What a fantastic day! We were hosting guests, guest speakers, inductions and fellow Kiwanians this morning! We love these mornings, sharing all the awesome we do right here in Chilliwack!
Clearbrook Kiwanis came to visit, Susan, Ron and Manfred all made the drive and shared coffee and breakfast with us. Gillian brought her partner, Austin to take in all the Kiwanis delights, and we welcomed back soon-to-be-members-just-waiting-for-the-Board-Meeting-Thursday Pam and Randy! And Roger and Doug had our guest speaker, Pascal Adam from M2W2.

Other Club Updates:

• January 22 at 6:45pm we are at the Twisted Thistle for our second installment of our roundtable Evening With Kiwanis, I hope you can make it.
  
• Soup Kitchen served 128 meals on Saturday, 6 children too
  
• Super Reader assemblies have started, Arley has a long list, if you can attend any of them, let him know!
  
• Operation Red Nose, reception is done, and another year successfully completed! Thank you to all our members who supported this incredible holiday program.
  
• Boston Bruins alumni game coming up in support of CSL - George has all the info.
  
• Hockey equipment update, as per Ev, thank you for your generosity! 
  
• Business Awards are on Saturday night, nominated as Not-For-Profit of the Year, we will post photos! Thank you Kiwanians for all your dedication.
  
• DCM is February 25 in Abbotsford, starts at 7pm
  
• PNW MidWinter conference is February 22,23 and 24 in Bellingham, best day to be there is Saturday. I will be presenting, great information available and wonderful people.
  
• Mark your calendars, March 3 is the annual Kiwanis Fun Kurling Spiel at the brand new Chilliwack Curling Club!
  
• Board Meeting on Thursday at Mt.Slesse at 7pm!
  

We wrapped up with the #SquatChallenge from the Abbotsford Kiwanis Club and raised $100!!! We will get that donation to them very soon!  Great work team!
Happy Bucks to celebrate all that is awesome, amazing in our lives!
For the Good of Kiwanis, Make it a Great week!

Michelle

How awesome to be back with everyone!

This morning we welcomed Randy and Pam, wonderful community members interested in joining! Randy is from Mertin GM, auctioneer and Operation Red Nose volunteer. While Pam is a retired teacher from GW Graham and past Key Club Teacher Advisor. Welcome Randy and Pam!
A great catch up time this morning after 2 weeks away for the holiday season! We circulated a hat to help out Ev's grand-kids who had their hockey gear stolen. We circulated about a half dozen pieces of mail, many updates from around the community. Peter Brown shared a little piece of his family heritage. Thursday is the ORN volunteer reception, it starts at 7pm at the Coast hotel. Our LtG has become a member of the Eye of the Tiger team to help open new clubs and find new members. A reminder that February 23 is the Mid Winter conference in Bellingham. Soup Kitchen is on Saturday.

New and Upcoming:

• Bring your loonies so we can participate in the #SquatChallenge that the Abbotsford Kiwanis Club challenged us with
  
• Arley handed out a list of Soup Kitchen dates
  
• January 22 is a round table morning meeting at IHOP, fun social get together in the evening, we are waiting for confirmations.
  
• January 29 and February 5 are Students of the Month celebration mornings. Always a wonderful highlight of our year.
  

Have a wonderful week, see you on the 15th

Michelle

Dearest Families of Kiwanis, Friends of Kiwanis, Community Partners and Cherished Kiwanians,

The holidays and book called 2018 are firmly behind us, the last page being read yesterday.

We accomplished a lot in 2018. We also suffered losses and set-backs, but we were resilient. We looked after our own and poured out support where it was needed the most. We laughed, we cried, we rallied and we came together on numerous occasions to remind those around us, " we are here, we care, we will support you."

We tried new things, we failed and we succeeded. We re-evaluated and we celebrated.

We did it all of these things while giving the children and youth of Chilliwack just that little bit more. We made magic happen for families all over our community. We welcomed new members. We allowed other organizations the ability to see their visions come to life through financial support or service hours. We dedicated months of time to providing the Operation Red Nose service, getting hundreds of people home safely form their holiday festivities and keeping families together. Super Reader continues to grow, and promote a love for literacy. Scholarships were provided to more than a dozen students to help their post-secondary dreams become a reality.  We paved the way for our Kiwanis family to grow with the first ever Builders Club in Chilliwack  at Mt.Slesse Middle School. We watched as the Sardis Secondary Key Club raised over $10,000 for kids cancer programs with the Inside Ride. We are empowering our youth of tomorrow, we are engaging them and giving them opportunities beyond their own walls. We are the difference makers, and we continue to break down the idea that Kiwanis is the 'best kept secret.'

As we enter 2019, we will continue all of our wonderful work all over the community. We will also celebrate our 40th anniversary!  I know we will continue to help dreams come true and ignite an excitement about getting involved in our own community. We will continue to support each other unconditionally and we will continue to empower those around us.

Thank you for an amazing record breaking 2018.
Your dedication and commitment are daily inspirations. I look forward to an equally amazing 2019.
Yours In Service,

Michelle

This morning was a pretty awesome, AGM and Christmas filled meeting. We welcomed GWG Key Clubbers Nadoka and Anna, and we had Lisa and Mary in attendance- this is the last time they will considered a guest as these lovely ladies were approved as members at the last Board Meeting. 
We had correspondence from the Fraser Valley Health Foundation and Chilliwack Hospice. 
Operation Red Nose is having spectacular and amazing weekends of service!
Do not forget the Prom Pancake Breakfast Friday December 21, be there at 6am to get set-up on the go. 
Thank you to everyone who helped with our Adopt-A-Family! 
Thank you to everyone who attended and helped Abbotsford celebrate 50 years in Kiwanis! 
​Thank you for being amazing community supporters! 

Thank you to Derek for hosting our Winter AGM and reviewing the statements for another year with our membership!

A reminder that there is no meeting or round table on December 25. There is also no meeting or round table on January 1!  

To you and yours, have a very Merry Christmas, see you in the New Year! 

Michelle 

This morning we had a visitor from the Elks Hall, our partner in our annual Canada Day pancake breakfast!
Charlie Beamin is the current 'president' of the Elks #48 and he came to share their history with us, with a request we do the same in the new year! I think we can handle that!
Charlie's message of service, and the need for service resounded deeply for many of us- after all service to our community is why we are Kiwanians! Charlie talked about numerous different aspects of service and organizations that we are all too familiar with: the why, the focus, recruitment/ membership, the importance of collaboration, the need.
We are very lucky to have such fundamentally sound partnerships to make our programs work. More importantly though, to improve the lives of children and youth right here in Chilliwack.

For the good of Kiwanis, enjoy the season and make it a good one!
Michelle