January 28, 2009 - Lunch

George Schmid and Hans Thiele greeted us as we entered the space set up for us by Max Link and company. Look for lucky drawing winners Mick Ennis and Ralph Pipp to welcome you next Wednesday.




Click on the photos to enlarge or download


Cardinal-attired President Dave Bell called us to order and invited Ray Arnold to offer the Invocation. Ray then directed our singing of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” accompanied by Lloyd Meyer. The Pledge of Allegiance followed.

Guests
Our guests and their sponsors included Pat Johnston (sponsor Ron Grove), Ruth Stevens (Hugh), Pete Gross (John Skarda), Lois O’Neill (Buzz Schilling), and Craig Weaver and the Abramses (Wayne Knops).

Wellness Report
We welcomed back Blaine Keith. Erv Schuetze is in Hospice Care. Jim Shaw asked us to remember Jack Davis for whom we signed a get well card.

Announcements
President Announces Gift to Foundation
President Dave Bell announced a $25,000 bequest from Bruce Hilsee’s estate to benefit our scholarship fund. The gift from our late Kiwanian friend and other generous gifts in the offing are especially welcome during this period of projected decrease in income to Kiwanis outreach programs.

Flea Market Coming
Flea Market Co-Chair Kirk Wilson whetted shoppers’ appetites for the upcoming January 31 sale and invited all able-bodied movers (and shakers) to assist with carrying the sale merchandise from the Dave Anderson Building to the Showroom Floor (a.k.a. parking lot) this Friday afternoon.

Souper Bowl of Caring Benefits Foothills Food Bank
Carefree Kiwanians donated 208 pounds of soup and canned goods along with $65 in cash donations to the Foothills Food Bank in conjunction with the nationwide Souper Bowl of Caring. Held each year in conjunction with the Super Bowl, Souper Bowl of Caring encourages civic organizations, schools, churches, synagogues, and youth groups to collect canned goods and cash donations for donation to their local food bank. Foothills Food Bank serves residents in need in the Cave Creek Unified School District. David Shirey, Bob Bean,a nd Bob Hutson serve on the organization’s Board of Directors.

Musicfest
Steve and Chris Warsaw touted the upcoming season of Arizona Musicfest. Arizona’s premier winter music festival will offer first-rate musical performances at local venues from February 4 – March 1. A partner with Kiwanis in benefiting area youth and children, Musicfest provides musical enrichment opportunites to over 5,000 students. For a schedule of this season’s performances go to the website at http://www.azmusicfest.org/.

Program
Our Guest Speaker, Todd Hardy, is Associate VP of Economic Affairs at Arizona State University. Mr. Hardy spoke on “Opportunities for Solar Power Development” throughout the State of Arizona in general and at ASU in particular.

After an introduction to the primary way in which photovoltaic energy has been harnessed from the sun’s rays and converted into useable resources for our energy-related consumption to date (roof-top solar panels), Mr. Hardy introduced a few emerging solar technologies including thin-fiber silicon and sun-radiated bacteria and algae.

ASU’s Institute for Renewable Energy is poised to be among the world leaders in researching and testing renewable energy resources. With a first-of-its-kind academic focus on renewable resources, one of three photovoltaic testing labs in the world, and a think tank devoted to maximizing future locations of solar energy distribution stations for efficiency and cost-effectiveness, ASU anticipates becoming a global leader in sustainable energy production. (…and could probably win something at our Kiwanis Science Fair!)

Thanks much to reporter David Shirey and Photographer Alan Haugner!


Today's Speaker Part 1


Today's Speaker Part 2


Today's Speaker Part 3


Today's Speaker Part 4

January 21, 2009 - Lunch

Volume XXXVI No. 17

Another great day in Cave Creek. President Dave noted yesterday was the beginning of a “new era” that might bring hope that might improve consumer confidence. Amen even before the invocation by Gene Ragsdale that reflected these sentiments of moving forward together.







Click on the pictures above to enlarge or download


Our greeters were Burt Lundquist, Ed Knight and John Skarda. The House Committee doing some double duty since Burt and John did both, with Chuck Hoch and Herb Engdahl helping on House.

Alan Haugner provided pre-lunch photos from the Christmas party.

Richard Saunders led us in “America the Beautiful,” with fabulous fingers Lloyd Meyer on the piano.

Ticket winners were George Schmid and Hans Thiele.

For wellness, Lou Snodgrass reported that member Jack Davis was quite ill with an enlarged heart and a card was circulated for him. Blaine Keith keeps recovering – he loves phone calls at 595-9564.

Guests
All guests today had new member applications. John Skarda hosted Pete Gross. Brian Kunkel had an app and check from strong-backed Brian Jones. (Fleas take note.) Richard Daub was a walk-in introduced by Alan Haugner. Richard’s wife is a teacher at Lone Mountain Elementary School. Our support of our local schools stimulated him to check us out on the web, and then come to join.

New Member Recruitment
Kiwanis International awards keys to members who recruit new members. If you recruit one in the year, you get a bronze; two, silver; three, gold. Members getting the bronze today included Janie French, Manny Gonzales, Glen Hanf, George Schmid, Hans Thiele and Max Wyatt.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Board Meeting. Our Board of Directors will meet this coming Tuesday 1/27 at starting 8:00 AM at the community room in the Harris Bank. All members and any members of the public may attend. For an agenda and any advance materials sent to the Board, contact Secretary Gary Hayward at gvhayward@cox.net or President Dave Bell at davjanbell@cox.net

Library – An Evening with Barry Goldwater Jr. Event postponed until March 3 at 6 PM.
Souper Bowl of Caring. Celebrate the Supper Bowl with caring for the hungry – bring cans of soup (or other canned goods including canned vegetables you don’t want to eat) to lunch next Wednesday for David Shirey to take to the food bank.

Flea Market. Next will be Saturday 1/31. Please bring donations to warehouse by next Wednesday after lunch until 3:30 PM. Come help set-up Friday 1/30 at 2 PM, or sale day from 8 AM until close at 2 PM.

Science Fair. Help wanted. Jim Walborn and the science crew need more help with judging. Please contact Jim at 473-8349 or jim_walborn @quest.net

New Sign. Finally a new sign for Kiwanis on Cave Creek Road. Thanks Brian Kunkel for getting the old down. Here’s to the right tools to getting the new one up.

Wish List Fulfilled - Below is a link to a spreadsheet containing wish list requests that our club has filled. Thanks go to club President Dave Bell for supplying this. Click here to see the wish list

Help Wanted - The Sundial Committee is looking for a few good reporters and photographers. We're currently staffed such that each member contributes once a month. We'd like to get additional help from folks who would like to share their creative writing and photography skills with the club. As far as the time commitment, our consensus has it that the reporter invests approximately 1 hour, and the photographer has to simply upload photos to their computer. If you're interested in lending a hand, please give Tim Pitel a call at 623-308-2916.

Sundial Changes - In an effort to trim some costs, we've decided to reduce the postal mailing of the Sundial to once a month. Each issue will contain an entire month's worth of our club's news. This change will become effective with the first issue on April 1, 2009 which will contain the club news since March 1. Please note the online version will continue to be emailed weekly.

PROGRAM

Susan Vanik introduced her former neighbors Dave and Flo Wagner who back-packed through Asia for more than a year. Dave spent over three decades running and owning international businesses, and devoted time to humanitarian causes.

Dave had a pre-mature retirement because of open heart surgery. He had a year and a half recovery. Because of that and a lot of wanderlust, he and his wife fulfilled a life-long dream to back-pack through Asia. They bought a one-way ticket to India. For 13 months in 13 countries they traveled with only three changes of clothes and a laptop computer. They lived adventures previously imagined and eventually wrote a book “Unpaved Roads.” You can’t get lost since you don’t have a destination; where you are is your destination.

Traveling this way, they fell into a “back-pack” culture that provides information about “how to and where to” and can provide extremely useful fake student passes that save money and sometimes access at borders. “Lonely Planet” guidebook helps find the way and provides useful phrases in many languages. Most people traveling this way are significantly younger – between 20 – 30 years old. It is an interesting way to get to know different cultures and loose 30 pounds/person.

Next week Dr. Michael Crow, President of ASU, will be a very special speaker.

Thanks much to reporter Michael Moore and Photographer Sherman Agins for making this issue a reality.

Video of our lunch speakers Part 1


Lunch Speakers Part 2


Lunch Speakers Part 3


Lunch Speakers Part 4

January 14, 2009
Volume XXXVII No. 16

Ugh! Just another “miserable” January day in Carefree/Cave Creek – NOT! (Sunny and 75)
We were welcomed with smiles (and hands out) by Kathy Haugner and Sam Brooks. Bob Hutson provided a very thoughtful invocation and Richard Saunders led us in the club song followed by My Country ‘tis of Thee. President Dave then thanked the room set up crew for another great job of getting everything ready for our meeting and we all sat down and enjoyed each other’s company and lunch.

Next week’s greeters will be John Skarda, who stated he was employee of the month for 240 months straight … of the Skarda Company, and Ed Knight, who indicated he wrote a reply to Jon Kyl asking what they were going to do with corporate crooks and reminding him of the complacency of congress.






Guests: Our guests today were Pete Gross, guest of John Skarda; Brian Jones, guest of Richard Saunders; and Chuck Harstad, guest of Bob Swan.

Wellness Report: Lou Snodgrass reported Wally Joachim was currently at the Care Center at 92nd and Shea in Scottsdale recovering from a staph infection and Blaine Keith, although having lost quite a bit of weight and having another fall, was doing pretty good.

Announcements
Salvation Army: Jim Shaw was all smiles when he reported this year’s bell ringers brought in $23,350 in donations. Great job ringers!

An Evening with Barry Goldwater Jr. – Jon Coates and Kris Proskus reminded everyone about the book signing at Desert Foothills Library featuring Barry Goldwater, Jr. on February 16th at 6:00pm. They asked those planning on attending to let them know as soon as possible as they need a head count for food and drinks. Books will be available; however, you need not purchase one to attend.

Funds Requests - If any member is approached by anyone requesting financial support from the Club, they should be informed by the Club member that we have a Funds Request form that must be completed prior to consideration. Applications are available from the Chairman T Lyons, call 480-575-3191

Help Wanted - The Sundial Committee is looking for a few good reporters and photographers. We're currently staffed such that each member contributes once a month. We'd like to get additional help from folks who would like to share their creative writing and photography skills with the club. As far as the time commitment, our consensus has it that the reporter invests approximately 1 hour, and the photographer has to simply upload photos to their computer. If you're interested in lending a hand, please give Tim Pitel a call at 623-308-2916.

Sundial Changes - In an effort to trim some costs, we've decided to reduce the postal mailing of the Sundial to once a month. Each issue will contain an entire month's worth of our club's news. This change will become effective with the first issue on April 1, 2009 which will contain the club news since March 1. Please note the online version will continue to be emailed weekly...whew!

Program
Herb Hayde introduced our guest speaker today, Bob Littlefield, Scottsdale Vice Mayor and councilman. Mr. Littlefield is a graduate of Arizona State with a B.S. in Engineering. He has lived in Arizona for 29 years, has been married to his wife, Kathy, for 38 years and has two children. He was also a past member of the Kiwanis Club of Carefree before moving out of the area.

Vice Mayor Littlefield indicated he felt Scottsdale was at the “end of an era” with Mary Manross leaving as Mayor after 8+ years. He stated he was an avid supporter of Jim Lane getting into office and is excited about the changes to come. In particular, he reported Mayor Lane’s centerpiece for City Hall is to be “more open and responsive to the citizens” of Scottsdale, and encouraged everyone to let the town know how they feel about upcoming issues. You can contact any or all of them online at scottsdaleaz.gov and clicking on the “city council” link.

He stated that Scottsdale fortunately had prepared for the possibility of a decline in the economy a couple of years ago by putting money away and, as a result, ended last fiscal year with a $12M unspent balance. This has allowed Scottsdale to be in a much better position to weather the shortfall. He also touted the efficient and aggressive department of tourism for Scottsdale as assisting in making up for some of downfall.

The Vice Mayor further spoke on land preservation, indicating Scottsdale had committed to keeping one-third of the city as open space, of which about one-half has already been acquired. The balance of the land is still available; however, with the decrease in sales (resulting in a loss of sales tax income dedicated to purchase land) and the competition from developers to purchase the land at higher prices, they’re work is cut out for them. He called the next two years as a crucial time for land preservation and to look and study carefully the State Trust Land Reform that will hopefully be on our next ballot. He is also hopeful that Mayor Lane and his new regime will be able to establish a better rapport with the State Land Department in order to fulfill their open land commitment.

Mr. Littlefield touched briefly on the Transportation Master Plan, more specifically bus service from Scottsdale to Carefree/Cave Creek, indicating the town of Scottsdale feels the demand is “too small” and if we are interested in having bus service offered, we need to let them know (by phone or email via their website).

This week's reporting and photography was handled wonderfully by Janie French and Joe Devito, respectively.

January 7, 2009 - Lunch

Sundial – January 7, 2009
Volume XXXVI No. 13

After a three week holiday break, Kiwanians gathered at Harold’s and were greeted by George Schmid and Bob McBreen . Max Link and his crew efficiently prepared our meeting room today. Michael Moore gave a thoughtful invocation, and Richard Saunders and Lloyd Meyer took care of the musical duties.

Kathy Haugner was again a lucky raffle winner, along with Burt Lundquist, and they will team as greeters next week.



Click on the above photots to enlarge or to download



Wellness Report - Lou Snodgrass reported that Blaine Keith was back in the hospital but Don Sorchych is on the mend and attended today’s meeting. Bill Rintelmann is still experiencing some medical complications.

Hosts and Guests – Biff Miller hosted Brandon Ellerbe, who is attending NAU and a Kiwanis scholarship recipient. Manny Gonzales introduced Jennifer Phillips, also a scholarship recipient, and Jennifer Risz a former CCUSD student. Jacquie Goodspeed, Chuck Hoch, Richard Saunders, Bob Hesselgesser and Jon Pearson had as guests (respectively) George Buehler, Charlie Hoch, Jack Thompon, Walter Cerini and Gary Neiss. Don Sorchych brought his wife Shari Jo and Curtiss Riggs.

Induction of New Members – Deborah Adams handled welcoming two new members. John Denaro, sponsored by Hans Thiele, had a career as an Electrical Engineer. One of his hobbies is helping seniors with chores and handyman needs.
Bill Morris sponsors are Manny Gonzales and Steve Gold. Bill owns a wholesale jewelry business and has already worked on the Christmas Luncheon.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Services for Bill Scully - Memorial Services for our member and friend Bill Scully will be held at 11:00 AM January 10th at the Good Shepard Episcopal Church located at 6502 E. Cave Creek Road.A reception will follow at the Scully's home located at 10344 Venado Trail in Desert Mountain.

Flea Market - Kirk Wilson announced the Flea market last month raised $11,750.
Kid’s Christmas Party – This event was chaired by Michael Moore and a total of 76 needy kids received gifts.

An Evening with Barry Goldwater Jr. – Jon Coates and Kris Proskus announced a private program for our Club’s members and guests, featuring the son of Barry Goldwater. It will be held at 6:00pm on February 16th at the Desert Foothills Library.
Copies of the book “Pure Goldwater” are available for purchase at the event, with net proceeds benefiting the Library.

Used Eyeglasses – Glenn Hanf is again collecting surplus eyeglasses for donation to needy individuals in Mexico.

Brain Fitness Program – Phyllis Strupp announced a program on how to keep one’s brain active and fit. The date is January 13th, 5:30pm at the Desert Foothills Library.

PROGRAM
Our program was Cave Creek Mayor Vincent Francia and Carefree Mayor Wayne Fulcher speaking on the State of the Towns. Mayor Francia began by acknowledging his town is facing a serious financial crisis, due to lagging sales tax revenue coupled with development fees being at a standstill. The business model used for the past 12 years is being revised to use new development fees and tourism as strictly icing on the cake as opposed to the main generators of town revenue.

Mayor Francia did outline several high points, including adding a second storage tank to the town-owned water system and completing annexation of 4,000 acres of land to be added to land preserves.

Mayor Fulcher discussed improvements to the downtown area of Carefree, completion of a large water storage tank and purchase of real estate adjacent to the town center, to be used for a future town hall and court. He stated that Carefree is also tightening their financial belt, with 2009-10 being an austere but balanced budget. Fortunately the town has established financial reserves ($1,316 for each citizen) that will help the town weather the financial storm.

Next Meeting – The next meeting will be on January 14th, when our speaker will be Scottsdale Vice Mayor Bob Littlefield.

Todays reporter was Howard Dicke and photographer was Curtis Riggs