Kiwanis Scholarship Breakfast

This morning, at our weekly Kiwanis meeting, we recognized 17 of 21 recent scholarship recipients. They joined 27 of our members, to accept awards of $1,000 (technical school) and $1750 (four year traditional school) each. With their guests, we fed 57 people a wonderful meal prepared by the Longboat Key Club and served at The Grille, where we meet every Thursday of the world except Thanksgiving. I filmed the crowd, as we stood in anticipation of our opening with remarks by this year's President, Bob Gault. Next October, it'll be my turn in the barrel as they say.

Kiwanis has been part of my retirement life since 2004, and a source of meeting many great people on our island. The club has 51 or 52 members (you'd think I'd know, being the current secretary) of which half are "snow-birds" and live here primarily for only four or five months.

We squeeze a lot of activities into those four or five months, from November through March, and then go back to falling asleep into our oatmeal bowl for the rest of the year. OK, not that bad, but clearly we need to get more full time members enrolled. To be certain, we all seem to enjoy each other's company, sing songs, play games of chance to benefit charities, and talk about our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The pictures above (which I've never figured out how to "center" on blogger) are of Jim Burmeister, who will follow me in October of 2012 as President. He's seen getting an omelet prepared - food was wonderful, as usual. The fellow with the small child (a winner's 2 year old) playing hide and seek is Bob Gault - this years President with only five more meetings to run.

The other handsome fellow is Weldon Frost, who led the group who evaluated over 50 applicants to find 21 most deserving. Next year we hope to help more.

All the recipients came up, spoke a bit about their lives and more important their educational dreams. A great morning for them, and a very satisfying experience for our members present.

Doing The Most Good

About that jacket, it's an official Kiwanis blazer, complete with the Kiwanis "K in the circle" logoed fabric lining. I am a sucker for $99 blazers, and picked this up at a Kiwanis Zone Conference. I never have much opportunity to wear it however, so today it went on my body as I joined fellow Kiwanis member Martin Bobzien accept an award from the Salvation Army.

Doing The Most Good is a service mark (SM) for The Salvation Army, and from the kettle in the picture, you can figure out what our Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key was doing from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve. I'm holding the 2010 Red Kettle Award, but Martin is holding the real accomplishment - a silver bell inscribed with the "highest kettle receipts" recognition. Martin is our club Kettle Chairman, and he is the driving force behind our club's work in support of this annual giving campaign on Longboat Key. Dr. Bobzien lives in a Frankfort, Germany, suburb but he spends the cold months in Florida. He's a retired Dupont engineer, and has served in Europe, Iran, and America, and is one of those guys I look up to in Kiwanis. The project wouldn't come off half as well without Martin's work. While he has, from time to time, co-chairpersons, he is the constant in our club's success. Somebody doesn't show up for their shift, there is Martin. He is a classic example of what Kiwanis is all about, serving others.

The program today recognized the many churches and civic organizations that raise funds for the Salvation Army, and was very inspiring. Martin commented on how American clergy were so "dynamic" as opposed to those in Germany. I asked if Germany had television evangelists, and his answer was no. Apparently the message is shaped by the medium after all, but all who spoke (including a Sarasota Police Captain who quoted scripture about the needy) were compelling. The Salvation Army programs apparently are one reason why fewer folk were in jail this past year - the cops were doing their work, but the recidivism was down dramatically due to counseling and help from this wonderful organization.

The Longboat Key Publix supermarket is the location of our town's kettle. Unlike some retailers, Publix is not afraid to allow folks outside their doors in this increasingly "PC" world. God Bless Publix, one of our town's best corporate citizens. This year, our Kiwanis kettle brought in $12,500, helped by the ringing of Kiwanis members supplemented by townspeople affiliated with various other clubs.

According the Major Phillip J. Murphy, Area Commander (he's that handsome guy in the uniform, I'm the handsome guy in the blindingly orange blazer), we have "squatters rights" over the Longboat Key kettle, based on the long history of Kiwanis manning this location. Phil Murphy and his lovely wife are, like most Salvation Army posts, co-commanders. They've been married forty years, and all of that time in the service of the Lord. I was in the service of the Air Force, and I thought four years in uniform was excessive.

Maybe if the Air Force had those sporty orange blazers however, hmmmm...........