For all of their virtues, Kiwanis Club members tend to fall short in one area, Dave Hurrelbrink said Tuesday — self promotion. A LITTLE promotion will serve Kiwanis well, Hurrelbrink contended, as prospective members take note of what being a Kiwanian means. ON THE state level, the Kansas District is raising funds to renovate facilities at the Rock Springs 4-H Camp. The goal is $250,000. TONY PIAZZA, drama instructor at Allen Community College, was at Tuesday’s meeting as a guest speaker.
“We don’t really beat our own drum very often,” said Hurrelbrink, Kiwanis’ Kansas district governor. “We’re just nice guys and gals, and brought up that way, where you don’t boast and you don’t brag and you don’t tell people what a great job you did. But it’s time we did.”
Hurrelbrink was at Tuesday’s Iola Kiwanis meeting to recognize the club’s involvement with the new handicap-accessible playground in Riverside Park.
That project has been noticed at the national level.
Iola Kiwanis President Chris Stevens and Kiwanians Mike and Nancy Ford will attend a community leadership briefing in Washington, D.C., April 26.
The Iola trio represents the only Kansas service club invited to the White House event. Twenty-nine such clubs from across the nation will be represented.
“We have been laboring away as Kiwanis for a long time, 100 years in fact,” Hurrelbrink said, noting the organization was founded in Detroit in 1915. It has since grown to become the premier service organization in the world, Hurrelbrink said.
But Kiwanians typically are humble folks.
For example, Hurrelbrink noted, Mike Ford recently was named the Kansas Kiwanian of the year, but he did little to promote the news.
Hurrelbrink’s goal as district governor is to see Kiwanis membership expand by 25 percent statewide.
“It’s time we started inviting new folks,” he said. “I’m 61 years old, and I love doing my Kiwanis stuff, but I can’t do it forever. We’re gonna need some new hands coming up behind us.”
He also spoke about Kiwanis International’s “Eliminate” campaign to eradicate maternal and neo-natal tetanus cases worldwide. Kiwanis has partnered with UNICEF to provide tetanus vaccinations at a deeply discounted cost, $1.80 for a series of three shots.
“I defy you to go to the local pharmacy and ask them what a tetanus shot costs, if you buy it over the counter,” he said. “I did that the other day, and the cost was $64.”
His goal as district governor is to ensure Kiwanians meet three standards in 2015: that they have fun; that they partake in fellowship with the community; and that they continue service projects.
Since arriving at Allen in 1999, Piazza has overseen 76 productions, ranging from classic Shakespeare to modern pieces such as “Shrek” or “The Laramie Project.”
He noted that while several of his students pursued careers or degrees in drama, others were just as well served because of the experience they received in public speaking, for example.
The college’s next production is “Antigone,” which runs April 30-May 2 at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center.
Piazza also will oversee the college’s Summer Youth Theatre melodrama, “Murder’s In The Heir” June 19-20 at the ACC College Theatre.
Kiwanis projects draw praise
