FROM THE DESK OF

LT. GOV. LIAISON

If you would like Governor Sharon to attend your club meeting, anniversary celebration, Division Council Meeting, project or special event … or you have information that you would like shared, here is how you can reach me:

Text or call: 813-294-5786

Email: info@dickandkarla.com

I look forward to supporting Governor Sharon in her mission and helping you and our Florida Kiwanis family have a successful year. 

Karla Nielsen, Lt. Governor Liaison

DROWNING PREVENTION

Drowning is the #1 cause of accidental death in children ages 1-4. Unfortunately, 34 children under the age of 18 have drowned this year in the state of Florida, and they are 100% preventable. 

During the month of May, National Water Safety Month, and throughout the year, Kiwanis clubs can help reduce this number in many ways as follows remembering the layers of protection:

Supervision – Create water watcher tags, and hand them out to your members, families, and friends reminding them to never take their eyes off children in or around water.

Water Competency – Fund swimming lessons for children in your community – set up swim scholarships at swim schools and public pools to help families who cannot afford swim lessons.

Life Jackets – Sponsor a life jacket loaner station at lakes and beaches. Children should only wear Coast Guard approved life jackets when near the water.

Emergency Preparedness – Sponsor a CPR class so that your members and community can be prepared in case of a water or drowning emergency.

Barriers and Alarms – Purchase door alarms and distribute them throughout your community. You can attend festivals, farmers’ markets, and pool decks to distribute them. Child barrier fences are more expensive, but a scholarship could be set up with a pool fence company to reduce the cost.                  

If you have any questions about any and all of these layers of protection to reduce drownings in your community, please contact Terri Ballo, District Chair of Kiwanis Drowning Prevention Program at terriballo@comcast.net or 239-919-2001.

SERVICE



I am so proud of our Florida District of Kiwanis! I had a dream to do a Large Scale Service Project of assembling duffel bags filled with toiletries and comfort items for Foster Kids. I am so excited to report that we have collectively donated approximately 2,400 duffel bags!!

Thank you so far to Division 1, the Florida District of CKI, Division 10, Division 23 along with all of those surrounding clubs and divisions that have helped and have also committed to doing one in the future. Through Kiwanis we are making a positive impact!

Interested in conducting the Duffel Bag for Foster Kids project in your area? Contact me, Linda Martin, at Linp2martin@gmail.com. 

Yours in Service, 

Linda Martin 

Service Chair

(941) 523-5822



FINANCE

At this time of the Kiwanis year your Club and Foundation should be forming a Budget Committee and start to schedule meetings.

Your respective Budget Committees should be chaired by your incoming Treasurer and suggested members to the Committee would be your immediate past Treasurer, President-Elect, President, Fundraising Chair, and Membership Chair.

I know it is early but good planning and dedication to these Budget activities will lead your Club to a financial successful year.

I hope to hear from you do please do not hesitate to email me at mdlightsey@gmail.com

Mark D. Lightsey

Kiwanis Florida District Finance Chair

Greetings Florida Kiwanians!

Thank you all for your continued support of our next generation of leaders. Key Club has been busy with the start of our new service year! Since our District Conference, we retired the 22-23 District Board and installed the 23-24 District Board with Ishitha Panguluri of Division 14 as our new District Governor. You can find the contact information for your new Key Club Lt. Governor here.

When contacting our student leaders, please make sure to copy me and the Zone Administrator. During the months of June, July, and August, each Kiwanis Club should meet with their Key Club's principal and faculty advisor to review the sponsoring agreement from your club. Healthy relations with the school administration are vital for the success and growth of every Key Club. In addition, as you all develop your budgets for the 23-24 year, please include a line item to support your Key Clubs. This funding will go a long way in the personal development of many Key Club members. Your Kiwanis Club can help subsidize the cost of their District Conference registration, service project materials, and much more. 

As always, if you need anything Key Club related, please reach out to myself or one of the members of the Key Club Committee. We are here to help!

Thank you for your service,

Heather Locke (she/her)

District Administrator

Florida District of Key Club International, Inc

Heather@floridakeyclub.org

(850)591-9480

www.FloridaKeyClub.org

#BETHE KEY

"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit." Harry Truman

Key Club is an international, student-led organization which provides its members with opportunities to perform service, build character, and develop leadership.

-Leadership - Character Building - Caring -



This is Your Opportunity to Mentor a CKI Member!

Did you know in the United States there are nearly 6 million youth, ages 16 to 24, who feel disconnected from both work and school? And one in three young people will reach the age of 19 without having an adult mentor of any kind. That’s where Kiwanians can play an important role in filling the mentoring gap with our CKI members. If you’re not familiar with CKI or Circle K International, it’s the branch of the Kiwanis family for college students. In fact, CKI has the highest per member service hour average of any Kiwanis family club.

The CKI Mentorship program is a program in the Florida District which will allow you to share your knowledge and experience, foster professional growth in a college student, and build a stronger relationship with another branch of the K-Family. This is also an excellent virtual opportunity, as the mentoring conversations can take place via phone or video call.

Once you sign up at http://bit.ly/KiwanisMentor, we will match you with a college student who is a member of CKI. We will try to match mentor and mentees based on career interests and geography when possible. Mentors and mentees will commit to at least one contact per month, but multiple contacts are encouraged. This contact can be via email, phone, online, or in person as determined by the mentor and mentee. A short orientation is available online with more information at http://bit.ly/MentorshipOrientation.

The program will begin in the fall and will run through May 2024. Once you sign up, you will be contacted by Committee Chair, Stacy Vu, who will match mentors with mentees. Questions about the program can be directed to Stacy Vu at stacy.p.vu@gmail.com or C. Todd Smith at todd@ctoddlaw.com.  The deadline to register is October 31, 2023.

Hey, there… K-Kids Club advisors and parents!

We have exciting things coming up for our K-KIDS clubs – I promised when I became the K-KIDS administrator I would do my best to help in any way I can, whether it is answering your questions or collaborating with the Florida Kiwanis Foundation to hold fun and educational events.

Speaking of events, you're invited to bring your K-KIDS clubs to a virtual play workshop on September 27, 2023, at 5:00 pm Eastern.

Dr. Walter Drew will lead this exciting 45-minute session to explore fun and interesting ways to use open-ended materials. This hands-on play experience will be live on Zoom and open to all Builders and K-Kids club members, advisors, and parents. We'll engage in hands-on play activities that stimulate creative thinking, self-esteem, problem-solving, and much more!

We had this event last year and had a fabulous turnout. Since it had been so successful, we decided it would be exciting to hold this workshop with the Builders Club to make it even more fun (if that is even possible)!

A list of materials will be provided in advance, and if materials are not available, you may reach out to the Florida Kiwanis Foundation at alison@floridakiwanisfoundation.org, and they will send them to you directly.

This is a fantastic opportunity for advisors, parents, and adults to reconnect and acquaint themselves with play and its ability to help construct, implement, and evaluate new approaches to teaching our future leaders. Don't miss out!

Register today! Put this on your calendar so you won’t forget! September 27^th will be here before you know it. Click this link to register now.

Thank you for being a part of Kiwanis! It is because of you that we continue to make a positive difference in the lives of children daily! Through Kiwanis International we know that each of us impacts the lives of over 100 children. 

How is your Kiwanis ‘n Cops ‘n Kids program going? Governor Moody’s Project supports literacy and community partnerships. The Kiwanis Club of Ocala has experienced success with this project through partnering with the Ocala Police Department and involving them with our RIF (Reading Is Fundamental) Program at elementary schools for children in grades Pk through 4th grade.

YC:PO is the building block of all the tomorrows for our children. As your Clubs consider additional/new opportunities for the youngest members of your community remember that it all begins with literacy! Research tells us that early literacy helps children develop the skills and knowledge they need to become successful readers and lifelong learners. 

We know that distributing books to children is a great project. Book distribution events are easy to participate in throughout your community and presenting a child with a book of his/her own is a wonderful gift! When you participate in these events go above and beyond and let the child participate in the selection process of the book. Provide the child with the opportunity to write his/her name in the book “officially” indicating ownership of the book. Of course, this should happen on a label that has your club’s information on it as distributor of the book.

Another activity is assisting a child with owning his/her letter -- this is the first letter of their name. This is “their” letter! The faces of our children light up when they recognize their letter and own it! This can easily be accomplished by having magnetic letters (sized appropriately for the age of the child to ensure choking is not a risk). When a child visits your Club’s display at an event ask them their name and make a big deal out of presenting them with “their” letter that can be proudly displayed on the refrigerator in their home. You can even take it to the next level by presenting the child with a number magnet that lets them know how many letters are in their name. If the child’s name is Alice, present the child with a magnetic “A” and the number “5”.

I am confident this will present you with many photo opportunities of happy faces. 😊

What are some YC:PO projects of your Club? We learn best from each other. Send me an email. I will collect your ideas and share them in our next District Newsletter. Let me know how I can assist you.

Roseann Fricks-Patterson

RoseannFricks257@hotmail.com

352-239-1979

CLUB REPORTING

Hello everyone,

Our 2023-24 Kiwanis year is now more than half way through and judging by your club reports, it’s been a year full of service and support of our SLPs. It’s great that clubs are making sure to share what they are doing to “change the world one child and one community at a time”, with the District and with Kiwanis International.

We have come a long way with our clubs reporting in the past several years and I am pleased to announce that, so far this year, every Division in the Florida District has at least one club submitting regular monthly reports. This is great!!

I have always said “ no one knows what and how you are doing unless you tell them “ and completing and submitting monthly club reports is the way to make that happen in our District.

Big congratulations to the club secretaries in this Florida Kiwanis District, who have been submitting their monthly reports. Your efforts, this year, to tell your clubs’ stories, are much appreciated and are not going unnoticed. Thank you.

To those who have not yet caught up, there is still time to get your reports done before the year ends in September. Reports can be found on the Secretary Dashboard, when you log into ‘Resources’ then ‘Club Secretary Resources’, on both the Kiwanis International and the Florida District websites. They should be submitted by the 10th of each month so Kiwanis International and the Fl District can have current club activity information for their records.

Annual club dues should already have been paid. Any outstanding bills, (new member etc.) are found under ‘Finances’ in the Secretary Dashboard and can be paid online with credit/debit card or mail-in check. Details are explained on the dashboard.

If you have any questions or concerns, regarding Club Reporting, my contact information is below.

Thanks for all you do for our children. Have a great rest of the year.

Walk good

Caroll Neita

Fl. Kiwanis District Chair, Club Reporting

President, Fl. District PLGA, 2022-23

kiwanisofmiramarpembrokepines@gmail.com

ELECTION FOR 2023-24

FLORIDA DISTRICT

VICE GOVERNOR



UPCOMING EVENTS

MAY 2023

15: Deadline to register to attend the 2023 Kiwanis International Convention, June 21-24, before prices increase

18-21: Kiwanis International-Europe convention, Amsterdam, Netherlands

29: Kiwanis International Offices in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., and Ghent, Belgium, closed

JUNE 2023

21-24: Kiwanis International Convention, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.

21-24: Circle K International Convention, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.

WHY DOES KIWANIS INTERNATIONAL

HOST AN ANNUAL CONVENTION?

To celebrate, learn and lead! The Kiwanis International convention is an opportunity to:

• Elect new leaders.
• Make your voice heard on important Kiwanis decisions.
• Meet Kiwanians from around the world.
• Learn about new service projects and fundraisers.
• Train incoming club and district officers.
• Commemorate another amazing year of helping kids!

Plus, this year Circle K International members will join Kiwanis for events as they host their convention concurrently.

All Kiwanis members are welcome to attend! Learn more about the 2023 Kiwanis International Convention and join us June 21-24 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.

Have a Kiwanis question? Send it to communications@kiwanis.org. It might even be featured in an upcoming newsletter!

FUTURE KIWANIS INTERNATIONAL

CONVENTIONS

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA    June 21-24, 2023

Denver, Colorado, USA    July 3-6, 2024

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA    June 25-28, 2025

This email is being sent to all members in the Florida District of Kiwanis with a valid email address on file with Kiwanis International