It was that time again. We held our year elections for the Board of Directors 2019/2020. 
On behalf of the entire club, I want to thank Dennis S., Doug H., Sheila S. and Barry D. for their time and dedication to the Board and our club over the last few years!
Your wisdom and insight has been appreciated.  

Your 2019/2020 Board of Directors is as follows: 
President - Kiefer M.
1st Vice President - Bruce O.
2nd Vice President - Peter B. 
Secretary - Lisa G. 
Treasurer - Ken S. 
2 year Director - Pam J. 
2 year Director - Courtney B. 
2 year Director - Barry B. 
1 year Director - Gillian H. 
1 year Director - Doug M. 
1 year Director - Pat M. 
Past President - Michelle S. 

"A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. It is only you and I, with our big brains and tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate that lose sight of the magic."
~Ronald Dahl

This morning we welcomed Eleanor Meldrum from Dry Grad!
Eleanor is a huge supporter of us, and for the last 9 years she has run the Dry Grad organization. Dry Grad is the fun, all night festival party on June 26, 2019 for all grads from all the high schools. It runs from 11pm to 5am and they offer a lot of activities throughout the night.
There are prizes, trips to be won, a massive casino, a mechanical bull, a velcro wall, an obstacle course and many other activities.
Food is served all night, and volunteers keep the party hopping.
We are very excited to continue our support of Dry Grad, and presented Eleanor and the whole society a cheque to help towards the costs.
Good luck Dry Grad crew! Let us know when you make the call out for volunteers.

Club Updates:

• Board Meeting Tues April 23 at 7pm at MSMS
• Scholarships, all done, all selected and presenters are in place for all three ceremonies
• Key Club is bagging at Superstore on Saturday April 27 10 till 4
• Walk and Knock, Wednesday May 1, details to follow shortly
• Club Elections/ Closed meeting Tuesday May 7
• Soup Kitchen - Saturday May 11
  
• Chilliwack Kiwanis Birthday Party - Saturday May 11, Capital restaurant
  
• GW Graham Key Club Celebration Monday May 27 in the evening, details to follow
• ORN gave word that Langley is back in the game, but there is no host for Delta Richmond
• Criminal Record Forms have been distributed and emailed to all members, please complete them as soon as possible
• We also gave a little birthday serenade to Al and Brian. Happy Anniversary to Jack and Judy

Tuesday April 30, our morning meeting is a Roundtable and we will see you at the Embassy at  SureStay at 7pm!
We finished this morning with a round of happy bucks!
Till next week!

Michelle

I wish we could take the video the GWG Key Club made about their DCON experience and put it up here, unfortunately, no dice!
DCON in Seattle for Key Club hosted over 2000 high school key clubbers from all over the PNW.
Their time in Seattle looked incredible!
Such a unique learning experience and I personally loved hearing how this type of opportunity allowed them to grow their confidence and leadership capabilities with like-minded individuals. Equally incredible is that our very own GWG Key Club was recognized as a Distinguished Club for the 2018-19 Kiwanis year AND they took home the Service Hours Award for most service hours by a Key Club!
We are so proud of them!
Many of the Key Clubbers who attended called it a game changer for them! Although the costs of this conference are raising steadily, it clearly is a worth while avenue for our Key Club members. I hope maybe in the future we can see a DCON hosted North of the border, to equalize cost and participation.

Today is World Autism Awareness Day, some food for thought:

President Michelle just got back form Malaysia late last night, so Vice President Kiefer and her are sharing the chair duties today!
This morning we welcomed Bill Tunbridge from the Chilliwack Kiwanis Club and Christine from the Ann Davis Transition House.

Club Updates:

• Soup Kitchen on April 6
  
• Super Reader - Unsworth, Robertson and Greendale all coming up
  
• 40th Anniversary Party at the Capital - be there to help us celebrate on April 6
  
• YMCA Appreciation Night is on April 12, be sure to RSVP
  
• Key Club article in the paper! Did you see it? Congratulations GW Key Club
  
• Club elections are coming
  

We are very happy to be able to continue our support of the Ann Davis Transition House.
Christine was thrown in feet first, so she was unable to answer our specific questions around opportunities and the lack of participation from their families for our annual Kids Christmas Party. However, she did bring an update and outlined all the programs the have available.
They now have 2 houses they keep for their clients, and very client is able to stay with children for 30 days. A stark reality in the fact that these services are increasing in need, not only because of Chilliwack's growing population but because people are not tolerating abuse in their lives anymore.
I think the most shocking thing we learned is that there is a current 3 month wait list to get access to counseling.
The Ann Davis Society is working on trying to reduce this time, but that comes in partnership with many other shareholders.

We ended the meeting with Happy Bucks, and for the good of Kiwanis,
Make it a great one,

Kiefer and Michelle

Club Updates:

• Scholarships, it is that time again, Peter B to host all the meetings, details to follow
  
• This Saturday is our Kiwanis soup kitchen, see you there
  
• Criminal Record checks, it is that time of our Kiwanis year again. 3 years ago we voted to do CRC every 3 years, and here we are at 3 years, I have the forms I will bring them each week. Fill it out, drop it off at the Airport road detachment bring it in when you get it back. I know none of us enjoy doing this, but it is the world we live in
  
• Bahath center fundraiser, April 15, we have filled 2 full tables, we look forward to supporting Virginia in the venture
  
• April 6, our 40th Anniversary party at the Capital! $25per person, Dennis has the tickets
  
• Kiwanis Kurling Fun Spiel hosted 32 curlers and a lot of laughs, thank you to all those who attended
  
• Super Reader, Round 1 is done and done and Round 2 will start on April 5, if you can help please contact Arley
  
• Evening with Kiwanis, our evening meetings/ gatherings have been so successful, the Board has voted to keep them going for this year - April 30 is the next one, time and location TBA
  
• SIGN dinner fundraiser in Abbotsford this past week too, they raised over $11,000! Great work Kiwanians and community!
  

We finished with Happy Bucks and smiles all around!
Make it a great week, see you soon,

Michelle