Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Rough Risers Support Grin n Grow Through RAGBRAI

Grin n Grow Child Care in Waterloo, Iowa, is a day care center that has been serving children for decades. Each year, Team Flamingo (teamflamingo.org) rides RAGBRAI with two intentions in mind. The first intention is to complete the 450+ mile ride safe and sound. The second intention is to raise money for scholarships for children (2 - 6 yrs old) at Grin n Grow.

Typically, Leigh Zeitz asks for support from the Cedar Falls Kiwanis Rough Risers members individually. They give generously and many children benefit. Today, it was announced that the Board of Directors for the club have decided to support Leigh (Z-Bird) $1 for every mile cycled "butt in the seat" on the route.  The route is 442 miles so this could be a hefty donation to Grin n Grow.

Thank you, Rough Risers!!

If you want to learn more about Team Flamingo or follow our blog to see what is happening, here are some sites you will want to view:

Team Flamingo website - Basic team information, list of the 22 team members taking part, and links to RAGBRAI information.
Team Flamingo Blog - This blog will be updated daily as the ride progresses. It should give you some photos and narrative of what is happening on the ride.

Here's hoping for good weather and wind at our backs . . .

UPDATE:  It should be noted that Leigh Zeitz rode his bike for 400 miles on RAGBRAI so the Rough Risers donated $400 to Grin n Grow.  Thank you.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

College Hill Arts Festival Another Success

Kids LOVE Kiwanis Kettlecorn . . . 
and we love them!!!

The greatest part about selling kettlecorn at the College Hill Arts Festival is the number of kids that visit our booth. They love the kettlecorn and we love the fact that every mouthful of kettlecorn they eat will place additional resources in their schools in the form of scholarships, programs and educational materials.

The July 16-17 selling opportunity in UNI's front yard was quite successful. We popped  350 pounds of kettlecorn kernals which yielded 176 bushels of popped corn. We earned over $2,486. It was a full house. Not only did we have 15  Rough Risers popping and bagging and selling over the two days, Kohl's sent in two teams of 5 members each to help us share our treats.  

Thank you, Kohl's!!

While the weather was good overall, our facilities were challenged by tornado-like winds that hit the park about 10:00 pm on Friday night. We returned to our selling site to find our tent (which was weighted down by 100 pounds of concrete anchors) had been blown into the food court.  One of the shelter tents in the entertainment park had been shredded. Rumor has it that one of the exhibitor's tents had been found in front of KwikStar down the hill. 

Who says that selling kettlecorn can't be exciting?

Sunday, July 4, 2010

4th of July in Waterloo is an Explosive Success!

Even with rain in the forecast, the Waterloo Jaycees Fireworks Festival was another success on July 3 for both The Cedar Falls Kiwanis Rough Risers AND the people of Waterloo.

Closing down Fourth Street from Commercial to Sycamore Streets, people staked out places where they would watch the firework displays. They ate and talked and frolicked while listening to local bands from 6:00 to midnight.

The Kiwanis Rough Risers were situated in front of the Courier at Commercial and 4th Streets.

The club began selling Kiwanis Kettlecorn at 5:00 and didn't stop until midnight. The demand was high and they rarely had an opportunity to rest their weary bones.

All in all,  the club popped ?? pounds of kettleorn and earned $????

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Rough Risers Sell a Busload at Sturgis Falls

We are at it again . . .

Year after year the Cedar Falls Kiwanis Rough Risers sell Kiwanis Kettlecorn at the Sturgis Falls Celebration. Our kettlecorn has become a staple food of the celebration. Enjoying our freshly-popped kettlecorn is an annual tradition that many locals relish each year.

We enjoy Sturgis Falls as our biggest event of the year. During these three days of celebration we pop more kettlecorn and make more people smile as they crunch our culinary delicacy than any other event in the year.

This success in making people happy with our kettlecorn has another wonderful result. We earned $5,805 that we will be able to donate to support programs throughout the Cedar Valley.