Kiwanis Club of Woodland Hills
Kiwanis 90th Birthday Celebration
The Kiwanis Club of
Woodland Hills hosted a birthday celebration for Kiwanis 90th
Birthday. The room was decorated with “Happy Birthday” balloons in
honor of Kiwanis.
Twelve of the
Woodland Hills members plus over 20 from other clubs attended.
We had Interclubs from Canoga Park, Northridge, Warner Center and
Calabasas-Agoura plus a couple of members from Van Nuys.
Joining us also was our esteemed Lt. Gov. Lucy Reday.
The guest speaker
was our distinguished and modest Kiwanis International Vice-President/
Treasurer Nelson Tucker. During his 20 years as a Kiwanian Nelson has sponsored 308
new members including yours truly into the Kiwanis family.
In addition to his Kiwanian duties Nelson still finds time to run
two businesses: an attorney service and a wine shop.
Featured
Speaker, Nelson Tucker
(photo by Google)
Raymond
Dyne,
President Woodland Hills Kiwanis had previously commented that it was
would be a rewarding experience to hear what Nelson had to say and how
right he was. He started
and finished with poems which he had written.
Not only is Nelson an accomplished speaker but he is also a fine
poet.
Nelson took us
through a short history of Kiwanis from its beginnings as a networking
group in Michigan in 1915 to today.
He considers one the best decisions that the organization has
made was to permit the introduction of women into the group.
This was a tremendous step forward for Kiwanis with the results
and beneficial effects out there for all to see.
Parenthetically, we need to have more females in our club.
Those clubs with more female members apparently operate better.
About 2½ years ago
the Board of Trustees of which Nelson was a member adopted a strategic
plan which refocused attention on the organization at club level with
decisions being made for the benefit of the clubs.
Kiwanis will also become a charitable corporation so that
contributions will be tax deductible.
Kiwanis now operate
in 94 countries. It has
indeed come a long way since the early days when it was known as
Benevolent Order of Brotherhood.
Nelson emphasized
service and growth: “If we serve we will grow and if we grow we will
serve”.
We all deeply
appreciative that Nelson accepted the invitation to speak.
It is a testament to the respect we hold for this wonderful
Kiwanian that so many came out to hear what he had to say.
It was worth it.
We
all thank Raymond Dyne and the members of the Woodland Hills Kiwanis club
for being our host.
