Kiwanis September 30 Meeting Program: Valerie Tomaro from Tomaro Honey in Chatham gave a presentation about honeybees and bee keeping.

Valerie Tomaro (left in photo) of Tomaro Honey in Chatham presented a PowerPoint presentation at the September 30 breakfast meeting held at Charlie Brown’s in Chatham Township. She was introduced by John Eyre (right in photo), President of Chatham-Madison Kiwanis. Valerie and her husband manage a bee keeping business in Chatham.

Valerie gave a very interesting talk about behavior of honeybees, how they are raised, and many other topics. They sell products made from the honey and honey combs. They give talks to local schools and other groups. The audience enthusiastically applauded this entertaining presentation about a “green” local business.

Visit their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/tomarohoney

Kiwanis August 12 Meeting Program: Karen Brodsky, MLS, Director of the Library of the Chathams, Demonstrated “Apps for iPad"

Karen Brodsky (right in photo), Director of the Library of the Chathams, was introduced by Karen Shippey (left in photo) at the August 12, 2014 Kiwanis luncheon meeting held in Charlie Brown’s  restaurant.

Karen provided a live demonstration of 18 iPad Apps. Many Kiwanians have iPads and the members of the audience learned a lot from the presentation. To learn more about the Library of the Chathams, please visit the library website.

Kiwanis July 29 Meeting Program: Chatham Borough Councilman Len Resto spoke on the Environmental Commission, Sustainable Jersey and Green Fair.

Len Resto (right in photo) spoke at the July 29 breakfast Kiwanis meeting which was held at Charlie Brown’s Restaurant in Chatham Twp. He was introduced by John Eyre (left in photo) who is President of the club.

Len gave a PowerPoint presentation which included the history, membership and activities of the Environmental Commission. He mentioned that there are several nature trails in the Borough - click here to view maps.

Several very nice nature photos taken by Dick Plambeck were included in the talk.

Len wrapped up the talk by asking the members of the audience to “Get Involved!” He also suggested a number of areas where help is needed. The audience applauded this interesting and informative talk.

Kiwanians decorated the Lady Liberty float on July 3 for Chatham Fireman's Independence Day Parade

Group of Chatham-Madison Kiwanis volunteers who decorated the Lady Liberty float for the Annual Chatham Fireman's Independence Day Parade. Chatham Main donated the flat bed truck used to construct the float. The weather threatening, but heavy rains held off until the work was finished. However, temperature  was very hot.

Ron got into the picture, taken by Karen. It was nice to sit for a few minutes.

The decorated float looked very nice with the plants donated by Coviellos of Madison. Humidity was really high.

Kiwanis April 29 Meeting Program: Kiwanian Karen Brodsky, Director of the Library of the Chathams presented an update.

Karen Brodsky (right in photo), Director of the Library of the Chathams, presented a program on services provided by the library. Also in the photo are Monty Montague (left), Kiwanis Treasurer, and Mary Anne Maloney (center), past Kiwanis President.

Karen gave a complete overview of the many new technical and Internet services provided by the library. To learn more about the library, please visit the new website at http://www.chatham-library.org/

Kiwanis December 3 Meeting Program: - Sarah Stanley presented "The Stanley Twins: Inventors of the Stanley Steam Car & Developers of the Stanley Hotel of Colorado".

Sarah Stanley (right in photo), Trustee of the Chatham Twp. Historical Society, was welcomed to the December 3, 2013 luncheon meeting at Charlie Brown’s restaurant by John Eyre, President of the Club. Sarah spoke on “The Stanley Twins: Inventors of the Stanley Steam Car & Developers of The Stanley Hotel of Colorado”.  Sarah is the Great Granddaughter of Francis E. Stanley.

Sarah presented a digital show covering the inventions, developments and businesses of Francis Edgar Stanley and Freelan Oscar Stanley. Patents included the airbrush, photographic dry plates and the Stanley Steam Car. The cars set speed records on flat beaches and also on the road climbing Mt. Washington.

F. O. Stanley developed the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. This hotel stands today near the beautiful Rocky Mountain National Park.

Sarah has researched the connection between the Stanley name and Chatham. George Shepard Page was a cousin of the Stanleys (son of Margaret Stanley) and he moved to Chatham, where he set up a business beside the Passaic River. Today’s Stanley Park stands in the same place as the early business.  Other places around town are named Stanley (in honor of Page’s mother, whom he adored).

After a brisk question and answer session at the end of the program, the audience enthusiastically applauded this interesting presentation.

Kiwanis sponors 2013 Summer Reading Club picnic at Library of the Chathams

 Tom Mullin with Laura Weinbraum, Children's Librarian

 John Cooks, Mal looks

 Pat joins the fun

 Many hands make light work.

 Arranging the chips.

 The line starts moving.

 The end of the day.

Layout of tables and grill.



Kiwanis-Rotary Annual Picnic held on June 11, 2013

Kiwanis and Rotary clubs in Chatham held their annual picnic on June 11. Weather threatened but it was OK and everyone had a great time.

Kiwanis holds Church Brunch on April 28, 2013

Members of Chatham-Madison Kiwanis attended Ogden Memorial Church services on April 28, 2013. Afterward, they enjoyed Sunday Brunch at Winberies’s in Summit, NJ.

 

Kiwanis April 16 Program: Mary Keselica spoke on the "Town and Country Garden Club of the Chathams"

Marty Sechehay (right in photo) introduced Mary Keselica (left) of “Town and Country Garden Club of the Chathams” at the April 16 Kiwanis breakfast meeting at Charlie Brown’s in Chatham. She gave an overview of the club, its history, how it is involved in civic beautification in Chatham, and other gardening activities.  She noted that the club worked with Kiwanis to plant six cherry trees behind the Chatham Township High School in 1964.

The club started in 1952. One of the founding members was Sally Vaughan, mother of the former Mayor Nelson Vaughan. Eighteen women with a common interest in gardening and the environment got together and spent most of the first year focusing on flower arrangement. Then they worked with the schools to create a junior garden club and worked with Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts. They are interested in the environment and participated in the work to save the Great Swamp from becoming a jetport. Flower arrangements were made for local convalescent homes. Early on, their club joined the Garden Club of New Jersey.

In the 1960’s there were almost a dozen garden clubs in the Chathams and there was a Garden Council which coordinated the work everyone was doing around town, including an anti-litter campaign.

Town and Country designed and installed landscaping for the land around the little red schoolhouse. The Chatham Women’s Club recently provided a grant to permit the Town and Country Garden Club to update the landscaping, which has been ravaged over the years by deer.

In recent years they have maintained planters holding flowers on Main Street. They went to the Chatham Council to ask that a cleanup be done in Chatham and that led to the April 20, 2013 Chatham Spring Clean day. The club will spruce up the memorial in front of the Chatham Library this year and Rotary Park next year.

They decorate the little red schoolhouse for Christmas every year. They take floral arrangements to the VA Hospital in Lyons four times a year. They maintain the large planters in front of the Senior Center. They decorate the Chatham Library Christmas tree and the little one in the Children’s Room. They support the Raptor Trust every year with plantings and donated items. They participated in the Community Garden under the power lines in Chatham and will continue as it moves to a new site. Funds and grants are needed to support their many projects.

Today, they are a club of about 30 members who meet at the little red schoolhouse for lunch, desert and a program. Guests are invited to join them on the second Wednesday of the month - September through June (please let a member know you are coming). Mary offered to work with Kiwanis on another project.

Kiwanis members and guests enthusiastically applauded Mary’s interesting presentation about the Town and Country Garden Club of the Chathams. See Chatham Patch article for more info: http://chatham.patch.com/articles/garden-club-spruces-up-borough-planters

March 26 Kiwanis Meeting Program: Tom Belding, President, Board of Education of the Chathams spoke on "School Budget and Programs"

Tom Belding (left), President of the Chatham Board of Education, and Peter Daquila (right), Business Administrator for the schools, gave a presentation to Kiwanis members at the March 26 breakfast meeting. Tom covered the current situation, the priorities, the budget and its impact on taxes.

He compared Chatham to neighboring districts. Recent per pupil annual cost in Chatham is approximately $12,000 compared to about $14,500 in Milburn. The number of students has grown - Chatham has managed education costs well. Compared to all of Morris County, the Chatham school district has had a history of providing excellent education for the dollar. SAT scores are very high in Chatham.

The first priority is the high school and Tom covered instructional, extra-curricular and facilities. Enrollment has almost doubled in the last decade. Growth is expected to continue over the next few years but enrollment will then level out.

District-wide overall enrollment growth is expected to level off with attendance at earlier grades falling off slightly. There is a large “bubble” of students working through the grade levels and that will cause continuing growth at the high school. Educators are being added to meet this challenge. Some older programs are being cut back to increase focus on more urgently needed new programs.

Extra-curricular activities are encouraged and participation by students is very large. These activities are very important because they prepare graduate for working in the real world. The school district funds faculty advisors to manage these programs.

Facilities at the high school are being expanded with the addition of a second floor over a classroom area installed about a year ago. This would add four classrooms and be funded out of capital reserves (it does not add to the tax base).

Tom explained the three questions which will be on the ballot at the April 16 School District election. The “first question” is the base budget. The next question is the “1st second question”. The last is the “2nd second question”.

The “1st second question” has to do with student wellness and well-being. This funds additional staff to help students. More students need counseling help and NJ State requires submission of more data and forms.

The “2nd second question” has to do with security of the students. The district has already installed secure access plus cameras on the inside and outside. This question funds additional improvements to security.

Districts budgets are limited by NJ State to annual increases in taxes of 2 percent; but several adjustments can be made to that amount. Enrollment adjustments and health care adjustment can be made. Also, if some of the authorized taxing amount wasn’t used in past years, it can be used this year. This is called banked cap.

With additions, the requested budget tax increase is 2.6 percent. If all questions are approved, the increase will be 3.46 percent. The total budget (without second questions), which is funded by $55,409,233 in taxes, is $65,131,111.

After Q and A, the members of the audience enthusiastically applauded the clear and comprehensive planning carried out by the Board of Education for the School District of the Chathams.

Kiwanis Provides Picnic: “Dream Big - READ” Chatham Library 2012 Summer Reading Club

The annual Library of the Chathams Summer Reading Program picnic was held on August 23, 2012 in hot summer weather. Photo shows Kiwanians grilling hot dogs. Food and workers were provided by Chatham-Madison Kiwanis Club.  Kiwanis picnic organizer Tom Mullin reported that 160 hot dogs were served.  He also reported that about thirteen Kiwanis members were on hand to grill and serve hot dogs, chips, fruit juice and ice cream.

“Dream big - Read” was the theme for the Summer Reading Club at the Library of the Chathams this year.  The program ran from June 25 to August 23 and was open to all children living or attending school in the Chathams. Children, including pre-K youngsters, participated in the summer reading program by reading books or by having books read to them.

Children’s Librarian Laura Weinbrom reported that 126 teen volunteers, with backup from the library staff, listened to book reports made by participating children.  337 children who read and reported on enough books were invited to enjoy the food.  Weinbrom said that 644 children read and reported on 13,589 books.

Summer readers were grouped into four teams with Carnival names: Tight Rope Walkers, Ring Masters, Trapeze Artists, and Jugglers. The Jugglers team read the most books.

The picnic at the end of this year’s program also had a Carnival theme with lots of fun things to do: a bounce-house with slide, three balloon sculptors, and 20 teen volunteers who did face painting and applied patches. The Chatham Women’s Club sponsored prizes for readers and the Friends of the Library sponsored the bounce-house and balloon sculptors.

The Summer Readers really liked the Carnival activities. Kiwanians were very happy to play part in this celebration of reading.

Kiwanis Honors Chatham Girl Scouts Gold Award Winners – June 19, 2012

On June 19 Mary Anne Maloney, President of Chatham-Madison Kiwanis Club, presented the “you make a difference” award to each of the Chatham Gold Award Winners. The ceremony was held at Brooklake Country Club to honor the Girl Scouts in Chatham Borough and Chatham Township who earned the Girl Scout Gold Award.

Kiwanis marches in Chatham July 4th parade for ELIMINATE

On July 3rd, the Lady Liberty float was decorated at Chatham Main (photo by Stu Shippey).

Early on July 4th, the Chatham Community Band float was decorated at Coviello’s.

Members congregate before the parade started.

Chatham Community Band float.

Kiwanis members marching down Main Street.

Lady Liberty float.

Kiwanis President Mary Anne Maloney poses with Lady Liberty at the end of the parade. It was

a great parade!

Wine-Tasting: Wines from Around the World

Chatham-Madison Kiwanis will hold the “Wines from Around the World" Wine Tasting event to benefit Kiwanis Chatham and Madison High School Scholarship Funds and the ECLC Foundation for Developmentally Disabled. The event will be held on Thursday, February 24, 2011 from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm in Grace Episcopal Church, 4 Madison Avenue, Madison, NJ 07940.  Wine samples from a variety of vineyards and food from a local restaurant will be served.  There will also be a 50-50 drawing, a “tricky-tray” auction of contributed items and door prizes. Advanced admission tickets may be purchased in-person at a price of $50.00 (cash or checks made out to “Chatham Kiwanis Scholarship Fund”) by visiting Main Street Wine Cellars, 300 Main Street, Madison, NJ 07940. Go to website www.chathamkiwanis.org for more information, to place on-line ticket orders and to print a form for ordering tickets by mail.  Ticket orders by mail should be sent to arrive before February 18 to Chatham Kiwanis, P.O. Box 422, Chatham, NJ 07928. For more information and to order tickets, please call 973-635-7779 or 973-635-1705 (extension 17) or send email to Chatham-Kiwanis@comcast.net. Tickets will also be available at the door during the event at a cost of $60.

Chatham Community Garden Program by Dick Plambeck

Marta McDowell and Dick Plambeck at Charlie Brown’s

Plambeck overviewed Chatham Community Garden, which grew from the vision of a small number of leaders who wanted local residents to be able to raise healthy vegetables and flowers with their own hands. Dick described the careful planning and dedicated work that led to the first successful season of the Garden. Also present at the meeting was Master Gardener Marta McDowell who played an important role in planning the garden and making it an important part of Chatham. Many dedicated volunteers from diverse organizations came together to make the garden real.

Dick focused on the process for building and managing a community garden by presenting PowerPoint charts. He said a community garden is a shared area for individuals to plant, grow and harvest. It is also an opportunity to grow community spirit and expand ecological education.

 Existing local and distant community gardens were reviewed to learn from past experience. Working with all involved in the project, Dick established rules for plot-holders to follow. The existing garden has 40 plots which are 10 feet square. Starting early in 2010 the garden was built, mostly by volunteers, on land near Division Ave. leased from PSE&G at $1 per year. Opening on May 1, all plots were planted by June 1.

Produce was harvested and 110 pounds of excess given to the Morristown Food Pantry. (Local press has followed the activities – click here to view ChathamPatch stories.) Tomatoes grown in the garden won the Chatham Farmers’ Market Tomato Cook-off contest during the summer. On June 17 the garden won the Morris Tomorrow McFlowertown Award.

Dick showed many interesting photographs during his program. Some photos were taken by Marta McDowell and you can view them on her ChathamCommunityGarden blog.

Looking into the future, the Chatham Garden leadership wants to build more plots to meet the demands of a waitlist of 48 applicants. Expansion near the present site and other sites is under study.

Dick has been making presentations to people in nearby communities, sharing Chathams’s experiences so that others can plan and build community gardens serving local residents.

Carole Linhart on Mayors Wellness Campaign

Speaking at the March 23, 2010 Kiwanis breakfast meeting was Carole Linhart, director of the Chatham Borough Mayors Wellness Campaign. Part of a State-wide program, the Chatham program aims to implement active-living initiatives to improve health of people in the community. Ms. Linhart was introduced at the meeting by Kiwanis member Melanie Sze. The speaker said that exercise is not a dirty word. To offset the natural decline in our bodies as we age, all people should regularly do some form of exercise. She recommended walking and invited members to join the group of walkers which meets twice a week at the Chatham Middle School at 5:30 PM. This kind of mild exercise will help offset loss in efficiency of our body’s cardiovascular system, improve muscle tone, and reduce osteoporosis. She urged all of us to pick an activity we enjoy, set goals for achieving a better life style and actually meet our goals. She is setting a good example for Kiwanis by planning to climb Mt. Rainier this year.