Dick and Judy Osborn report the Valentine’s Day Gala officially raised $12,625 for the Boys and Girls Club. What a way to have fun, be part of Kiwanis, and this extraordinary town. As usual, regardless of the tough times we are in, we still had many citizens who donated to the auction and participated. The movie “An Affair to Remember,” donated by Craig Smith, was great.
April is here and everyone is getting excited about spring. I know how nice it is to have light when folks get home from work, but let’s remember the kids waiting for their school bus in the morning.
Spring always gets us excited to get moving on projects that are put off until the weather gets warmer, or at least until the rain is warmer. Our annual toy drive has kicked off and the theme in March is toys that were our favorites when we were kids. Last year, we collected more than 450 toys, allowing 270 kids to have at least one toy and a book. This year’s goal is 475 toys. Toys can be dropped off to Lori Schmidt at Kitsap Bank or on Thursday morning at 7 at the Oak Table Café.
The Village Green volunteers are anxious to get the lawn mowers moving to keep the park looking sharp. Jeff Peterson has sent out the requests to high school seniors to apply for our scholarships that we award each year. Deadline to submit is April 1. Last year we awarded five scholarships totaling $8,000. This year two $2,500 scholarships will be awarded.
Jeff and Chuck Solomon also reported that we are forming our team of volunteers to go get and deliver our raspberries, strawberries and blueberries when Mother Nature tells us it is time. Last year we had to change some delivery dates, but everyone was happy when the berries got there.
Jerry Schmidt is excited about our Mustang because it is ready to roll. The wheels, donated by Les Schwab in Poulsbo, were delivered last week. Tickets can be bought at Kitsap Bank, the Chamber of Commerce, Kingston liquor store, and from any Kiwanis member you can track down.
We are actively recruiting new members, and we will be inducting two new members this month. The more members we have, the more we can do to support our community and our children. We have had some interesting speakers at our meetings and one of the most interesting is Jed Selter, commonly known as “Duffy the Clown”, executive director of Caring Clowns International, a group of clowns that recently returned from charitable work in Peru. We all felt “clownish” with red clown noses at our meeting.
The Greater Kingston Kiwanis meets at 7 a.m. Thursdays at the Oak Table Café. For more information contact our president, Dick Osborn, at (360) 297-4693 or me at (360) 297-4462.
