"Without reflection, we go blindly on our way creating more unintended consequences... and failing to achieve anything useful."
~ Coach Wooden

What a week!
I hope everyone is staying safe and minimizing their exposure to all this wildfire smoke that has engulfed the Fraser Valley and much of the Pacific NorthWest. A little rain, minus any thunderstorm action, would be greatly appreciated right now.

This morning we had 2 guests.
Jack Covey from the Valley Huskers and Carol Tichelman Governor Nominee from Rotary.
Jack attended this morning because we approved his request for funds for the Valley Huskers team, and it is spectacular to see the Huskers on the winning side of the table to start the season this year. We also asked Jack if he has a few players who are available to help us spruce up our two Kiwanis road signs and give them a new paint job. #KiwanisIsCommunity comes through and we will be working with a few athletes to get those signs freshened up and looking spectacular again! Be sure to tune in and support the Huskers, their link to their website is included!

Other club highlights:

• Don't forget Installation Picnic this Saturday (Aug 25) at Gwynne Vaughn Park starting at 3pm, contact Dennis to add your request of steak or chicken if you have not already. Hope to see you all there!
  
• Pat M. brought forward the fact that October 20 is civic election day, he is looking for 30 volunteers to help in polling stations that day, if you can help, let him know.
  
• There is a form, for submitting recipes to the PNW to create a cookbook that will benefit SIGN and KCCP programs this year - to get the form contact Margie at maswanson1@aol.com
  
• Hogan Park car show went very well, thank you to everyone who supported the trailer crew
  
• Spokane conference was fun and exciting. Dennis, Barry and myself all had a great time networking and sharing the amazing things we are doing for Chilliwack
  

We wrapped it all up with a round of Happy Bucks and the countdown is on to Back-To-School!
Make it a great week everyone.
In the Kiwanis Spirit,
Michelle

Happy Halloween everyone! It is not too often we get Halloween on a Tuesday but this is our year and the challenge was issued!
Look at this good looking crew!

Updates from the floor today included: correspondence from the Salvation Army, the Canadian Foundation, ORN update, Food Safe certification update, and a reminder that Key Club will be in attendance next week. Additionally, not only was it Halloween, and a costume extravaganza, but we also had a few awards and the installation of our newest member. It was a great meeting to relax and reconnect with our fellow members.

We also celebrated the birthdays of Arley and Joene, as well as Ev and Joene's anniversary.

We wrapped up the morning with a reminder to slow down and watch for all the littles out and about for Halloween and a fabulous round of Happy Bucks!
Till next week, I hope it is a great one!

Michelle

This morning was another perfect summer morning, except I forgot the cheque book (I know Ken, you left me one job, and I forgot) so I had to run home and get it. Thank goodness for my VP and partner in crime Peter for bailing me out there! On the positive I was only 4 minutes late!
This morning we had Mike Ayers from the Ann Davis Transition Society as our guest speaker. We have been avid supporters of the Ann Davis House and Society since we came to be as a club! The Ann Davis gardens I have come to learn was one of our very first projects we took on as the Kiwanis Club of Sardis. This service in Chilliwack is critical, and we so lucky to be able to support them with monetary donations every year. We learned today that they have hired a child counselor to help with their backlog of over 100 children on their wait list. Mike also outlined some of their additional services that the Ann Davis provides. You can check out their website (Ann Davis Transition Society) to learn about all of these different services. As you all may remember, we have been collecting soaps and basic toiletry items for Ann Davis since late May. I currently have a dozen or more shoe boxes full of soaps, shampoos, brushes, wash cloths, dental hygiene products and all the other essentials waiting for us to sort into kits. Mike informed us that we do not need to make hundreds of kits but rather just a few 'family packs' and then they will take all of the rest of our donation and distribute them as they need. This is wonderful news, so we will get the family kits packed up and I will deliver our donation in the next few weeks.
That means if you have any more soaps, etc, please bring it in sooner, rather than later!
Other club updates that were shared included:

• A wrap up report on the 9th Annual Pig Roast and Installation, Abbotsford, Clearbrook, Bellingham, Chilliwack, Sardis and Golden Ears were all in attendance, a lovely night full of laughter, fun and good times. Check out Facebook for pictures including our own Dennis being Installed as the new Lt.Gov!
• Hogan Park car show was a success, sounds like it was a great time! Thank you to all those who were there.
• Do not forget to bring you Bubbles and Stickers for the Pediatric Observation Unit to next meeting so we can make a special delivery to Jessica and the nurses up there to bring a little extra cheerfulness to the ward!
  

We wrapped up with a good round of Happy Bucks and wishes of safe travels to all our members heading to Kennewick, WA for the Kiwanis conference.

Yours In Service,
Michelle

We had two speaking groups this morning, both super important!
Our first group of speakers were the inspiring Betty, Melinda and Dorothy from Special Olympics. They came in preparation of July 1st and our Pancake Breakfast. The Chilliwack region plays host to approximately 90 athletes and 32 coaches. Bonnie and Melinda came showing off a small bit of their hardware and to update us on all the accomplishments of local athletes are achieving at Regionals, Provincials, Nationals and Worlds!
They also came in celebrating the Sardis Kiwanis Clubs 36 year relationship with Special Olympics in Chilliwack! A special shout out from our lovely ladies went out to Jacques and Brian!
We are super excited to see everyone again on Saturday for the annual Canada Day Pancake Breakfast! Keep up the awesome ladies!
Our second guest of the morning was Sue Attrill, City of Chilliwack counsellor and Executive Director of the Chilliwack Hospice Society!
Sue's first update to us was about the events and going-ons with Hospice. They have purchased a new building as they have outgrown their current residence. Hospice has also been working hard to make sure grief counselling and supports are in place for all age demographics. Sue reminded us of the Hospice's gala event on Spetember 16 at the old Ag Rec and she hopes to see some of us there. Sue was then extra awesome and gave us a quick update about the City and it's workings as well as taking questions. Things like the Garrison development, homelessness, Vedder expansion, and the new bridge were all discussed. Without a doubt, Chilliwack is growing!

From there we had our club updates which included:

• A brief update from Arley about Super Reader
• A reminder the Board Meeting is this Tuesday at 7pm
• Peter had thank you letters and cards from our scholarhip receipents
• Ev brought a beautiful, thoughtful card from Sardis Doorway to share
• Canada Day events- Friday set-up 6pm at the Evergreen Hall, 6:30am Saturday for the main event at Evergreen Hall, and all day with the trailer at Townsend
• Do't forget that our Conference is coming up in Kennewick! Register now!
  

We wrapped it all up with Happy Bucks!

Happy Birthday to Fran H. this week and Happy Anniversary to the Brelands this week too!

Till next week!
Michelle

Other Updates:

• Final Super Reader Assemblies are all booked, the home stretch is here - June 5 to June 26, contact Arley for more details
  
• Run for Mom
  
  • Thank you to everyone who came out, check out the Facebook page for photos from the event! We are hearing rumblings that they may have been able to break their $20k fundraising mark- super exciting news for the hospital!
    
• Soup Kitchen - 134 meals were served with lots of volunteers, thank you everyone for your monthly dedication!
  
• Sardis Key Club
  
  • Sardis Key Club is looking to host a tea for all us Kiwanians on June 1st at the Sardis Library, they want to meet us all before the year is out, and what a wonderful opportunity, I hope to see everyone there.
    
• Clothing Sale
  
  • A reminder, we are supporting Chilliwack in their efforts to raise money for their Super Reader hot dog lunches, so if you can attend the clothing sale or buy a voucher that goes a long way to supporting them. Spread the word about the clothing sale too.
    
• Trailer Dates - We have some dates for the trailer
  
  • May 28, the MS Walk at Vedder Park, details coming soon.
    
  • June 22, District Track Meet, at Sardis Secondary details coming soon.
    
  • July 1, Canada Day, details coming soon.
    
  • July 8, Townsend Park, Fast Pitch tournament, details soon.
    
  • July 15, Hot Rods and Classics Show, details soon.
    

With that, we finished on Happy Bucks and for the Good of Kiwanis, See you soon,

Michelle