Serving Bellingham for 80 Years

Meets every Tuesday Noon - Bellingham Golf and Country Club - Bellingham, WA

Bellingham Kiwanis Soundings

November 6, 2007

President Dick Z opened the meeting with America and The Pledge. Jim Carney provided the invocation.

Guests:

Bill Audley, current Lt. Gov and official club guest, was in attendance.

Committee Reports and Announcements:

Prez Dick Z announced an executive board meeting for tomorrow at Elani's Restaurant. (That's e LANE' ees for you know who)!

Dues Structure-Treasurer Vaughn handed out the year end 9/30/2007 financial report as well as a report on what expenses our dues pay for. He explained why the dues amount wasn't reduced when we moved to our present location, even though our rent was substantially less. There were several factors involved. First, the dues were set when we had approx 50 plus members but since then our membership has declined by about 10 members. In addition, the board has adopted a policy of putting the burden on the entire membership to pay for the admin fund expenses, instead of continually nickel and diming only those who show up for meetings. Where we used to have admin fund raisers at a majority of our meetings, constantly selling to our members, these fund raisers have virtually been eliminated, except for the raffle ticket and happy dollars. As a result, our admin fund is being funded more by dues and less by happy dollars/fundraisers. In addition, there are several admin expenses that have not been increased in over ten years, which the board feels is important to continue to focus on and, therefore, has recommended be increased. These are the Intl Convention expense and the District Convention expense. The club has had a long standing policy of paying for our incoming President to attend the Intl convention to give her/him a greater perspective and appreciation of what Kiwanis does on a worldwide basis, and to bring new ideas back to the club. The board has also adopted this policy for the District conventions to encourage club officers to attend, which, in turn, gives them a greater perspective, on a District level, of what Kiwanis does. Again, these expenses have not increased in the last 10 years. The Board has recommended to increase the Intl Convention expense by $500 and the District Convention expense by $450. As a result of all of these various changes, the Board recommended leaving the dues structure the same.

Bingo at the Elks-Larry W is day captain this week.

Community Service-Announced a meeting for Thursday, noon, at Our House Deli.

YCPO-Meeting Monday, noon, Oct 22, at Cascade Pizza.

Fund Raising-Anita announced that everyone should be collecting auction items for Theatre Night silent auction and play to be held January 24. The play will be "Communicating Doors" a comedy with some suspense, using time travel to alter events that have already come to pass.

Choices- Anita announced we have about 25 presentations to make this year compared to about 15 last year. With possible additions from Options High School and Meridian Middle school. She mentioned Vaughn has already given one presentation to Meridian Middle School.

Interclub-Elizabeth announced a dual interclub to MSA Golden K and Clearbrook on Wed November 21 at 10Am and noon.

Happy Bucks $

Elizabeth B-Back from her trip and had a great time. Also reminded all to VOTE. Then proceeded to tell us a cute joke.

Al Dale-Always happy but especially since he is going to San Fran to visit some "old cronies"

Dr. Bruce J- Early congratulations to ALL of the Veterans for upcoming Veterans Day.

Jan A-Enjoyed four days in Boise with grandkids but didn't enjoy the "hard" landing in Bham on the return, due to fog.

Bill A-Returned from a trip to Portland at the Tri K conference with Key Club and Circle K. Had a great time but misses his wife who is vacationing in sunny and tropical Hawaii!!

Birthdays:

Sir Ralph Gardner had us all sing to him.

Key Club Fund Raiser:

The Sehome Key Club held a fundraiser at our club by selling homemade treats (YUM). Proceeds go to a needy family they are sponsoring who have very few clothes and necessities and need medical help. Congratulations to the Key Club on such a worthwhile project. (As a result of our members' generosity (and sweet tooth) they raised well over $100.00)!

Ticket Drawing:

Money Bags John Eagon won but couldn't find the Joker. The pot is up to $70 (000), give or take a few zeros, but must be present to win!!

Program:

Frank Ordway, from the World Renown American Museum of Radio and Electricity right here in Bellingham, gave us a video tour of the museum and its treasure trove of historical items and interactive displays, from one of Thomas Edison's first light bulbs to one of the first radios. They have items on display that date back to the mid 1800's. Many of the local schools plan science field trips to the museum to educate the students on the history of electricity and the radio. This is truly a diamond in the rough right here in our own back yard. Stop by their museum at 1312 Bay Street and take a tour. To become member at various levels go to www.amre.us

Thought for the day:

Our wisdom usually comes from our experience and our experience comes largely from our foolishness. Joke for the week -

"Didn't I hear the clock strike two as you come in last night?" asked the wife at the breakfast table.
"Yes dear," her spouse sweetly replied behind from behind the morning paper. "It started to strike eleven, but I stopped it to keep from waking you."