Gov. Elect Having an Interesting Season

by Gov. Elect Tom Varner

This has been an interesting winter season for me as our Governor-Elect. In January, I flew to Denver for the Service Leadership Programs Administrator training and Phase II of the Governor-Elect training. The last weekend I was in Northern Virginia attending the combined Capital District Midwinter and the CKI 50th Anniversary celebration.

In February, it was back to northern Virginia to attend the Key Club District Convention. Wow, being in the same hotel with over 800 of our best high school students is an unbelievable experience. The student leaders do an excellent job of running this annual event.

Then in March, I started the second weekend with a TAG/Growth workshop her in Richmond. Four of us attended this meeting and have many new ideas for club growth and for expanding Kiwanis. The third weekend I spent at Smith Mountain Lake training 15 of the 21 members of my 2010-2011 class of Lieutenant Governors. What a good group of Kiwanis Leaders.

Finally, the weekend on the 24th I was at the Arlington Echo education center with over 85 Key Leader students, 10 Student Leaders, and 16 adults. If this is the key to our future leaders, our world will be an improvement over what we are doing today.

The Capital district is very fortunate to have some many outstanding youth that we support. I would be remiss if I did not also give praise to our District Administrators who work tirelessly so that these programs are available for the young people. CKI Administrator Jeff Wolff, Key Club Administrator Joe Stankus, and Key Leader Administrator Nicole McDermott all do an outstanding job.

We are slowly adding Lieutenant Governors to our team. We now have 16 confirmed and only three divisions without a Lieutenant Governor - Division 10 has not elected a Lieutenant Governor and I do not have a commitment from Divisions 15 and 16 that the incumbents are returning in 2010-2011.

It is no secret that The District Board is considering proposing a dues increase to the House of Delegates in August. I would ask one favor of each club and Kiwanian: do not jump to conclusions based on rumors and innuendos. The Board has prepared a PowerPoint slide show to explain why the increase is proposed. The Board is attempting to provide presentations in all of the Regions so that everyone can ask questions and give the Board feedback. At the meeting, with information from our Regions we will discuss and recommend the best solution to the House of Delegates. If you do not have a meeting scheduled in your Region, contact your Trustee and/or Lieutenant Governor and request that they provide a meeting.

Have a great spring and summer in Kiwanis. It is a beautiful time to serve.

Tom Varner
Governor-Elect