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

Happy Birthday for Ken and Greg! And Happy Anniversary to the Sawatskys this week!
And a big Sardis Kiwanis welcome back to Elizabeth Bennett!

Today is the day!

Elections all around!

Our provincial election is today so be sure to take the time to get out and vote! 
We also had our club elections for the 2017/2018 Kiwanis year.

And all business today!

 We Your incoming Board Members are:
President - Michelle S.
Vice President - Peter B.
Secretary - Courtney B.
Treasurer - Ken S.
1 Year Director - Bill W.
1 Year Director - Al P.
1 Year Director - Kiefer M.
2 Year Director - Doug H.
2 Year Director - Barry D.
2 Year Director - Sheila S.
Past President - Dennis S.

Congratulations and Thank you to everyone!
We are still in need of a 1st Vice President, so please talk to Peter, Ernie or Michelle if you are interested. We would love for you to join us on the Board!

Updates and Communications

• Board Meeting tonight 7pm Chilliwack Public Library
• Soup Kitchen coming up this Saturday, talk to Sheila S. 
• Clothing Sale- In support of Chilliwack Kiwanis and their Super Reader hot dog days we have vouchers available, please support. Sheila has the vouchers
• Run for Mom - coming this weekend, May 13, set up starts at 8am! Hope to see everyone out, contact Pete S for more detials. 
• McHappy Days were a huge success! Thank you to all our members who made it out and thank you to Arley for organizing us this year.
• Knock and Walk - 27 boxes of food were collected for the Food Bank. Huge shout out to the newly formed Sardis Key Club for the extra hands and support! We are all looking forward to working with you in the future!
• Dennis S is getting a group together to attend the Clearbrook celebration on Thursday, contact him with details.
• Inside Ride at W.J. Mouat and Abbotsford Senior raised $14,500 for Kiwanis Children's Cancer Program, thank you to all our riders who attended.
  

Lastly, Elizabeth gave us an update on the Pacific North West Foundation and shared all the unreal things they do and support. More importantly though she came delivering gifts.
Our own Dennis S. received his coveted Red Jacket as our incoming Lientenant Governor for the upcoming year!
Congratulations Dennis!

And just like that we are done and off to a busy weekend all around! Hope to see you all out!
Till then, get out and vote and have a wondeful week,

Michelle

A typical chilly, wet, grey type of Chilliwack morning!

It was a calm in house meeting was up for this morning. Dennis had a slideshow from his trip to Panama, which looked incredible and warm! And we did updates and enjoyed a few good laughs!

Updates include:

• Trailer is out for the first time this season April 1st for the plowing match, there was a sign up sheet that went around, if you can help out, contact George.
• Arley handed out a whole list of new Super Reader dates for the month of April. If you are available, let Arley know.
• Barry D. informed us that the Planning Committee for Canada Day has started meeting, so details about the Pancake breakfast and our involvement will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.
• Michelle invited everyone to come watch a field hockey game with her senior girls playing a team from Alberta on Sunday April 9 at 10:30am (ish) at Townsend Turf
• Sheila got the final numbers from Santa Shuffle (the Salvation Army food bank Christmas fundraiser) a total of $3308.50 was raised in its first year, so very promising for this coming year.
• Regional Conference is April 8 in Mount Vernon, there are 3 of us going, let Michelle know if you are interested in attending.
• April Board Meeting is set for April 4, 7pm at the Chilliwack Public library.
• The Golden Ears 150th Birthday Bash was a great night for all who attended, we even heard that Barry and Mary won stuff!
• Also GW Graham Key Club is still taking bottle donations at the Sardis Bottle Depot under account #123, so if you able to help their efforts, it is greatly appreciated

We wrapped it all together with Happy Bucks and we are off to make the week great again! Be sure to check out our Instagram feed!

Yours in Kiwanis,

Michelle

"When I came here, I was looking for a community. Then I realized I was helping create one."
​~Anom 

Apologies for the delay in this post, busy weeks and then Spring Break!
​We had a busy morning, lots of updates, including:

• Kurling at the Abbotsford Curling Club March 5 1 to 5pm
• Key Club is coming to visit on April 11
• Scholarship Dinner with Peter B and School District #33 on March 2
  
• Chilliwack Hospice Gala is on March 4
• DCM in Sumas is March 13
• Soup Kitchen is March 11
• We received a lovely letter from the Spina Bifida group, thanking us for our donation in Valerie Tunbridge's name
• IHOP breakfast is on March 7
• Bowls of Hope annual dinner fundraiser is on May 5
• Board Meeting is on March 7

​John celebrated his birthday, we made sure he did not forget and we had guest speaker, Steve Anderson, from Chilliwack Senior Secondary this morning. Steve was here to talk to us about the Human Services Career Program he oversees at CSSS. This program is in partnership with SD#33, UFV, the Ministry of Children and Family Development, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. The program aims "to create a reciprocal learning environment where CSSS, UFV and elementary students are learning together through relevant, engaging real life experiences." Steve spoke of some 'game-changing' cases where students were able to help students overcome barriers. This program empowers students, and sounds like it is having a very positive impact on our community and schools.
We wrapped up with Happy Bucks and a hope that the snow can stay away so Spring can arrive!

​Yours in Service,

​Michelle