Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Mike Knapp Shares the Grin & Grow Story

Wednesday, December 20, 2017 - At the last Cedar Falls Kiwanis Rough Risers Club, we had Mike Knapp, Executive Director of the Grin & Grow Pre-School provide a verbal tour of the benefits his program provides for young people of the Cedar Valley.  

Mike explained that Grin & Grow will be celebrating their 75thanniversary this year. For 3/4 of a century, hey have been serving kids from low income and at-risk families. Mike emphasized that Grin & Grow doesn't only provide daycare for the children, but they also give their families a hand in getting out of the vicious cycle of poverty and giving the kids a great boost forward in life.  They provide a very creative curriculum studies, but also provide social skills at well.  

Very well done, Mike.

This photo of Santa Knapp was captured after the meeting. Notice the Koveted Kiwanis Koffee Kup?

Written by Lynn Barnes and Leigh Zeitz

Friday, December 15, 2017

The Last Pop of the Year

On Friday, December 15, we prepared to complete our final kettlecorn popfest of 2017. Unlike other events, this popping took place over at Gery Deaver's house. After we popped the kettlecorn, we drove the bags of gold over to the school so they could sell them and fund their programs.




 A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!


Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Stan Engel Shares the Story of his U.S. National Parks Tour

Wednesday, December 15, 2017 - One of our very own Kiwanian members, Stan Engel, shared he story of his Grand Tour of Ten National Parks covering 12 states, over 6800 miles, and over 31 days during last September!  Stan gave an enthusiastic talk on some of the most beautiful and untouched American real estate in the western United States. 

Originally Stan was going to his sister Pam’s wedding in Oregon and thought since he was going way out west anyway; why not do the national park tour and take in all the scenery in this once in a lifetime opportunity.  Stan and his lovely wife did it up right by getting a great cultural education and an up-front view of all the amazing natural wonderland not found anywhere in the world. 

Stan -- you made us Kiwanians green with envy!

Written by Lynn Barnes and Leigh Zeitz

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Wrapping Things Up for Christmas . . .

Wednesday, December 6, 2017 - Every year, our Kiwanis Rough Risers club adopts a family for Christmas through the Salvation Army. This means that we raise the money, buy the presents, and wrap the gifts to put under their Christmas trees. This year we adopted two families.

We began by raising the money for the gifts. We "passed the envelope" around the room a few times to collect money from the members. Once we had collected the funds, specific members (and/or their spouses) volunteered to purchase gifts for each of the family members.  These gifts included specific items requested by the family members as well as gift cards to various stores.

Today, it was time to wrap the presents and deliver them to Santa.  This is always a fun day as we get to fold, crease, and tape paper around our gifts.  Below is a set of photos of our Rough Risers wrapping:












Friday, December 1, 2017

December will be Joyful!!!!

The best thing about December is that we get to share things with each other and with kids throughout the Cedar Valley. Our month begins with the wonderful Gift of Giving event. The rest of the month is filled with programs that share ideas and events.

December 2 - Gift of Giving
This is an annual event where we join together with the Cedar Valley JayCees to serve over 60 Cedar Valley youths. We meet at 6:30 AM at the UAW building in Waterloo. The kids arrive about 7:00. Adult members pair up with kids and we board buses to go to Blain's Farm and Fleet. Santa greets them at the door and the kids are given the opportunity to buy Christmas gifts for family members. There is a credit limit for each of them. After checking out, we return to Waterloo where they have breakfast and wrap their gifts. Their parents pick them up about 9:00 AM. A great time is had by all.

December 6 - Wrap Presents
This year we adopted 2 families through the Salvation Army. This is an annual event where members donate money towards purchasing gifts for the families. We will have a quick business meeting, but we will have much more fun wrapping the gifts.




December 13 - Stan Engel Cruises the Parks

This past year, our member - Stan Engel took a whole 6 weeks to travel the US with family. He visited relatives and National Parks. Today Stan will share the beautiful 
scenery and his amazing stories with us.





December 20 - The Mission of Grin and Grow Childcare Centers

Mike Knapp, Director of the Grin and Grow Childcare Centers in Waterloo, will share 
the mission of Grin and Grow Childcare Centers. We have been supporting Grin and Grow for over a dozen years.




                                                 

December 27 - Round Table Meeting

Now it's time to sit and talk. We never know how many members will join our breakfast in the holiday season. Therefore, we just sit "round" our tables and share our lives.