The Greater Kingston Kiwanis was visited in September by Colleen Carey, the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce.
Colleen is a very energetic and a dynamic speaker who shared what the chamber has done, is doing, and asked for input on what citizens and service clubs would like to see the chamber do in the future. She discussed the new web-page that is ready to roll, the new office in the North-Star building next to the old Kingston Hotel, and invited anybody interested to visit her office.
The Chamber is looking for ideas to help with their mission to emphasize what a great little town we have. The goal is to rewrite the Chamber of Commerce code of ethics and mission statement and, is asking for ideas. The Chamber after hours was held on Sept. 11 and Greater Kingston Kiwanis and North Kitsap Rotary were the sponsors. It’s a great way for our service clubs to get together and discuss common goals. Go see Colleen and find out about all the positive things happening in Kingston.
Another important organization in Kingston sits on top of Ohio, the old NIKE site. For you younger readers, that was the missile system used at the beginning of the Cold War with the Soviet Union to shoot down Russian bombers that might attack Kingston (really Seattle). Today, it’s the Northwest Laborers Employees Training Center and it has been around for a long time in our little city by the sea. Rod Walsh, an instructors at the school, and Mike Warren, the school’s director, gave our club an interesting an informative presentation on what they do. It’s kind of amazing, and some of our members had no idea they were in town.
The school has approximately 622 Laborer apprentices that are being trained on tunnel boring (think light rail in Seattle), crane operation and safety, proper methods of using cement and other building products that all go together to build our infrastructure. The training center is like a small college with dining facilities and dormitories. It is definitely worth a visit.
We inducted a new member at our last meeting, Paula Baily. Paula is the director of finance and business for the North Kitsap School District. She has many years’ experience as a school administrator and, along with husband Doug and daughters Caryl and Miranda, settled in nicely in our little town. They love to bowl and have a couple of 300 bowlers in the family.
Paula joined our club to support her community and take care of children which is “priority one” with Kiwanis. We sure would like to induct a few more like minded community members that want to give back and help young people meet their goals.
In my next article I will talk a little bit about “Kingston Cares,” a group that is trying to secure a safe haven for homeless folks during the winter, and some exciting projects that our club will have over the fall and winter months, like our Halloween carnival and Santa’s Workshop.
If you would like more information about Kiwanis, please call our President, Pat Bennett-Forman at 360-697-4849, or me, Bob Lee, 360-509-9752.
