Woodbridge (VA) Kiwanis Club Activities
by Al Knehans
Officer Training Session For Club-Sponsored Youth Clubs
On last Thursday afternoon, 29 October, 2009, the Woodbridge Kiwanis Club hosted a training session for the officers of their Sponsored Youth Clubs, at the Hylton Boys & Girls Club in Dale City, VA. The purpose of the session to get all the club officers together in order to discuss the responsibilities of each officer, methods of conducting a meeting, and the types of school and community leadership and service activities that clubs could conduct. The preparation for the session agenda and the presentation of the topics of discussion was done totally by the officers of the Forest Park High School Key Club in Dale City. Both were done very well done, as the comments, questions, and answers continuously flowed back and forth between the officers and faculty advisors. One of the points of discussion, was the payment of dues. The faculty advisors stated that more students wanted to join their club, but could not afford to pay the dues. An added benefit of the session, was that the officers got to meet their counterparts at the other clubs. Refreshments were served at the end of session.
After the session, the faculty advisors were so impressed with the results, that they recommended that the training session be made an annual event and that it should be held a week or two before school starts; so the clubs agenda could be ready to function at their first meeting. If anyone is interested in getting a copy of the session agenda, please contact Shannon Geraghty, Faculty Advisor of the the Forest Park Key Club at e-mail: Geraghsm@pwcs.edu. The officers of the Forest Park Key Club are to be commended on their extensive comprehensive preparation of the training session. They also gained valuable experience in the developing the effort and expertise necessary to finalize the session. Many thanks for a performance very well done!!
Club Participates in the Dumfries, VA Fall Festival
On a rain threatening Saturday, 24 October, 2009, the Woodbridge (VA) Kiwanis Club participated in the 8th Annual Dumfries Fall Festival at Merchant Park in Dumfries, VA. The purpose of their participation was to let the people of Prince William County, VA, know what the Kiwanis Club does for their community. To attract people to their booth, the Club handed out free Kiwanis peanuts. At the booth, members discussed the function of our club, handed out our business card, along with a wallet sized calendar and a stick-on calendar for 2010, and asked if they were interested in joining our club. In spite of the constant threat of rain, the attendance at the festival was decent. Several people expressed an interest in joining the club. About 30 minutes before the event was scheduled to close, everybody suddenly packed up their tents and display items and rapidly left the area; as someone heard a report that a big storm was rapidly approaching. As the club members were arriving at their storage area, a tremendous rain storm hit the area. It was probably part of the same system that caused the Yankees/Angels baseball game to be canceled. In spite of the somewhat shortened event, the Club members had a great time in talking with the people and meeting old friends. Hopefully, the Club gained a few members.
Club Finishes its Peanut Sales Effort
During the last two weekends in September and the first three weekends of October, the Woodbridge Kiwanis Club conducted their annual peanut sales in the eastern part of Prince William County, Virginia. As in previous years, some of our Key Clubs also participated in the event; and, as usual, the aggressive nature and numerical advantage of the Key Clubs, resulted in very good sales for them. To help the Woodbridge Club, several members were very successful in getting businesses to take boxes of peanuts and give a donation to the club. Overall, the Club's peanut sales effort was very successful. One of the big problems was getting places to sell the peanuts; as most stores were already obligated to participate in fundraisers directed by their corporate headquarters. It would be very helpful to the Kiwanis peanut sales effort, if Kiwanis International, could get a major corporation (ie: Wal*Mart, Costco, Safeway, etc); to set aside three or four weekends of September or October for the individual Kiwanis clubs to have their peanut fundraiser.
