Another Interclub!

Floyd, Mary Jo & I slipped the surly bonds of Point Pleasant Beach's dock Thursday and particpated in Circle K's inaugural fireworks cruise. The wind was blowing the wrong way and we had to forego the fireworks, but no problem. We spent two hours off the coast. Wait a minute, isn't that how The Minnow in Gilligan's Island started off? "A two-hour tour, a two-hour tour - the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed..."
Also joining us were Mary Jo's husband Bruce and my Mom Dolores.

BTW, I'm not getting seasick in that one photo. I just look like that normally.

Cookin' the Night Away

Okay, so we didn't hear much of Sam Cooke at Saturday night's Battle of the Bands. In fact we didn't hear any of that 50's & 60's stuff. But we did grill up some hot dogs and fry funnel cakes for the Key Club's Battle of the Bands contest last night. The Battle was a Key Club fundraiser for Children's Specializled Hospital.

Thanks to our club memebers for helping out: Lois, Ted & Carol, Donna, Stan, Al, Glen, Mike and special star of the night: Lou. Without Lou we wouldn't have figured out that it was a loose wire that prohibited us from lighting the burners.

Go to Fllickr for more photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/22036136@N07/?saved=1 And sorry Donna. For some reason the photo I took of our money collector was all blurry.

Congratulations to us

Let me start out by congratulating President Stan and our club. During Sunday morning's awards program our club received honors in 5 of the 6 Interclub contests, and they are a tribute to the hard work and example Stan set for us. Here's how we did it: In the "We Build" contest, awarded for conducting the most interclubs in our division (49): in the Lt. Governor's Award, awarded for interclubbing with every club in our division; in the New Jersey District Award for the most interclubs in the District (we were second by only 1 Interclub to Greater Parsippany; in the How Far contest we came in third (106) miles losing to only Cape May Court House (4,000 miles to Scotland) and Sparta (700 miles to Myrtle Beach); and we were tied for third with Atlantic City for the How Big Awardgiven for having the most members attend an Interclub. And you know, we're not finished! We had an Interclub at convention: Paul & Debby Tarantino, Floyd & Carmella Adams, Ted & Carol Hordichuk, and me!

How can we make it 6 of 6? To win the Governor's Award we need to have everybody attend an Interclub. Now, that's not as hard as it sounds. We could all attend a sponsored youth program, right?

Books for Kobe (Japan, that is)

I received this note from Dr. Wil Blechman, former KI president and the one who started Young Children Priority One. Perhaps we can help out?

Please read following from Miki Cunat, former First Lady of Kiwanis International

Dear Fellow Kiwanian and Partners:

We need your HELP! The Kobe Kiwanis Club of Japan
District is setting up a section of Children’s Books from
Around the World Corner in the Kobe City Library in Kobe,
Japan. As you may know the city of Kobe is the second major
well known city in Japan for foreigners for over a hundreds
years. Even though many families from overseas are living
comfortably in the city, unfortunately there is no section in the
library to accommodate the foreign children. Kobe Kiwanis
Club is asking for your help in making this dream possible by
building up the books for this section in your language through
the friendship of Kiwanis around the world. Of course, Kobe
Kiwanians will purchase some books, but supplies are limited
and expensive. This project will also benefit many hundreds of
Japanese children living in the area. Thus we would like you
to help with this “Kobe International Children’s Library”
project as a part of “Reading Around the World” (YCPO). We
are asking each club to donate 10-20 books, or individual
Kiwanis member to donate 1or 2 books. The age group would
be 2-12 years old. We highly recommend finding excellent
picture books for younger children and reading books for older
children. The award winning books would be ideal! Your
Kiwanis club can participate in two different ways: Kiwanis
club would like to purchase the books or each member donates
1 or 2 books.

1. Please send directly to: Kobe Kiwanis Club, c/o Kobe
Mercantile Trading Center Building, 5-1-14 Hamabe-dori,
Chuo-ku, Kobe-city 651-0083, JAPAN
Phone number: 078-251-6530 Email address:
kobekiwanis@isis.ocn.ne.jp
OR
Please send to me: Miki Cunat , 5400 W. Elm St., McHenry,
IL.
Phone number: 815-385-3192 (office) Email address:
mikicunat@yahoo.com

Please indicate:
Kiwanis Logo
Donated by: (name) Kiwanis Club
City, State/Region, etc.
Country

On behalf of Kobe Kiwanis club and hundreds of children in
Kobe, I sincerely appreciate your generosity and participation
of this project. If you have any further questions, please
contact me via email above.

Yours in Kiwanis Service,


Miki Cunat
2001-2002 First Lady
2008-2009 YCPO Committee
Kiwanis International

JLHS Key Club car wash

Jackson Liberty High School Key Club held a car wash fundraiser Aug.3 at Applebee's in Howell. From Donna we learn, "the day could not have been more lovely and we had a nice surprise of the Politos bringing not 1, not 2 but THREE family cars to support our efforts to raise funds for Children's Specialized Hospital (and when I say we, I did not wash a single car, but Sophia was right in there scrubbing away, as we had 3 and 4 cars at a time at some points!)"

Great job you guys!

Night out Against Crime

C'mon now, what do we Kiwanians like to do most? Cook! And we had the chance to once again strut our culinary skills by cooking for the Jackson Police Department's Night out Against Crime. It was part of a national event that helps neighbors meet their police officers and the various first responders in the township.
Like in years past, we were the easy ones to find: just look for the smoke. And where there's smoke, there's us!
I checked with Paul and after all was said and done we cooked about 900 pices of food: hotdogs and hamburgers. And we distributed a lot of water.
Thanks to all who helped: Paul & Debby, Lois, Laura and Sabrina, Stan & Joan, Fran, Carol & Ted (who distributed WHALE Project kits under the big top. And thanks for members who stopped by to show their support: Bernadette and Rick.

You know, we keep gettiing better at this. The one thing we had to contend with was the breeze that blew the smoke into the cooks' eyes. And we beat the rain. The weather forecasters were predicting rain for the early evening hours but we beat the showers and stayed dry.
PS. The top photo appeared on the APP.com Website Wednesday.