August 6, 2003

The patriotic song for the August 6^th meeting was led by Eddie Painter; the pledge by Julie Dauzat; prayer by David Cresson; and introductions made by Brandt Edwards.

The guests included Jeff Koonce's youngest daughter and Ralph Schmidt, a former past president of our club.  Steve Brown received a pin for being a great past president. 

The announcements were made by Jodi Moscona, and he reminded us that the club dinner social will cost $25.00 and be held on August 23 at Ashley Manor Plantation.  The menu was selected for the dinner portion of the evening.  Also a reminder that the club’s board meeting is on Tuesday, August 12. We will discuss the Marriott’s luncheon price increase and the possibility of exploring a new location.  Officer's training for the club will be on Saturday, August 9.  Maps to the Pennington Balloon Festival were also dispersed.

Our Speaker was Brian Kelley of the Louisiana Ice Gators Hockey team.  Brian was a Notre Dame grad but we will try not to hold that against him too much.  In fact, Jodi was proud to display his N.D. Dad's key chain, which Brian informed him that his own father displays on a regular basis as well. 

In any event, Brian discussed the recent fold of Ice Hockey in New Orleans and the Baton Rouge markets.  He also stated that Baton Rouge would now be a targeted market and/or territory that the Ice Gators would hope to pull fans from.  Brian said there are plenty of dates on the team's schedule that don't interfere with the LSU football or basketball schedules.  

Mr. Kelley discussed that Lafayette's team has an affiliation with the NHL's Minnesota Wild and the importance of call-ups in the Minor league sports scene.  The final point mentioned by Kelley was the possibility of playing an exhibition game in the Centroplex next season.

The jackpot rolled over.

J.B.

K-Facts

History
The first Kiwanis club was organized in Detroit, Michigan, USA on January 21, 1915. A year later the Kiwanis Club of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, was chartered, and Kiwanis International grew rapidly into a leading service club in these two founding nations. In 1962, worldwide expansion was approved, and today Kiwanis clubs are active in every part of the world.

Motto
"We Build."

Number of clubs and members
There are more than 8,200 Kiwanis clubs with nearly 300,000 members in more than 80 nations and geographic areas.

Type of membership
Active or retired business and professional men and women.

The "average" Kiwanian
The average Kiwanis member is 55.1 years old, a college graduate, married, and a homeowner. He or she is an owner or manager of a firm in the $25 million or less range.

Women in Kiwanis
Membership was opened to women in 1987. There are now more than 51,000 women members, and 1 in 7 club presidents is a woman.

Kiwanis youth organizations
Kiwanis International sponsors several service clubs for young people: Circle K International has 11,000 members on 570 university and college campuses; Key Club International has 215,000 members in 4,600 high schools; and Builders Clubs have been organized in 2,000 junior high and middle schools. Other members of the Kiwanis family include K-Kids in elementary schools, young European adults in Kiwanis Junior, and Aktion Club, which involves persons with disabilities in community-service activities.