Kiwanis Club of North Suburban Golden K St. Paul

Today John Sweeney marked the close of the club's fiscal year and the end of his tenure with the opening bell. There was no "Harris Stretch" and the meeting was abbreviated to allow time for the installation of officers for the next fiscal year, starting on the first Tuesday in October. There were no circle three reports and no Happy Dollars today.

Before the official installation ceremony there was a recognition moment for the members that passed on this last year; Bob Lindahl, Ed Abdella, Orv Wold, Gus Gustafson and Bill Duddleston - they will all be missed.

Perfect attendance awards (highlighted by Elwood Caldwell's 15 years of perfect attendance) and foundation awards followed. John Sweeney was the recipient of the Vantine Life Fellowship. Howard Rieke was awarded the Hugo Blomgren Kiwanian of the Year Award. This year the Distinguished Service award went to Wayne Carlson for his work on the Videos for our new DVD and his continuing efforts on the membership and education committee.

Then, the retiring president, John Sweeney, gave us a nice recap of accomplishments for the last year. Our club provided 3,614 hours of community service volunteer work and 651 hours of fundraising activities. This is a hard working group - willing to go the extra mile for the community.

Barbara Winfield, Lieutenant Governor of Kiwanis Region 7 - the Minnesota-Dakota District began the installation ceremony with remarks about the generous nature of our organization. Next came the formal installation of officers:

Continuing Directors were: Bill Campion (2012) Ron Ness (2012) Erv Oelke (2011-2013) Dan Simundsen (2011-2013)

New Directors were: Phil Larson (2012-2014) Ric Soderstrom (2012-2014)

Officers for 2012 were: John Sweeney - Immediate Past President Ron Panter - Secretary Lloyd (Korny) Kornmann - recording secretary

Jim Hedeen - Treasurer Jim Whiting - Assistant Treasurer Joe Kilpatrick - Vice President Bill Flittie - President elect LaMar Zollinger - President

The installation ceremony was capped off with a presentation on goals and objectives for 2012. Our new president, LaMar Zollinger, emphasized learning, socializing and service as the three principles to follow throughout the year. He set three goals: keep the programs going, keep adding membership and continue to serve the children through our programs of food shelf, tutoring, scholarships, outstanding youth programs and key club continuation. It promises to be an exciting year - 2012!

Next week we kick off our program schedule with the October 4th meeting. On the program will be Shegitu Kebele and her story about war-torn Ethiopia and how she has dedicated her life to supporting other women refugees. Bring a friend to Kiwanis and join us next week - our social time is 1:30 - the meeting starts promptly at 2 PM.

Some notes on September: As we transition into the next season, our club transitions into a new fiscal year. September had a diverse set of programs - from things outside - light rail and water quality and things inside - learning more about our own website and installing the next season's officers and board members. It closed out a pretty terrific year - again building on past fundraisers to provide the finances to support our outreach into our communities. September always leaves us looking ahead - to the new fiscal year - to the new slate of people running the club and the infusion of their ideas on the already established traditions and habits of such a sage and storied group. I'm sure we will build on last year's successes, but there will be new challenges and new opportunities to give and volunteer in ways we haven't thought of yet. Here's to September!