Upcoming Meetings

Our club meets in the Dahm Heritage Room at Pickard Commons on the Ripon College campus at noon on Tuesdays, unless otherwise noted.

Tuesday, Dec. 7,
Club Meeting
Committee Meetings

Thursday, Dec. 9,
Board Meeting
Noon, Mihaly Room, Pickard Commons.

Tuesday, Dec. 14,
Club Meeting
Danelle Phillips will speak on the 2011 Lighten Your Load program.

Upcoming Events

Thursday, Dec. 9,
4:30 p.m.
Cheese packing at
Immanuel United
Methodist Church

Thursday, Dec. 9,
6:00 p.m.
New member induction - Immanuel UMC

Club Leadership

President
Paul Nulton

President-Elect
Richard Zimman

Vice-President
Mellisa Wipijewski

Secretary
Kristy Sadlon

Treasurer
Bob Meyer

Past President
Tonya Alling

Board of Directors
Barb Evensen (2011)
Linda Putzer (2011)
Steve Sorenson (2011)
Emily Dinegan (2012)
Tom Keuler (2012)
Ian Stepleton (2012)
Jenny Machkovich (2013)
Rich Scamehorn (2013)
Danelle Phillips (2013)

Committee Chairs

Fundraising
Richard Zimman

Youth Services
Sue Meyer

Sponsored Programs
Rick Bunge
Jack Christ
Kristy Sadlon
Tim Scottberg

Community Services
Herm

Young Child Priority One
Ian

Club Meetings
Mellisa Wipijewski

Membership Growth
and Education
Tonya Alling

This Week’s Meeting

Attendance: 18 members and 2 guests

Guests 

Joy Masters was the guest of John Olson.

Brent Wojnowski from Advocap was our program speaker.

Announcements 

Say Cheese!
We will pack cheese on Thursday, December 9 at Immanual United Methodist Church. Key Club members will arrive at 3:30 to build boxes and Kiwanians are asked to arrive between 4:30 and 5:00 when the actual packing will get underway.

New Member Induction
We have several new members to install, some of whom cannot make it to a noon meeting. We are therefore planning on installing members at 6:00 p.m. during the cheese pack at Immanuel United Methodist Church. Our new members are: Phil Karsnia, Joe Michels, Mark Alling, Katherine Vergos, Mark Edinger and (possibly) Peggy Hutchings. We will also hold an induction ceremony at an upcoming noon meeting for those who cannot make it on Thursday.

Salvation Army Bell Ringing
Kiwanians and Aktion Club members will be busy on Friday, December 3 and Saturday, December 4 at the Pick 'n Save. Thank you to everyone who signed up and rang dem bells.

Dickens of a Christmas Caroling
Noon Kiwanians will sing in front of Diedrich Jeweler's on Friday night during the Dickens of a Christmas festivities.

To Dog or Not to Dog . . .
Note: This information in included in two consecutive Noon News issues because we want all members to weigh in!

A motion was made at the November board meeting to take $9,000 from our foundation investments (balance is approximately $65,000) to fund the Ripon Police Department K-9 officer replacement. A second part of the motion included budgeting $1000 per year over the next ten years as an ongoing replacement fund, so that the money is on hand to replace a future K-9 officer without further reducing our investment funds.

There was some discussion, both for and against the idea. The chief opposition was two-fold: 1) should our Kiwanis Club be funding something which some folks may feel is an obligation which should be paid for with tax dollars; 2) does funding the police dog align with our Kiwanis mission of serving the children of the world. Those supportive of the idea felt that the police dog does benefit children in our community, through locker searches, demonstrations at schools and learning centers, and in general just keeping the "bad guys" off the streets and making Ripon a safer place. A point was made that if our club funds the RPD K-9, it would be an easily identifiable effort of our club, from a public relations standpoint.

After some discussion, a new motion was made to table the first motion, with the understanding that member feedback would be solicited so that we may reach a consensus of what members want before the board votes.

If you have an opinion, please email it to Paul Nulton or come to a noon meeting and speak up!

Happy Bucks

Danelle Phillips took her pastor's recent sermon on grumbling to heart and was happy that she was doing well with her personal anti-grumbling initiative.

Ken Koffarnus was happy to have sold over 20 boxes of cheese and was looking for someone to deliver it for him. Sue Meyer graciously volunteered to do so.

Matt Lueptow was happy "just because".

Richard Zimman was happy to celebrate his father's 90th birthday in Boston over the Thanksgiving weekend and mentioned that there was no frisking involved as he passed through airport security.

Marge Burling told a joke about double negatives and double positives, the punch line being "yeah, right". You had to be there . . .

Queen of Spades 50/50 Raffle

Herm Leitz' number was drawn. With $115.50 in the pot, Herm drew the seven of clubs and won squat. Next week's pot starts at $115.50 with 39 cards left in the deck and the Queen of Spades still in hiding. Note: we didn't have a photo available, so the above photo is from Herm's lucky draw on October 12.

Today’s Program:
Fond du Lac County RSVP Opportunities

Brent Wojnowski, from the Fond du Lac County Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), a division of Advocap, was our speaker. RSVP is a national program for those ages 55 and older to volunteer. This segment of the population brings "a wealth of life experience" to volunteering.

Benefits of becoming an RSVP-certified volunteer are: 1) mileage reimbursement for volunteer activities, 2) secondary accident and liability insurance, and 3) recognition at periodic meetings, banquets or lunches.

Currently, volunteer opportunities range from being a mentor for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, a BRAVE program tutor in the Ripon Schools, various positions with the Boys and Girls Club the Fond du Lac Senior Center, Hospice Advantage, Habitat for Humanity as well as quite a few others.

The RSVP program is looking for opportunities for volunteering. Since becoming the chair of this program, Brent has placed 50 volunteers throughout Fond du Lac County. His goal for 2011 is to place 150 volunteers.

Brent has a degree in economics from UW-Oshkosh and worked for UW-O and the American Red Cross before joining Advocap as the director of the RSVP program. When he's not working for Advocap, Brent is the Moraine Park Technical College evening manager and lives with his dog, Gus, in Oshkosh.