Noon luncheon meetings are held on the first two Tuesdays of each month, at Charlie Brown's Steakhouse in Chatham Township. Breakfast meetings are held at 8:00 AM on the last two or three Tuesdays of each month. Breakfast meetings are held at Charlie Brown’s Steakhouse in Chatham Township. Guests are always welcomed to attend our Tuesday meetings. COME JOIN US

Thursday

Kiwanis May 28 Meeting Program: Author Ann Frommer reviewed her latest book: TailGunner – war defines us if we let it.

Ann Frommer (right)was introduced by Melanie Sze (left) at the May 28 Kiwanis breakfast meeting held at Charlie Brown’s in Chatham Township. Ann collaborated with Victor Merkel to write “TailGunner”, a historical novel set in World War II. She researched real places and events to create an exciting story centered around a real WWII hero.

She described how she became involved in the project and how she went about writing the book. Here presentation was fascinating and enjoyed by the many club members and guests attending the meeting. Everyone enthusiastically applauded the excellent digital slide show. Please visit Amazon to learn more about this book.

Saturday

Kiwanis May 21 Meeting Program: Pam Mansfield, Executive Director of Senior Center of the Chathams presented an overview of the Senior Center.

Pam Mansfield, Executive Director of the Senior Center of the Chathams, (right in the photo) was introduced by Kiwanian Herb Ramo (left). Pam was recently named to her leadership position at the Senior Center. She described the history and objectives of the organization. There are many activities available for Seniors, including arts and crafts, games, exercises, movies, classes and trips. Bus services are provided. For more details about the Senior Center, please visit their website.

Kiwanis grant made to the Chatham Emergency Squad

On May 21, Kiwanian Marty Sechehay (left in the photo) presented the Club’s contribution to Ricky D’Costa (right), President of the Chatham Emergency Squad. Also, Ricky D’Costa acknowledged the fine work of Marty Sechehay as a member of the Squad.

Kiwanis Club helps NJ Clean Community program by sprucing up Ogden Street in Chatham Borough

Six Chatham-Madison Kiwanis members, three CHS Key Club members and a pet worked together to remove many bags of debris from Ogden Street near the Chatham Borough Recycling Center. Nearby walkways were also cleaned up. This May 18, 2013 activity was carried out as part of the New Jersey Clean Community program.

Chatham-Madison Kiwanians remember Veterans as Memorial Day Draws Near

On May 16, members of Chatham-Madison Kiwanis Club placed flags at the graves of United States of America Military Veterans buried in Fair Mount Cemetery in Chatham Borough.  Bob Huntington, past president of the Kiwanis club and Navy Veteran, obtained the flags and organized the work.  Kneeling beside the gravestone of Chatham brothers William W. Drabble and Philip M. Drabble are (L to R) Jerry Cunningham, Nancy Holt, Marge Ahrens, and Pat Davidson. Standing behind them are (L to R) Mary Anne Maloney, Monty Montague, Dick Plambeck, Mal Kitson and Bob Huntington.  Army Sergeant Drabble and Corporal Drabble gave their lives in service of our country during the last two months of the First World War while serving in France.

Kiwanis Annual Stanley Park Picnic - May 14, 2013

On May 14, 2013 The Chatham-Madison Kiwanis Club held their annual Stanley Park picnic beside the Passaic River. Weather was sunny but cold and windy. The river was flowing rapidly from recent rains. However, the food was excellent and so was the friendly conversation as everyone just relaxed and had a great time.

Kiwanis helps “Stamp out Hunger” on May 11, 2013

 Members of Chatham-Madison Kiwanis Club worked with US Postal workers in support of the “Stamp out Hunger” program on May 11, 2013. When postal workers delivered mail on that day, they picked up bags of groceries left beside the mailbox by local residents. When the delivery workers returned to the Chatham post office, they helped Kiwanians transfer bags of food from the mail trucks to awaiting SUV’s for delivery to the Interfaith Food Pantry in Morris Plains. Total weight of all that food was 1,455 pounds. This was less than last year because of the bad weather.

The above sign showed the way for the caravan of Kiwanis vehicles to deliver urgently needed food to the Interfaith Food Pantry.
Volunteers were on hand to empty the food into carts for sorting and placing on shelves for needy Morris County clients. Check out the Interfaith Food Pantry website.

Kiwanis May 7, 2013 Recognition Reception held at Charlie Brown’s Restaurant

At the May 7, 2013 Chatham-Madison Kiwanis Recognition Reception, Kiwanis Club Benevolence Chair Karen Swartz presented the annual Community Aid Award to Dennis Kohl, Scout Executive for the Patriots’ Path Council, Boy Scouts of America. He accepted the grant on behalf of the Leadership Excellence – Direct Results (LEDR) program. LEDR is a weeklong retreat designed to give students a chance to explore their leadership skills, to connect with peers, and to learn how to get involved in their community.
Joan May, President of the Kiwanis Club presented a grant to Leigh Anne Soroka for the benefit of the Madison Area YMCA.
 
Nancy Holt, past Chair of the Benevolence Committee presented a grant to Judy Ginty for the benefit of Girl Scouts.
 
Jerry Cunningham of the Chatham-Madison Kiwanis club presented a grant to Stacey Ewald for the benefit of the Chatham Education Fund.
Former President of Chatham-Madison Kiwanis Club presented a grant to David Paige for the benefit of the Chatham Community Band.
 

Thursday

Kiwanis April 30 meeting Program: David Smazik, Senior Pastor, Presbyterian Church in Morristown spoke on "Generation Groups in the US - Action vs. Reaction".

David Smazik (left in photo), Senior Pastor, Presbyterian Church in Morristown spoke on "Generation Groups in the US - Action vs. Reaction" at the April 30, 2013 Kiwanis breakfast meeting held at Charlie Brown’s restaurant. He was introduced by John Eyre (right), Kiwanis President-Elect.

It used to be true that all you had to do to get people to come to your church was just to build it. Today, people don’t come because of inertia and friction. David described a book which is helpful in analyzing and managing this situation.

Strauss and Howe wrote a classic book, “Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069. Click here to go to Amazon.com to buy the book. The work of these authors is described in a Wikipedia article, - click here.  Their research showed that there are four generations that appear in cycles which repeat themselves (see Wikipedia for a description). Four generations are Civic (born 1904-1924), Adaptive (1925-1942), Idealists (1940-1960), and Reactive (1960-1981). The cycle is repeating with Internet-Civic (1982-today). David elaborated on the four generations with interesting examples.

Members of the latest generation are using their computers or smartphones all the time. They are immersed in busy activities and are happy to just have a quiet time in church. Members of the Reactive generation disagree with the values of the earlier generations.

In a church, it is important to have a clear vision of what is needed and it must be aligned with the different generations. In closing, David pointed that the present generation is coming around to support the values of civic-minded groups like Kiwanis. They just get their information through different channels – social media of various kinds online.  They want to focus on one or two important causes - “causes to die for”. They look for high quality information and activities supporting those causes.

The members of the audience enthusiastically applauded the informative and entertaining presentation.

Kiwanis April 30 meeting Announcements

Joan May announced the nominations for 2013-14 Chatham-Madison Kiwanis club officers:
Pat Davidson, Caesar Switzer, and Bill Williams are new Directors
Mal Kitson will continue as a Trustee
John Eyre will be President
Sharon Johnson will be President-Elect
Diane O’Brien will be Vice President
Monty Montague will continue as Treasurer
Valerie Olpp will continue as Assistant Treasurer

Karen Swartz announced that CHS Key Club will do an arts and crafts activity on Wednesday at 2:30 pm to raise funds for Project ELIMINATE. Karen Swartz will attend and present a check for attending the Key Club NJ District Convention. Gary Arnesen announced that the next Chatham cleanup will be changed to Saturday May 18 at Ogden St. starting 8:00 am. Joan reminded everyone about May Day in Madison cleanup of Cole Park starting at 8:00 am. Jerry Cunningham asked members to sign up for the Fairmount Cemetery memorial flag placement on Thursday, May 16 at 9:00 am. Joan announced the “Stamp out Hunger” food drive for Interfaith Food Pantry on May 11. Dave Mutchler announced that the club received payment of $593 for a dumpster load of recycled newspapers. Dick Plambeck announced the “Explore Chatham” photo contest (outdoors in Chatham Borough). He also passed around photos from last Saturday’s Spring Cleanup and asked for more help to finish up next Tuesday afternoon – come about 1:00 pm for about 2 hours – see Dick to sign up. Marge Ahrens announced that John Hadamuscin will be doing the pulled pork again this year to sell at Fishawack on June 8. He needs volunteers to work with him at the Chatham United Methodist Church on June 7, 1:00 pm. Please let Marge know if you will help.