A Message From the Desk of

Prairy Riehl

Kiwanis Florida District Governor 2023-2024

Progress Update on our Goals

We are working on opening the following clubs in the 1st Quarter. Do you have any friends in these areas who you can reach out to? Are you able to help us make phone calls or collect data for these areas? If so, please join our team by clicking on the button below! Many hands make light work!

• Auburndale (Div 15)
• Havana (Div 2)
• Hialeah (Div 27)
• Sebastian (Div 16)
• Dr. Phillips (Div 10)

Thank you to the clubs who stepped up to sponsor a new club - Winter Haven, Tallahassee, and Vero-Treasure Coast! You are earning points to help your club become Distinguished this year!

We know there are many communities that need Kiwanis. But we must not forget the importance of strengthening the clubs that are already established. We have created a Club Strengthening team throughout the District to help clubs understand how to implement the Two for Two Program or Host an Open House to help grow your club.

Many of you know Prairy's story - she learned about Kiwanis by first being a Builders Club Advisor. The need for clubs in schools to encourage kids to give back to their communities while finding a sense of belonging is exactly what this world needs.

Find out more on starting a Service Leadership Program Here!

You will often hear a Florida CKI student state "Come for the Service, Stay for the Fellowship"! Isn't that a great phrase to represent Kiwanis as well? Many of us have developed so many great relationships both within our clubs and beyond. Let's broaden those relationships through completing Interclubs with other Kiwanis Clubs and local Service Leadership Programs.

When you plan projects and activities with your Service Leadership Programs, you are exemplifying what it means to be a Kiwanian. Interacting with these amazing students and adults, we often leave inspired and motivated. When we Interclub with other Kiwanis Clubs, we often find ideas to bring back to our own club.

What is a Ruby K?

Did you know that you can earn a Ruby K pin when you recruit at least 5 members into Kiwanis? Ruby K Pins are given in increments of 5 members sponsored. We will be handing out a lot of Ruby K Pins at our Regional Conferences in February and March. You still have time to recruit new members to be awarded the Ruby K. It is cumulative so the number will continue to grow as you recruit more members into Kiwanis during your lifetime!

I am super excited to present the Governors Project for the 2023-25 Kiwanis years:

Building Family Connections, Fostering a Brighter Future.

The goal this year is for clubs across our District to perform at least 100 projects building family connections. To reach this goal we are asking each club to do and report at least 1 project.

Thank you to Project Co-Chairs Delvin and Day Scott for presenting foster care system information at the Florida District Convention in August. They shared some ways we as Kiwanians could help prevent children from going into foster care; support families and children already involved with foster care; and encourage youth who are transitioning out of foster care. 



Day and Delvin created a Padlet containing tools and resources to help you successfully navigate this year’s project including the presentation from DCON. The Padlet will also feature our progress meter to report your successes, and contacts for local foster care organizations; it can be accessed here. You can reach out to the Scotts at KiwanisGovProject.FL@gmail.com for more ideas on how to implement at least one foster year project into your plans this year.

As we get closer to the start of our Kiwanis year, we hope that you will take advantage of the resources provided and help us build a brighter future for children and families who truly need Kiwanis.

A new Kiwanis year means new email addresses. Please don't let yourself be spammed by responding to an email without first checking the email address from which it was sent. Spammers will imitate someone's name with a new email address (see example below). If you aren't sure of the email address for the person you received an email, check the Florida District Website. We will never ask you for Gift Cards or personal information through email.

OCTOBER 2023

1 – First day of the new Kiwanis year

5 - "Making the Ask" Membership Webinar, 7pm ET

9-13 – Kiwanis Youth Protection Week

16-20 – CKI Week

18 - Kiwanis International Two for Two Webinar, 8pm ET

28 - Kiwanis One Day

NOVEMBER 2023

2 - Florida District Membership Education Webinar, 7pm ET

6-10 – Key Club Week

6 - Governor's Project Webinar - More details below, 7:30pm ET

7 - KI Training - How to be a Club Coach for New Clubs, 8pm ET

13 – New Member Orientation - More details below, 7pm ET

19 - Deadline to Register for Florida Kiwanis Cruise to get current rate

DECEMBER 2023

4 - Givebacks Webinar - More details below, 7:30pm ET

5 – International Volunteer Day

5 - KI Training - How to be a Club Coach for Existing Clubs, 8pm ET

7 - Florida District Membership Education Webinar, 7pm ET

JANUARY 2024

4 - Florida District Membership Education Webinar, 7pm ET

8 - Bylaws Webinar - More details below, 7:30pm ET

17 - KI Training - How to use Two for Two Program to grow your club

FEBRUARY 2024

1 - Florida District Membership Education Webinar, 7pm ET

8 - 12 Florida Kiwanis Family Cruise - More details below

23-25 - CKI DCON

24 - Florida District Regional Conference - North (Tallahassee)

25 - Celebration of the Hands (Tallahassee)

25-29 - Children's Week (Tallahassee)

MARCH 2024

2 - Florida District Regional Conference - South (Pompano Beach)

See all of the Kiwanis International Membership Webinars Here

See all of the Kiwanis International Membership Team Webinars Here

Three NEW Kiwanis-Focused Webinars in November, December and January!

• Monday, November 6th - Governor's Project: Focusing on Foster Care
• Monday, December 4th - Givebacks: How to Leverage your New Digital Member Engagement & Fundraising Software
• Monday, January 8th- Bylaws: Understanding the Governing Rules a Kiwanis club and why you need them.

Use the below link for the monthly webinar series

https://bit.ly/FLKiwanisWebinars

New Member Orientation Webinar Monday, November 13th, 7-8:30pm (EST)

New to Kiwanis? Perhaps a little rusty on Kiwanis acronyms? Interested in learning "what makes Kiwanis tick"?  Join us for a fun and informative learning session on Kiwanis structure, Club Operations and the Kiwanis Family beyond your own club. 

No matter how long you've been in Kiwanis, you will no doubt find at least one golden nugget of new information at this New Member Orientation webinar.

ZOOM Info-- 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82316186695pwd=WUJrRHdWTUhlbmkyYWpkZjlUQ1NjZz09

Meeting ID: 823 1618 6695

Passcode: MemOr913

DEADLINE TO REGISTER FOR 2024 CRUISE IS NOVEMBER 19TH!

News From Your District Chairs

FLORIDA KEY CLUB

Hello Fellow Kiwanians and Happy Kiwanis New Year!

In the Key Club world, we have begun the process of collecting dues for the 2023-2024 year. We need your help! Please check with your Key Clubs (and other SLPs) to see where they are at in the dues process. Early bird deadline for dues payment is November.

I am excited to announce that we ended the 22-23 year with more than 22,362 members and 374 paid clubs. We hope that with your help and the hard work of our students, we will surpass this number and continue our membership growth. If you plan to charter a new Key Club, please reach out to me so we can help you along the way.

If you would like to stay up to date with all things Key Club, please sign up for mailing list here: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/ueg7duc/FDKCAdvisors

On behalf of our District Governor, Ishitha Panguluri, and her District Board, we want to thank you for the continued support and mentorship you show the Key Club members and officers! Please do not hesitate to let us know if we can ever be of any help to you or if your Kiwanis Club has something exciting to share with us. We are looking forward to a great service year with all of you!

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

MEMBERSHIP EXPANSION

Hello Florida District Kiwanians,

Your newly formed Membership Expansion Committee (MEC) welcomes you to the 2023-2024 Kiwanis year. Our goal is to make this a year focused on expanding the reach of our member recruitment efforts to include those segments of the population that are often hiding in plain sight. The Florida District of Kiwanis International will promote and foster an environment wherein its clubs understand the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion when seeking to grow membership. The MEC is comprised of Kiwanians from throughout the Florida District who are dedicated to helping you achieve and experience the advantages of having a diverse, equitable, and inclusive membership. To this end, we will be in contact with each lieutenant governor to help us reach out and schedule presentations at your club meetings and/or division council meetings. To achieve this goal, we have assigned specific divisions to each MEC team member as follows:

Kim Mills and Gavin Boone – Divisions 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5

Cleve Tinsley – Divisions 6, 7, 8, and 9

Allen Yergovich, Denzel Singleton, And Michelle Mason – Divisions 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, and 18

Gary Frechette – Divisions 16, 19, 20, 21, and 23

Lewis Matusow – Divisions 22, 24, 25, 26, and 27

Your MEC representatives listed above are focused on helping you. They will not ask you to change the demographics you target for membership. They will however offer their services to help you “expand” your targeted demographics. Working together, we can add even more fun and enlightenment to service by celebrating the range of human differences. We will be in touch with you, but in the meantime, if you have questions would like to learn more, or just have a question for one or all of us, please feel free to reach out at flkiwanismec@gmail.com or by calling us directly at (352) 789-1667.

Yours in Service and Compassion,

Cleve V. Tinsley

2023-2024 District Chair

Membership Expansion Committee

Florida District of Kiwanis International, Inc.

(352) 789-1667

flkiwanismec@gmail.com

What is Givebacks?

Did you know US nonprofits that added an online/digital component to their existing fundraisers in 2020 grew their net revenue by 36.4%? Givebacks, provides world-class digital communications and fundraising software for tens of thousands of schools and nonprofit organizations across the US. Givebacks offers its complete software suite to Florida Kiwanis District Clubs with no annual subscription. Like it or not, the US is moving towards a paperless, cashless economy. With over half of our clubs utilizing no technology in their current fundraisers, this must-attend webinar will help you leverage current and future trends in in-person, virtual, and hybrid fundraising. This FREE program can also be used for website services and club communication to replace Portalbuzz.

Please take the Fundraising Survey so we can better support your fundraising efforts!

~Find out more at the December Webinar~

SOCIAL MEDIA

Greetings Florida Kiwanis!

My name is Jose your new Social Media Chair. I am excited to be taking the reigns over from Ricky Reynolds (really big shoes to fill here) and expand your club's digital presence this year.

Two of my goals this year are 1) to continue growing the Florida Kiwanis social media pages and 2) assist clubs with their own social media pages and help revamp their postings. 

As always, please tag Florida Kiwanis on Facebook and @Florida_Kiwanis on Instagram with all posts that highlight the exciting service your clubs is doing. You could possibly get featured! If you would like to schedule a time to chat about your social media pages, please feel free to contact me and we can set up a time for a Zoom. 

I am excited for the year ahead!

Yours in Service,

Jose Leoncio

Social Media Chair

Florida Kiwanis

jose@floridakeyclub.org

While it has been said a picture is worth a thousand words, we are in a world where a video is worth a thousand likes! So, we are trying to increase our video presence in Florida and we want to help individual clubs do the same. Please check out our District YouTube Page Here.

We would love to promote your club through videos as well. Check out the How To Guide to help your club create a video marketing tool.

CKI MENTORSHIP

One of the greatest ways to have an impact is by serving as a mentor! Would you like to become more closely connected with our Service Leadership Programs, and help college students achieve their goals? If so, the Kiwanis-CKI Mentorship Program is for you!

The mission of the program is to connect collegiate CKI members with Kiwanis members within the state of Florida to build meaningful professional relationships. A “mentor” is usually an experienced individual who shares knowledge, experience, and advice with a less experienced person, or “mentee.” The program seeks to match individuals in similar career interests and geographic locations.

To become a mentor, you must:

• Agree to be available for at least one (1) contact per month with your mentee; email contact is permitted but telephone or Zoom contact is highly encouraged. In person contact is not required.
• Listen to an orientation webinar
• Attend/participate in monthly group Zoom sessions.
• Maintain confidentiality of conversations between mentor and mentee, and be an active listener.
• Help the mentee identify their academic and professional goals.
• Give constructive feedback that can allow the mentee to grow personally and professionally.
• Assist mentee in identifying how to access resources that will allow the student to build a professional network.

Please consider making an impact through the Kiwanis-CKI Mentoring Program! Mentor/Mentee pairs will be matched in October, so register NOW at the following link: http://bit.ly/KiwanisMentor

If you have questions, please contact District Chair Rebecca Knowles

YOUNG CHILDREN: PRIORITY ONE

YC:PO DISTRICT GOALS

FY 2023 – 2024

CHAIR: Roseann Fricks-Patterson

We know the importance of the Young Children:Priority One (YC:PO) Initiative! Thank you for supporting the young children in your community.

YC:PO goals this year will support our Governor’s goals of BUILDING through preventing, supporting, and encouraging.

1.    10% (24) increase in partnerships of our Clubs with local resources for increasing awareness and education of YC:PO local needs.

2.    10% increase in community involvement increasing awareness, education and needs of YC:PO local needs.

Here are some ideas for you to consider:

Early Learning Coalition in your area                    Federally Qualified Health Centers

Healthy Start Coalition                                             Department of Health

Healthy Families                                                        Literacy Organizations/Public Library

Public School District (Homeless Liaison)           Homeless Organizations

PEARL Project                                                            Faith Based Organizations

Chamber of Commerce/CEP                                   Local Utility companies

Invite one of the above to attend a Club meeting/event, speak to your membership, explain the benefits of joining your club. 

FLORIDA DISTRICT CLUB UPDATES

Kiwanis Club of Titusville:

One September 9^th, our club held a Speakeasy Event at the Indian River Preserve Golf and Country Club in Mims, FL. Not only did this event serve to collect funds for our continued work within the upcoming year, but it also served as a celebration of our 100 YEARS as an established club! We were fortunate enough to have Ted, along with his wife, Mona, in attendance at the event. We were also delighted to have Kiwanis Florida Governor, Prairy Riehl, and Governor-Elect, Jeremy Riehl join us for the night as well! 

For one night, we transformed our venue into a cool and classy Speakeasy equipped with live music, fancy drinks, a champagne toast, and a room full of people dressed to kill. And of course, a much-needed password for exclusive entry: Kids Need Kiwanis. 

With the funds we raised, we plan to continue our efforts with major projects we provide for the children in the community; including continued support for our Service Leadership Programs like Aktion Club, K-Kids, and Key Club, buying new shoes for our local grade school kids, and stocking the several community libraries we have built around town. 

Vero Kiwanis celebrates 50 years

The Kiwanis Club of Vero-Treasure Coast celebrated its 50th anniversary as of September 17 of this year. The club was formed in 1973 as the second club in Vero Beach to meet in Tuesday mornings rather than noon on Thursdays. According to outgoing club president, Doug Vitunac, “Most members were younger local businesspeople who did not want to take time out in the middle of their working day, so mornings were perfect.”

The club reached its 75-member threshold back in the mid-1990s, but when its long-time Dodger meeting facility closed in 2003, followed by two major hurricanes in 2004, meeting facilities were scarce and multiple moves reduced the membership ranks. The noon club, established in 1935, disbanded some years back. Vitunac says, “As the morning club members ‘matured,’ the club eventually opted for Wednesday noon meetings.”

After securing a long-term meeting facility (the Vero Beach Yacht Club), membership has gradually increased to the mid-50s and enthusiasm in the club has reached the point that Kiwanis projects like Youth in Action and the Take-A-Kid-Fishing Tournament have become community mainstays. The club also maintains two high school Key Clubs and multiple K-Kids groups.



Incoming president, Jessica Hernstadt, is excited about celebrating the 50-year mark. “We have a once-a-month ‘throwback’ meeting, repeating many of the traditional activities from the old days and our 50th Anniversary Banquet is coming up on October 25. In addition to the annual awards, we will have a round-the-world buffet featuring ten ethnic food stations, a history of the club presentation and Las Vegas-style entertainment to cap off the evening.”

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