Kiwanis Club of Cheney - November 13, 2014 meeting notes


The meeting was called to order at 7am by President Tom Whitfield.  Attending were 20 members, three guests and our speaker.


We recognized Annemarie Pollard's birthday and Gail Pollard won the 50/50 drawing.


Club business:
   1.  Margie passed around a thank you from Coats for Kids.
   2.  Margie reminded us to try to bring guests who might become members.  The membership campaign will continue through the first meeting in December.
   3.  See's candy fundraiser - we will sell at Cheney Trading company on December 6 and 7; still need volunteers for 1-5pm on December 6. 
   4.  Bob attended the district meeting and brought a flyer announcing Paint a Helmet which will be on April 25, 2015 at the Spokane Fairgrounds. 


Speaker:  Our speaker was Tony Lamanna, director of Inland Northwest Honor Flight.  He explained that the first Honor Flight was in 2005 and the national organization now has 130 groups, including one in Alaska.  The Inland Northwest group started in 2009 and has made 27 flights. 
Honor flight serves veterans (including merchant marines) who were active during any war era whether they were served in a war zone or not.  Priority is given to WWII vets and vets with terminal illnesses.  Vets who need assistance are accompanied by volunteer guardians.  All trip costs are paid by Honor Flight.  They take charter flights and the trip usually takes two days.  They visit the WWII memorial, the Korean memorial, the Viet Nam wall, Arlington National Cemetery and the Army, Navy and Air Force memorials.  There are local groups that see the vets off when they depart and a high school band and other groups welcome them on their return. 
He said that many veterans and their families have said the trip is a 'life changing' experience and sometimes helps relieve survivor guilt or nightmares that veterans still experience.


The meeting was adjourned at 8 am. 

Kiwanis Club of Cheney - November 6, 2014 meeting notes


The meeting was called to order at 7am by President Tom Whitfield.  Nineteen members plus our guest speaker were present.  There were no birthdays or anniversaries to celebrate; the 50/50 drawing was won by Vonice. 


Harvest Fest report - help was provided by about 12 Kiwanians (and some family members), 12 Salnave K-Kids and a lot of EWU students.  Fred and Gail handed out over 250 servings of cotton candy; there were over 300 total kids at the event.  Kirk was thanked for organizing our role in the event. 


The Easterner, the EWU student newspaper, mentioned Kiwanis for both Harvest Fest and Rake a Difference participation.


George Abrams reported that the State of Washington is asking rental owners if anyone can provide residence for people returning to the US from areas in Africa where Ebola is a present. 


See's candy pre-sell forms were collected.


Programs for the rest of November:  a representative of Honor Flight will speak at the November 13 meeting, on November 20 Sally Shamp of Toys for Cheney will speak and we may also have students of the month.  There is no meeting on Thanksgiving, November 27. 


Our guest speaker was Jim Hayford, head men's basketball coach at EWU.  He is a former Kiwanian and asked us to let him know how he can help us.  He 's lived in the Spokane area for 14 years, is married and has two children and has received a 5 year contract extension as EWU head coach.  He coaches because coaches were a big influence in his life and he wants to make a difference in student's lives.  He said that last year only 1 of the players had a less than 3.0 grade point and the team GPA has been very high in the last 3 years.  He gave us a bit of information on each player.  Players range in height from just under 6 feet to 7 feet 1 inch.  There are 2 from Australia (and more to come) and 2 from Europe.  When asked how he recruits international players, he said the key is relationships.  In Australia he's built relationships with people that work with their national basketball team and that's how he hears about potential athletes.  He focuses on students that he expects will stay at EWU for 4-5 years and complete their degrees; there is only 1 transfer student on this year's team.  Having a top ranked football team has helped with recruiting because students have already heard about EWU. 


The meeting was adjourned at 7:58 am.