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

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

Top of the morning to everyone today!
Today we celebrated no snow, Barry's return, and Erwin's fête!
Peter B gave us an update about scholarships from Monday night, Wednesday night we meet again to do our second school. Arley W is gearing up with Super Reader again, Friday March 24 is Mt. Cheam, I believe Arley has people to help for that day! Stay tuned though, post- Spring Break busy is coming quickly and we will need all hands on deck. A reminder about the Golden Ears fundraiser on Saturday March 25 at the Maple Ridge legion, Dennis is looking for one more member to join them to make the festivity an interclub too- Talk to him if you are interested in attending.
Also the Regional Conference is April 8, please let me know if you are interested in attending, we have 3 thus far and we need to get our paperwork in soon!
Barry B. also gave a run down of his vacation- what a time, he brought back a fundraiser he came across, the picture is below- what a great idea! Does someone have a greenhouse?
Finally, our guest speaker today was Lucy Fraser from Chilliwack Hospice. She came with updates about the services Chilliwack Hospice provides our great community. There are partnerships growing with the First Nations communities, and those networks are proving to be beneficial. Of note, it's nice to hear that their services are being brought into the schools and that AD Rundle has started a grief and loss support group. They have also diversified their assistance programs, and offer cooking classes, bereavement support, grief counselling and suicide counselling to name a few. It was my pleasure to present a cheque to Lucy to help support the continuation of the services Chilliwack Hospice provides.

We wrapped up with Happy Bucks and best wishes for the best of week!
Don't forget to follow us on Instagram @fvekiwanis and give us a Like if you are on Facebook at Kiwanis Clubs of Chilliwack and Sardis!

For the Good of Kiwanis,
Michelle

It feels like we are coming up on another busy season!

As for our regular meeting and communications, here are a few highlights:

• Board Meeting is tonight at 7pm! See you there!
• Pancake Day is today, so go enjoy some pancakes at IHOP!
  
• DCM is coming up- who's in to travel?
  
• Check out the Foundation News, January 2017 edition, Sardis Kiwanis gets a mention! Go Sheila and Key Leader!
• Peter, and a contingent attended the SD#33 Scholarship Appreciation Dinner, what a great evening! We will be reviewing scholarships shortly, Peter will keep us infomed.
• Soup Kitchen is coming up on Saturday!
• Kiwanis Kurling Funspiel was at the Abbotsford Curling Club on Sunday! 55 people attended, Dennis' rink came in second! Great job team!
• March 14, Lieutenant Governor Greg Weigrich will be atteding our meeting, so brush up on your American anthems for next week!
• Super Reader was a blast last week! Welcome back to Arley!
• We also did it! All we need 4 more people and Sardis Kiwanis Club will have 2 full tables at the Bahath Centre fundraiser on April 10(Link is to the Facebook event)! 
• We had a discussion about the history of Chilliwack, as a group shared some photos from the Flood of '51. The Facebook group Chilliwack History Perspectives is pretty interesting (Link is to that Facebook group)
• Finally we pass our deepest respects and condolences to the family and friends of Grant Ullyot who passed away this past week

We wrapped up with Happy Bucks, and onto next week is a busy week- we have an Installation, Matthew Francis the Curator at the Chilliwack Museum and Archives is our guest speaker, we also have a presentation, and all our regular awesomeness!
Have a wonderful and inspiring week, for the good of Kiwanis,

Ciao

Michelle

"Do not forget, no one else see the world the way you do,
so no one else can tell the stories that you can tell about the world."
~ Anom

Another great morning!

Today we welcome Mike and Cindy from Bowls of Hope as guests, and I was delighted to welcome Doug McLean again this morning, not as a guest though, but as our newest member! Welcome to the team Doug! We look forward to working with you more! We celebrated the birthdays of Courtney, Bill and John! And we welcomed Vic back!
Such an awesome morning!
Some Updates:

• Kiwanis Kurling - March 5 at the Abbotsford Curling Club 1pm to 5pm. COme enjoy an afternoon of throwing rocks!
• IHop Pancake Breakfast, for the Children's Hospital, a sign-up went around for March 7, 7am to 7pm, Dennis has the sign-up if you are interested 
• Sheila has Super Reader while Arley is away, she has a few assemblies so thank you to everyone who is helping out.
• Our District Council Meeting (DCM) is March 13, in Sumas at 7pm, SIGN meeting takes place at 5pm. All are welcome to attend and get an inside scoop about what's happening around the district.
• Last night we held our Budget meeting- great turnout, looking forward to supporting Sardis Secondary and their Key Club starting soon! Another great opportunity to work with kids of our community!
• Also we got invited to Kiwanis Golden Ears' Canada 150th Birthday Bash - March 25 6:15pm, dinner at 7:30pm $25. I have more information if you would like it.

We had two programs on deck today as Program. Bowls of Hope. and Operation Red Nose.
We are blessed to present a cheque to Bowls of Hope to help continue their amazing contribution to our community schools. We learned that they now serve 20/31 schools and have the Chilliwack School District as a partner! These are fabulous developments since we last saw them about 6 months ago! They also have their Annual Dinner Auction coming up on May 5 (click the title to visit the link). Maybe we can get a table together and attend?
We also had a recap from Ken and Derek, who shared the final Operation Red Nose presentation with us! As a club we need to begin thinking about taking on this fundraiser again. It's such an amazing program, and it does so much good around the holiday season. Discussions will be happening over the next few weeks and I will let you know when we have our club vote about continuing on with this program.
A reminder, if you have anything, please let me know, so I can share with everyone!
We wrapped the whole thing up with Happy Bucks, and off we go to make another week amazing!
See you all soon,

Michelle