Kiwanis Southwest District Gov. Bob Carson and his wife, Alma, district coordinator for K-Kids (the Kiwanis affiliate organization for elementary school children) were among those who worked on a service project last Saturday at Los Alamos Middle School. The Carsons and local Kiwanis members spent several hours helping to build acoustic panels for the LAMS Music Room. Courtesy photoKIWANIS News:
The governor of the Kiwanis Southwest District (SWD), Bob Carson, and his wife, Alma, the SWD coordinator for K-Kids, visited Los Alamos Feb. 20, helping with a service project at Los Alamos Middle School, and attending an evening banquet in their honor.
As governor, Carson, who lives in Silver City, must visit each of the SWD divisions during his one-year term. His visit to Los Alamos last Saturday constituted his visit to Division 3, headed by Lt. Gov. Don Casperson of Los Alamos.
In an interview Wednesday, Feb. 24, Casperson looked back over the Carsons’ visit and said it was a success. Three of the five Division 3 Kiwanis clubs were represented at Saturday’s banquet (held in Kelly Hall at Trinity-on-the-Hill Episcopal Church)—Los Alamos, Santa Fe and the Las Vegas Sangre de Cristo Sunrise Club. In addition, representatives of the Los Alamos Key Club (the high school affiliate of Los Alamos Kiwanis) also were present.
The officers of two other Division 3 clubs—Las Vegas Noon Kiwanis and Cimarron Kiwanis—were unable to attend.
Casperson said later, “I would like to have seen all five clubs represented” since the purpose of the visit was “to get all of the clubs in the division together … to disseminate current information relevant to Kiwanis International….”
However, Casperson was very pleased about the relevance, usefulness, and success of an idea that Carson himself proposed. Before he arrived in Los Alamos, Carson told Casperson that he would like to help with a local service project, and, as a result, Carson and his wife were among those who responded to a suggestion from the Los Alamos Public School Foundation, working 9 a.m. to noon last Saturday, building frames for acoustic panels that will be used in the Los Alamos Middle School Music Room.
Asked if the Carsons were hard workers, Casperson said they were “excellent.” He said, “They got their hands dirty and really did a good job.”
Later, at the banquet, Carson said, “It was a nice project this morning. It was a pleasure to be there.” He also commented that a public schools foundation is rare if not unique, in his experience. “Congratulations to (the people of ) Los Alamos County,” he said, “for putting together a foundation that focuses on our schools.”
Carson then turned to his primary objective: sharing ideas and encouragement with SWD Kiwanis clubs. He asked that a representative of each club at the meeting summarize in two minutes the major projects that his/her club is presenting to the public.
- Lisa Wismer, president in Los Alamos, noted that her club puts on the Fourth of July activities in Overlook Park each year, offering vendors, family activities, food, music, sky divers, and—when the sun goes down—a fireworks show that fills the sky. She also mentioned “Breakfast With Santa,” a pancake breakfast that opens the Los Alamos Christmas season each year, giving children a chance to meet Santa and have photos taken with him. (Donations at the breakfast help pay for Los Alamos Kiwanis assistance to the Foster Children’s Christmas Party in Española later in the season.) She also mentioned the club’s support of the local Science Fair; its large and extremely active Key Club at Los Alamos High School; its Builders Club at Los Alamos Middle School; and its K-Kids Clubs at Aspen Elementary School and Barranca Mesa Elementary School. The club has activities going on throughout the year, she said. “We’re really, really proud of how we touch this community.”
- Angela Feng of the Los Alamos Key Club—who is lieutenant governor of the Sangre de Cristo Key Club division—mentioned that the local Key Club recently raised $5,000 and donated it to the SWD Foundation. The club also raised $5,000 for improvements at Kamp Kiwanis, a forest camp near Gallup. Kiwanis member Cheryl Pongratz spoke up after Feng completed her talk, saying that she was “too modest.” “There is not one single non-profit in Los Alamos that could conduct its fundraiser without Key Club,” Pongratz said. “It’s just an incredible contribution” that Key Club provides to Los Alamos.
- Alan Franken of the Las Vegas Sunrise Club said that his organization’s Key Club had been lost, but his members chose a reconstituted Key Club as their focus and worked with students at West Las Vegas High School to make it so. Turning to the club itself, he said it only has about 16 members, but they value the great friendships that the club provides to them, and, he added, “We make the best barbecue in the state … We’re proud of what we do for our community.”
- Jacob Romero, president of Santa Fe Kiwanis, noted that his club puts on “Zozobra”—the burning of “Old Man Gloom”—a huge event that draws many thousands to the Santa Fe Fiesta each year.
“Would you say your clubs are making an impact on your communities?” Carson asked his audience. And he answered his own question by saying, “I think so!”
The governor noted that Los Alamos Key Club has about 75 members; the Santa Fe Key Club has about 60: and the brand new Las Vegas Sunrise Key Club has 22. “We need our kids, and those kids need us,” he said. Kiwanis should value good traditions, he said, but it must always be open to change and innovation, and today’s Key Clubbers are likely to be the Kiwanis members of the future.
“We’re 100 years old in Kiwanis,” he said, noting that the organization recently marked its century birthday. And then he added, “You’re part of the next century.”
Carson presented five “Governor’s Awards” to outstanding Division 3 club members, and one went to Pat Soran of Los Alamos, who has, for many years, been deeply involved in the firing of the Fourth of July rockets in Overlook Park. Soran is also frequently the person behind the white beard during “Breakfast with Santa.”
