Sunday, May 6, 2018


April 26, 2018Tom Jenkins, the new fire chief for the city spoke to 14 club members. The department has 9 employees plus 18 volunteers.  It takes 9 people to have 2 firefighters on duty 24 hours a day; with the volunteers, 4 firefighters are available. They need to have 4 fighters to send fighters into a fire: two to go in and two to stay out.  The majority of their calls are for medical emergencies and about 30% of the medical calls are to EWU.
We will plant flowers and have the pizza party at the care center on May 19 at 10am.  Betz K-Kids are planning a car wash on June 9 to benefit Ronald McDonald House.  Medical Lake Kiwanis are joining others to host a bike rodeo on April 28 – maybe it will give us some ideas for creating one for Cheney.


April 19, 2018 – Member Dave Daugharty told usabout his exchange professor experience in Soviet Russia.  The Blackhawk/Kiwanis golf event will be in the afternoon of June 12; it will be a 9 hole event with dinner.  We will pack Special Olympics lunches on Saturday, May 5 at 8am at the wren Pierson building.

April 12, 2018 – Four guests from Spokane Valley Kiwanis and 15 Cheney Kiwanis members heard Mayor Chris Grover talk about the benefits and challenges of living in Cheney.  Benefits include safety and having a city light department that is in the top 25% of similar sized departments in the US. Challenges include draw down of city water reservoirs in summer due to irrigation and the heavy traffic volume on two-lane highway 904.

April 5, 2018 – Twelve members heard Spokane Airports CEO Larry Krauter speak about Felts Field.  It is a historic field and is known worldwide to antique aircraft owners and enthusiasts.  Also, people from around the world come to Felts to learn to operate Kodiak aircraft.  When he became CEO the field had not been properly maintained.  Since then the turf landing area has been redone and new concrete airplane parking has been built.  Every June Felts Field hosts an annual Neighbor day for the public.

March 29, 2018 – Eric Dotson from Children’s Home Society of Washington spoke to 18 club members.  The organization was created in 1896 to deal with orphan train children who were left unselected in Seattle.  Their goal is to place children in forever homes and to help families through counseling, early learning programs, etc.  Their funding comes from state and federal grants and private donations.

March 22, 2018 – Jim Patterson shared West Plains history with 15 club members and one guest.  In the 1920’s large apple orchards were created near Hayford but their irrigation drew down drew down Silver Lake by 50 feet and lead to peat fires that burned for several years.  A lawsuit ended the irrigation and the orchards.  There was also a large dairy in the area. He also told us about the interurban and other train service between Spokane and the West Plains.

March 15, 2018 – Kelly Neumann from the Hutton Settlement spoke to 12 club members.  The settlement will be 100 years old in 2019 and is in need of some major upgrades.  Originally it was a true orphanage but now residents have a family but need a better home.  2007 all seniors have gone on to some form of higher education which Hutton can fully fund.  Hutton alumni can also receive counseling, tutoring and some temporary housing.  The Settlement does not receive any government funding; they own 25 commercial properties and also fundraise for their programs.

March 8, 2018 – Melissa Luna from Ronald McDonald House Spokane spoke to 16 club members.  The house has 22 overnight rooms and also provides 2 family rooms at Sacred Heart and they hope to add more rooms at other medical facilities in the Spokane/Coeur d’Alene area.  She said they can use donations of paper goods and toiletries.  They hold 3 major fundraisers each year in addition to receiving donations made at area McDonalds. 

March 1, 2018 – Club member Bob Quinn spoke about weather and snow pack.  Our mountain snow pack is strong (about 100 – 120% of normal).  Global warming is a reality and major ocean temperatures are 1-2degrees Celsius above normal.