Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Author and Director of Storybook Christmas Shares His Story

As you know, our club is planning to attend the Storybook Christmas play at the Oster Regent theater on Sunday 12/7 at 2:00 pm.

Today we enjoyed a presentation from the Storybook Christmas's author and director, Dr. Stephen Taft. Dr. Taft took us on his journey of creating the play through story and music.  Inspired by Dicken's work, A Christmas Carol, Taft shared how he adapted it to connect more with today's audiences. He said that he modeled the setting of the play after the homey downtown we call Cedar Falls. He explained how he adapted the characters to fit expanded roles of talent. He used his demo CD and played his guitar to travel through a melodic tour through the songs he had written for the play.

It was a wonderful presentation and created a great deal of interest in the play.  We even had a couple of Kiwanis members add their name to the order list after his presentation.  Hope to see you there on 12/7.

Thank you, Dr. Stephen Taft.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Join Us for Our Social Storybook Christmas play Matinee on 12/7













Join us for our next Kiwanis Social Matinee Event on 12/7 at 2:00 pm.  Barney is doing a great job of setting up this event.  It costs $25/person or $46/couple.

This wonderful play is loosely based on the Dickens classic, Storybook Christmas: A Musical Country Christmas Carol follows Scrooge, the cheap, tight-fisted, greedy proprietor of “Scrooge and Marley’s Used Car Sales”.  Once dreaming of a music career in Nashville, life takes an unexpected turn for Scrooge when best friend, Jake Marley is discovered as the one with the true musical talent. A disc jockey, a talented love interest, the L & L girls of the Ladies Auxiliary Club, and three unexpected visitors of the night share the stage in this new and entertaining December treat.

We hope to see you there.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Kiwanis Color Dash 5K is a Success!


Careful planning and excited aspirations lead to a successful Color Dash 5K for our Kiwanis Rough Risers and three other Kiwanis clubs in the Cedar Valley area. This was our second annual Color Dash and it engaged almost 150 participants.

What is a Color Dash? Imagine running along a Cedar Valley recreational trail on a beautiful spring day when you are attacked by some color-dust carrying crazy people wearing "Dasher Splasher" t-shirts.  Bearing buckets of pink corn starch, they artfully cast handfuls of color into your chest, on your head or down your back. Off you run from this colorful assault, only to find  another band of color-carrying crazies one kilometer down the trail.

Well, it's not quite that bad.  It's actually kind of fun as you are enveloped by poofs of color.  It is layered proof that you are accomplishing your task of running/walking/rolling or dragging 5 kilometers.  These color onslaughts are spaced in five equal spots along your 5K journey.

Who runs such a dash?  Anyone and everyone.  They range from 7 to 77 years old. They come in all sorts of sizes, shapes and colors (get it?  hahahahaha).  One family fielded a five-generation team with a baby riding along with her great-great grandmother on a wheel chair being pushed by loving relatives.

This dash was a fund-raising event. The organizers found sponsors to cover the costs of the run and the registrations for the run were  split between the ColorDash company and the Kiwanis clubs that made this run a reality.  In the end, a check for $1387.48 was presented to the Cedar Falls Kiwanis Rough Risers club.  This money was split between the participating clubs.  These clubs included the Waterloo Early Risers Kiwanis Club, Greater Waverly Kiwanis Club and the Waterloo Kiwanis Club.

This Color Dash event was a success in that it was fun for all, it provided another opportunity for people to engage in a health promoting event, and it raised funds for helping people all over the world - near and far.

One of the programs funded by the Color Dash 5K run was the Kiwanis Eliminate Project. This project's goal is to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus from the world. It plans to fund the vaccines, syringes, safe storage, transportation and thousands of skilled staff necessary to immunize more than 100 million mothers and their future babies.
         
Thank you for supporting our Kiwanis Color Dash.  You are helping us make a difference in the world.

Dean Dreyer is Awarded the Hixson Fellowship Award

Dean Dreyer was awarded the Hixson Fellowship Award in recognition of his ongoing dedication to the service and administrative activities of our Rough Risers Club.

The George F. Hixson Fellowship is an award of recognition of people who have contributed significantly to Kiwanis' history of generosity.

Dean is just such a person.  He was recognized for his active involvement in getting sponsors for our club, securing grants for building our shelters, and overall fundraising to support the club's activities.

Thank you for all of your work, Dean.