Relay 4 Life

What a long day! Thanks to Floyd, Donna, Angie, Al and Doug & Devon from Key Club who attended the Plumsted Relay for Life to benefit the American Cancer Society last night and early, early this morning.
Floyd was there from the start at 11 a.m. and was still going strong when I left him at 3:50 a.m.
It was a fun filled event. There were prizes, contests and games to keep everyone active. And of course there was the oval to walk around. Doug & Devon did 25 laps at one shot. I did 19 but in stages throughout the night. I just kept going around and around and around...
It was a fun event and an inspiration to participate in it.
Towards the end the kids were still going and going and going. It was fun to think back (40 years back!) on those days when I could run all night and not stop.
Floyd and Donna took some photos and I will add them to my collection. But for now here are my 8 photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/22036136@N07/sets/72157618970286837/

An Interclub with Daybreak at Laurita Winery

We had a great visit with the Daybreak club this evening at Laurita Winery. Nick led us on a tour of the winemaking process and Fran presented a check from our club to Kimball Medical Center's Craig for the second chair we committed to. Not to be confused with Monty Python's comfy chair ("Nobody can resist the comfy chair!"), the chairs we donated funds for will be used by patients undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Puma's Kitchen

We had a great time at Hope Presbyterian Church's community hall Saturday afternoon as we listened to Mbuyu "Puma" We Mbuyu, Rebecca Rowles and Jim Carpenter explain what their foundation ("Able and Willing") is doing for education in The Democratic Republic of Congo.
Puma was born in Lubumashi, The Congo in 1962 and immigrated to the US in 1992. He recognized the gift education was and determined to bring that gift back to the Congolese people. He cofounded a group to do just that and since then they have built one school compound Myrt 1 (400+ students) and it is building another (already 155 students.)
The school not only prepares students academically, it also works to help villagers improve their standard of living by building wells and providing health education to the villagers.
More information about the foundation's work can be found at the foundation's Web site: www.ableandwilling.net .
Besides explaining the logistics of the school (it is run democratically with an elected board) the trio explained several dishes that are similar to food served in the Congo. Those dishes were served Saturday. The presentation was a slideshow the group took during various visits to the school.
Photos taken during Saturday's dinner can be found on my Flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22036136@N07/sets/72157618637667645/
Many thanks to Al Mannus for having us partner with this program, to Fran for having the vision to include us and to the members of Hope Presbyterian Church (Lakewood) for having us.
BTW, way to go club! We had 8 members (Laura Johnson, Kathy Johnson, Fran, Al, Donna, Mike and Ingrid, and me) and their 9 guests attend. That's 17, about one-third of the people who attended the event.

Raindrops were falling on our head...

The streets of Jackson are just a wee bit cleaner today thanks to the efforts of our club. Five of us became street walkers for about 2 hours as we pulled trash from alongside West Veterans Highway. (It's so hard not to call it Lakewood-New Egypt Road, you know?) At first, I figured God answered my prayers when it began raining just before we went garbage picking but that Donna, she's a hard task-master, and at 9 a.m. we were out there, picking away.
So what did we find out? The Jackson trashers are a cheap bunch. With one exception I found the beer bottles were all low class stuff and the whiskey bottles were either pint flasks or those little "airline" bottles. I mean, if you're going to drink, drink respectable. Another clue that it wasn't top-shelf? The "bottles" were all plastic, not glass.
Okay, next highway clean up is a Sunday in June, date to be determined.
Thanks Stan, Michael, taskmaster Donna and President Fran.

CSH Carnival

Thank you to all who helped out at Saturday's Childrens Specialize Hospital carnival. We had three Kiwanis clubs (Toms River, Daybreak & Jackson) and a few Key Clubs (Manchester, TRHS North, Jackson Memorial & Liberty, and Mon Don) helping out. They had a great turnout and for once (hah!) the weatherman was wrong with his prediction. The sun was shining. It was a beautiful day.
Photos from the event can be found on my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22036136@N07/sets/72157618000262239/ As always, I suggest you hit the "slideshow" icon on the upper right and watch them scroll by.

Daybreak's river to Bay 5 K

We almost had an Interclub at Saturday's River to Bay 5 K. Fran, Diane, Pearl and two of her friends were there. Diane was the athlete amongst us running the whole length of the course.

It was a runner's day - a light drizzle kept the temps down.
Daybreak had a great turnout for the run and walk that followed. More than 330 registered. I guess the way they distinguish between the runners and the walkers is the runners are timed with a watch, the walkers are timed with a calendar.
It was a great event. Congratulations to Daybreak for a great community event.
PS. Photos can be viewed on my Flickr account - http://www.flickr.com/photos/22036136@N07/sets/72157617661276050/