V a l l e y D i s t r i ct C i v i ta n - V oi c e o f t h e V a ll e y V o l u m e 6 1 I s s u e 3 — S p r i n g E d i t i o n 2 0 1 4 / 1 5

Non Profit US Postage

PAID Permit #130 Clarksville TN

W e’re on t he W eb !! @ w w w .valleydist r ict .com

We Are Civitans—Building Good Citizens!

Return Address; Jhesika Riggins 172 Dale Terrace Clarksville, TN 37042 931-436-5684 JhesikaRiggins@yahoo.com

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Meet us in St. Louis! 2015 Civitan InternaƟonal ConvenƟon

July 12-15 At the

Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel

This year the Civitan International Convention Registration Fees are being handled differently than in past years. Two event's are separately ticket-ed and not included in any base program fees. Also this year, the Civitan International Convention is offering a program for youth ages 5 to 16. Youth registration includes everything in the Civitan program with the addition of two tours which will include lunch on Monday and Tuesday. Following is a highlight of the tours for the Youth Program. For more information about next summer's Civitan International Conven-tion, visit www.civitan.org/ convention or contact Mary M. Luck, Vice Presi-dent, Conventions, Meetings and Awards MaryLuck@civitan.org or 800.CIVITAN x 121.

Drawing for St. Louis Cardinal’s Blanket

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May 1 is the deadline for early registration (and minimum pricing) for the 2015 Civitan International Convention in St. Louis (July 12-15, Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel). Persons registering from Valley District by May 1 will be eligible for drawing for a very nice St. Louis Cardinal’s blanket. This year, the pricing for the basic Civitan Convention and special events (Sunday’s Welcome Party and Wednesday’s Closing In-stallation Banquet) have been priced separately for those who may not wish to attend all functions. Also, separate programs with optional tour excursions have been de-signed for guests and for youths.

Attending a convention is a tremendous opportunity for learning, cele-bration and connecting with Civitans outside our local area. However, the convention isn’t only about learning! You should also take time to see the local sights. The city’s history has been heavily influenced by Westward expansion and Blues music. The big, must-see is the Gateway Arch. Other important sites include the Museum of West-ward Expansion, the St. Louis Cathedral, the Anheuser-Busch Brewery and Grant’s Farm, home of hundreds of animals including the world-famous Clydesdales. The St. Louis Art Museum is among the top ten U.S. museums in annual attendance, the Sci-ence Center is the fourth-most-visited in the nation and the City Museum was named one of the “World’s Best Public Spaces”.

You can register and obtain more information about the 2015 Civitan International Convention including tentative agendas at the Civitan International web-site (www.civitan.org/ convention2015). And remember, register by May 1 to save money and be eligible for the drawing for the St. Louis Cardinal’s blanket. We hope Valley District will have a large number of Civitans (and family) going to St. Louis since this will be the closest International Convention to Valley District for several years.

Leslie Benmark 2014-15 Governor

The St. Bethlehem Club recognized ministers in our area in the February 10th meeting of the club. A total of 7 ministers including the speaker, Bruce Myers, a lay minister, were present. In addition to being fed each one received a small gift bag. On January 22nd, our club served approximately 30 participants in the Reconnect program a noon meal. These are folks that are mentally challenged and are provided social skills in this pro-gram. They were served chili, salad, cornbread and dessert. A program highlighting the activities of the Salvation Army was presented by Brian Campbell in our club meeting on January 27th. We had 7 members present for the Valley District Meeting in Clarksville on March 20th and 21st. We had the highest percentage of our membership present for that meeting.

Forest Suddeath

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Memphis Club

Clarksville Club Yeah! Spring is FINALLY in the air!! With the changing seasons, we focus on moving forward and graduations and the myri-ad of “spring events”! Speaking of spring and graduations…Clarksville Civitan looks forward to its huge fundraiser at the Clarksville Annual Rivers and Spires Event on April 17th and 18th! The proceeds for our fundraiser goes to awarding West-ern Grizzard Civitan Scholarships to four deserving area students to attend APSU! Now what a great graduation gift that is! The greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of an education. The second best gift is that if you knew someone that played the Civitan Scavenger hunt game for free at Rivers and Spires, they could potentially win $10,000! Moving on to the other great joy of spring…gardening and VIDALIA ONIONS!!! The Clarksville Civitan is taking pre-orders for the Delicious Vidalia onions that will arrive mid-May! The price is still $10.00 for a 10 pound bag and we all know how delicious they are. The best thing about the onion sale is all the profits go to the International research center at UAB! What a difference they can make at the center through their great work! Support the onion sale by taking pre-orders or calling the Clarksville Civi-tan office @ (931) 648-5757 and reserve your bags today! Thanks Clarksville Civitan members and all of Civitan for mak-ing a difference! PS. Happy Special Birthday Earlene Burney!

Memphis Civitan Celebrate ‘Read Across America' Day Read across America is a national event to encourage children to read. Members of the Memphis Civitan Club joined other readers from around the county to take time out of their day and read to children. The members read to children at three head start centers in the Memphis community during the first week of March which is set aside to honor

Dr. Seuss’ birthday.

Jimmy Dunn, the brainchild behind our event, pictured with the Scavenger

Hunt board.

Donna Sabash

Lesley Hansford

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Special Olympics

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Luau at Middleton

Ramona Spencer

I currently have information from 6 of our Valley District Clubs showing that a total of $2,200.00 has been given to local Areas and $500.00 to the State Office (SOTN) of Special Olympics here in Tennessee. One of our Kentucky Clubs has also given $760.40 to their lo-cal Area program. That makes a total of $3,460.40 for the year so far. I know from running a local Area Program that many more Valley District Clubs support Special Olympics and just have not reported what they have donated. Please send checks or copies of checks to Jerry Nass, 624 Chesterfield Circle, Clarksville, TN 37043 or e-mail copies to boss-nasstn@juno.com. Remember to make them out to your local Area or SOTN so you can get proper credit for your Banner Medal. For those who asked at the District Meeting in Clarks-ville, the e-mail address for SOTN is specialolympicstn.org. For Kentucky Special Olympics, it is specialolympicsky.org. Thanks for your generosity! Jerry Nass, Special Olympics Chair

Middleton Civitan Club hosted a Hawaiian Luau Saturday, March 14, 2015, at the Middleton Com-munity Center. The event was the first attempt of the club to host a fundraiser and membership drive combined. Even though it was rainy and cold, approximately 50 people braved the weather to come out and enjoy good, games, activities and fellowship. Participants had the opportunity to enjoy the limbo, hula hoop contest, hot coconut games, face painting, relay races and door prizes.

The menu consisted of pulled pork, grilled chicken, Hawaiian baked beans, spam kabobs, cole-slaw, an endless supply of desserts and luau punch. All guests were greeted at the door with a lei. A good time was had by all – children as well as adults. The Club had approximately four people

show great interest in joining Civitan.

Jerry Nass 2014/ 15 S.O. Chair

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Ashl and City

Peggy DeShields, a bank teller at Herit-age Bank helps, with our Loretta Fisher & Nancy Vaden on duty at this year’s Bake Sale. Faye’s 91 year young mother baked a big Bundt cake! A special thank you to Kristen for the table cloths and for all the

pies, cakes and cookies you made!

Peggy, Loretta watch as Nancy Vaden sells some goodies. Heritage Bank had a helper present at the sale in 1 to 2

hour shifts all day long! Thank you Herit-age Bank & Sam Bancroft!

Sandy Buckner

Glenda Jordan

Our annual pancake breakfast was held Saturday, March7th @ First Baptist Church, Bemis. In spite of the icy and

snowy weather conditions we were able to have a very sucessful break�fast. There were many obsta�cles to over

come but all mem�bers remained steadfast and eager toget on with their duties dishing up a tasteful breakfast fo

all who attended. The breakfast has become a time of fellowship for all who attend.

V a l l e y D i s t r i ct C i v i ta n - V oi c e o f t h e V a ll e y V o l u m e 6 1 I s s u e 3 — S p r i n g E d i t i o n 2 0 1 4 / 1 5

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New Providence has been having some amazing things going. We in the First Quarter was able to have our 5th Annual Safety Day, donate can goods to Byrns Darden Elementary School for Manna Café Ministries, made donations to Manna Café’s Homeless Shelter for cold nights and was also able to donate over $300 of warm clothes to Serenity House. We moved into the new year and with adding new members, a teddy bear drive and starting a Community Jr. Civitan Club with 29 students chartering, we are still moving forward with more exciting things and events. As of April 1st, we had our 66th Birthday/ Anniversary. Along side, New Providence Community Jr. Civitan club chartered on April 1st at 4:01am. We have already planned out our summer months and already preparing for our 6th Annual S.A.F.E. Day. We will be having some wonderful guest speakers and presentations available. Currently though, we are working with Byrns Darden on doing a special fundraiser for the school on their Field Day to help raise money for the school and the Special Needs department. We are going to charge $1.00 to try and throw a pie in the face of Principle Andy Lyons. We know the kids are going to love being able to do this to him. We are rockin & rolling and “Raising the Roof” We look forward to more events we will be hosting and being a part of. Let’s get Civitan Happy!!!

Civi-tot Jhulien sleeping with all the teddy bears donated. Jhodi and Jhesika at the Spring District Meeting

Jhesika Riggins President

New Providence Club—”Raising the Roof”

Civi–BUCK$

Civitan International has implemented two incentives to give “Civi-Buck$” to North American Civitan clubs. Civi-Buck$ can be used to pay for Civitan’s Supply House invoices, apply towards quarterly in-

ternational dues billing, and/ or donate to the club’s Civitans-at-the Helm contribution. Incentive One: Any North American Civitan club that adds a minimum of ten or more members dur-ing the 2014-15 year earns $100 in Civi-Buck$. These will be sent immediately to the club’s presi-dent when the club reports 10 additions. Incentive Two: Any North American Civitan club that reaches the next milestone level (15-2030-40-50-60 . . . etc.) in members earns that number of members in Civi-Buck$. This is tracked from Octo-ber 1, 2014 beginning club membership through September 30, 2015 end of the year membership.

For example, if your club started the year with 42 members and ends the year with 50 members, the club earns $50 in Civi-Buck$. We are pleased that several Valley District clubs have already earned

Civi-Buck$ via Incentive One. Incentive Two Civi-Buck$ will be calculated at the end of the 2014-15 Civitan year.

Safety Day 2014