Friday, June 30, 2017

July Programs are HOT!!


July will be filled with informative and relevant presentations.


July 12- David Else, retired UNI Education Prof and Barb Else, retired remedial reading elementary teacher, will discuss their book, " For All the Small Schools."  It covers the many small rural schools around Iowa.

July 19- Barb Sanders, Director of Hope 4 Healing, will discuss "Quakerdale and Hope 4 Healing"  She will share the projects that they support to "Encourage hope, faith, growth in the families and communities" they serve.

July 26 - Nathan Christensen, UNI Assistant Athletic Director for Development, will provide an Update on UNI Athletics and the exciting year we have ahead of us.

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

The Highs and Lows of Meteorology - Alan Czarnetzki

June 14, 2017 - We really enjoyed Alan Czarnetzki's overview of modern weather forecasting today. Dr. Czarnetzki is a Professor of Meteorology at the University of Northern Iowa and president of our club.  He covered meteorology methods that ranged from basic (e.g., what temperatures are typical this time of year?) to sophisticated (e.g., computer simulations). He also shared a bit about his early interest in weather (he began recording daily observations and forecasts at age 10) and how children's books on weather helped that interest grow.

It's always interesting to hear about our own members' professions.  There is such a breadth of interests in our club.

I must admit that this presentation reminded me of an age-old meteorological adage, "There's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing."
Written by Leigh Zeitz and Alan Czarnetzki 

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

John Bermel Gives Us the Swing of Golfing

June 21, 2017 - John Bermel, PGA professional (and director) at the Pheasant Ridge golf course, shared his experience as the UNI golf coach and his golfing adventures in general.  John is also the golf coach for UNI and he was joined by three of his top women golfers: Hailey Bermell, Hannah Bermell, and Taylor.

The presentation began with Hailey and Hannah sharing that they began riding golf carts when they were 2 years old and grew up "on the golf course."  They practiced every night from 3 - 5:00 and it resulted in winning high school state championships repeatedly. Constant practice and perfection lead to academic success too with the women reporting that they had high school GPAs of 4.1, 4.0 and 4.12.

John shared some experiences with running the Pheasant Ridge golf course.  Recently he leased the the course from the City of Cedar Falls and has been upgrading the course to improve the golfing experience.  It has resulted in more golfers and better games.  

John Bermel is also a strong supporter for the Jerry Slykhuis Golfing Event on July 15. He will be hosting the event at the Pheasant Ridge course and was close friend of Jerry's.   Written by Leigh Zeitz

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Kassidi Poots Shares the Eucalyptus Tree - Children's Grief Program

Kassidi Poots
June 14, 2017 - Kassidi Poots from the Cedar Valley Hospice - Grief Services Unit presented us with a unique and little-known children's grief program, called the Eucalyptus Tree.  

The grief services are available on a no-charge basis to all the Cedar Valley Community citizens.  Kassidi gave a briefing about a special youth service grief camp that is available for children, so they can make every moment count in their life.  They have several certified professional Counselor and Chaplin staff members on hand to provide a variety of specialized grief support as needed to help the family cope through the grieving process.

She acquainted us with the Program Ambassadors (Katy & Quincy Koala), because kids handle grief differently than do adults.  They use Katy and Quincy Koala with children less than 9 years old that face difficult end-of-life situations.  With Katy and Quincy, their intention, as grief mentors. is to help children cope with the loss of a loved one using play therapy and also the 5 pattern steps of grief counseling.  

This is a valuable service to our children and we want to thank Kassidi and her team for their work.
Written by Lynn Barnes

Monday, June 12, 2017

June Programs are Really in the Swing!


June programs will swing with fun. 



June 14: Kassidi Poots from Cedar Valley Hospice will share their Eucalyptus Tree Children's Grief program. 







June 21: John Bermell, PGA professional at Pheasant Ridge golf course, will present a program on golf. Pheasant Ridge golf changes, UNI men's and women's golf, the Slykhuis Memorial Golf outing, and whatever else he wants to tell us about golf in the Cedar Valley. 








June 28: Alan Czarnetzki, UNI professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences (and president of Rough Risers) will present a program on weather forecasting. Will he tell us how to whether the weather unless we want the rain to reign, the wind to whine, and the hail to hail?   Snow telling . . .

Saturday, June 10, 2017

The Castle Hill Playground has been Conquered.

Wednesday, June 7, 2017 - After 133 hours of work and 60 gallons of stain, we are happy to report that the Castle Hill Playground project has been completed.  It looks GREAT!!!!  Special thanks for all who participated - especially to Marv Heller who coordinated the project and did a great deal of work behind the scenes.


Marv Heller, Tony Reid, Nick Teig & Stan Engel
Beginning on April 22, this interclub project involved stain, brushes, rollers, bottles of water and a whole lot of "sweat equity."  The Waterloo Community School District provided the tangible materials while the Cedar Valley Kiwanis Clubs provided the "energy."




This project was headed by Marv Heller but its completion included 22 Rough Risers, 3 Early Risers, and 3 members from the Waterloo Noon club. The Rough Risers worked 111 hours and the other two clubs contributed another 22 hours.

The funny thing was that neighborhood kids continually came over to play on the playground so you know that it is a valued asset. Marv said that "One of the neighbor ladies stop to talk to us...she helped build it.  She was very happy to see it get some maintenance attention."

This project met a number of Kiwanis goals. It benefitted the youth and community.  It united multiple clubs in a common event.  It was a Positive Influence. It made the world a better place.


Well Done, Kiwanians!!!!


Written by Leigh Zeitz

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Let's Build a Treehouse at Hartman Reserve

May 31, 2017 - We had a very special speaker last Wednesday at the Kiwanis Rough Risers Club proceedings. Our featured speaker was our very own Club member, Tim Jones, a retired architect and President of the Board of Hartman Nature Reserve.  

Tim wanted to share the news on the remodeling and upgrade projects for the Nature Center and then went on to requesting help from our Club about re-purposing some donated and pre-loved custom made barrister bookcase shelves to hold all the Center's book collections on flower, fauna, fin, fur, and feather subjects.  

Let's Build a Treehouse: The best part was when Tim wanted to get our input to help build a youth tree/fun house that Tim was in the process of designing that would be the showcased focal point when entering the Nature Center. The Club wanted to discuss this topic further before making our decision on the undertaking this huge task.  

Thanks Tim, you did a great job designing and formulating this very creative and kid-friendly section for Hartman Reserve!   Written by Lynn Barnes