January Newsletter. 2010.

THE BROOKLYN EXPRESS. January 2010 Edition

2010 is finally here!!! It is super tear jerking to me when I realize how the Key Club service year is coming to an end. My January Divisional will be at E. R. MURROW HS at 4:30 PM. There, things such as the 2010 Leadership Training Conference in Monticello N.Y. and the choosing of the next Lt. Governor for the Brooklyn Division, will be mentioned.

The check for the dues should have been sent in already with at least the first 15 members. Please get them in ASAP. Even if there are more send out the first 15 first and then send the rest in a another round of dues. That will your club is safe from being considered “inactive.” I know finals are closing in with the semester but please,

Lt. Governor Tiffany Kwong Governor Allen Yu 2009-2010

a Kiwanis-family member keyclub.org | NYDKC.org

if you are interested in this position as Lt. Governor for the 2010-2011 year, email me ([email protected] ) and Mr. Gioia ([email protected] ). The interview to choose will take place during the month of late February and Early March. Choosing the next Lt. Governor is the first sign of how close the Leadership Training Conference (LTC) is.

I remember 2 years ago in my freshman year I represented my club as a delegate and incoming officer at LTC. The experience and memories you gain from attending just one LTC is amazing. It helped me set my path into becoming Lt. Governor of Brooklyn. Now for those who haven’t had the opportunity of attending one yet, I strongly encourage you all to do so this year. Key Clubbers = $225. Adults=$250. Mr. Gioia and his Kiwanis club of Coney Island

is willing to sponsor 4 delegates from the Brooklyn Division up to LTC this year. We hope to have at least two per club. Club Elections should also be held as soon as possible so that the incoming officers for the new service year can be trained during the variety of workshops offered during LTC. Also, during LTC awards will be given out to honor those dedicated clubs and key clubbers who have contributed so much this service year. Please look at the Awards Booklet on nydkc.org for your chance to be recognized in front of the whole NY District. Make your club proud!! If there are any questions or comments and concerns,, please email me or text me or call me at [email protected] and 1.347.461.6454. I hope to see you all at LTC this year!!

Yours in service, Lt. Gov. Tiffany Kwong.

Lt. Governor’s Greetings.

Governor’s Greetings – Governor Allen

Happy New Year!

I hope you’ve had a spectacular holiday break (and that includes plenty of sleep!)

Mark Twain wasn’t a big fan of New Year’s. In fact, he said a New Year’s celebration is simply “a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions.”

First of all, I hope you weren’t all promiscuously drinking. But resolutions? I beg to differ from Mr. Twain. Resolutions are important, but what’s even more important than setting them is keeping them. Resolutions can be anything you want them to be, whether it’s starting a collection of souvenir key chains or reading all the Harry Potter books 70 times each (I never said this was my resolution!).

We are quickly approaching the end of our service year. This is a crucial time for us and we all need to give 110% of effort in our service so we can reach our goals by April.

When that time comes, I will hopefully be seeing you at our 62nd Annual New York District Leadership Training Conference (see our website for additional information), and we can all be so proud of our accomplishments. However, that pride won’t come without hard work, so keep doing what we Key Clubbers do best – service.

Good luck, and have a smashing January!





Trustee Blurb – XinLei (Tony) Wang

With the beginning of a new year comes a new chapter in the works of Key Club. Let us resolve to make this another amazing year in the service to our communities. As convention draws near, I encourage you to continue the works of Key Club and your passion for service. In this newsletter, you will information such as regarding the Kiwanis International Foundation, dues, and the Major Emphasis Project. On behalf of the International Board, I want to thank for taking the initiative to become part of the Kiwanis Family, and I took forward to another great year serving as your Trustee. In Friendship and Service,

How to contact Trustee Tony (Xin Lei) Wang. (C)1.414.412.3358 (E) [email protected] His Website: www.keyclub.notlong.com Add him on Facebook!!:Xinlei Wang Follow him on Twitter: w_xinlei Psst… he can text!! Say hi!! :]

Dues – Treasurer Teri

The deadline for dues submission was November 30, and if your club has yet to pay dues for at least 15 Key Club members, your club status is now “delinquent.”

If your club’s dues have not been paid by March 1st, 2010 your club status then becomes “suspended.” Note that the deadline to pay dues before becoming suspended has been pushed back an extra month. This change has been made due to International updating their Database system, set to launch January 11th.

Also note that delinquent clubs are not considered “in good standing” with Key Club International, and clubs not in good standing cannot 1) have candidates for lieutenant governor or any District and International office, 2) have delegates at the divisional council meeting to elect the next lieutenant governor, 3) have delegates at the New York District Leadership Training Conference or the Key Club International Convention, 4)

apply for awards or scholarships or participate in contests from the New York District or Key Club International, and 5) receive any funding for projects under the Youth Opportunities Fund or receive any other resources or opportunities our organization provides.

However, just by simply paying dues ($11.50 per member) for a minimum of 15 Key Club members in your club by March 1, the club status immediately changes from “delinquent” to “active.”

If your club hasn't submitted dues, I urge you to do so as soon as possible because in the next few months, lieutenant governor elections should be held and I hope your club can be in good standing to actively participate by providing dedicated candidates and electing the right person to lead the division for next year.

Email Treasurer Teri at… [email protected]



Empire Key – Editor Gavin

The Empire Key for Winter 2010 is now up!

You can view the issue online at www.nydkc.org or on Issuu at issuu.com/nydkc/docs/ek_winter.

The Empire Key is the official publication of the New York District Key Club. It contains a wealth of information on project ideas, service spotlights, and ideas on ways to raise money for charities. It is also a great resource for news from both the district and Key Club International.

In this issue, we highlight East Rockaway Key Club’s Ronald McDonald House project, a great new program from St. Jude Research Hospital, and a cool way to involve your teachers in our International Projects. Take advantage of this amazing resource!

We will be working on the Mid-Winter issue soon. If you would like to be featured in the next Empire Key (to come out in early February), please send articles and photos to [email protected] with the subject “Mid-Winter Empire Key Submission.”

Articles can be personal anecdotes, ideas for new projects, or even lists of suggestions for other Key Clubbers. Be sure to send accompanying pictures!

I look forward to reading about your Key Club experiences.





Rally for St. Jude – Lt. Governor Jen, Chair

Remember to keep fundraising for our District Projects!

This year’s eight projects are the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Center, Kamp Kiwanis, Local Causes, Pediatric Lyme Disease Foundation, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Save the Music Foundation, Ronald McDonald House and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. You can find out more information about each of these fantastic organizations on www.nydkc.org!

If you’re looking for an exciting way to raise money for our District Projects, here’s one idea: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has a Rally program, which operates in hundreds of high schools across the United States and is truly a lot of fun!

Rally is a simple letter addressing/sending campaign. Every student who addresses 25 letters to family and friends asking for donations is automatically entered into a raffle to win a Nintendo Wii for that school. And for some extra incentive, St. Jude provides pizza for the event!

One of the best parts of Rally is the fact that your local St. Jude representative will be helping you every step of the way. St. Jude provides the letters and envelopes…you add the names and the addresses.

Think about these important questions: Who at your high school can get all the students to Rally as one? Would that mean holding a meeting with your principal so that he or she can make it a school-wide event? Perhaps the athletic director can get all the athletic teams on board with Rally? Maybe you can meet with the student council or school president to make Rally a huge success and a school wide event?

If your school is interested in participating, you can reach Sam Provenzano, a St. Jude Event Marketing Representative (and a really nice person!) at 518-649-2488 for more information and to set up a kickoff meeting.

It's a program we're excited about, and we hope you'll consider bringing it to your schools!

If you have any questions/comments/ideas about District Projects or in general, feel free to contact me anytime at [email protected]!

Have a great rest of the Key Club year!



March of Dimes: Change for America’s Baby Campaign -Lt. Gov. Alex, Chair

Hopefully, the majority of the people reading this have heard of the March of Dimes. If you haven’t, don’t sweat it. March of Dimes (MD) is aimed at preventing premature births and increasing the number of healthy babies born daily. Sounds awesome, right? Well, MD just came out with a new campaign called Change for America’s Babies. This campaign is designed to make it fun and easy for everyone to help by collecting change, no matter what age you are. About $10.5 billion (that’s a lot of zeros) sits useless in American households. Just think that could be translated into $10,500,000,000.00 to help save a remarkable amount of baby’s lives.

Campaign Tools…For Teachers :

° School Guide - helps to explain to students the importance of healthy decisions and taking care of themselves.

° Letter to Principal/Superintendent - a pre written letter to send to your principal/superintendent in order to get their approval of MD activities in your school.

° Letter to Parents - A pre-written letter to give to parents telling them about the lessons and values you will be teaching their children and urging them to reinforce those ideas.

° Certificate of Appreciation - a paper that hangs on a wall at school that is a constant reminder to students of the goal they set and their desire to work towards it.

° Wall Tracker - A certificate of appreciation for students to make them feel good for helping to improve a baby’s life.

What can you do to help? ° Look in your couch cushions and in your piggy banks for any loose change you can find.

Remember, every cent counts! ° Give out coin collection bags to all of your friends and family and urge them to join the cause. ° Set up a collection box at your work, school, church and anywhere else you can think of.

For Everyone: ° Poster - Hang this in your schools,

classrooms, and work area or wherever you are planning your event in order to promote the event you are planning.

° Flyer - A nice, portable reminder that can be given to anyone and everyone so as to urge them to donate to the cause.

° Canister Wrapper - use this wrapper to cover any cup, jug, bucket, or jar and collect coins from people you see.

Why is this important?

° Every year, more than half a million babies are born prematurely and face lasting disabilities like cerebral palsy, mental retardation and learning problems, chronic lung disease, and vision and hearing problems. That means more than 120,000 babies are born with birth defects each year.

° Don’t forget, a little change goes a long way! If you have any questions or want to learn more, visit www.marchofdimes.com/change/ for more info.

To contact Lt. Gov. Alex, email her at [email protected]

Interclubbing – Lt. Governors Devan and Billy

Interclubbing is a fantastic way to perform service in Key Club. Interclubbing is where more than one Key Club, or any Kiwanis family club, work together on one service project or fundraiser. Any club can easily interclub, especially with other clubs within your own division. Interclubbing promotes unity within the Kiwanis Family. At the same time, it is a great way to meet new people who love service just as much as you do. It is also a great way for a small Key Clubs to get help in accomplishing a large service project. Many Circle K’ers, who are Kiwanis Family members, are past Key Clubbers who love to work with current Key Clubbers on different projects. They are a great resource to have when doing different projects and fundraisers. If you are unsure of which other high school Key Clubs or K-Family Clubs (Kiwanis, Circle K, Builders Club, K-Kids, and Aktion Club) are in your division, please contact the New York District Key Club Kiwanis Family Co-Chars or your lieutenant governor, who can aid you in finding another club to work with you.

Advocacy – Lt. Governor Lauren, Chair

To contact Lt. Gov. Devan and Billy…[email protected] [email protected]



Our environment is something we need to worry about everyday. If we don’t take care of it now, it won’t be there for us in the future. One of many environmental issues that exist right now is deforestation. This is something that can hit home for many New York Key Clubbers, except the ones from Long Island (sorry). Deforestation is the clearance of naturally occurring forests by human processes. Keep in mind that not all deforestation is bad. Sometimes, forests need to be thinned out if trees are sick or if light needs to reach the plants below trees. In many cases, though, the act of deforestation is killing off the habitats of animals, which causes endangerment and a loss of biodiversity. To help solve this problem, plant some trees with your club (while gaining more hours for the Governor’s Project)! You can also have your club write letters about any environmental issues that you have to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis (address listed below). Explain to him your personal dedication to nature and the environment around you, and get out there with your club and help conserve the environment!

Commissioner Pete Grannis 625 Broadway Albany, NY 12233-1011

To contact Lt. Gov. Lauren…[email protected]

To make Key Club a household name, you sometimes have to take a step further from hanging flyers on your school’s walls. It is time to get to the press by sending a convincing letter. Keep the letter short and sweet by first mapping out the important information you want the reader to know. Never forget to answer the usual five questions: who, what, where, when, why and how? Stick to the facts. Do not include words like: biggest, most fun, best, etc. Always proofread and ask a friend to look at it too before sending it out. Look online for examples of letters to get the press to attend an event. Pay attention to the format and try to do the same. Another important detail about getting the press involved is sending the letter to the right person. Do not send it to a general email or address. Try to find the person who handles staff members or editorials in the area you are writing about. One last tip: send the letter a fair time in advance. You want to give them ample time to received, find, read, discuss and reply to your letter. If you need more detailed information on how to write a letter to the media, let me know and I will be more than happy to send you

some helpful links. Best of luck!



To contact Lt. Gov. Nadyli , email her at [email protected]

Now that we have entered into 2010, the Leadership Training Conference weekend does not seem that far away. Every year at our conference, we announce award winners and present them with plaques and certificates for the amazing service they have performed. One of the acknowledged individuals called on to stage could be you!

Please take a few minutes and check out the awards booklet that we have put together for the New York District Key Clubbers this year. The Awards Booklet can be found on the district website at www.nydkc.org. We are offering scholarships for graduating seniors who have shown an incredible amount of dedication to Key Club. So if you’re a senior this year and you need to pay for college, definitely apply for our Kiwanis scholarships!

Other awards offered in our awards booklet this year include Distinguished Officer awards, Best Public Relations, Best K-Family Relations, and awards for most creative project for the Governor’s Project and our District Projects, and even Distinguished Novice Club and Distinguished Club. So in other words, we are looking to present awards to distinguished officers who have gone above and beyond the duties designated for their position and even clubs for their outstanding service throughout the 2009-2010 service year!

Lastly, we have different contests that we offer each year. Some of which include, Best Scrapbook, the Oratorical Contest, and the Talent Show Contest.

Apply today and be sure to postmark all applications by the given deadlines so you can be one of the award winners at this year’s Leadership Training Conference!

To contact Lt. Gov. Shellee, email her at [email protected]

Awards and Scholarships–Lt. Governor Shellee

Writing Press Releases – Lt. Governor Nadyli

Division 9 Service Spotlight –January 2010.



Teachers for Zimbabwe-Brooklyn Tech Key Club. Throughout the week of 12/14/2009 to 12/18/2009, during lunch periods, Key Clubbers sold items students may use as gifts for their teachers. Donations were asked for. The proceedings went towards hiring teachers to travel to Zimbabwe and teach the students there.

This project went towards the Governor’s Project. There was a total 87 hours contributed.

Paperwork Update.

Jingle Bell Walk – E.R. Murrow Key Club. On December 6th 2009, 15 members of the E.R. Murrow club volunteered a total of 90 hours for the Arthritis Walk.

Name ERF Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov A.Lincoln. x x x x x x x x x - Bklyn.Tech. x x x x - x x x x - E.R.Murrow. x - x x x x x x x - Fort.Hamilton. x x x x x - x x x - HSTAT. x x x x x x x x x x J.Dewey. x x x x x x - x - - Midwood. x x x x x x x x x x

To contact Secretary Steff , email her at [email protected]



Upcoming Events. 2010.

Hey everyone!! 2009 is over now. Time to plan for the future year before the end of April!! :[

What we are most focused on is the SAVE THE MUSIC FOUNDATION: BATTLE OF THE BANDS.

Mr. Gioia has connections that can get us professional musicians as our jubdges for this concert.

You all should get planning with your schoolband/ music group to rock on when the time comes. :] The Key Clubber in charge of your school will be contacting you shortly.

If there are any questions please email, call and text me!! Yours in service, Lt. Gov. Tiffany Kwong.

(E)[email protected] (C)1.347.461.6454.



Fun stuff. :] – The super addicting KenKen.

Ken Ken puzzles are one of my many favorite games to play on the newspapers by the subway stations.

The free newspaper we get in Brooklyn is called AM NY. It is pretty simple once you get the hang of it. It is even ADDICTING. ;] If you google: “KenKen Puzzles”, you will get tons of puzzles ranging from super easy to super hard!! Have fun and good luck!! For the solution just talk to me. I will solve it for you. :]

Some rules to follow in order to successfully solve this on your own.. -Do not repeat a number in any row or column. -The numbers in each bolded set of square must go together to produce the goal# that’s on the top corner of the bolded group using the specified mathematical operation. -Boxes that are bolded and has only one box should be filled in with the given number in the top corner. (it is a freebee) - A number can be repeated within a cage as long as it is not in the same row or column.

Name: Stephanie Springer Position: District Secretary Laws and Regulations Committee Chair Email: [email protected]

Name: Alex Ladas Position: Executive Assistant Email: [email protected]

Name: Terri Bunce Position: NY District Treasurer Email: [email protected]

Name: Victor Ma Position: NY District Webmaster Email: [email protected]



Contacts of the Board…

Name: Allen Yu Position: NY District Key Club Governor Email: [email protected]

Name: Gavin Huang Position: NY District Editor Email: [email protected]

Name: Lt. Gov. Tiffany Kwong Div. 9 Email: [email protected] Cell phone: (347) 461-6454 Mailing Address: 2461 e 19 st 1/ FL Brooklyn, NY 11235.

Name: Lt. Gov. Jillian Harmon, Div. 22 Position: Governor’s Project committee chair. Email: [email protected]

Name: Lt. Gov. Jen Kramer Div. 4 Position: District Projects Committee Chair Email: [email protected]

Name: Lt. Gov. Alex Farrington Div. 16 Position: International Projects Committee Chair Email: [email protected]




Name: Lt. Gov. Josh Barmen Div. 17 Position: KPTC Committee Chair Email: [email protected]

Name: Lt. Gov. Danielle Ver Hague Div. 26 Position: New Club Building and Reactivation Chair Email: [email protected]

Name: Lt. Gov. Billy Fletcher Div. 16 Position: K-Family Relations Committee Co-Chair Email: [email protected]

Name: Lt. Gov. Devan Farrell Div. 1 Position: K-Family Relations Committee Co-Chair Email: [email protected]

Name: Lt. Gov. Nadyli Nunez Div. 11 Position: Public Relations Committee Chair Email: [email protected]

Name: Lt. Gov. Lauren Surowiec Div. 25 Position: Advocacy Committee Chair Email: Lauren [email protected]




Name: Lt. Gov. Shellee Wong Div. 7 Position: Distinguished Key Clubber Committee Chair Email: [email protected]

January Newsletter. 2010.

Documents

key club service year

new service year

governor of brooklyn

freshman year

ltc awards

club elections

club proud

key clubbers