The T-O Today - Issue 2

October & November 2013

The T-O Today Put a little T-O in your day.

Texas-Oklahoma Pride

Letter from the Editor Hey T-O Circle Kers!

Hope everyone is well.

Table of Contents Fall Retreat Recap

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Fall Retreat Recap Cont.

………..2

STUFH

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Six Cents Initiative

….…….4

Better World Books

…….....5

Eliminate Project

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March of Dimes

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This is our second issue of the T-O Today this year, and I jam packed it with a bunch of information on our service partners and preferred charities! We have four current and previous representatives in T-O on STUFH, Six Cents, Better World Books, and the ELIMINATE Project. If you haven’t heard of them yet, get ready! We will be constantly talking about them!

As we near the end of the semester and finish our finals, I want to remind everyone to keep calm and finish strong! Study hard and come back to the new year ready to serve your heart out!

I hope to see you all at DCON! Serving loud and proud,

Briana Smith

Secretary Update

.……...8

What’s Happening in T-O?

.……...9

District Convention

The past couple months have been action packed for Texas-Oklahoma CKI! From Fall Retreat to getting ready for our 60th at DCON, everyone is busy!

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District Public Relations & Marketing Chair editor@txokcki.org Texas-Oklahoma District Circle K International

Fall Retreat Recap If you weren’t able to make it, here’s what you missed!

Hey T-O! Fall retreat for those that don’t know is a weekend away to grow bonds with the rest of the Texas -Oklahoma District. It last three days with starting Friday night and ending early on Sunday morning. In this article I will be going over my adventures of Fall Retreat!

Let me start off with I was the only one of my club going, which to be honest sucked just because the rest of my club did not get the awesome experience. The first day was probably the hardest just because as I live in Corpus, which means that I had a 5 hour drive to go myself. It was made better though because UTB and the amazing members allowed me to travel some of the way with them!

With that it made it a lot more bearable, we stopped at a few interesting places and even ate with the Governor and International Trustee before the actual event started! The camp itself was huge and really nice, the cabins even and Wi-Fi for one!

The first night we had team time, this is where we were put into different teams with people from different clubs. This was a really fun part of the retreat even though it could have been thought through a little better, but fun none the least! At the end of the night we ended up watching Grease and playing board games throughout the night!

The second day was probably the best just because it was the longest because it had the most to do, the entire day consisted of different ice breakers to build leadership and friendship to forums to help us better in life, things like time management. For the service project of the day we had fun messing with different types of plastic bags and got to learn how to plarn and saves lives in such an easy way. At the end of the day we had jitterbug lessons to get us in the era of the 60s. After the fun of dancing we then got in a having karaoke night, I myself even got to do a duet with the Governor. At the end of the day we ended with a bonfire to make s’mores and be around newly made friends.

The next day was the last day as we ended the great weekend with a bang by watching a promo for the 60th DCON and saying goodbyes to all the friends we made during the time. After traveling back the fun didn’t have to end as I got to read all the warm fuzzy letters written to me by my team, and friends. All in all Fall Retreat was an amazing experience and I 100% recommend going the next chance you get!

Yours in Service Andrew Liguez TAMUCC CKI Member

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STUFH Students Team Up to Fight Hunger Hello T-O CKI’ers!

Since its founding in 1999, Students Team Up To Fight Hunger (or as we commonly know it in CKI, STUFH) has been bringing college students and the communities that we live in together in the fight against hunger. As a CKI service partner, STUFH provides food to these families in need to fight malnourishment and health problems. As the holiday season approaches, the possibilities for STUFHrelated projects are exponential! Here a few ideas! 

Visit your local food banks and pantries to pack holiday boxes for families in need -Talk to your food bank about any additional items (such as candy canes or hot chocolate packets) that your club can purchase to give the families an extra treat in their boxes!

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Serve a meal at a local soup kitchen -By serving food to people in need, you get that face-to-face interaction with those you’re helping right on the spot. You can also participate in meal or box deliveries!

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Host an end of the semester food drive -Put out food boxes so people can donate the food they do not want to leave in their dorms during the winter holiday! Going door to door asking for canned food donations may also prove to be successful.

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Host a food fight between rival schools -Football season is in full swing, and those rival games are fast approaching! Coordinate with the club from the other school to see which school can collect the most canned food for your local community food bank or pantry by the end of the game! No matter the final score, both teams will win in the game of service!

In the past 15 years that STUFH has been supporting universities in their efforts to help feed the hungry in their local communities, over five million pounds of food have been collected by universities throughout the nation. It’s amazing to know what we as college students can do when we work together!

Just a friendly reminder, STUFH is my Governor’s Project for this year. I’m challenging each CKI chapter in Texas and Oklahoma to volunteer 6 projects or events this year dedicated specifically to fighting hunger. Has your chapter participated in any great hunger related projects? If so, that’s amazing!

Keep up the great work! If not, make the pledge today and take the challenge to dedicate your volunteer efforts to end hunger. The opportunities to work with STUFH are endless. For more information about hunger, check out www.stufh.com. You can find huger stats, facts, and information to help engage your community in the fight against hunger! Keep an eye out for more incredible ideas to get involved with STUFH as the year progresses! If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at governor@txokcki.org

3 Allison Prisco

Six Cents Initiative Providing clean drinking water to the world.

Hello T-O! Many of you know me as the District Secretary for the mighty T-O district. What some of you might not know is that I am also currently serving as your international service ambassador for the Six Cents Initiative. In this position, I am working hard to update our resources, motivate chapters to participate in the initiative, and help us reach our fundraising goal of $500,000 by 2015!

Six Cents Initiative is a partnership solely between Circle K and UNICEF. Back in 2007, we set a goal of raising $500,000 by 2015. At this point in time, we have raised roughly $70,000. I am working on an updated resource that clubs can utilize in order to hopefully find a fundraising project that is feasible for them. As I receive ideas from clubs all over Circle K, I will pass those along to you all, whether it is through our Facebook page (which can be found HERE) or this SWAG newsletter! This month, the Georgia District Service chair, Victoria Byrd, reached out to me and shared a project that many of their clubs participate in to benefit Six Cents. The activity is called “I fine…”, and the idea is to fine other people in the group so that they donate their spare change to a communal donation jar for Six Cents.

Each person that is willing to participate will say one thing they fine the other members for. For example, someone could say “I fine everyone who has on a red shirt.” Everyone who is wearing a red shirt would throw their change at their bell, or in the donation jar. Victoria said “…it is a very easy way to raise money and it is very fun to play!” I hope this idea sparks interest in you, and you try it in your own clubs! Please send me any fundraising ideas that have worked for your clubs in the past, or project ideas that you would like to share with CKI. I can’t wait to see what you all do in your own clubs.

Apart from the fundraising aspect of Six Cents, there’s an awareness aspect. Not only are we trying to educate other people about our initiative, we need to become aware of our own impact on the environment. In order to help you with the latter, I have been working on a resource that lists simple water conservation tips for different areas of the household. Water is a precious commodity, and we must continue to treasure it. Be on the lookout for this resource, as well as the new fundraising guide, in the coming weeks!

If you have any special requests for not only me, but anyone on the Service Committee, please fill out this form. I can’t wait to see what y’all are able to accomplish this year. Let’s reach our goal together!

Cortney Ferris

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Please send all donations to: Kiwanis International Foundation 3636 Woodview Trace Indianapolis, IN 46268 *Please note that all checks need to have “Six Cents Initiative” in the memo line, as well as the Chapter and District name*

Better World Books Literature for all.

Hey T-O! I’m Heidi Brooks, the Oklahoma Panhandle LTG as well as the Better World Books Service Ambassador for this year!

I’m really excited to have the opportunity to work closely with Better World Books since, being the book lover that I am, it hits close to home. Essentially, BWB is an organization that works to both diminish the human footprint that books can create and increase literacy worldwide. The mission statement for Better World Books is as follows; “Better World Books is a global bookstore that harnesses the power of capitalism to bring literacy and opportunity to people around the world.” Something great about BWB is that every single book donated and bought through the program of BWB goes to fund literacy programs and to donate books to communities in need of them. The benefits of BWB are reaped worldwide. By using the Internet to conduct business, the books that are collected and sold can travel the globe. Better World Books has managed to convert more than 58 million books into over $10.4 million in funding for literacy and education and has saved 40,000 tons of books from going into landfills. In a world where books are a sought after commodity, BWB does everything in it’s power to protect those that are already in existence and to spread literacy to parts of the world that are in need.

Better World Books is a very easy service partner to benefit. One way that each of us can help BWB achieve it’s goal of worldwide literacy is to use their website when we are both buying and selling our textbooks. Use betterworldbooks.com! For every book that you buy, one is donated to someone in need! We all love serving others, so why not help serve by changing your book buying sight from Amazon to BWB? It’s just as easy and you get to help people! Another super easy way to benefit Better World Books is to help spread literacy! Have your club design bookmarks as an in-house service project! It’s super easy, inexpensive, and beneficial to BWB! Making bookmarks and then providing them to a local elementary school near you will not only support Better World Books and their initiative, but It will probably put a smile on a child’s face as well. <3 If you still aren’t feeling that any of those service projects is the right fit for your club, why not orchestrate a book drive of your own? Spread the word and donate all of the books to BWB! If that is a bit more intricate than you were looking for, you can always contact a local elementary school and purchase a book which you will then read aloud to a class full of kids and later donate to the school’s library. In today’s economy, schools are forced to make budget cuts; some of which undoubtedly come from the library’s spending amount.

As a future English teacher, what Better World Books strives to do is very near and dear to my heart. Helping to expand literacy is something that we should all work towards, and I can’t wait for us to get going! I’m really excited for the opportunity to serve you this year. I know it will be great!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me! I’m literally always available. <3 Live to Serve, Love to Serve,

Heidi Brooks 5

ELIMINATE Project Putting MNT in the past.

Hey T-O I hope you guys are doing well!

As Trick or Treat for UNICEF wraps up, I want to encourage you all to turn in the funds raised by your chapter!

The absolute deadline for this is December 31st, however, the sooner the better. Several chapters forgot to turn in funds last year, and therefore didn't receive the credit earned and deserved.

Remember, even if you plan to raise more money, sending the check in earlier is always better. Chapters can send multiple checks in to the Eliminate Project Campaign Office. The cumulative total of funds raised this Kiwanis year count toward recognition.

As a reminder, all checks need to made out to the "Kiwanis International Foundation" and include "The Eliminate Project" in the memo line.

I have access to the Kiwanis Family Donation form. Feel free to me if you need this form! I also have a brochure detailing awards and recognition that are specific to SLPs. If you or any of your chapters have Eliminate Project questions, need help filling out the forms, or anything in between, feel free to email me. I can't wait to see all you guys do for this great cause.

Best,

Jennifer Tuggle-Hinze kfamily@txokcki.org 6

March of Dimes Working together for stronger, healthier babies.

What is the March of Dimes?

The March of Dimes was started by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1938 with the goal to save Americasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; youth from polio. After the Salk vaccine was developed seven years later to defeat polio, their goals shifted from fighting polio to fighting prematurity in 1958.

Even though polio has been eliminated, the fight to save babies continues. March of Dimes advocates, researchers, outreach workers and volunteers have been and are continuing to work together to give babies a fighting chance against threats to their health.

Events World Prematurity Day (November 17th) is an annual event that draws attention to the problem and the millions of babies and families it touches.

March for Babies is a walk that helps raise money to support programs in your community that help moms have a healthy, full-term pregnancy; it also funds research to find answers to the problem that threaten our babies. March of Babies was started in 1970 and they have raised $2 billion dollars to benefit all babies.

Shelby Honeycutt

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Secretary Update Handy Reminders & Helpful Tricks

Hello Mighty T-O!

Coco here to update y'all on the status of our District, as far as goals go! *Keep in mind that these numbers reflect all data reported on the April-October Secretary Monthly Report Forms (SMRFs)* Service Hours: 3,423.4 hours submitted out of a 10,000 hour goal Interchapters: 52 events reported out of a 75 events goal K-Fam Hours: 146.5 hours reported out of a 200 hour goal

Keep up the wonderful work, and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to submit ALL service hours to your secretaries, who can then forward them on to me! With the dedication of all our members, we can reach our goals T-Ogether!

Keep on Rockinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;!

Cortney Ferris

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What’s Happening in T-O? Check out the upcoming events and what other CKI’ers are doing!

OU C

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c le Every fall semester, as our large-scale service project, OU’s chapter of K In tern Circle K International puts on a fashion show benefitting the Eliminate Project. atio nal The Eliminate Project, in conjunction with UNICEF, aims to completely eradicate maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT). MNT exists as spores in the soil that can be picked up during childbirth if birthing practices are unsanitary. For infants, the disease causes excruciating convulsions and ultimately death. For only a few dollars, a vaccine can be administered that will protect a mother and her future children. Following the success of UNICEF’s and Kiwanis’ joint project to fight iodine deficiency disorders, the project has the potential to save countless lives.

This year, OU Circle K International’s A Night to Unite was held in the Molly Shi Boren Ballroom at the student union on October 15th. Alicia Clifton (former Miss OU and Miss Oklahoma) and Lauren Lundeen (former Miss Oklahoma USA) emceed the event, which featured models from various campus organizations and glamorous fashions on loan from Norman shops.

Local businesses donated a variety of gift cards and goods to raffle and auction off as a fundraiser. Among the auction items were an iPad mini and a football signed by some of OU’s most notable football heroes. The event was an amazing success, raising over $1400 for the Eliminate Project—that’s 778 mothers and even more babies saved by a little bit of hard work and a LOT of preparation. We look forward to hosting this charity event next year and making it even bigger and better. Boomer Sooner!

Kaitlin Brewer

Does your chapter have a great project in mind, but no funding to help make that dream project a reality? A Tomorrow Fund grant can help your chapter take action. The Tomorrow Fund is an endowed fund for Circle K International held within the Kiwanis International Foundation. This fund, utilizing the interest earned, helps CKI clubs and districts serve the world through grants for service opportunities.

Clubs may request funding assistance from US$200 to US$2,000. To apply for a Tomorrow Fund grant, fill out the application, which can be found here: http://www.circlek.org/Resources/Service/TomorrowFundResources.aspx Tomorrow Fund applications must be received to the Kiwanis International Office by December 1. Applications must be submitted to the Youth Funds Specialist at Kiwanis International, 3636 Woodview Trace, Indianapolis, IN 46268; or via fax at 1-317-879-0204.

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In the past, several T-O chapters have received Tomorrow Fund grants. Your chapter could be next! For more information on the Tomorrow Fund, check out http://www.circlek.org/Service/TomorrowFund.aspx

District Convention!

60 years of Service, Leadership, and Fellowship!

We are so excited to celebrate 60 years of service, leadership, and fellowship together as Texas-Oklahoma! This DCON is going to be the CKI event everyone talks about!

WE WANT TO SEE YOU THERE! Registration already open! Register today!

Early registration deadline will be 1/28/14 and will cost $170 Regular registration deadline will be 2/4/14 and will cost $180.

Late registration deadline will be 2/11/14 and will cost $190.

Onsite registration will cost $220 and we cannot guarantee there will be rooms or any souvenirs.

If you pay electronically, it will be an additional $10 so keep that in mind.

Also there are SCHOLARSHIP opportunities when you come to DCON! You must attend DCON to interview for your scholarship during convention. These applications are due FEBRUARY 8TH and can be found at www.tofoundation.org so get started now!

Also club awards that are not to be submitted on-site are due FEBRUARY 5TH at 9 P.M. These take some time and effort so get together a few members and have an award filling out party! We want to see what your clubs have done so get those awards in!

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Put a little T-O in your day.