Kiwanis Club of North Suburban Golden K St. Paul

And so we start a new fiscal year with LaMar Zollinger, our new president, ringing the bell and leading us in the “Harris Stretch”. There are always great expectations in every new start – let’s cheer our club on to new heights!

There were no circle three reports – another good start to the year.

We did have happy dollars back in the agenda today and lots of happy dollars showed up. LaMar started us off with three – one to celebrate all the butternut squash in his garden, one to celebrate his attending the Lion’s Club breakfast and meeting Denny Harris (the founder of the Harris stretch – LaMar tried to get complete instructions) and the third to celebrate new front brakes in his Subaru which he saved about $300 by having his “mechanically inclined” son, Tom, put them in – thank goodness for the mechanically inclined – especially if they are in your family! Don Rasmussen surprised us by not talking swimming, but rather commented on major improvements in women’s professional sports – particularly basketball with the Lynx finally in the limelight (and full court – not half court). Bill Flittie added two more dollars – on to celebrate a clean CT scan and the other to welcome back Judy McCulloch. Ester Piper put in a check to the foundation in memory of Dick and what would have been their 70th wedding anniversary in September and also for her birthday – she got a corsage too! Bruce Robb reminded us that the Pancake breakfast was coming up, thanked all who participated in the Herberger coupon books so far, thanked the finance committee for keeping us in such good financial shape and bragged a little about his recent trip to Paris and how his wife loved it. Ken Bergstedt provided us with yet another joke – an elderly couple (90 and 91) getting married – went through a long list of “old age” remedies and necessities - bridal registry was a pharmacist – where does he find these? John Sweeney presented us with yet another story about excuses not to buy a Herbergers book – could only use on the 11th and 12th – her baby was due that day. Korny Kornmann showed off a letter thanking us for the check from the pie sale, but noted that someone put a note in the corner of the letter saying he could use a pie or two – must be someone at Korny’s table! Nat Watkins got into the joke spirit with a new fitness program for people over fifty – starting with five pound potato bags and ending with 100 pound potato bags holding them at arms straight out. (Of course it ended with him suggesting you finally put a potato in each bag) – right up there with Ken – I’d say! Wayne Carlson reported about the Winsor Green fire – not a happy dollar, but a reminder of what could happen to anyone – I guess.

There was a program note for a change of location for the November 1st and 8th meetings. They will be held at Fairview Community Center those two weeks due to the Roseville hall being booked for something else – put it on your November calendars!

Judy McCulloch introduced the program for this week. The presenter was Shegita Kebele and she shared her story of starting life in war torn Ethiopia, her struggles in refugee camps and how she came to the U.S. sponsored by a Scandinavian family (she was raised by Scandinavian missionaries). She spoke of how the discipline of her family formed her values and helped her to raise two kids and start a cleaning business where she employed other refugee women from her country. She lost her business in 2007, but has started over again – this time in the restaurant business and again is helping Ethiopian women get settled her in the U.S. – quite an amazing story. We are lucky to have all kinds of great subjects and speakers each month – with great variety and educational value.

Next week, we will hear from Richard D. Wolfgramm, a retired Vietnam veteran and an architect. He will present a video on the Vietnam War called the Journey Back. It promises to be another interesting and educational session so bring a friend to Kiwanis and join us next week - our social time is 1:30 - the meeting starts promptly at 2 PM.