Kiwanis Club 
This week's newsletter is earlier than usual as next week has my schedule booked for days on end. Nothing really important but some days you just schedule too many things so you don't have time for a nap or a cup of coffee. It was a busy week for our club and future dates indicate that slowing down will come sometime in May - or June. i guess this would be a good week for me to miss. Something about my wife's "to do" list of priority scheduling.
PROGRAM: MARCH 9th: Rhonda invited Debra Villapando and Desiree Miranda from Southside Community Center to inform our members about the services they provide for needy individuals and families here in San Marcos. Southside provides assistance to individuals and families who may need some help. Services include free breakfasts, laundry service, showers, and clothes and hygiene vouchers, as well a free dinner every day. Southside also provides transitional shelter for people needing a place to live until they find new residence. They also have several units for families to live at very low cost. Desiree mentioned that a usual daily service is provided for 40 - 60 people a day. Some are local and live in a home but need help with food and personal items. Transient people passing through are also welcome to take advantage of Southside Community Center. The club provided a big basket of hygiene items and a check for $350 to Southside Community Center. It was a very interesting and informative program.
PROGRAM: MARCH 16th: Del Brown has invited Pastor Adam from First United Church to talk to our club. The pastor has just returned from a visit to New Zealand and will tell about his trip and some sidelights of the trip. It promises to be a very interesting program.
PROGRAM: MARCH 23rd: LuAnne has invited a representative from Truchoice Pregnancy Resource Center to explain about the service they provide for women and men facing an unplanned pregnancy. They provide information to individuals so that they can make well-informed decisions about their future life and that of the unborn child. It is a subject not often talked about conversations but is more abundant in everyday life than most people realize. This should be a very informative program and one that is vital to know about.
PROGRAM: MARCH 30th: Jennifer Richmond has the program.
KIWANIS EVENTS:
MARCH 11th: CAMP CLEAN UP DAY: The club had 13 members plus 3 Medical Explorer Scouts at the camp. The medical scouts were welcome with more than clean up duties. They were able to bandage a couple of members who cut themselve and were bleeding. Not an amputation level of care but older people take their cuts seriously. Grass was mowed, trees trimmed, branches put in burn piles, and facilities were cleaned. Moe brought some of the race equipment (cones and coolers and cups) out to be stored until we need them for the race or at the clay shoot. A very good crew took care of most tasks early. It helps when you have drivers on the mowers that are training for NASCAR races this summer. And Rhonda brought her motorized weedeater to make the handheld weedeater people watch with envy. And Charles Johnson was able to keep his streak of problems with the tractor mower going. Trying to clear a path down close to the river where the soil is soft sand Charles was able to sink the tractor into the sand. Since he has had experience with similar problems before he knew that if he could get the rear tires spinning he could bury that tractor up to the axels. It gave another seven members a chance to offer their expertise on methods of extrating the mower. After an hour or so the group was successful in returning the tractor and mower to the storage shed. Food was provided and there were enough left overs to fill dessert menus for members for the rest of the week. A very good outing and mission accomplished for getting the camp ready for a scout troop in two weeks.
MARCH 16th: BOARD MEETING AT RHONDA'S OFFICE AT 5:00 P.M. If you have an item you want included in the meeting let Kelli know so she can put it on the agenda. Any member may attend the Board meeting and comment on topics but only Board members may vote on items.
APRIL 29th: 2nd ANNUAL KIWANIS CLAY SHOOT. This is our major fund raiser so let Rhonda know if you can volunteer to help out. The event is held in Kingsbury at the Moyesway shooting facility starting at 8:30 a.m.
REMINDERS #1 AND #2: Don't forget to give Jennifer your comments and articles about your Kiwanis memories of events to include in the update of our history booklet. And 'like' and 'share' Kelli's Facebook posts about Kiwanis to enncourage citizens to become a member of our club for service to the San Marcos community.
CONGRATULATIONS TO KRISTIN WINGARD for achieving the Award of 'HERO OF THE YEAR' for Coldwell Banker Realtors and also the 'NINJA STAR' Award for a 50% increase in production last year. A prime example of hard work and the recognition that goes with it.
OTHER EVENTS OF INTEREST:
MARCH 12th: DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME starts at 2: a.m. Sunday morning (or if you prefer Saturday evening before you go to bed). And you get to lose one hour of sleep on a normal basis but evenings will stay light longer. There is a movement in some areas to choose one time and stick to it - sort of like the farm animals and wildlife do all the time.
MARCH 17th: ST. PATRICK'S DAY all day. If you have an Irish heritage - and even if you don't - this is the day to wear green clothes and drink green beer. Find a four leaf clover and take time to join in the celebration.
MARCH 20th: The FIRST DAY OF SPRING (on a calendar). We are still well into Spring and almost early summer temperatures and some states are still buried under 20 foot snow drifts and shoveling snow. Somewhere in the middle of both of these is an area that actually feels Spring enter the season.
APRIL 1st: APRIL FOOL'S DAY for those individuals that like to pull pranks - i.e. Orsen Wells and the radio broadcast of a Mars Invasion. Be creative but nothing that will cause harm or injury to others.
NOTES AND QUOTES:
There is a good chance that I will be gone next week and a co-editor will have to put out next week's newsletter. This is your chance to be original and creative in writing the Kiwanis Newsletter. You can add your 'color' to items and events. It is not necessary to follow my format in any way but the newsletter is your baby to create and enjoy. And if you do an exceptional job you can do it on a regular basis of keeping the Kiwanis members entertained and informed. There was a mention that Jennifer has been selected for the next newsletter but if you really want to give it a try there is always the week after next.
A fella once asked me what a 'hoedown' was and I told him it's like a 'shindig' but more like a 'hootenanny'. I could tell he was still confused because his fac was all 'catty wampus'.
Cowboy Logic: Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and a body ain't go no business doing wrong when he ain't ignorant and knows better.
As you get older, three things happen. The first is your memory goes and I can't remember the other two.
Kids today are soft. I died once when I was 5, and my Mom told me to walk it off.
It's not that our parent's tried to kill us. They just didn't always put a lot of effort into preventing it.
True Story: My sister about age 10 cut a huge gash on her foot when she stepped on some glass. She came running up the sidewalk leaving a bright red bloody footprint with every step. As she ran up onto the front porch my mother yelled, "Don't you dare come in the front door and track blood all over. Go to the back door." You could see the red foot prints go up the steps, turn around and head back down, and all the way to the back door. It was a classic of protecting the rug on the living room floor. As an older brother I understood exactly what she was going through - from earlier experience in similar situations.
My wife is blaming me for ruining her birthday. That's ridiculus, I didn't even know it was her birthday.
For men members of the club: "When a woman says, "What?" it's not because she didn't hear you. She's giving you a chance to change what you said.
Happy are those who take life day by day, complain very little and are thankful for the little things in life.
SEE YOU THURSDAY AT GRINS FOR GOOD CONVERSATION, GOOD FELLOWSHIP, GOOD FOOD, AND AN INTERESTING PROGRAM. BRING A HAPPY OR FUNNY STORY TO THE MEETING TO MAKE A MEMBER SMILE OR LAUGH. ASK A FRIEND TO JOIN YOU AT THE MEETING TO SEE WHAT KIWANIS IS ALL ABOUT.