your entertainment, lodging, and most of your food. I'll hop off of my soapbox for now, but just keep in mind that you WILL be disappointed if you don't attend Summer Rally. That is all. :)

International Corner - Be sure to check out the new Circle K International website.. at http://www.circlek.org. It's still a work in progress, but it looks much different then the old one-- so familiarize yourself with it, and check out what it has to offer. All of the award winners, new I-board, and amendments are listed in the convention updates-- so you may want to check that out as well.

Governor's Shoutout - This one goes to Tommy Stephenson, I know how much work he did (I witnessed most first-hand), in preparation for International Convention-- especially spending 4 hours in the Convention Center to fix the registration/hotel screw up by the Meeting Connection. Also.. a shoutout to Brandy Bowen for the awesome Key Club/Circle K ice cream social.. and a shoutout to UNO, LSU, Katie Mulreed, Laurie Brown, & Lauren Call for awards won.

That's it for now... I'm now preparing for Kiwanis District Convention, July 31st and August 1st & 2nd, in Memphis, TN-- and hope to represent you in the best way possible. I'll keep you updated on that, as well as other things that are going on in the District!