The Sheraden KWEST The official publication of the

In this Issue: 1 - Letter from the Editor 2 – SLP Updates 3 – Biggest Bedtime Story 4 – Easter Egg Hunt Health Updates 5 – Spring Pancake Breakfast 6 – Community Member of the Year 7 – Konversations 8 – Board Elections, New Member and Recycling 9 – Club Info

March Important Dates: 2 – Meeting @ UMC 8 – Biggest Bedtime Story 9 – Meeting @ UMC w/Board Meeting following 10-12 – Key Club in Harrisburg 16– Meeting @ UMC w/1st Reading of Officers for 17-18 18 – Midwinter in State College 23 – Meeting at UMC 2nd Reading of Officers for 17-18 24 – 26 Circle K State Convention 28 – Community Council Meeting 30 – Meeting at UMC 3rd Reading of Officers for 17-18 April Important Dates: 1 – Spring Pancake Breakfast 6 – Meeting / Scholarship Winner Announced 8 – Easter Egg Hunt @ Sheraden Park 9 – Palm Sunday 13 – No Meeting 14 – Good Friday 15 – TAX DAY 16 – Easter Sunday 20 – Regular Meeting 25 – Sheraden Community Council Meeting 27 – Regular Meeting

Happy Birthday! 3/24 – Randy Martini 4/17 – Fred Heinhold 4/18 – Paul Byers 4/21 – Jay Rogal 4/26 – Robert Bott

MARCH / APRIL “SUPER EDITION”

2017

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

SPRING IS HERE…and what a BUSY spring it’s been! Our apologies for not getting a newsletter out since our February edition, but with Midwinter, State SLP Conventions, Easter Egg Hunts, Bedtime Stories, Officer Elections and a Pancake Breakfast…well, we hope you understand.

Unless you’re still in hibernation mode, you may have noticed a few changes outside - flowers blooming, trees budding, birds beginning to sing somewhere around 5 am (not to mention the sun coming up earlier.) The whole world is awakening from the long winter, and this includes Kiwanis. Spring is a time where many of us awake refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to serve our community.

This issue is jam-packed with recaps of all our events. So…let’s begin!

Yours in Service, Leadership and Fellowship, Shawn A. Smith “Spike” Jen Grab, Esq.

“One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others.” - Lewis Carroll

The old saying, “March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb” doesn’t seem to apply to the Pennsylvania District of

Kiwanis International! For us, March came in with a whisper and out with a roar with Key Club and Circle K District

Conventions and Midwinter held in State College.

Community member of the year, Sandy Maker receives a certificate from president

Andrea Cuda.

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WHAT ARE OUR SERVICE LEADERSHIP PROJECTS? by Jean Harkins

Kiwanis International feels the best way to grow the largest service organization in the world to help children is to give them the opportunity to serve. The Kiwanis Club of Sheraden has accepted this mandate and has started several SLP’s in and around the Sheraden community. But all this talk of AKTION Clubs, K-Kids, Key Clubs and Circle K’s can get a little overwhelming and very confusing to remember what is what…So we asked Jean Harkins to give us a little background on each of our SLP’s and help us understand exactly what each is.

The Community Connections AKTION Club is the longest running service club of the Sheraden Kiwanis and is currently in its 10th year. There are 30-35 members, all students from the 6 sites (2 from Sheraden) of City Connection, the PGH Public School’s program for special needs adults ages 18-21. AKTION Club meets twice a month, either Tuesdays or Thursdays at the Trinity AME Zion Church. Each meeting, the members participate in 4-5 service projects which benefit services and charities such as Meals on Wheels, Children’s Hospital, Ronald McDonald House, Light of Life Rescue Mission, the Humane Society, Trinity AME Zion Church and other local organizations. One of the largest projects is a game carnival for of the Langley kindergarteners. The year ends with a Luau with PCA Builders Club and the Langley K-Kids Club.

We are in our 6th year of sponsoring the PGH Classical Academy Builders Club. Currently, there are around 25 students from 3 life skills classes of the 6th, 7th and 8th grades. The group meets two Wednesdays a month at 1:30 pm in the school cafeteria. The students work on 1 or 2 service projects per meeting benefiting Meals on Wheels, Veteran’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital and the three Headstart classes in the school. This group has also performed a holiday concert at the Sheraden Seniors Center, taken a trip to the local firehouse and have even had a police officer speak to them. They also hold a game carnival and participate in the end of the year Luau.

The Langley K-Kids Club originally began at Thaddeus Stevens School nine years ago and was moved to Langley Elementary after the school was closed. Made up of eight boys from the middle school Autistic class, originally the club worked on service projects for the community, but last year began packing food bags for the Blessings in a Backpack program (see page $%^& for more information about this program). Each week they put 15-20 food items into 50 bags for students to take home for the weekend. They cheerfully assist in this project which could not exist without them. Last year the group was recognized by Kiwanis by winning first place for the Pennsylvania District of K-Kids Single Service Project and second place in Kiwanis International for which they were awarded a trophy.

Twenty-two years ago the Oakland Kiwanis Club chartered a Circle K chapter (the collegiate division of Kiwanis) at Carnegie Mellon University. Three years ago, the Oakland club surrendered its charter, leaving CMU without a sponsoring club. Two years later, CMU had only five members in their club when our members, Jay and Barbara Rogal asked the Sheraden club to pick up the sponsor. Today, the club has fifteen members and is growing. Though busy with classes, the students find time to volunteer between 50 – 110 hours a month and help to prepare meals at Family House, a center that houses families with children staying in local hospitals. Because of its proximity to Pitt Circle K, the two groups partner on various service activities.

AKTION Club Update by Jean Harkins

On 4/26 we had our last regular meeting at the AME Zion Church. With 20-25 students, we completed 5 service projects, preparing treats for Meals on Wheels – baking cookies and cutting strawberries for fruit cups. Another group cleaned and dusted all the seats in the balcony of the church. One group made 50 granola bags for Blessings in a Backpack while our more artistic members make 50 thank you cards for the VA for Memorial Day. In May, the club members will hold a game carnival for kindergarteners at Langley on 5/12 and our annual Luau for our three service clubs will be on 5/23.

Langley Builders Club by Marianne Muraska

We are prepped and ready for the next holiday! The Builders Club at Langley filled 100 ziplock bags and inserted a short prayer paper that Marianne typed up. An assembly line was formed, club members covered their hands with a plastic glove to pick up a jellybean of each color to go along with the message on the paper. Despite the temptation, they ate none of the jelly beans in the process and were rewarded with their own bag at the end of the day. The Minister at the VA Hospital in Aspinwall will distribute the bags to the residents on Easter Sunday, April 16 following their services. RED is for the blood He gave GREEN is for the grass He made YELLOW is for the sun so bright BLACK is for the dark of night BLUE is for the sky He made

is for the grace He gave PURPLE is for His hours of sorrow PINK is for our new tomorrow. A basket full of jelly beans Colorful and sweet, is a prayer, a promise and a child’s treat, May the risen Lord bless you this Easter and always.

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BIGGEST BEDTIME STORY by Shawn Smith For the 7th year, our club hosted The Biggest Bedtime Story at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Sheraden Branch. The event took place on Wednesday, March 8th and was again chaired by Manju Germanwalla and was again a huge success! We had over 20 children from ages 2 – 14 participate in this years’ sports themed event. The evening included games, special guest readers, including Brandon Whitfield, son of our Treasurer, Bill and one of the librarians the branch and light refreshments. Each student was given a tote bag which included their own book to take home. Thank you to Manju for all her work to put this event together and we look forward to next years’ event!

Top Left: Our prize table featuring the branded bags given to each participant. Top Right: Brandon Whitfield reads aloud to a captivated audience. Bottom Right: Debbie and Tracy play bag toss with the children. Bottom Left: Assistant Librarian, Natalie, keeps the kids entertained with her interactive

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ANNUAL EASTER EGG HUNT by Marianne Muraska This years’ Easter Egg Hunt went very well and mother nature cooperated with us. We had about 40 children participating. Each child received a juice box, a book, fruit snack, the filled plastic eggs they collected, a prize, a stuffed animal and a chocolate bunny from the Kiwanis Club. We had 1200 filled eggs. Every child was elated with their collection! Kiwanis Member and City Councilwoman, Theresa Kail-Smith donated two boxes of Bar B Q chips to give to the children. Thanks to Chair Jen Grab for all her efforts in making the event and clean up run smoothly and for once again dressing up as the Easter Bunny and posing for many pictures with the kids. After, 8 of us continued the tradition of having our 3rd annual celebratory lunch at the Village tavern and Trattoria afterwards.

IT’S HARD TO KEEP A KIWANIAN DOWN by Marianne Muraska Glad to see Manju Germanwala back at our club meetings! She has recovered from her knee replacement surgery in March!

Get well wishes sent out to Barbara Rogal. Barb suffered a lung inflammation following her cancer treatments and had been in the hospital for several weeks. She has been transferred to Charles Morris Rehab in Squirrel Hill for physical and Occupational therapy to strengthen he to get back home!

Jay Rogal has recovered from his hospital stay in March after several falls and a bout of pneumonia. He is now taking care of his, Barbara.

Former member, Bill Conroy, underwent triple heart bypass surgery this month and is doing great! We’ll see him back at his funeral home picking up trash and rimming the grass in no time!

Prayers go out to Past Governor Ethan Mc Beth and his family, who was recently diagnosed with lung cancer.

To all members of the club, continue to take care of yourself, eat right, exercise and stay healthy!

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SPRING PANCAKE BREAKFAST by Tracy Smith The Kiwanis Club of Sheraden had their annual spring pancake breakfast on Saturday April 1st at their new home at the Sheraden United Methodist Church! (SUMC)As the chair of this yearly event, I should be honest...I thought there might be a much smaller turnout! Boy was I wrong! We had a constant flow from our first patrons at 7:30 am until noon!! We had many new faces and of course our always reliable supporters! Our auction baskets are always a huge success, and this breakfast was no exception!! We also had a profitable bake sale and any leftover items were donated to the SUMC for their kid’s program! But I have to say...the highlight to this breakfast was...I had 800 pieces of sausage cooked to perfection by 7:45am! I know I keep repeating this but the kitchen facilities at the SUMC is a cook’s dream!! The space was perfect and we had plenty of room to roam!! I have an awesome turnout of Kiwanis members who donate their time with advertising, placing signs around the town, set-up, baking, making auction baskets, manning the door and clean-up that help make our breakfasts one of our most profitable fundraisers of the year! A huge thank you from me to all of you!! I look forward to our fall breakfast (TBD) more than ever...(800 sausages in an hour and 15 minutes)!!!

PA District Governor John Grab joined us Thursday evening for our meeting and helped set up the hall. Little did he know the entire club would be singing “Happy Birthday” to him! Thank you to his wife, Susan for the delicious homemade cupcakes!

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ABOVE AND BEYOND by Mariane Muraska

Each year we try to applaud the work of others in the Sheraden community, outside our Kiwanis Club. This month we have chosen a woman who spends endless hours giving back to her church, her community and the Special Olympics. On April 20th, we invited Sandy Maker to our club dinner meeting for a special presentation. Sandy is very familiar with our Kiwanis work and we have recruited her for our club as a member, but there are not enough hours in the day to keep up with what she already does. Sheraden Kiwanis member Revered Wayne Meyer shared some insight into Sandy’s volunteerism in the community.

Sandy is an active member of the Sheraden United Methodist Church where we hold our club meetings. She was instrumental in our club’s move to the church in December 2016 and providing us with a meeting room, ample storage space and a warm reception from their church community. She is the head of their church council, thus involved in all that goes on in the church. The church sponsors after school programs for children, a KIDZ program on Tuesday nights, a free community dinner once a month, they have a thrift shop open to the community, right now they serve as a center for youth summer employment sign ups.

Her son, Michael, is involved with the Special Olympics program and of course, she is right by his side as he participates in the many events sponsored throughout the year. Michael is a member of our Community Connections Aktion Club SLP program.

We lovingly refer to Sandy as Reverend Wayne’s “work wife” as they spend many hours planning new strategies in which the SUMC can best serve the community and its residents. He even referred to Sandy as “his best friend” and qualified it with “other than my wife!”

Sandy worked with Reverend Wayne in helping him find a home for one of his parishioners from another church. The woman was getting on a bus at 6am to travel to Sunday services held at 9am. The house offered to her was in great disarray. They worked as a team and removed 20 huge bags of trash and drapes, removed three beds and many other things left behind by previous owners. Sandy decided to have the carpets cleaned and provided assistance in financing the purchase of the home.

Talk about going above and beyond the call. That is why we selected Sandy Maker as our April 2017 Above and Beyond Award recipient.

She said she was embarrassed to accept the award because she has refused to join the Kiwanis club for several years. We are more than happy to share her volunteerism with our members as a prime example of what giving back to the community really means. We will still be a club with open arms to her when her load lightens and she can devote some time to all the things our club does in the community.

Thank you, Sandy, for your devoted service to your church, our community and the Special Olympics!

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KONVERSATION with a KIWANIAN by Shawn Smith

Before leaving Sunday morning, I was eating breakfast by myself when John, Jen and Susan walked into the restaurant and invited me to join them, shortly followed by Jane and Gus. She talked about her next trip (which I honestly can’t remember where to) and about the international convention in Paris. Then she asked me about what I did and how I got involved with Kiwanis. I told her about my theater background and working in construction and how my parents and grandfather were involved with Kiwanis and how I followed suit. “The question I really want to ask,” her tone becoming a little more serious now, “is why the mohawk? Because I’ll be honest, at first, I didn’t know what to make of you. Now I see you’re a pretty nice guy.”

“The first large district event I went to, I had a mohawk and most people would not look me in the eye, when I walked past, they’d look the other way. Now that I’ve gotten to know people in the district, it’s completely different. I see it this way, some of the people that have been in the club for a long time, the ‘seasoned volunteers’, see the mohawk and think at first, ‘different’ ‘change’ ‘scary’ ‘bad’. But later realize that we’re all here to do the same thing and sometimes a little ‘different’ makes things better. If Kiwanis is to grow and survive in the 21st century, then words like ‘change’ and ‘different’ must become part of our vocabulary. It’s the only way we can better the organization and allow us to do what we do best, serve others.” “I couldn’t agree more,” Jane replied.

We finished breakfast, said our good bye’s and wished Jane and Gus and well on their travels. Thank you to the Grӓb’s for the invitation to hang out with them and the Erickson’s at Midwinter. Thank you to Jane for making the trip to our corner of the world and hanging out with the Pennsylvania District (whether you like it or not, you’re now one of us!). And a very special thank you to Gus for putting up with every single one of us and our shenanigans, especially Jane’s, throughout the years!

A couple days before our Midwinter conference, I was copied on an email from Governor Grab to Kiwanis International President, Jane Erickson asking her for a couple minutes to meet with Jen and myself to write an article about her for our newsletter. I was at the same time, honored, humbled and scared, as I’d absolutely no idea how to approach an international president of anything, let alone write an article about them. The Thursday before the conference, I found out that I would be having dinner with both Jane and her husband, Gus, Governor John Grӓb and wife Susan (my “adopted” Dad and Mom), Jen Grӓb and PA Kiwanis Foundation President, Kristina Badali. I went out, bought a suit, prepped my list of questions and planned the entire conversation in my head. Kristina bravely made the three-hour drive in my messy truck and put up with my need for Sheetz Ice Cream.

We arrived at a small Irish tavern just outside of State College around 5:30pm, fitting because it just so happened to be St. Patrick’s Day. The tavern used to be a house and the dining rooms and bar occupied the various rooms on the first floor. In the back, a small four-person band played traditional Irish music. This was it. We entered the tavern and sitting amongst the Grab’s was Jane and Gus Erickson. They both stood up, extended their hands and introduced themselves to Kristina and myself. My first thought was “I can’t believe I’m meeting the International Presidents of Kiwanis International at a tavern on St. Patrick’s Day!” My second thought was “I’m not wearing the suit because we were running late” followed by, “I probably should have shaved off my mohawk.” We sat down, ordered a drink and just as I was about to ask Jane my first question, she turned to Kristina and asked, “So how long have you two been dating?” Kristina, John, Susan, Jen and I burst out in laughter, leaving Jane looking rather confused. “No, we aren’t dating” one of us said, “we are just friends, we’d drive each other insane.”

After dinner, we headed back to the conference center to begin the weekend’s activities. Later that evening, Jane and Gus joined the Pennsylvanian Kiwanians in our hospitality room and, quickly, became one of the PA family, meeting and laughing with members of the district, sharing stories of her travels and even posed for a picture (or twenty) – all the while keeping calm and happy amidst the multiple repositioning for photos. Saturday, Jane spoke to the district about her travels to Africa and how she toured hospitals filled with sick children and offered comfort to the mothers. Saturday evening, Jane again joined us in the hospitality room walking in on a room with 30 people all laughing hysterically and one Marianne Muraska on the verge of tears from laughter. After coaxing her, Marianne (attempted) to tell the epic tale of her and Carol Schwartz in their nightgowns and the maintenance man (At the end of it, I think Jane was sorry she asked to hear the story as Marianne could barely tell it – mainly due to her crying and people adding their comments.)

As the evening continued, there was one thing about Jane that I couldn’t help but notice, how personable and down to earth she was. Here was a woman who had traveled across the entire globe, was the head of an international service organization, had connections with some of the most powerful people then served people that had absolutely nothing. During our dinner conversation, we were interrupted by the subtle sounds of a bagpiper playing outside. I excused myself to see what the commotion was. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jane said, “I HAVE to get this on video, now THIS is how you spend St. Patrick’s Day!” and walked outside with me to enjoy the entertainment for a moment.

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OUR CLUB WELCOMES A NEW MEMBER AND A NEW BOARD! Our April 20th club meeting, was a very busy day. We inducted a new member to the club, Jodie Welser! Jodi is a former Circle K member and secretary from Slippery Rock University (sorry, Marianne, she’s not taking your position anytime soon.) Although Jodi resides in the North Hills area, she chose our club because of the ongoing service project we conduct year round. She is employed by Duquesne Light Company in their IT department. Jodi jumped right into service with our club at our Kids Day Health and Safety Fair. Welcome Jodi, we are very happy to have you as a member of our club!

President, Andrea Cuda, performs the initiation ceremony (Left). Jodi and Maureen Reynolds pose for pictures after the pinning ceremony

(Right)

Our new elected officers for 2017-2018:

President: Jennifer McLaughlin President Elect: Jen Grӓb

Secretary: Marianne Muraska Treasurer: Bill Whitfield

New Board Members: Pat McGowan, Keith Smith, Janine Surmick

These new officers will be installed at our Club Installation Dinner on Thursday, October 12th, 2017 at which time our current officers will pass on the responsibility of leading the club to them. They join our current board members who have one year left in their two-year term: Fred Schwartz, Shawn Smith and Debbie Whitfield.

Congratulations to our new leaders! You can complete your online officers training at www.kiwanisone.org at your convienence and print out certificates of completion for your club records.

Our club is always looking to grow and build up new, strong members to keep up the traditions of our club and to start new ones. If you know of anyone that is interested in service to community, please bring their names to the attention of our Membership Chair Maureen Reynolds and she will contact them about joining the club. New members continue to strengthen our club!

Yes, our club continues its efforts to save the environment and to help fundraising! Here’s a list of what you can bring to the next meeting:

- Aluminum Can Tabs for Ronald McDonald House - Old Cell Phones for the Women’s Shelter - Used Primer and Toner Cartridges (money goes into our community account!) - Box Tops for Education and Campbell Soup Labels for the Education Partnership in

Sheraden - Hotel sized soaps, shampoos, conditioners and lotion for the homeless shelter

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The Sheraden KWEST is always looking for new ideas and stories for upcoming issues. If you’d like your photos, articles or topics included in the future, email Public Relations Chair Shawn Smith @ shawn@smithcm1.com or Jen Grӓb @ jsgrab@gmail.com.

If you would like a copy of our new club brochure, email Shawn to get a PDF to print and hand out to potential members. We love to see new faces! DON’T FORGET – SERVICE HOURS ARE DUE BY THE LAST DAY OF THE MONTH!

2930 Glenmawr Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15204

WWW. SHERADENKIWANIS.ORG KiwanisofSheraden@gmail.com

@ SheradenKiwanisClub