December Tex-O Key

the

Tex-OKey December 2012 Volume 1 Issue 1

Official Publication of the Texas-Oklahoma District of Key Club International

the

SPIRIT ofService visit our website at www.tokeyclub.com

Look in on the results of Key Clubs in Texas-Oklahoma and the great things they are doing during the holiday season.

1 1

volume

issue

in this issue of:

the official

Tex-OKey District

International

Clubs

3 District Governor’s Report 4 District Editor’s Letter 5 Governor’s Project 6 Contribution Page 7 LTG Ad 7 DCON Forum Application 8 DCON 10 District Project 12 Dues 13 8 Steps to Pay your Dues 14 Keyleader

17 International Update 18 T-O Service Ambassadors

19 Paid Clubs 22 Doing What’s Right 22 Every Member Matters 23 Cypress Ranch Teams up with the Houston Rockets 24 Yummy Service 25 Starting a Committee 26 Winter Break Ideas 32 Key Club Week Details 35 Top 25 Clubs 36 Next Issue Assignments

DISTRICT INTERNATIONAL CLUBS

District DISTRICT

Governor’s

Report

Hey what’s up!

If you have questions, just call or email me at

512-705-1707 governor@tokeyclub.com

This time of the year is a busy one with college applications, school, holidays and family, but I hope that you will all keep in mind one of the most important deadlines we have ap proaching, and that is the deadline of due submissions.

Although “early bird” dues and on-time dues have already passed, please be assured that this does not mean anything horrific for your club, yet. Read through the dues section of the Tex-O Key for a detailed explanation of how you can pay your dues! You still have time, and please know that it is not your fault. There have been many changes to the system this year by international, and we apologize, but it will be worked out for your club as we’re here for you 24/7. Whether it is your Lieutenant Governor, our District Treasurer Maci Slater or even me, we all want to see your membership rise, and we’re here to help support you in any way we can!

With the temperature dropping, we must make sure that our club activities don’t freeze up. We have many things to face in the coming months on the club and district level, and the biggest obstacle is definitely the extended Winter Break.

Be sure to communicate with your members, hold events, and rekindle their interest when school resumes. The holidays are a great time to relax and enjoy the time, but try dedicating a little bit of time to others in the spirit of giving; this will also help your club remain active throughout the break and ensure that all momentum is not lost coming back from break.

H

ey Key Clubbers!

Over the past 6 months, it has been my pleasure to serve you as Governor of this amazing District. Now, I have the pleasure of introducing our newly vamped Tex--O Key for what we hope will be a useful tool to you and your clubs. Information from the District and updates from our amazing clubs make this all possible, and I hope you all enjoy it. I encourage you to write for the next issue as this is a collection of you guys and the great work we all do.

Once December is over, we’ll be welcoming a new year of ser vice and just 4 short months until District Convention. In this time, many of you will be completing the District Project and the Governor’s Project, fundraising for DCON, and attending events like Divisional Election Conferences to elect next year’s District Board, not to mention completing your school work and finishing college applications. Take the Win ter Break as officers to plan the rest of the year for your club and how you can make the greatest impact on your communities and your clubs. I highly encourage you all to attend District Convention, as this event can spark a new awareness for your club and is certainly a great way to celebrate both the completion of a great year and even better one ahead. I hope to see you all there and I hope you enjoy our Tex-O Key, check back in next month for a new issue!

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Hi

everyone!

A Word from your District Editor

I am very very pleased to be your new District Editor for the Texas and Oklahoma District! I will do my very best to publish every Tex-O Key to your liking.

I wish to inform you that articles are truly important to the contribution of the Tex-O-Key. Without your help, it would be extremely difficult to do my job. So thank you for being a big help!

And for those of you that haven’t turned in articles, you re ally should! Well-written articles will give you points for your club and popularity if they get into the Tex-O Key! Wouldn’t it feel great if you saw your name or a picture of yourself in the Texas-Oklahoma official newsletter?

Exactly! So please, don’t hesitate to turn in articles when you can!

My format for club articles: The maximum club articles for a month will still be 5.

My standards for a well-written article: One article that includes atleast one picture (send as many as you want!) and a title.

Always elaborate on the event you choose to write about and descriptively highlight the results.

From your District Editor, Grace Liu

contact information:

editor@tokeyclub.com got any questions? call here!

4 Tex-O Key December 2012

send your articles here!

817-962-8945

DISTRICT INTERNATIONAL CLUBS

DISTRICT governor project graphic

5 Tex-O Key December 2012

contribution page Table of Contents Picture Lamar Key Club Governor’s Project Jennifer Kay Tuggle Hinze LTG Advertisement Brian O’ Hara DCON Flyers Roshni Chandwani District Project Carolina Hernandez Dues Maci Slater T-O Ambassadors Page Brian O’Hara Articles

Louis Kirkley Shivani Doshi

6 Tex-O Key December 2012

Hannah Bielefeldt Connor Brown Andrew Liguez Laura Motard KangDi Li Jennifer Kay Tuggle Hinze Shelby Adams Christina Koo Marissa Moncada Unnu Shukla Carolina Hernandez Kayleen Cantu Kellie Nguyen Priscilla Lam Nathaly Apirico Naveen Kaur Singh Gabriela Segura

Are you interested in running for LTG?

CONTACT YOUR ltg TODAY

don’t know your division or ltg?

contact governor@ tokeyclub.com

eLECTIONS ARE HELD IN jANUARY ADN FEBRUARY You must fill out proper forms before

Be cool. run for LTG.

...and be a dues paying member!

Club Forum Application Hello T-O!

At the 2013 District Convention, three lucky clubs will get the chance to teach a forum in front of numerous DCON attendees! Basically, each forum will be about 50 minutes long and will be about a predetermined topic. The three club forums this year will be Icebreakers, Fundraising, and Stress Management. As a club, decide which topic you want to teach, brainstorm different ways to teach it, and apply to teach the forum!

The club forum application will be sent out by your respective Lieutenant Governor by December 5th, and the due date for applications will be January 4th. You have about a month to complete and send in the application; make sure to send in only one application per club. Now, you may be wondering why you should apply to teach a forum. Well, the answer is simple. By teaching a forum, you will be able to spread your ideas throughout the district, facilitate the growth of new, up-andcoming clubs, and most of all, have a blast doing so! Ask any past DCON forum attendees or any past DCON forum teachers about the amazing time they had while teaching a forum. And if you think your club is interested, make sure you apply!

Sincerely, Roshni Chandwani T-O Convention Liaison

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District Project The Eliminate Project makes an international impact by helping mothers around the globe with maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT). An average of US $1.80 is all it takes to cure a mother and her future children

from the deathly MNT. The Eliminate Project allows Key Club members to focus on the future of infants and children around the globe.

It not only benefits the unborn, but also the mothers that carry the infants.

Every nine minutes, an infant dies from neonatal tetanus. Knowing this fact, the Key Club International has made a goal to reach $110 million dollars by 2015. Do your part to protect the connection. Do your part to keep families together. Do your part to change the world.

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DISTRICT INTERNATIONAL CLUBS

DISTRICT

}

dues dues duesdues dues dues dues dues

Well Hello T-O!

I hope you have all been enjoying your first semester at school!

For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Maci Slater, and I am your Texas- Oklahoma District Treasurer!

I know it is a busy time of the year, but it is VERY important that you and your club pay dues. Did you know that if your club does NOT submit their dues to international, you will not be able to: • Attend DCON • Have a vote in your Division Election Conference (DEC) where you vote for your Lt. Governor • Run for Lt. Governor of your division and your club will be deemed as suspended So as you can see, paying your dues should be at the top of your list! Now, I know some of you have been having trouble with the new Membership Update Center (MUC). Just understand that you aren’t the only one! For step-by-step instructions on how to get a new password, contact your LT. Governor or me today! There is also a step-by-step video that I would be glad to send to you! The cost per member is $12.50. The $12.50 per member is what you must submit to international. So please, please PAY YOUR DUES! I am always here if you need me, just a text or email away!

Yours in service, Maci Slater District Treasurer

12Tex-O Key December 2012

How to pay your dues For Advisors and Officers

1)

in 9 steps:

The first step is to identify if your club has been having trouble getting into the system.

2)

You have two options from here. Either way you have to wait at least 1 hour because the system has to process the initial change.

5)

a) You can wait 1 hour, get your faculty advisor to go to www.keyclub. org/MUC, and then type in your email.

You will recieve a hyper link to your email within 30 seconds. If it takes longer than 15 minutes, definitely skip to option b. If not, you should be able to type in the password of your choice and then be able to log into the system freely.

WOO! b) If not, you can call them back requesting them to set up a temporary password like “keyclub1” or something.

You can do this over the phone if the link doesn’t work. In personal experience, this may actually be faster than waiting for the hyperlink.

6)

Either way, you should be into the MUC now! Congratulations! Now just type in your member info, and print the invoice. You should be in within no time!

Get your faculty advisor to send an email to memberservices@kiwanis.org.

Make sure you cc your Lt. Governor.

They can draft a sample email to you.

3)

It might be a couple days of waiting, but when your faculty advisor recieves the change, immediately call 1800KIWANIS (1-800-549-2647).

4)

Press 1 on your key pad to select the first menu option (you want to talk to a representative).

Then say, “Hi. I’m _____ ,and I’m an officer for Key Club. My club is having trouble getting their password situated.

Can you help me?”

She will ask for the club ID number (ask your Lt. Governor for this). She will confirm with you that the sponsor is correct. If they have yet to make the change, they will ask you to simply forward the email to your faculty advisor sent to their private email address. They will give you this email over the phone.

7)

8) 9)

Once you’re in, you can update your membership information while watching this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gV47UE5uas) and it will explain the entire process.

They will then make the change.

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Discover who you are.

1

Find out more.

2

Get signed up.

Go to Key Leader.

3 4 5

‘‘

Go to www.key-leader.org to see a sample schedule, dates, and locations for Key Leader programs across the world. Let your parents or school advisors know you’d like to go.

A school, Kiwanis club, community organization, church group, family, or others can cover the US$175 fee. Find out if scholarships are available.

Register at www.key-leader.org.

Make new friends.

Most students who attend Key Leader events fill up their MySpace and Facebook pages with new friends from their communities, their home regions, and beyond!

Plan to have fun.

Key Leader is not school. You’ll learn a lot, but you won’t be sitting at a desk. You might be dancing, climbing, or singing songs around a campfire. And you’ll be getting in touch with what’s really important in life—and what’s really important to you.

Get involved!

Use your new skills to change someone’s life.

Get involved with your community or school.

If you’re in 11th or 12th grade you can volunteer to help run a Key Leader event. Sign up at www.key-leader.org.

Key Leader creates a comfortable setting that helps everyone discover talents

‘‘

Test your limits. Set goals.

Here’s how you can get involved in Key Leader.

within themselves. It was the spark that changed who I was and paved a brighter future for who I can become.

— Erich Sneller, Nebraska-Iowa district governor, Key Club of Sioux Center High School

—

KeyLeader information Date: January 18th-20th Location: Glen Rose Date: February 1st-3rd Location: Glen Rose Date: April 19th-21st Location: Huntsville, Carolina Creek, Texas

Date: May 17th-19th Location: Kingston, Cross Point Camp, Oklahoma

COST $145 for Key Clubbers $170 for non-Key Clubbers $85 for student facilitators

16Tex-O Key December 2012

DISTRICT INTERNATIONAL CLUBS

INTERNATIONAL

UPDATE

Texas-Oklahoma’s International Trustee Kayla Lash

Hershey presentation focused on the Track and Field Games and introduced the leadership team they developed to create a new event for people of all ages to become active. The Eliminate presentation really focused on the strategic planning of how to reach the ultimate goal of 110 million dollars and how much the Kiwanis SLPs should be expected to contribute.

As for committee work, many great things were accomplished. All three committee received new directives because so many were completed. These new directives will be released soon. As an International Board, we approved the following committee work:

Education and Development: Resources being made about recruiting Builder’s Clubs, a Key Solution defining the position of Club Director, a faculty advisor workshop program, and an Online Service Fair of project ideas.

Finally, for International Board Business, we approved the appointments to the three International Special Committees: the Global Task Force, Bylaw Review Team, and Service Ambassadors.

It was an amazing weekend full of great memories, hard work, and dedication to Key Club. I could not be more excited about everything that we accomplished and November 15th-18th was the InterExecutive Committee- The Eliminate SLP cannot wait until our next board meeting national Board’s Winter Board Meeting.

Subcommittee appointments, the entertain- in February!

We used this opportunity to its utmost ment and speaker for International Conpotential and really got a lot done for our vention, the oratory topic for the 2012-13 organization. Thursday evening, we all year, and finally, the elections policy change arrived in Indianapolis, and the Executive requiring that candidates from an InternaCommittee met. Friday, we worked with a tional District running for an International staff member on discussing the future of Position need to have proof of proper Key Club international, had a presentation traveling documents. from Hershey, and finally had our 6 hour committee meetings. Saturday, we had our Communications Committee- The Faofficial board meeting, an Eliminate prescebook cover photos, the reorganization entation, and finally a board round table outline of the resources on the Internationdiscussion. al Website, the planning for the new Key The discussion of Key Club’s future Club promotional video, and new video looked critically at Key Club’s growth verideas for Key TV. sus Kiwanis’ shrinking membership. Some ideas proposed as solutions were combinReach Committee- Research of potential ing some of Kiwanis’ Service Leadership sponsors, an “At a Glance” Promotional Programs into one unit or changing the piece that sums up Key Club in one page, K-Family to more of a network where all and an instruction resource that will teach of the branches are equal. The Key Club districts how to make a map of the clubs International Board’s feedback will be an within their district. important part of future decisions. The

EMAIL:

kayla.lash@gmail. com

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paid clubs

45 clubs 2,683 members

Allen

Cleburne

Holdinville

Broken Arrow

Cy-Ranch

Sulphur

Byron P. Steele II

Dekalb

Santa Fe

Cedar Park

Dobie

Union

Duncan

Goose Creek

W.E. Boswell

Elk City

Henderson

Guthrie

Huntsville

Jarrell

Jenks

Mineola

Kingwood Park

Robert E. Lee (Tyler

Lampasas

Lee)Sachse

Legacy Christian

Saginaw

Liberty Eylau

Texas Senior

Marine Military

Vandergrift

Port Aransas

West High

Street School

Academy High

Venus

Booker T. Washing-

Brownwood

ton

Broken Bow

Bullard

Cascia Preparatory

Chisum

Davis

This list updates weekly, so don’t worry if your club has paid but isn’t on the list yet!

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INTERNATIONAL one day...

UPDA

all babies will be born healthy.

20Tex-O Key December 2012

ma

ATE

archforbabies.org/oneday21 Tex-O Key December 2012

Are you there for the service or the hours?

{

This month, I had the joy of going to C.A.M (Cypress Assistance Ministries). to package food for the needy for Thanksgiving. It took me a while to find it among three different C.A.M. buildings in the same location, but once I arrived, the atmosphere in the building was awesome and ideal for volunteering. The people there had the heart to serve their own community, and I went there hoping the other Cypress Falls Key Clubbers and I would do the same. Throughout the event, we were having fun while serving the community together, and the experience was awesome. However, some conflicts did arise as we approached the end of the event,

DOING WHAT’S RIGHT

DISTRICT INTERNATIONAL CLUBS

CLUBS

l by Louis Kirkley, Cypress Falls Key Club

Don’t just have the mind of a Key Clubber.

Have the heart of one too.

but we were able to do what’s right for the community and for ourselves.

Upon arriving there, I began to help by organizing different foods by the type of food and their expiration dates (Ex: Corn, 2014). As I was volunteering, I was becoming slightly discouraged. The reason for this was that I was the first person there until 5-10 minutes after the event started.

It seemed that we didn’t have many volunteers, but soon after those people came in, more Key Clubbers were coming. By the time everyone had arrived, there were around 15 to 20 volunteers for the event.

I’m sure the sheer number of volunteers lifted everyone’s

spirits as we volunteered together to organize the food coming in from packages and a truck. Once everyone got into it and worked together, we made an awesome team. We worked so well together that we managed to finish organizing the food an hour early. After being dismissed by the people who worked there, we decided to sign out of our event sheet.

However, some conflict arose from that.

There were a small number of volunteers who were not content that we finished organizing the food an hour early and wanted to be given the full 2 hours they expected to volunteer for. They talked with the officers in

charge of the event and were wondering if they could still sign out for the two hours.

The officers were being honest and said that we were still all signing out at the correct time.

However, they were being persistent. Those officers and I were able to say that they could only get extra time if they somehow managed to find something to do. In the end, we were able to resolve the issue. Overall, the whole experience was great, but we all have to remember to have integrity in what we do and remind ourselves we aren’t just volunteering for service hours.

We are volunteering to serve our community and those around us.

Every Member Matters

an ELIMINATE Project Success Story

l by Shivani Doshi, Elkins Keyclub

The Eliminate Project is a campaign that the entire Kiwanis Family knows well. We are all committed to eliminate Maternal Neonatal Tetanus by 2015 and thus saving 129 million lives. Even with the tangible knowledge that every $1.80 saves a mother and her future children, we still seem to overlook the impact each member can make. As our officer team at Elkins High School was planning this year’s activities, we were determined to really support this global cause whilst empowering our members. We wanted to show them that they were valued, and that they can truly make a difference upon joining.

We decided to keep our dues at a minimum, yet request members to make a donation in increments of $1.80.

We explained that each $1.80 donated would save one mother and all of her future children (approximately three lives). Donations came in from our members. Many donated the bare minimum of $1.80, whilst many found it gratifying to donate the whole number of $9.00. This would provide five mothers with the three doses of the life-saving vaccine.

When it seemed that everyone had finished donating, we felt that the members still didn’t really see the impact that they made. Because of this, we decided to line their envelopes across the entire classroom before the club meeting. We also took time to arrange the donations in the shape of a key, and other fun arrangement. Members had fun with this, but more importantly, each envelope symbolized the three lives that were saved because of their donations. As members walked in, our officer team heard comments like, “Wow, we did that. Key Club made a difference”. It was inspiring to see them smile and realize that small things add up. Every member matters. It really helped set the mood of an amazing service year!

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l by Hannah Bielefeldt, Cypress Ranch Key Club Cypress Ranch Key Club loves to volunteer with the Houston Rockets basketball team and is thankful to have been able to volunteer at many major events hosted by the Rockets in our Key Club’s five-year history. In the past, our club has helped man All-Star Balloting booths at Rockets games and served up refreshments for runners at the Rockets annual Rockets Run. This year for the first time, our Key Club was invited to work the season home opener!

Our club was excited to team up with the Rockets again this year for the 11th annual Rockets Run. The popular 5K run also features a 2-mile walk and a 1K race for kids.

Sponsored by the “Rockets Give Back” charities, all proceeds support a special charity. This year, USO-Houston was the beneficiary of the Rockets Run. USO-Houston provides special lounges at Houston’s two major airports where servicemen can relax between flights while traveling. At last year’s event, over $10,000 was raised for Autism Speaks. For the November event, Cy Ranch Key Club members woke early and boarded a school bus for the trip to Toyota Center in downtown Houston. Members set up fruit and drinks and loaded pizza ovens with hundreds of pizzas. When the race was complete, club members served food and drink to race participants. Club members were supervised by former Cy-Fair High School Key Club officer and Houston Rockets staff member Nathan Sinclair.

Houston residents definitely have Houston Rockets fever with the addition of players Jeremy Lim and James Harden this fall. Our club was thrilled to be invited to work the season opener on November 3 against the Portland Trail Blazers. Although we have volunteered with the Rockets for five years, this was first year the club has been asked to participate in the Rockets promotional giveaway program.

It was an amazing opportunity for the club to interact with the community.

Toyota Center. Our club was very grateful for the chance to be involved in this new volunteer opportunity and hope to keep the tradition going for future Rockets games.

The Cypress Ranch Key Club, with over 650 members, very actively volunteers in the Houston area and is ranked as one of the best top 25 clubs in the Texas-Oklahoma Key Club district. Cypress Ranch Key Club looks forward to continuing our association with the Houston Rockets and other professional sports teams in Houston.

Cypress Ranch Key Club Teams Up With the Houston Rockets

Club members reported a couple hours before the doors opened and set up to pass out “A New Age” t-shirts to fans as they entered the

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Yummy Service Unfortunate families are given the oppurtunity to enjoy a Wonderful Thanksgiving meal, all thanks to these caring and kindhearted Key Clubbers.

Some Other Place

l by Connor Brown, LTG 10

On November 19th and 20th, Port NechesGroves Key Clubbers traveled to Beaumont to help out with a local soup kitchen. The Key Clubbers have worked at this soup kitchen many times throughout the year making sack lunches to be handed out to the various people, but those days they were doing something different. The first day, the Key Clubbers were sorting cans and nonperishable food items in to several different categories that corresponded with Thanksgiving food: such as cake mix, dressing, cranberry sauce, etc. Then Key Clubbers would take the bags of cans that people brought in and dispose of the food they couldn’t use for Thanksgiving. They then move all of the usable food to the tables where they were sorted.

On the second day, the Key Clubbers were at Some Other Place where they helped people fill their shopping carts with food for their Thanksgiving meals.

People would come in with a voucher and receive a note card with the number of people in their family, dictating how much food they would receive because the food supply was limited and around 600 families were expected. The Key Clubbers would walk around with a shopping cart with one person from each family and walk around the tables to help them pick out what food they wanted. After they received all of their items, some Key Clubbers would even help them take their bags to their car.

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After two days and countless hours of work, the Key Clubbers felt accomplished, knowing that they had helped start off the holiday season for many families..

l by Andrew Liguez , LTG 38

Community Thanksgiving Dinner

In San Marcos, TX, we have an annual community driven Thanksgiving dinner for the less fortunate and homeless families of the surrounding area. We believe that all people deserve to have food, especially during the holiday season.

Different service organizations throughout my town (like Key Club) team up together for the cause. They start out by having food drives to amass the cans and nonperishable items needed to feed the whole homeless community of my town. Typical food drives are well publicized and last about a week. With over 20 organizations combining forces, we always end up having more food than we need!

The next step in our efforts is cooking the turkeys. We do this hard task by asking community leaders to donate their time to cook the food and prepare it for the big event. It is mainly adults that help with this. As students, we don’t always have a big role in this preparation, but it’s really nice to see adults who also care so much for their local community.

Don’t have a way to plan out projects throughout the year?

Why not start a committee?

At around 6 p.m. the big event begins. The less fortunate are given a seat at the table and never once have to get up. This is a big treat for many who spend hours on their feet, 7 days a week, just trying to make ends meet. The service organizations spend the entire evening serving them food and drinks. They are treated with the highest class. The event is continued with new people coming in one after another to get served.

Nobody is left hungry at this dinner!

At the end, everyone lends a hand to help clean up. This task, although at first daunting, is a breeze. Everyone chips in and with so much help, it only takes about ten minutes to finish the feat!

While providing a Thanksgiving meal for the impoverished community may seem like a huge, impossible task for some, with some perseverance and a passion for service you can start this tradition in your town this holiday season!

Committee Season

l by Laura Motard, Lamar Key Club Our club decided to start committees in the fall semester rather than the spring so that we could get a faster start than last year. Eliminate is on the verge of becoming our school wide project, and will be beneficial not only to the cause but also to help people hear about Key Club and hopefully boost membership. This committee is also our biggest, and we’re looking to make shirts in order to fundraise. Our president Lila Lowe and Vice President Gregory Ross are heading up the Eliminate committee.

Editor Meg Brigman and Treasurer David Ratnoff are in charge of the B.R.O. committee. Plans are still in the works for fundraising and there is talk of a fun run. The B.R.O. committee is going to have its work cut out in the spring semester with the Dance Marathon, but I know everyone is excited. It is a great opportunity for our club to branch out and meet other clubs through an incredibly fantastic volunteer opportunity.

Maya Lyer and myself, the club secretaries, are overseeing the L.O.V.E. committee. We were particularly interested in this one because it involves more hands-on projects rather than just fundraising.

The opportunity to spend time with orphans and bringing some joy into their life means a lot, and all the members of our committee are very enthusiastic. We’re trying to organize a holiday project like making gingerbread houses or making holiday-themed crafts with them because of the fact that they might not have families to spend time with during the holidays. It’s really nice to be able to do something to make someone’s life a little brighter, and we’re all excited to get started.

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CLUBS A Christmas Miracle

Winter Break don’t know what Ideas to do during win-

l by KangDi Li, Bellaire Key Club

I

n the city of Sugar Land, Christmas lights encompass the entire community.

You can hear holiday music playing outside of almost every store. Lights flash and dangle.

Snowmen sing. Families sing carols. The holiday season is a big time for most of our community.

We don’t always realize that there are families all around us that aren’t as fortunate as we are. There are parents who can’t even fathom having the money to purchase presents for their kids. Santa’s Exchange was founded to provide for these families. Now, an annual event ensures that every child has a Christmas worth remembering. In 2011, 3394 children received Christmas gifts through this wonderful program, and this year, the mighty Division 3S minions will unite to ensure the program has another successful year. w

Reaching this large of a population and providing for so many is a challenge for our program. We have to solicit the help of service organizations, schools, and churches.

It all begins several weeks before the holiday. A toy drive is well publicized and donation boxes are set in local school district campuses.Businesses and churches also tend to offer their support. Individuals are asked to donate toys, knowing that they will be given to children right here in our area. On December 10th, 2012, these toys will be sorted by age and type. This process typically takes 3-4 days. Division 3S Key Club volunteers will help every day.

26Tex-O Key December 2012

ter break? Here are some events that’ll give you some ideas to make an impact during the holidays.

The big event is on Saturday, December 15th at First Colony Church of Christ auditorium.

Poverty inflicted families are invited to come “shop” for their childrens’ gifts. Although lines are long, it is well worth the wait for these families. Key Club members and other volunteers hold large bags while monitoring that everything runs smoothly and that the parents pick up the right quantity of items. This allows them to search for what their children have been wanting, and it helps them provide a Christmas that will be remembered for years to come.

More than just the impact on the thousands of families supported is the influence on every volunteers participating. They each leave the event having various emotional encounters with the families this outreach supports. Their eyes are opened. Their minds are inspired. Their hearts are widened.

Each is eager to give back to their community once again. This is the finest gift of them all.

Deck the Halls with lots of Service

falalalalalalalala

l by Jennifer Kay Tuggle Hinze, LTG 3S

Children are most deserving of this love and aid. Did you know that there are over 463,000 foster care children in the U.S.? Most of which are spending this entire holiday season alone. They won’t be able to wake up on Christmas morning, eager to see what presents they received. They don’t have family and friends to show them how much they are loved. They spend the entire joyous season isolated simply because their parents weren’t able to provide a safe home for them. They feel punished because of something completely out of their control.

T

As a previous foster care child, I know firsthand what these children are going through. I know the influx of emotions and the confusion one feels every time a he Christmas season is upon holiday passes. I wanted to change this. For this reason, us. We feel the frosty frigid air I founded Project LOVE (Loving On Victims Everyhit our face. We see the bright where). Our mission is to simply show love to the foster Christmas lights flicker. We care children and orphans in our local community. We smell the warm cookies baking intend to show these children that even though they’ve in our very ovens. The Christbeen rejected and tossed around family to family, there mas gifts and decorations define is still a group of people out there that want the best for the holidays for most people them. They genuinely care. In the around the world. But for us past, over 15 Key Clubs have participated in this project.

Key Clubbers, this time of year One Houston-area club had a very successful teddy bear is about more than just ribbons drive, where they collected teddy bears for all the chiland bows. It’s a time for love dren at the Kinder Emergency Shelter. They also called and service.

ahead, and received the names of each kid. They then made personalized cards and put one with each bear.

When the Key Club delivered them to the children, their eyes widened and they each cracked a smile. Your Key Club can experience the same joy by adopting Project LOVE in your local community this holiday season.

There are several ways in which your Key Club can participate. The first step, regardless of your project, is to find a local children’s shelter, emergency shelter, or group home in your area. Google will become your best friend in completing this. Then, decide what exactly you want to do for them. The options are really only limited by your creativity. Maybe you’ll have a stuffed animal drive and you’ll provide goodie bags and cards for all the children. Perhaps you’ll decide to be creative, and you’ll make cheerful ornaments for the kids who never would have that opportunity. Feel free to call the shelter, explain Key Club’s purpose, and ask them how you can better the kids’ lives. Regardless of the specific project your club chooses, your club will better the community around you. This is the true magic of this holiday season.

The Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign

Have you ever gone to Walmart or Kmart and seen people standing outside with a red kettle, ringing a bell, and asking for donations? They could be a volunteer from the Salvation Army promoting the Red Kettle Campaign.

The Red Kettle Christmas Campaign enables The Salvation Army to provide food, toys and clothing to over 6 million people during the Christmas season and helps more than 34 million Americans to recover from all kinds of personal disasters nationwide. It’s really easy to get involved. All you have to do is contact your local Salvation Army and set up a shift where you can go stand outside a store and ring the bell. It’s really easy to do and it makes a HUGE impact on your community.

l by Shelby Adams, LTG 25N

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Harlingen Key Club’s Decorating Ideas l by Marissa Moncada

Gleaming Christmas decorations always brighten up a space especially during the holidays when it’s almost impossible to not see red, green, or gold while out and about. These small but significant things can be overshadowed for the kids at the hospital in one of the southernmost cities of Texas called Harlingen. Even for temporary or prolonged stays, the boys and girls in the pediatric unit enjoy seeing a Christmas spirit in their rooms.

At one of the weekly meetings that are held at the high school, students from Harlingen gather to discuss several winter service events that can make a difference big or small in the lives of those in their community. One of these is making Christmas decorations for the patients at Valley Baptist Medical Center. The clubbers stay after school on different days of the week to print out templates that each have a holiday themed drawing. From snowmen to angels to reindeer, the volunteers enjoy benefiting their time to bring a smile to the children that don’t have the opportunity to stay at home with their families. After choosing several pictures to color in, they cut and paste them onto cardstock to make the decorations more durable. The best part comes next, glittering! The amount of glitter that goes into them is surprising, but it makes them that much more cheery and festive. The decorations are then donated to the nurses in the pediatric unit who place them around the unit and in the rooms of the patients. The members have the opportunity to show their Key Club spirit and what the holidays are really about, giving.

As a Key Clubber, I like to think that as the air becomes colder, our hearts become warmer. This time of year is definitely my favorite when it comes to service. A couple of years ago, my friend’s sister, a passionate member of Key Club, lost her battle with leukemia. Because of this, my home club puts an emphasis on reaching out to children in hospitals, especially children with cancer. Every year, we do a school-wide toy drive for these kids through Toys For Tots. First, we dress up as elves and the occasional Santa Claus. Then we visit our local hospital, Memorial Hermann at The Woodlands, on an early Saturday morning in December and hand deliver these gifts to them. It’s incredible to see the childrens’ faces light up by this gesture. It is a good reminder to everyone in my club that sickness should not take away one’s right to enjoy childhood. Also, the feeling of giving back to the community is infinitely better than receiving.

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l by Christina Koo, LTG 39S

Adopt a Child

As winter approaches, I always slowly transition from the fall carnivals that my surrounding elementary schools host to something a little more meaningful on a personal level. As the season of giving takes place, my Key Club, and in fact my entire school, participates in Adopt a Child. Each year, clubs and classes pick a child to “adopt” from less privileged families. Our club officers chose a child around late October or early November, and we try to collect as many donations as possible. We learn the interests of these children we adopt and provide gifts based on their desires.

In essence, we endeavor to create an extravagant Christmas for our adopted child and his/her family, which wouldn’t be close to possible without our assistance. We, as a Key Club, often collect money to purchase toys or receive toy donations from our members.

I distinctly remember, from my first year of Key Club during my freshman year of high school, the ample gifts our Key Club received from Adopt a Child. Back then, respectfully, my Key Club membership size was much bigger 3 years ago. Thus, it was only expected that we would receive massive amounts of gifts to present to our children. As my brother was an officer, I decided to help him with the collection dates of wrapping the gifts and transporting them to their final destination. Apparently, my school collected so many gifts that we had to do it in one of the largest classrooms in the school: the band hall. When my brother opened the doors to the band hall for me, I was filled with awe. As always, one can never really comprehend the statistics behind things until one approaches it in person.

It’s truly difficult to believe the amount of good a collection of hard-working individuals can do when we all contribute.

Among the band hall floor laid stacks of toys for the children we had. The officers and a few of the Key Club members wrapped the goods together and loaded them in our cars to ship it off to their families. I have always been fortunate during the holiday season, for I am continuously blessed with family, food, warmth, and gifts. Up until that year, it was always a chore for me to find gifts for others or to even perform charitable acts, since I hadn’t gained the ability to empathize for those around me. Yet, in that moment and after, finding gifts, especially for someone I didn’t even know, wasn’t a chore. Rather, it was the good intentions of giving to those in need that propelled me. As the tiresome and often long year gradually closes, I am rejuvenated each year around winter by what service means once again: giving to those around you.

Toys for Tots l by Unnu Shukla, LTG 9E

Wreaths Across America

It has been a tradition across

this great nation for the past 15 years to give back to those who gave their lives to ensure our freedom and safety in this nation by honoring them every holiday season with a wreath on where they were laid to rest.

I had the honor to participate in

last year’s wreath laying at Houston National Cemetery. I and one thousand other volunteers helped to lay more than 59,000 wreaths on the graves of our fallen heroes. It was not only the fact that I was giving back to those who defended our country that made me feel honored, but it was the fact that I was doing so by the side of other members of my community, other citizens

l by Carolina Hernandez, LTG 3N

T-O gether We Can Give

With the holidays right around the corner, Key Clubs have always favored the winter season. In particular the JECA Key Club, located in San Antonio Texas, participates in a variety of service projects during the holiday season for the benefit of others, strongly focusing on the betterment of children.

For Christmas, multiple Key Clubs participate in correspondence with their Kiwanis Clubs to plan and initiate projects such as food and gift donations. In past years, the JECA Key Club has worked with their two sponsoring Kiwanis’ Clubs to participate in an annual Wal-Mart shopping. After gathering up multiple needy families, especially children in need, the San Antonio K-Family from the surrounding areas partner up to provide over forty families with gifts for Christmas.

As one child is chosen from each family, in the early morning the Saturday before Christmas, two Key Clubbers are paired with a child and one hundred dollars to shop at Wal-Mart to provide Christmas gifts for the child and their whole family.

The joy of the children and their generosity towards purchasing gifts for their family members before themselves truly impacts the lives of those who are privileged to participate in this event.

A similar project that occurs during the holiday season also takes place at Wal-Mart. This event however, focuses rather on the necessities of the family, as the Kiwanis provide generous allots of food for the families during their Christmas celebrations. In this event, similarly, Key Clubbers are paired up with Kiwanis, money, and a shopping list of essentials to buy for the families. After the food is purchased, it is then taken directly to the homes of the families.

The happy faces, grateful emotions, and tears of joy that the Key Clubbers have the opportunity to experience during this event are truly a memory to cherish. Providing abundant amounts of food and gifts to the needy families not only allows Key Clubbers to appreciate what they have but also experience the true meaning Christmas and being a dedicated member of Key Club International.

of the United States.

This year’s Wreath Across America

event will take place on Saturday, December 15th, 2012 at cemeteries across the nation. For more information on events near you, you can go check out the Wreaths Across America website at

www.wreathsacrossamerica.

l by Kayleen Cantu, LTG 11

As the holiday season is upon us, many families begin looking for attractions and festivities that will showcase that cheery holiday spirit. One of these events is held annually in the southern city of McAllen at Archer Park, and it’s called the “Candlelight Posada.”

The term “posada” is Spanish for a Christmas festival and place of rest such as an inn or house. It will be held on the third and fourth days of December, and it will be the city of McAllen’s twenty-eighth year hosting it. The hype surrounding this event is quite infectious and organizing it has always been a rewarding task. Kids and adults alike can enjoy the free entertainment that puts smiles on their faces. Likewise, the teens and children who provide service can also benefit from the joy they bring to the spectators.

The amount of clubs that volunteer members from their school is amazing. Teens can volunteer to sing, stand on a float, and act in different set-ups. While many families bring themselves to enjoy a nice night out on the town, the Posada symbolizes the selflessness that accompanies the act of giving during the holidays. It brings out the caring and goodwill of the participating clubbers. It truly represents the spirit of service.

l by Brianna Cook, LTG 5

Candlelight Posada

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Key C l ub det ails Wee k Rea d how all ab o ber Key Cl ut s u thei celebr ba r Clu version ted bW eek of Key !

l by Kellie Nguyen, Dulles Key Club

32Tex-O Key December 2012

So what is this superb way of celebrating Key Club Week we came up with?

Of course, it is to reel in interest for our K Family, and there is no better way to do that than to make a video for your entire school to see! Making an announcement about Key Club is always a great way to bring recognition to your home club, and at Dulles High, we have daily announcements brought to us the school’s broadcast class. With that said, be prepared to cue the lights, camera, to take action to give back to the community with the help of some movie magic!

Speaking of serving our community, Trick-Or-Treat for Unicef has been a great opportunity for my club to get our feet wet with service! Having raised over

$300, I was simply ecstatic that we could be the “Fairy God Mothers” of so many children through the Eliminate Project. Although we have so much wiggle room for improvement, it has been the most money we have raised for Unicef in a while, and it served as a huge stepping stone: not just for my club, but for me personally. I loved seeing my club grow, and would love to personally thank all my members for making it happen! Go Vikes!

Vikings Sail Through Service!

It was that time of year again- Key Club Week! While we club officers here at Dulles buckled down to think of ways to celebrate, we came up with some excellent ideas to show the magic of Key club to potential members for years to come! I always get excited during this time, because back when I was a freshman, I struggled to find what I was passionate about. Luckily, Key Club Week helped me find where I belonged, so I want to do the same for all the freshmen who are going through the same process I did. After all, Key Club has taught me so much about compassion, and this is a great outlet for me to be able to take what I learned and cast a spell on the potential members at my school!

l by Priscilla Lam, CyWoods Key Club

As each day goes by, Key Clubbers can’t wait for this special week to come, and they get excited for this one-week during each year. Key Club Week!

Key Club Week is a week where Key Club everywhere celebrates the importance of service with a different theme each day to promote our Key Club. This year, Key Club Week was from November 5-9 2012.

Woods Members made a cancer awareness chain to spread awareness about Key Club and Cancer!

On the first day, Monday, at our school, Cy Woods, to show our Key Club spirit, we wore our Key Club shirts, and we also spread the word about our school’s Key Club throughout the community with the use of the internet, stores, and newspapers. The next day, Tuesday, our Key Clubbers did activities where we thanked our Key Club supporters like our sponsor, and Key Club Officers with cards to recognize the amount of effort they put in for our Key Club to succeed. In the middle of the week, Wednesday, Key Clubbers connected with the Kiwanis Kids, Circle K International and others and created a service project. On Thursday, Key Clubbers brought their friends to the Key Club meeting to show them what it’s all about and to get them motivated to join Key Club. On this day, the purpose of it was to gain more members, so our Key Club creates more impact on our community. On the final day of the week, our Key Club picked a combination of ideas to make a project that created a great impact to our school. We hung tons of posters around to promote our Key Club throughout the school and our community. The use of the posters helped us gain new members each day. This week was special because it changed our Key Club at Cy Woods, and from this day on, we have around 300 members! At our school, the Key Clubbers are always anxious to do service projects! Each day we work hard to try to benefit our community, and each year, Key Club Week gets better and better! Some ideas for next year’s Key Club Week could be to make a video to promote our club, get the school to spend time during class to watch the video, create a performance before school starts to get people’s attention, and creating a banner that fills the commons. At events, the members are always working hard to make the community satisfied with our work. Our Key Club is always determined to get things done, and we always strive to do the best for our community, and as years go by, we gain more success.

l by Nathaly Apirico, Kempner Key Club

Key Club week at Kempner High School is an extraordinary time of fellowship, recruitment, and appreciation. During this one week every year, we get to just celebrate and plan for the upcoming year. Our club is rather new. For this reason, our officers used this celebratory time as an opportunity to really showcase what Key Club is all about—to make name a name for ourselves. My personal favorite days were definitely Monday and Thursday because I witnessed our club grow and unify.

Monday’s theme was “Show Your K in Every Way” so our club all wore Key Club merchandize and we also made signs that we wore around our neck. They were cute and said, “We’re in Key Club, are you?” In all of our classes, our peers asked us about Key Club and it was a great way for us to show pride in the organization we all love and adore. It was really shocking how many people thought we made keys. They didn’t know what we stood for and our impact on the community.

On Thursday, we had our usual Key Club meeting and we all brought a friend with us. The classroom was packed. We took this time to show what Key Club was about. Members loved our bell and gavel, our Key Club pledge, and our inclusiveness. They witnessed the familylike atmosphere, first-hand. We also thanked our faculty co-sponsors, Kiwanis Advisors, and our Division 3S Lt. Governor, Jennifer Kay Tuggle Hinze. We had a cookie cake and soda to celebrate. After all, who doesn’t like food?

As can be seen, Key Club week was an amazing time of growth for our club. We not only increased membership, but we also thanked the people who really have helped shape our club. They left feeling appreciated and eager to support us in all of our future endeavors.

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l by Naveen Kaur Singh, Cypress Falls Key Club

52 Keyclub Weeks a Year

l by Gabriela Segura, Cypress Falls Key Club

When I first came into Key Club, I was unaware I was going to be an officer. I’m so glad I’ve gotten the opportunity to be with such an amazing group of people. I love Key Club, and the events are so much fun!

I first wanted to be an officer because I honestly like being in charge. Now, I realize how awesome it is to be involved with the community. I loved volunteering at the Beer Creek Annual Fall Festival the most because it was an amazing experience. I was able to paint unicorns, flowers, hearts, pumpkins, and more on little kids faces. I loved seeing their face light up when they saw it. It really warmed my heart.

For me, every week is Key Club Week. Just being in the club is amazing, and I’m so proud to say I’m the 2016 Female Representative. I enjoy being at the officer meetings because I feel really important. Also, it’s fun to be a part of something like this as a freshman. It’s so exciting and a wonderful experience. However, you don’t even have to be an officer to have a great time in Key Club.

Overall, being in the club is amazing.

Another event I really enjoyed was the Cypress Falls Lock–In. It brought the members of the club closer together. From the dance battles to decorating pillowcases for the army, it was a fun time for everyone involved.

That was probably one of my favorite events.

I really am excited to be the 2016 Female Representative for the next three years; it’s exhilarating to know that for the rest of high school, I’m going to be in a club with people who are really involved in the community. I feel that even though I’m an officer, I’m still a freshman. I still take advice from the other club members who aren’t officers. I like to get advice, so I can do the best I can to help out at the current events and heed advice for future events.

I love each and every week in Key Club. I look forward to the weeks when we have general club and officer meetings. I love being a part of the officer group because it makes me feel important and in charge. Plus, I love the friends I have made through Key Club! I think everyone should be in Key Club to help out and be involved with the important things in life.

34Tex-O Key December 2012

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service.

I acted and behold, service was joy”(Rabindranath Tagore). Service is what your life is for, service is what can bring you happiness, and service is what the theme of Cy-Fair Highschool’s focus was on for Key Club Week. Each day of the week, we promoted Key Club differently and put an emphasis on service to our community.

On Monday, the 300 plus members of Cy-Fair Highschool’s Key Club “showed their K in every way.” We had a Key Club announcement every day of the week, and more than half of the members wore their Key Club t-shirts to school. Seeing all the bright teal t-shirts in the hallways and in the classroom, helped publicize Key Club and spread the word to other non-Key Club students at our school.

On Tuesday, we took the time to thank all of our teachers and advisors and give “kudos to the key players.” Our club could not be as successful, or continue as smoothly if it weren’t for our two most important key players and supporters, Ms. Pena and Mr. Lawrence. Ms. Pena is our sponseror and Mr. Lawrence is our Kiwanis advisor. To thank both of them for their dedication and hard work, and recognize the contributions made by these special people, the officers pitched in to get them each a thoughtful gift.

We also gave Ms. Pena a surprise by decorating her classroom with streamers and thank you notes before she got to school. Not only did the 20 officers show appreciation towards their supporters, but so did the other 300 plus members of our Key Club.

Every Wednesday, we have our general meetings in the auditorium.

Although, this Wednesday meeting was a little different. All the members were allowed to bring a non-Key Clubber and then were welcomed with either donuts, cookies, or candy. With more people at the meeting, we were able to inform more people about our upcoming service projects and fundraisers. It was also a great selling day for our Lock-In fundraiser.

Increasing the amount of service Key Club performs, increases the impact Key Club has on the world.

On Thursday, we “connected the Ks” through our Builders Club. We had a meeting with our middle schoolers and informed them more of our service projects, and what they can do to serve the community. We also teamed up for a joint service project by making boxes to collect coke tabs in for the Ronald McDonald house.

On Friday, we got to do things “our way.” We decided to have a Menchie’s Social. Not only did we get lots of Cy-Fair Key Clubbers together and have a great time eating frozen yogurt, but we got lots of Cy-Falls Key Clubbers to come and join us also. It was a great way to meet new people, interact with other Key Clubs, and help promote our Lock-In. Key Club is the largest high school service organization in the world, and is a member of the Kiwanis family. Cy-Fair Highschool was successful in completing their Key Club Week, promoting Key Club, and creating an emphasis on service in the community.

Top25

clubs

Reporting Tips on Getting Points: -Ask for Divisional Report Cards from Secretary Kevin Duong -Email/Facebook Bulletins -Articles to Tex-O-Key -Decorate the envelope -Sign in sheets for meetings and events -Recognition -Agendas -Send it in on time -Make sure to check that I received the report

secretary@tokeyclub.com

* Clubs are arranged in alphabetical order and in no way announces the official standing of the Top 25 Clubs.

1. Brownwood 2. Bullard 3. Cinco Ranch 4. Cy Creek 5. Cy Fair 6. Cy Falls 7. Cy Ranch 8. Cy Woods 9. Jenks 10. MacArthur 11. Manor New Technology 12. Mansfield Summit 13. Mayde Creek 14. Nacogdoches 15. North Crowley 16. R.L. Paschal 17. Randall 18. San Angelo 19. Sulphur 20. Summer Creek 21. Union 22. Venus 23. W.E. Boswell 24. West Brook 25. Wetumka Tex-O Key December 2012

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Thanks For Reading Tell me what you think of this issue!

Start thinking about what you can write for next month’s Tex-O Key: 1) What event have you attended that was made to help Children’s Miracle Network, March of Dimes, or Unicef?

2) How does your club make meetings interesting and fun?

3) Name some events that are great for starting off the new year! State when it starts, where it’s at, and what you do.

Feel free to submit other articles as well! Who knows? They might have a chance to end up in the Tex- O Key too! Remember to add a picture, a title, your school, and last but not least, your name!

Grace Liu T-O District Editor editor@tokeyclub.com 817-962-8945 Does your club have good resolution, diverse, and compassionate Key Club related pictures that show a positive effect? If so, send them to me for a chance to end up on the front cover or table of contents!