volume 4, issue 2 april 12, 2016 - south carolina civitan · jen thompson, lighthouse for life,...

Greetings! from just West of the Capitol. YOU ARE CIVITAN! Thank YOU for your pro-jects, your fund-raisers, your service, and for just being Civitan. YOU, South Carolina District have qualified to receive the 2014-15 Quality Achievement Award. This also means that Dr. Misty Konow has achieved Distinguished Gover-nor designation. Congratulations to YOU, South Carolina District, and Congratulations to Dr. Misty for her enthusiasm and leadership toward achieving these awards. Jay Albertia, 2014-15 International President, will present these awards at 2016 Convention in Norfolk.--- Congratulations Myrtle Beach Club… Seized the opportunity and Chartered the new MBMS (Myrtle Beach Middle School) Junior Civitan Club. President, Kirby Hood, lead the charge to create this club. Rock Hill Club is well along with a new Campus Club at Winthrop University..20 members to date…halfway there. Leila Long is leading the charge with Misty Konow assisting. The biggie for new club building is finding, or having, a key person(s) in the target community…someone with Civitan experience, and/or, someone who can attract

members. Thank you, Beth Doudoukjian for being Hilton Head catalyst…maybe a nudge from daddy Steve. Thank you, Steve. Hilton

Governor’s Message 1 &12

SC District Mtg on 5/14 2-3

Chaplain’s Corner 4

Columbia History Recalled 4

Sevi on Social Media 5

Greenville Aids Special

Olympics 6

Charleston Dances with

Disabled 6

SC District Mtg on 12/5 7

Civitan International

Convention Notes

8

Clergy Appreciation in

Walterboro

9

Charleston Civitan Aware-

ness at the Riverdogs

10

Dance-A-Thon 2016 10

New Lancaster Club! 11

Useful Web Links 12

Inside this issue:

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Volume 4, Issue 2

April 12, 2016

Head is 2nd newest and largest SC club. Lancaster Civitan Club was Chartered 12/31/2015. SC District was recognized for chartering 1st new club in the United States 2015-16 Civitan year, and, chartering with 30 members. Thank you, Jimmy Sweatt, Rich-ard Gay, Misty Konow; you remain the cata-lyst. Thank YOU, Governor-elect Doug Mckenzie, Area Director, Talley Johnson, Board Member, Jimmy Sweat, Field Director, Mike Taylor, for your leadership and participa-tion… made Lancaster Charter Meeting smooth and successful. Other attendees of dis-

tance were Lura Boggs, Don Floyd, Gary Fin-ley, and Mitch Bailey. Forgive me if I omit-ted your name. I’m remembering a crowd-ed room from several months ago. You came and supported the Lancaster Civitan Club and the Club Building Team. I am most appreciative. Lancaster Club collects and processes plastic bags into needed warm blankets /covers.

Derek Willis [l] gets the new Lan-caster Club charter from CI from

Bill Tolleson, SC Governor

[Continued on page 12]

SOUTH CAROLINA DISTRICT CIVITAN

DISTRICT MEETING REGISTRATION

DATE: SATURDAY MAY 14, 2015

TIME: 9:00 AM UNTIL 3:15 PM

PLEASE SEND RESERVATIONS SO WE KNOW HOW MANY TO COOK FOR.

NAME ____________________________________________________________

CIVITAN CLUB ______________________________________________________

ADDRESS___________________________________________________________

CITY/STATE/ZIP ______________________________________________________

REGISTRATION FEE: $25.00 [LUNCH INCLUDED]

MAIL WITH CHECK TO: SOUTH CAROLINA DISTRICT CIVITAN

P. O. BOX 27319

GREENVILLE, SC 29616

___________ ENCLOSED IS MY PERSONAL CHECK

___________ MY CLUB WILL PAY MY REGISTRATION FEE

SC District Meeting Agenda 8:45 AM Registration Opens, Coffee and Fellowship

9:30 AM Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Governor Bill Tolleson

Devotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …..Guest Chaplain

Pledge and Creed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. …Governor-Elect Doug McKenzie

10:00 AM What’s Happening in Civitan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Region II Director Lura Boggs

10:30 AM Social Media NOW YP/Campus Updates . . . . .Dr. Daniel Hall, Economics Chair, High Point University

11:30 AM Scholarship Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……..Scholarships Chairperson Leila Long

Junior Civitan Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ..Richard Gay and Juniors Officers

12:00 PM Prayer and Lunch

1:00 PM Human Trafficking in Your Neighborhood. . . ..Jen Thompson, Lighthouse for Life, Executive Director

1:45 PM Vision and Growth Civitan Future . . . . . . . . . . . Kendyl Massey

2:30 PM Comments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Governor Elect Doug McKenzie

2:45 PM Door Prizes and Raffle Drawings

3:00 PM Adjourn

3:15 PM SC District Board Meeting in Conference Room

SC District Meeting on May 14th

Don’t be Afraid to Fail. Be Afraid Not to Try.

Our presenters will be Dr. Daniel Hall, Kendyl Massey, and future Civitan Charter Member, Jen Thompson, from Lighthouse for Life. Surprise Guest?

Jen earned her Master Degree from the University of South Carolina and currently teaches Physical Education Jen will share some astounding information concerning child prostitution…in your neighborhood.

The Masseys live in Maryville, TN. Kendyl will lead a session concerning Growth and Vision for Civitan. She is also running for International President-elect, 2016 Norfolk Convention.

Dr. Daniel Hall is Chair Economics at High Point University. He sponsors the HPU Campus Club and is Savvy Social Media. He will lead our Social Media workshop…things you can do NOW to grow and improve your club. Also, give us YP and Campus Club insights and updates.

Dr. Hall led a seminar during 2015 International Convention and will be leading again in Norfolk. South Carolina has been included in his research and preparation for Ju-ly… Norfolk presentation.

Please see A Vision for the Spread of Civitan. Developing Jim Seeley’s Vision into an on-going working plan would solve our lack of Civitan Awareness and Growth. Club Building Teams would go into target communities with known key persons, willing men and women, ready to join our Civitan team in fellowship and service to their com-munities.

Laugh Learn Expect the Unexpected

Let’s meet for coffee, 9:00 AM Bill

803-413-6812 [email protected]

PA LME TT O CIVI GR AM

SC District Meeting: May 14th

CLUB PRESIDENTS: Please provide a Gift Basket from Each Club—tickets & drawings to raise a few Dis-trict $.

Location: Our Savior Lutheran Church

1500 Sunset Blvd. West Columbia, SC 29169

(From I-26 Exit 110. Go 1.5 mi. East)

mailto:[email protected]

Columbia’s History Recalled

V OLU ME 4, ISS UE 2

Chaplain’s Corner From Jim Seeley Vision for the Spread of Civitan

Every city, town, burg, and almost every crossroads in South Carolina, has a festival of some description. Spartanburg has a Spring Fling. Woodruff has a story telling event. Green-ville has Fall for Greenville. Honea Path has a Honey Soppin,’ complete with a parade and a biscuit eating contest. All Civi-tans know about the Myrtle Beach Polar Plunge and the Dutch Fork Cornhole Contest and Charleston’s Spoleto Festival is known worldwide. Likewise, every such place has special needs adults and children.

My vision would be to marry the two with a Civitan road show to present the finest examples of Civitan fundraising and service by sending a team of Civitans to every festival we can find in South Carolina and set up a BBQ contest, a honey sopping, a Cornhole tournament, storytelling event, banjo pickin’ contest, battle of the bands, fashion show, oyster shucking and whatever else you can think of. By doing this, we can make the Civitan brand known everywhere in this great state and help people.

Whatever money we could make, if we put on a money making event, we could contribute to a local special needs support group in that community. We could pay for pizza parties and music in every special needs school across the state. We should put out candy boxes in restaurants 10 miles outside our towns and give our share of the proceeds to small town charities. We could promote Special Olympics across the state by sending volunteers to area games in every area.

When we have made Civitan known in more communities and learned the names of the local citi-zens, we could’s History Recalled thereafter start promoting the building of Civitan clubs in the places where there is none. It may take years, but think of the rewards. We will be living our motto Civitan

Jim Stiver brought us an update from the Columbia Civitan Club which welcomed Dr. John Sherrer, III [at left in photo] at their Monday meeting on March 14th . Dr. Sherrer, the Di-rector of Cultural Resources for Historic Columbia, informed and educated the audience with an engaging review of Co-lumbia's history featuring a slide show. Many of the photos appear in Dr. Sherrer's fascinating new book, Remembering Columbia, seen on the table top in photo. He autographed copies of the book following his presentation. The Columbia Civitan Club has been meeting continuously since 1929!Currently they meet at Lizard's Thicket restaurant, 403 Belt-line Boulevard, at noon on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of every month. Visitors are always welcome.


Sevi on Social Media

Sevi Rindaris, SC District’s

Social Media Director


The 2015 Special Olympics South Carolina Fall Games were held indoors November 6-8. Olympic Town was set in J.L. Mann High School, along with Bocce, Soccer, and Volleyball. Flag Football and Disc Golf were located in Mauldin Middle School. At the TD Conven-tion Center, Opening Ceremonies be-gan at 7:30pm on Friday with activi-

ties and lighting of the ceremonial cauldron. The closing ceremony began there at 7:30pm Saturday and was followed by a victory celebration. Eighteen Civitans and Wade Hampton Junior Civitans were

among the volunteers to serving meals each evening to the 1,200-1,400 athletes, their coaches, and chaperones. This was the sixth consecutive year the games have been held in Greenville with Green-ville County Parks, Recreation and Tour-ism as hosts. The lines were often long, but the service was rewarding. Green-ville Civitan volunteers look forward to doing it again next year.

Greenville Civitans Aid Special Olympics

Greater Charleston Dances the New Year with Disabled

The Greater Charleston Civitans launched the new year with a dance for the intellectually disabled of Charleston County on January 7th with about 250 intellectually disabled attendees and a host of staff-ers! The pizzas, soda, and cookies [all sugar free of course] were enough to keep everyone going as the music from the DJ rocked the room. The guests were decked out in suits, casual dress, and even some gowns for the evening; some even stepped up to the micro-phone for their own renditions of favorite songs. All the while, danc-ers bounced to the beat, swung walkers, and did wheelies in wheel chairs.

The raffle prizes were a hit with the attendees and staffers appreci-ating the big drawing for them. As all left, the big question was “when is the Easter Dance?” Civitans look forward to host-ing their pals again soon.

SC District Meeting on December 5th


The SC District Meeting on December 5th was a big hit and a load of fun. Gov. Bill Tolleson organized an opportunity to stay overnight in Columbia at a great room rate and enjoy an evening at the River Bank Zoo! On hand at the meeting was the Civitan International Vice Pr4sident of Membership-Leadership, Louis Stephens, and he did a good job presenting us with the Keys to Success in his session. Later on he presented Mike Tay-lor, Misty Konow, and Steve Doudoukjian with Club Builders’ Jackets and awards for helping to launch the new SC District Civitan Club in Hilton Head. We heard from Mike Yarborough, President of the Hilton Head Club, on how they made it happen and set out with over 40 members! That is quite a story of accomplishment and hard work. They are des-tined to be a major factor in their community and we look forward to hearing so much more from them as their programs take shape. Also on hand to present as part of the agenda was Donald Davis from the Walterboro Civitan Club and his story on the revitalization of that club was inspiring. They have taken a quiet group and put a new spark of life with an expanded membership. Their story is one of bringing back to life a club that was losing steam and they have managed to really restructure their entire membership profile to make it more diverse and strong. We also heard an update from Sevi Rindaris, the SC District Chairperson for Social Media, on the goals and objectives for this effort. The path is clear that all clubs need to adopt the current social media vehicles to reach out to current members and to attract the younger crowd that is essential for club growth…..just look at Hilton Head as an example. After hearing from Jim McIlrath on the Special Olympics activities and update in our District, Richard Gay brought on the SC District Jr. Civitans to update their activities and events. These young Civitans continue to amaze with their successes, contributions, and hard work! It is indeed inspiring to see such fine young Civitans so active in supporting their communities. Seth Phillip and Dillon Patel gave a good picture of the upcoming events and sought support from the SC District Civitans for the Sno-Do and Dance-a-Thon events that they put on. As always, the District clubs were happy to provide encourage-ment– and a check– to help them along. By the way the District owes a huge debt to Richard Gay who has served for 37 years as the SC District Chairman to Jr. Civitans. He has done an excellent job and the results have been visible in the services they have provided and the many Civi-

tan International awards that they have garnered. The last items on the agenda included Louis Stephens presenting on re-taining members and the need for clubs to focus on the needs of their current membership. As we all know, club membership is constantly bombarded by losses due to illness, death, and relocation. As a result recruitment of new mem-bers and retaining current ones is a high priority in order for clubs to have the manpower to conduct com-munity events. See you at the next meeting!

Louis Stephens [l] presented Club Builders Jackets & awards to Mike Taylor, Misty Konow,

and Steve Doudoukjian [l to r]

Jim McIlrath and the Myrtle Beach

crowd always add a bit of fun and

color to the District events!

Mary Welch [c] poses with Seth Phillip [l] and Dillon Patel [r] as they collect donations for

Sno-Do & Dance-a-Thon


Civitan International is planning a fulfilling & entertaining convention for 2016 so try to be there! The fes-

tivities will be at:

July 13 – July 16 Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel Norfolk, Virginia In addition to the business agenda, there are loads of outside activities for members, significant others,

and children as well. A few of the options include tours to local hot spots:

Colonial Williamsburg Overview & Williamsburg Winery; Wednesday, July 13 (8:00 am-4:00 pm)

Welcome to Norfolk Riding Tour, Naval Station Norfolk, Nauticus & Battleship Wisconsin; Thurs-

day, July 14 (11:30 am – 4:00 pm)

Chrysler Museum, Glass Blowing Demonstration; Friday, July 15 (11:30 am – 3:30 pm)

Military Aviation Museum; Saturday, July 16 (12:30 pm – 4:00 pm)

Check things out at: http://www.civitan.org/convention2016/ConventionInformation.pdf

Civitan International Convention 2016

WHAT IS CIVITAN?

Civitan is a worldwide, all vol-unteer service organization where men and women have an organized way of ap-proaching local community problems through service and fund raising.

We emphasize serving people with developmental disabili-ties. Local clubs are support-ed by Civitan International, which was organized in 1917 and spans over 24 countries. The word CIVITAN is a coined word that comes from the Lat-in word “CIVITAS”, which means CITIZENSHIP.

Congrats to SC District Winners! Civitan International has announced award honorees for recognition at the upcoming convention in Norfolk, VA and the SC District is pleased to congratulate some of our own clubs who will be honored.

Outstanding Club Website: Third Place to the Greenville Club. Congrats to Sam Bennett and Linda Neely!

Outstanding Club Newsletter: Second Place to the Greenville Club. Congrats again to Sam Bennett and Linda Neely!

Outstanding District Newsletter: Second Place to the SC District’s Palmetto Civigram. Congrats to Dr. Misty Konow and Frank DeLustro!

Nice work in the SC District and let’s hope we can see more recognition of this fine state in future conventions!

Clergy Appreciation at Walterboro!


The Walterboro Civitan Club really celebrated Clergy Appreciation Week with a dinner of over 50 peo-ple on February 8th at the Veterans Victory House in Walterboro! Under the leadership of the event chairman, Don Davis, the Walterboro Civitan Club gathered a large group of veterans and clergy to commemorate the sacri-fice of the celebrated 4 Chaplains in WW II at the sinking of the USS Dorchester. The mayor of Walterboro, Bill Young, was on hand to open up the evening with the offi-cial proclamation of Clergy Appreciation Week in their town.

Decorated veterans in attendance led the audience in the pledge of allegiance and acapella singers [pictured below] entertained the attendees with patriotic songs. The event was an impressive demonstration of the activities going on in Walterboro and an excellent example of how to commemorate Clergy Appreciation Week in the com-munity…….what a great example for all Civitan Clubs!

Large Group of Clergy Honored at the Walterboro Clergy Appreciation Dinner

Don Davis [l] listens to Mayor Bill Young [r] reading the proclamation of Clergy Appreciation Week in

Walterboro

Civitan Awareness Day at the Joe


For Civitan Awareness month, the Greater Charleston Civitan Club [GCCC] organized a Civitan Night at Joe Riley Stadium in Charleston as the Riverdogs home team played the Tourists from Asheville, NC. Virginia Moore, club presi-dent and Charlotte Walker led the effort to bring this to fruition. The GCCC bought over 250 tick-ets for the intellectually disabled and staff from the disability boards of Berkeley, Charleston, Dorchester, and Orangeburg Counties….and they were thrilled at the opportunity to see them play. It was bring your dog night AND $1 hot dogs, so they had a blast with action on and off the field! The GCCC

was grateful to Charles Schwab Co. for sponsoring the first pitch which helped to finance the evening. Bubba, a long time Charlestonian with in-tellectual disability, came to throw out that first pitch and brought some big smiles with him. While the turn-out at the tables for the club didn’t meet expectations, the announcers did talk up Civitan and show some club activity pictures on the big screen. The evening was fun for the folks who came and of course was all the more sweet in the Riverdogs win over the Tourists, 4-1.

Dance-A-Thon 2016 Jr. Civitan’s Dance-A-Thon 2016 was a huge success right here in South Caroli-na! Dance-A-Thon is a Civitan International event; Junior Civitan’s Sponsors and Leaders from United States and Canada participated. For the past several years, Dance-A-Thon has been sponsored by South Carolina District and hosted by the Myrtle Beach Civitan Club. International President Debbie Julke thanked the South Carolina District along with the Myrtle Beach club for an outstanding weekend with the Junior Civitan Dance-A-Thon. She went on to say, “It was a great success and I feel everyone had a great time… the best since moving it to the States”.

This year’s Myrtle Beach team included Robin Vreeland, Kirby Hood, James McIlrath, Sevi Rindaris Paul Yurkin, and Jerry Jenerette. Dennis Hubbell served as DJ for the entire 12 hours of dancing. Dennis recently joined Civitan…not sure he knew this was coming…Great Job! Dennis.

“We hosted 103 dancers (30 more than last year) and, so far, have raised $50,129. for Civitan International Research Center.” This sur-passes 2016 goal of $49.000 set by Junior International Board of Di-rectors. Hats off to Betsy Nunnery and Richard Gay our award win-ning South Carolina District Junior Civitan Chairpersons. Thanks to Ontarian and former International President, Bill Hiscott, for making the trip and taking many pictures. Take a look at Bill’s Facebook page and South Carolina District Facebook page. You may be in a picture.

- article thanks to Bill Tolleson

Bubba makes the first pitch to start the game!

Riverdogs’ mascot

welcomes Civitan

Our Gang!

Riverdogs take the field in 4-1 win over Tourists!


The SC District is proud to announce the birth of a new Civitan Club in Lancaster, SC as a result of hard work and sponsorship by the Rock Hill Civitan Club! The club builders who accomplished this are Misty Konow, Richard Gay, Jimmy Sweatt, Bill Tolleson, and Jennifer Walker….thanks! Of course our District club builder ex-traordinaire in Mike Taylor who is orchestrating a strat-egy to bring multiple new and active clubs to the dis-

trict. So now Lancaster joins Hilton Head as a new entry.

The first president of the new Lancaster club is Derek Willis and his enthusiasm will prove to be decisive in getting them off to a flying start in community service activity. The charter meeting for this club was held on January 28th at Mariachis Restaurant in Lancaster and quite a crowd was there for the initia-tions. Tally Johnson, Director for Area 6, was on hand to welcome them into his area and SC Dis-trict Gov. Bill Tolleson was there to demonstrate his appreciation for the new club in the SC District. The Lancaster Club was off to a flying start with community food contributions and will be a strong addition to the SC District Civitans!

New Civitan Club in Lancaster! Lancaster Civitan off to a great start!

Check out the Civitan International Convention Information and Reserve July 13-16 in Norfolk, VA:

http://www.civitan.org/convention2016/ConventionInformation.pdf

Derek Willis [l] with Civitan Internation-al gift as Mike Tylor [r] looks on

Please save and bring to District Meeting all those plastic grocery bags you normally throw away. Greenville Club Building Team is diligently working on new Mauldin Club…13 members to date. Mauldin Mayor, Dennis Raines, a huge help. Mauldin could Charter by May 14th. Thank you, Greenville Club Builders. We are currently searching for key person(s) in Blythewood area. Lexing-ton, Easley, and Chapin / Newberry remain targets areas. Club builders are being trained and lead by our Field Director for Development, Mike Tay-lor…most recently Steve Cox, Archie Moore, and Pete Reynolds from Co-lumbia club. Congratulations! Walterboro Club for recently attaining Gold Circle status. Walterboro has doubled its membership in less than 2 years. You are the pacesetter for 2016 club Growth. Thank YOU, again, James McIlrath, and Myrtle Beach Club Team, for outstanding service you performed hosting a record number of junior Civitans for International Dance-a-thon. We consistently have over 1200 busy Junior Civitans in South Carolina. For District Winter Project, SC Junior Civitans collected and donated over 1200 toiletry and baby-care item to Sister Care, an organization that offers refuge to battered women and

children. Thank YOU, Betsy Nunnery and Richard Gay for inspiring Junior Civitans to be leaders, to achieve, and consistently earn International Awards, year after year, for over 27 years! It is time to get serious about Honor Club, and other deserved awards. Don’t be Afraid to Fail. Be Afraid Not to Try. Mary Welch is request-

ing your paperwork from now on. You have time to add pro-jects, fill your blank spots, add new members. (It’s sad, but we average 18.1% membership loss per year.) Go for it. Send pa-perwork to Mary. Being informed creates a sense of Human Value. Human Value creates Enthusiasm. Enthusiasm invites others “to join in the fellowship and service of Civitan.” Dr. Hall’s upcoming workshop could make a difference in your membership.

Frank DeLustro, Ph.D. Editor

Contact Information:

Bill Tolleson, Governor

113 Longview Drive

W. Columbia, SC 29169

803-413-6812

[email protected]

http://www.scdistrict.civitan.net/

Expect International dues increase of $3.00 per quarter…to be voted on, International Convention.

Restoration Fund. In 2017, 100th Anniversary International Convention will be in Birmingham. Civi-tan World Headquarters building has not had a redo in 30 years. Restoration Fund stretch goal is $410,000. As of 3/29/2016, $163,072 has been Funded, $97,711 is Pledged for a total of $260,783 Funded and Pledged. Goals only cover paint, carpet, and a few necessary repairs to ready building presentable for 2017 Civitans and visitors…no huge influx of new furnishings, etc. Restoration Fund published even donation amounts are Recog-nition Amounts; gets your name, club’s name, district, group name on door plaque. These even amounts do not reflect actual cost of redoing a particular office, room, or area. I.E.; as a group, 2015-16 District Governors voted to donate $12,000 to Restoration Fund …Recognition Plaque to appear on door of VP of Meetings, Con-

ventions, and Awards, Mary Luck…Mary was excited to say the least. Will have April Restoration Fund update on 5/14. THANK YOU for your response to my request for your SC District Vision. Each thought, idea, Vision is appreciated. Together, we will further explore these ideas, take action, and seize opportunities for our South Carolina clubs. Mike Taylor, our Field Director for Development, told me, early this Civitan year, that I had put forth the “most ambitious agenda,” for 2015-16, he had ever seen in his 23 Civitan years. Mike’s Vision response is generously positive and posited an ambitious Vision for new clubs and growth in South Carolina. Thank you, Mike, for your confidence in South Carolina Civitans. South Carolina Civitans, that’s YOU, can attain growth and stability not experienced in decades. Much, that has been started and proposed, will be realized in upcom-ing years. Plus, new opportunities will be presented and pursued.

Governor’s Message

http://scdistrict.civitan.net/

volume 4, issue 2 april 12, 2016 - south carolina civitan · jen thompson, lighthouse for life,...

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