The Key Ring

International Convention

International Trustee

District News

The official publication of the Georgia Districtof KEY CLUB INTERNATIONAL

Our International Trustee!

In this issue...

Divisional Updates

International Convention

Our new International Trustee

Committee News

Hello Georgia District! I am proud to be leading the district into a new school year as our district governor. It has been so much fun representing the Georgia District and I couldn’t be happier in my po-sition. As the school year begins, I want to urge you to let this year be the year that you and your club reach new heights, whether that is through mem-

bership, community service, and/or participation in district events. Remember your goals for fundraising for the Georgia Sheriff ’s Youth Homes and The Eliminate Project. Key Clubbers have already begun raising thousands of dollars for this year’s goals and I want to personally thank you all for getting a head start on fundraising for these important projects. I want to bring your attention to some upcoming district events. Our Georgia Leadership Training Conference is coming up on August 22nd, 2015. This will be a great opportunity to meet Key Clubbers from all over Georgia, train incoming officers for the year, and to get an update on what will be going on in Key Club International for the upcoming year. Also coming up this year is Kiwanis Family Day that will take place on October 17th, 2015 at Georgia Tech. If you go, you will have the opportunity to meet Kiwanis Family members, take a campus tour of Georgia Tech, and watch a college football game (Pittsburg vs. Tech) for only $20 ($40 if you also want to attend a Kiwanis Family tailgate before the game) with $5 of your registration going to the Eliminate Project. I also want to remind you of District Convention which will take place from March 18th to March 20th in Norcross, Georgia. Convention is a great opportuni-ty to spend a weekend with Key Club members from around the state and vote in issues presented to the district in this year’s House of Delegates. Be sure to keep convention in mind as the year progresses. If you have any questions or concerns please either contact your respective Lieutenant Governor or me and we will be happy to respond as soon as possible. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to serve the Georgia District as your Dis-trict Governor this year and I can’t wait to continue my term as governor. I look forward to seeing you all at upcoming events. Yours in Service, Tyler L. Jones

Governor’s Address

Katlyn GreeneTreasurer International Convention was a blast. My favorite part was attending the workshops. Through out the workshops I learned several service project ideas, learned about many Private Organizations, and more about my job as District Trea-surer.

As the Georgia District Treasurer it is my job to make sure each club gets their

dues in and on time. In order to pay dues each Faculty Adviser needs to make a club roster at www.keyclub.org/muc from there you can submit a payment or print an invoice to pay by check. If you pay by check it needs to be sent to 3636 Woodview Trace Indianapolis, IN 46268 USA. Dues will be $14 per member and should be in by either the Early Bird Deadline, November 1, 2015 or the final deadline December 1, 2015. Myt goal is to have 100% dues paid so please help me accomplish this goal!

Yours in Friendship and Service

Georgia District Treasurer

Katlyn Greene

Greetings Georgia District, My name is Giselle Campbell and I am so honoured to officially intro-duce myself as your International Trustee for this service year 2015-2016. I am definitely looking for-

ward to serving your district, in conjunction with your sister dis-tricts Utah-Idaho and Minnesota-Dakotas. I am excited to fulfill my role as a Trustee by supporting and repre-senting the three districts which I have been assigned. I will work to unite your district with International and extend myself to your dis-trict to assist in any way possible. Governor Tyler and I scheduled regular communication and we will be working together to ensure that your district this year is even more successful and is able to achieve it's goals.

Giselle Campbell

It is going to be an amazing year!

The Youth Opportunities Fund (YOF) is an endowed fund for Key Club International held within the Kiwanis International Foundation.

This fund uses earned interest to help Key Clubs and Key Club mem-bers serve the world by providing grants for service opportunities. The Youth Opportunities Fund is established through gifts to the G. Harold Martin Fellowships.

Clubs may request funding assistance ranging anywhere from US$100 to US$2,000. The committee typically funds those clubs who are asking for a portion of the total cost of the project, and clubs who are working with other organiza-tions to fund and complete the project.

For more information visit http://keyclub.org/service/fund/yof.aspx

YouthOpportunities Fund

Division One’s Alpharetta High School founded their own service project--Technocademy! It was created by one of their members, John Seides. The nonprofit organization is meant to help senior citizens learn about new tech-nologies at a local level. Alpharetta is extremely involved with their organization; members have the opportunity to go to a designated local senior home and teach in a

classroom-type setting. Volunteers also interact one-on-one with the senior citi-zens providing hands on experience to ensure they would be able to work their smartphones, laptops, social media and email on their own. Most service projects don’t focus on purely senior citizens, which makes this project so unique. Instead of elders teaching teenagers, it’s teenagers teaching elders. As of the summer of 2015 over 150,000 senior citizens have been helped by members through service.

Division 1 Lieutenant Governor Paige Overmyer

Division 2 Lieutenant Gover-nor Emily Clement

The school supplies are unused, in excellent condition and generally come from the members' school year before that they never got a chance to use. This is a great way for my home Key Club to get to know its current members and recruit upcoming members. This bonding experience builds a strong foundation to Harris County High School Key Club and instills a passion of service before the school year begins.

Before the beginning of each school year, my home club, Harris County High School, will stuff registration packets for the upcoming freshmen. The packets include helpful information so that starting is less intimidating. These packets include maps, sporting events schedules, tips for the start of school, and required forms. It takes about two full days to organize the papers and to sort them into folders, but it also helps the members transition from summer to school. Also during this time, the members will also bring unused school supplies to donate to students within the community.

Division 11

Lieutenant Governor Morgan Patterson

Recently, Harrison High School’s Key Club volunteered at ACFB’s Product Rescue Cen-ter, which distributes over 60 million pounds of food per year to people in need in 29 counties encompassing metro Atlanta and north Georgia, including all of Division 11. The club decided that this was one of the most effective ways to give back to both their community and surrounding areas at the same time. The process started off with a short, instructional meeting where they learned the process of unloading, examining, sorting, and packaging both food and other necessities. Then, they headed off to the facility and got to work! Even though the club spent a total of 4 hours at the food bank, it was so fun and rewarding that the club decided that they would regularly volunteer there during this upcoming school year. Harrison Key Clubbers are encouraging other Key Clubs to get involved with the organization in one way or another

Product Rescue Center (what Harrison Key Club volunteered with) - receives food drive and salvaged food items to be inspect-ed and packaged by volunteers for distribu-tion to over 600 nonprofit partner agencies.

Atlanta Prosperity Campaign - seeks to broaden wealth and reduce economic in-equalities for working families and individ-uals in metro Atlanta by connecting them to existing economic benefits available to them.

Atlanta’s Table - collects prepared food from the hospitality industry and deliv-ers it to nonprofit partner agencies dai-ly, including daycare centers, shelters and community kitchens.

Community Gardens - bring neighbors together to nourish communities, cultivate beautiful gar-dens and supplement their food supplies with fresh fruits and vegetables they’ve grown themselves. ACFB even provides the seeds and tools that you will need to get started.

Hunger 101 - raises awareness about hun-ger and poverty on local and national levels through workshops, online curricula and other creative tools designed for a variety of age groups.

Hunger Walk/Run - unites people of all ages and athletic backgrounds to support hunger and poverty relief, as thousands of participants come together each spring to raise funds for ACFB and other local hunger relief programs.

Manning the Mana House

The Mana House is a free food service for people that either cannot afford food for lunch or do not have the means to provide lunch for themselves or their families every

day. It is open every day at lunch time and allows anyone to come, sign in, and sit at tables to receive a free meal. The Mana House operates on the service of volunteers and serves over 200 people each day. These meals provide both nutrition and community to those in need. For years, the Brunswick Kiwanis Club has reached out to the local Mana House by volunteering one Monday every month through cooking, serving food, and cleaning. The Glynn Academy Key Club volunteers with the Bruns-wick Kiwanis Club and brings a whole new feeling to the Mana House. Many of the people who are served pull aside Key Clubbers to thank them for the volunteering they are doing and share personal stories about how it has personally impacted them. Once while I was serving drinks at the Mana House, a man pulled me aside and told me that because he was able to eat that one lunch meal every day at the Mana House, he could afford to pay the rent for his home and pay hospital bills from when he had a stroke. Because of the work of the Key Clubbers and Kiwanians, the Mana House is able to stay open and serve these hundreds of people and impact the community in a truly wonderful way.

Division 13Lieutenant Governor Emmie Landford

Division 14“Mats for Uganda”

Last year, Lambert High School participated in the “Mats for Uganda”. It is a simple, inexpensive service project that EVERY-ONE can help out! First, you collect recycled plastic bags from your pantry, local supermarkets, etc! Those plastic grocery bags will turn into a comfortable, plastic plarn for the homeless. The plarn will be crocheted into a 4 by 6 foot mats or blankets and shipped to Uganda.

Step 1 Grab your plastic bag and flatten it out.Step 2 Fold the plastic bag into 1/3rds.Step 3 Cut off the bottom seam and top handle of the bag.Step 4 Cut the bag into 1-inch strips! Step 5 Take two strips and loop them through one another. It should re-sult in a knot in the middle.

Step 6 Continue step 1-5Step 7 When the strips are long enough for you to make a ball of plarn, it is time to start crocheting!Step 8 Crochet the mat with a N or 10 needle.Step 9 Begin Crocheting!

Lieutenant Governor Minyoung Kim

This year during our first district board training, the Major Emphasis commit-tee agreed that the district goal for the Eliminate Project would be $20,000,

which, although $2,000 more than we had achieved last year, is completely fea-sible. Over the course of five years, Key Club International has been promoting the Eliminate Project to eradicate maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT) from undeserved countries. So far, under all Kiwanis-Family branches, we have raised over $76.8 million of our $110 million goal. This money goes into the remain-ing 24 countries where MNT has not been eradicated, and only $1.80 can save a mother and her babies from contracting the disease. The Georgia district has been working productively to raise awareness and funds for these efficient vaccinations.

District Project Committee

Greetings Georgia District! It is Emma Johnson, your District Project chair and I am very excited to update all of you on the District Project. As many of you know, our District Project is currently the Foundation for Education

initiative. In just four years, our district has pledged to raise over 100,000 dollars to build a new education center on the Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Home’s Mountainview Campus in Chatsworth, Georgia. However, we cannot do this without every GA Key Club contributing. If every Key Club member in Georgia raised just $3.75, we would exceed our District Project goal of $27,000. It’s that easy. All you have to do is skip your coffee for ONE day, and a new education center for kids our age will be built. I do not want you to stop there. Set donation jars out at local businesses, have tons of bake sales, and throw rummage sales. It is up to us to make sure the youth at the Mountainview Campus have a positive environment so they can do homework, get tutoring, and do everyday study habits that we have the privilege of doing. With that being said, get out there and fundraise, GA Key Clubbers!

Public Relations Committee

The public relations committee is working hard to make sure that every Key Clubber is aware of our district projects and goals. I hope that all of you are going to contribute your

$3.75! If every Key Clubber in Georgia pitches in, the district will meet the fundraising goal for Georgia Sheriff's Youth Homes. I am so proud to be a part of the Georgia District, and I am so excited for all that we are going to accomplish this year.

- Abigail Smith

- Emma Johnson

Policy and Contest CommitteeContests, Awards and more!

Read this page to find out about opportunities you and your club do not want to miss out on!The beginning of the year is the perfect time to begin thinking about service project and fundrais-ing project ideas as well as begin working to create scrapbooks or videos for the contests!Here is a list of categories of contests, scholarships, and awards for the 2015- 2016 year with con-densed information about each one!

The most important award standing in its own category is the Annual Achievement Award.The criteria of the award will pretty much guide you and help you plan a successful Key Club year! If you just keep track of the criteria listed for the award, by the time District Convention comes around, your club will be more than prepared to submit your application for the award.

This category contains contests that could be won by putting effort into advertisement for Key Club.Some things you should consider doing with your club to promote Key Club in the beginning of the year are: creating a club video, digital and/or non-digital poster, scrapbooks, and of course amazing t-shirts! Not only would these promotion tools help you attract new members, they can also be used to apply for contests at District Convention.

The most important part of a Key Club is service. Come up with some amazing service or fundraising projects and put it into action!Your club could apply for many of the project awards such as Endorsed Project Award, Geor-gia Sheriffs' Youth Homes Awareness Award, Georgia Sheriffs' Youth Homes Fundraising Award, Robert Barron Service Award, Service Initiative Award, and Major Emphasis Award. If your club is struggling to gain funding to begin a project, you should also look into the Youth Opportunities Fund.Amazing club officers and/or advisors deserved to be shown off. Show them that you are grateful for their work by applying for these awards!Distinguished Club Officer Awards for President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer; Georgia District Leadership Scholarship; S. Michael Goss Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award; J. Marion Brantley Most Outstanding Key Clubber Award; John C. Thompson Outstanding Kiwanis Advi-sor Award.Last, the contests that are just fun to do!Get a friend and sign up for the Quiz Bowl Contest or showcase your hidden talent at the Talent Show!Details about all these amazing opportunities can be found on gakeyclub.org/contestThe due date for certain awards, scholarships and contests is February 1, 2016, but don't procras-tinate and start planning now! The year will fly by!

- Mina Jeong

The District Events Committee has come a long way since our first meeting in Macon at District Board Training. We have put a lot of planning inDistrict Convention! The theme, al-

though still top secret, has been decided and the Convention Pin and T-Shirts are in the process of being designed.

Several committee members attended a District Convention Plan-ning workshop at international convention, where we learned new strategies for planning, advertising, and execution, as well as a few new things we hope in include in our convention next year.

The 2016 DCON will be held in Norcross, March 18th-20th.

District Events Committee

Kiwanis Family Committee

The Kiwanis Family committee has been busy brainstorming game and service project ideas to include in the upcoming Ki-wanis Family Day at Georgia Tech on October 17, 2015. One

of our main goals this year is to pack more fun in the already fun-filled day watching some awesome football with amazing Key Clubbers and Kiwanians.

- Amanda Lang

- Andrew McGraw

Remember the big picture for our district project, we are raising $120,000 dollars by 2020 in order to build a new Education Cen-

ter on the Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes Moun-tainview campus. We need your help, Georgia Key Clubbers. All it takes is $3.75 per member, and we will meet our district project goal of $27,000. With that being said, how will you raise your $3.75? It’s time for us to take charge, and start fundraising for the #foundation4education center. I look forward to soaring past our district project goal of $27,000 this year, so get out there and fundraise! Serve on, Georgia Key Clubbers!

This year, Key Clubbers have had the opportunity to request that Rustic Path-ways staff members visit their local meetings, an initiative that has helped to in-spire Key Clubbers from Georgia to South Korea to become more involved with global issues and take the next step to broadening their perspectives.

Founded over 30 years ago, today, Rustic Pathways offers students the opportunity to join over 90 service programs in 18 countries. In the words of Chris Stakich, Chief Executive Officer of Rustic Pathways, “Our programs provide students with the opportunity to develop leadership skills while working with communities around the world and gaining a better global perspective.”

Service from all over

the world It was a great experience, we did so many fun things! We went to

the Indianapolis zoo, had a Brazilian steak dinner as a district, rode roller coasters at one of the biggest amusement parks in the mid west, toured the Kiwanis international headquarters, and made many new friends. It’s so hard to choose one thing that was my favorite, so I’ll tell you about a few! One thing would have to be the Brazilian steak dinner, we all dressed up and ate our weight in meat, who wouldn’t love that? Also, I really enjoyed the baseball game, the Braves weren’t playing, but it was still fun to watch and there were also fireworks afterwords! Another would definitely be the Indianapolis Zoo, we got to do a behind the scenes tour of the elephants and a dolphin show, I also got to take a selfie with a giraffe, how cool? Another thing I really enjoyed about icon was our keynote speaker. His name was Tim, and he was very inspi-rational. He has Down Syndrome and ever since he was little he wanted to own his own restaurant. So he went to college and got his business license and his dad helped him get his own restaurant and he runs it himself. Its called Tim’s Place and on his menu he has a place where you can order free hugs. For me his speech was very inspirational if he can make his dreams come true, we can too! Oh and his hugs are awesome! Icon overall was so much fun and very informative, I’m so glad I went. I hope to see all of you at international convention next year in 2016, after all the Georgia district is hosting icon next year in Atlanta!

Experience of Leslie Hodnett

Service from all over

the world It was a great experience, we did so many fun things! We went to

the Indianapolis zoo, had a Brazilian steak dinner as a district, rode roller coasters at one of the biggest amusement parks in the mid west, toured the Kiwanis international headquarters, and made many new friends. It’s so hard to choose one thing that was my favorite, so I’ll tell you about a few! One thing would have to be the Brazilian steak dinner, we all dressed up and ate our weight in meat, who wouldn’t love that? Also, I really enjoyed the baseball game, the Braves weren’t playing, but it was still fun to watch and there were also fireworks afterwords! Another would definitely be the Indianapolis Zoo, we got to do a behind the scenes tour of the elephants and a dolphin show, I also got to take a selfie with a giraffe, how cool? Another thing I really enjoyed about icon was our keynote speaker. His name was Tim, and he was very inspi-rational. He has Down Syndrome and ever since he was little he wanted to own his own restaurant. So he went to college and got his business license and his dad helped him get his own restaurant and he runs it himself. Its called Tim’s Place and on his menu he has a place where you can order free hugs. For me his speech was very inspirational if he can make his dreams come true, we can too! Oh and his hugs are awesome! Icon overall was so much fun and very informative, I’m so glad I went. I hope to see all of you at international convention next year in 2016, after all the Georgia district is hosting icon next year in Atlanta!

Experience of Leslie Hodnett

Nickelodeon joined the Kiwan-is family as a 2013 Vision Part-ner of Kiwanis International with a focus on its Big Help ini-tiative, which addresses issues in service, education, the en-vironment and health. Learn more about Nickelodeon’s Big Help efforts at pro-social.nick.com or nick.com/thebighelp.

In 1997, Key Club made Children’s Miracle Network Hos-pitals a preferred charity for its members to support.

The mission of the March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality.

Since 1994, Key Club has been Trick-or-Treating for UNICEF and over the years has raised nearly US$5 million for iodine deficiency programs worldwide and

Experience of Jennifer Bruce

Hey guys!!! It’s Jennifer, the President of the Wash-ington-Wilkes High School Key Club. Interna-tional Convention was a huge success and if you didn’t go, I definitely recommend going next year as it will be in our very own Atlanta! It’s so much fun meeting people from not only different states but different countries as well.

We also got to go behind the scenes at the Indianap-olis Zoo and got to see an elephant lift its trainer and also got to touch her!

Governor Tyler is e xhau s t -ed after a long day of riding.

And what’s I C O N without a selfie with fellow board members?!?

C i n c i n n a -ti Museum Center at Union Ter-minal

Experience of Jennifer Bruce Experience of Abigail Smith

Experience of Emily Clement

During the International Convention, I was able to get to know students and adults from around the world that shared the same passion of service.

Over the course of the 8 day trip, I was able to experience like touching an el-ephant, attending a baseball game with the Kiwanis Family, visiting museums in Cincinnati, riding roller coasters and water slides, meeting Lil Sebastian, and getting to know the Georgia District Board. Although there were many unfor-gettable experiences, the part that will always stick out is how the entire city of Indianapolis informed everyone of Kiwanis International's 100 years of service, and sitting in a room with almost all of the Kiwanis Family from across the globe. During the convention there was a Kiwanis world showcase where all the service projects across the world were displayed which really showed how large and diverse Kiwanis International truly is. This International Convention was truly a once in a lifetime experience and I could not have been more grateful to have been apart of it.