"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room on Earth."
~Muhammad Ali

We are in for a busy Spring! This morning's meeting was jammed pack too, just like last week. 

In attendance today we welcomed back Brenda from Run for Mom. May 13 is the big race day! She brought us an update with 3 weeks to go to the big event. Run for Mom is excited to say that registrations are up. Brenda is also looking form very specific help on May 12 to help pick up the bigger supplies and equipment. If you are available, please get in touch with Pete S. Let's see if we cannot help Brenda and Run for Mom out.

and

We also welcomed back Steve from Junior Dragon Boats. Steve provided us an update about the Junior Dragon Boaters that paddle at Harrison Lake. 52 kids are registered and learn all the skills needed to be out on the water in a Dragon Boat. He had a wonderful presentation full of pictures and stories of the adventures and competitions of Dragon Boating, what an incredible opportunity for kids in Chilliwack/Sardis/Agassiz/Harrison! If you want to check them out in action, they practice Wednesdays 4:45 to 6pm on Harrison Lake, close to the Lagoon. Also, July 22, there the Harrison Festival where they will also be showcased. Steve presented our club a plaque of Appreciation for our years of continued dedication and support.

As for our regular club updates, we are a busy little club!

• Super Reader- more assemblies and more awesome celebrations. Thank you to all those helping.
  
• McHappy Day- May 3 during the day, please let Arley know if you are available and interested in participating.
  
• Walk and Knock- May 3, 5pm to 8pm, we need drivers and knockers to help collect donations fo rthe Food Bank. Come join us for a walk! :)
  
• Inside Ride- May 4 at WJ Mouat, Dennis is still looking for riders to help ease the workload, talk to him for additional details and thank you to everyone who has donated to the cause!
  
• InterClub- April 27 in Abbotsofrd at the Crossroads restaurant with the Abbotsford Club for a speaker on Diabetes, join Dennis, Cec, Barry, Pat and others for a night of friendship and learning.
  
• Canada Day- Al had an update, we have been asked to do the Pancake Breakfast again and support the event with our trailer. Al will provide more details as they come. 
  
• Soup Kitchen- A check was presented to Bill from Doug as we renewed our partnership with the Chilliwack CLub for the Saturday Soup Kitchen for another year. Thank you gentleman.
  
• Clothing Sale- Sardis Kiwanis Club will be supporting the Chilliwack Club in their clothing sale May 26 &27, Sheila has vouchers and posters, spread the word and let's help our friends in Chilliwack in their fundraising venture.
  
• Elections- please subit your nominations for Board members to Ernie. Our AGM and elections are May 9. I hope we get to see everyone out to exercise their democratic right to vote!
  
• Leadership Camp- Check out Facebook for updates and pictures from the 2017 edition of Leadership Camp this past weekend in Hope, what a weekend of leadership training and fun! Thank you to all those involved.
  
• Ann Davis Transition- Please keep bringing in your soaps and bathroom supplies for our wash bag project, we can never get enough! Soon enough we will have enough to make a whole stash of wash bags.
  
• ORN- The Board has voted unanimously to continue with Operation Red Nose for the 2017 season so watch for updates coming soon.
  

We pleasantly reminded Erwin of an important birthday that is coming up and celebrate the Nicholsons who are celebrating their anniversary this week. Have fabulous parties both of you!

A awesome round of Happy Bucks, and that was the end,
Till next week, check out Instagram for posts and celebrations for National Volunteer Week, it is a pleasure and honour to represent you as your President. Thank you for trusting in me,

Till next week, Yours in Service, 

Michelle

How Did This Happen?

Oh wait, we're awesome!
This morning was another full house! Al brought a guest, and Chilliwack joined us for an Inter-Club, aka 'Social Networking', that of course meant a morning of laughter and fun!
Rod, President of Chilliwack, presented stats and a very thorough update on our Saturday Manna Soup Kitchen we host at the Chilliwack United Church. To date the Soup Kitchen have served 1620 clients this year, that is up from 1430 last year. We have 1170 volunteer hours invested and through generous donations and super savy shopping cost have been decreased to $2.33 a client. Rod outlined some areas for improvement too, hopefully we can put our heads together and problem solve together. That being said, we look forward to continuing the partnership with the Chilliwack club in making sure our Saturday Soup Kitchen continues to be a source of comfort and stability for all our clients.

As for our regular communications:

1. Super Reader: No surprise, still busy, 1969 kids celebrated to date, Arley is fully expecting to hit over 2000 this year.
   
2. Courtney is back from Mexico, even survived the bus ride.
   
3. Thank you for the boxes of soap and other wash stuff for our drive to make wash bags for Anne Davis Transition House. Keep them coming, we will soon make packages up for delivery.
   
4. Nominations for elections can now be made to Ernie, please consider being a member of the Board to make sure our club keeps running smoothly.
   
5. Reminder the Walk and Knock is on May 3, sign up coming next week.
   
6. Also on May 3 is McHappy Day, talk to Arley if you can help.
   
7. Inside Ride, in Abbotsford is May 4, let Dennis know if you can ride for the cause.
   
8. GWG Key Club has they Bottle Drive! If you can help them out, please do.
   
9. Sardis Sec. Key Club held elections, 21 individuals going for positions! It is exciting to see the youth movement be so involved.
   

We wrapped up with Happy Bucks and some Happy Birthday shout outs and celebrations to Brian Cleaver and Al Price! While Happy Anniversary wishes go to the Kalaus this week!

That's all for now, for the good of Kiwanis,

Michelle

 Busy day in the neighbourhood this morning!

We were visited by Pat and Daphne from Riding for the Disabled, some GWG Key Clubbers (Zoey, Leah, Gillian and Jordan) and Natalia Porro.
Natalia delivered a bagful of Komfort Dolls.

• Thank you Natalia!

Zoey, Leah, Jordan and Gillian came to give us an update from DCON 2017 in Portland (Presentation, some photos removed to fit, Sorry Gillian, below). The GWG ladies said it was "... an amazing opportunity with amazing spirit..."

• Don't forget Key Club needs help Saturday 10am at GWG for their Bottle Drive.
• Also if you have bottles the Sardis Bottle Depot has an account for them, #123.

Pat and Daphne from Riding for the Disabled were on their farewell tour, and celebrating their 34th breakfast with us!

• See the images above of their card to us.
• After 34 years, the Pacific Riding for the Disabled is closing. Hoping for the best, but closing. The ladies brought albums of all the adventures since 1983, it was touching and amazing. A wonderful flashback from many of our members.
• These ladies have done amazing work throughout our community and estimate thousands of children have been supported because of their program, Chilliwack is blessed to have women like Pat and Daphne.

Other updates included:
- Moments and information from the Bahath fundraiser Monday night (check out the Facebook page for photos)
- Super Reader, assemblies under control and Arley with all the details, he shared some great photos too, check out Instagram for them.
- Nominations for elections open next Tuesday, April 18, Ernie will have the nomination sheet.
- McHappy Day is coming up on May 3rd.
- Knock and Walk is on May 3rd.
- Inside ride at W.J. Mouat is on May 4th, Dennis has all the information.
- Soup Kitchen on Saturday past served 139 meals.
- Going to start collecting toiletries for Ann Davis, the specific list will be in your emails.

Of course, we are coming up on the busy season!
Talk soon, and have an amazing one!

Michelle

Our program today was Matthew Francis from the Chilliwack Museum, and he came fully prepared, just ask Erwin who won a beautiful copy of "The Chilliwack Story". We also all got passes to the museum (share it with your family) and learned about all their educational programs they offer to the schools and to the public. Matthew also told stories about Chilliwack and some little snippets of her glorious history. We also learned that Mr. Parker is a archive volunteer.
Who knew the Chilliwack Museum was so action packed! It was great to hear how the Chilliwack Museum also secured some of the Canada 150 grant money to begin the process of getting proper museum showcases. Clearly, there is a little gem sitting in down town Chilliwack! Hopefully, we can work on some partnerships and help share the wonderful history of our town!

We wrapped with Happy Bucks, and unitl next week!

Make it an awesome one!

Michelle