General Club History  

Welcome to the Kiwanis Club of Flagler Sunrise, a service club with a tradition of fun and service to the West Palm Beach Community.

We want your association with our club to be a very pleasurable and fulfilling experience. We want you to feel at home with us in as short a time as possible. With that in mind, we have prepared this overview of what Kiwanis International, and especially the Kiwanis Club of Flagler Sunrise, are all about. Please use this as a reference as you introduce yourself to our club. Feel free to ask any questions you have about Kiwanis or the Flagler Sunrise Club.

Club Meetings: We meet each Friday at 7:30 A.M. at the Governor's Club, Phillip's Point, 777 South Flagler Drive, West Palm Beach, Florida, telephone number 561-832-7577. Please note that the Governor’s Club is a private club and requires appropriate dress. Please no jeans or shorts.

You will be met at the meeting room by a volunteer "greeter," who will help you get acquainted with the members of the club. Register your attendance as you enter the meeting room on the sign-in sheet provided. Pick up your name badge from the badge case. Don't forget to put it back at the end of the meeting.

The meeting and meal expense is included in your dues, so you will not need to pay for them when you attend the meeting.

The meal service is self-service. Drinks are delivered by the wait staff to your table. Orange juice, cream, cream cheese, etc. are at your table.

The club president generally presides over the meeting.

A typical agenda includes:

1) Opening - striking of the bell to bring the meeting to order.

2) Pledge of Allegiance, Patriotic Song, and Invocation - Each is led by a volunteer member.

3) Greeting of Guests and Visitors - The House Committee Representative who, along with the greeter, attend to the "sign-in table" and will announce the guests and visitors, or in the alternative, will ask a sponsor of a guest or visitor to introduce their guest or visitor.

4) Happy Bucks - Members donate “happy bucks” to the club and express their sentiments.

5) Important Announcements - Announcements are made by the President or the President may call upon one or more members to make announcements.

6) The Program - Each week a guest speaker will bring a topic of general interest, community related services, education benefit, member interest or concern, current events, etc. The program committee is made up of the Chairperson and twelve committee persons. Each person is responsible for one month of programs. If you have a topic you would like to see presented or would like to present yourself, see the person responsible for the next month's programs. Next year, you should volunteer to serve on the program committee for one month. Some members choose to share program months.

7) 50/50 Drawing - Each week there is a “split the pot” drawing. As members and guest arrive, they may purchase tickets to the drawing for $2. A ticket is drawn by the Guest Speaker (or other guest) and the winning ticket gets one-half the cash. The balance goes into the club's administrative account for use in supporting sponsored group activities, like the AKTION CLUB or the KEY CLUB at Suncoast High School.

8) Adjournment - Striking of the bell to conclude the meeting and dismiss the members.

Timeliness:
Please try to be on time. Most members arrive by 7:15 a.m. or shortly thereafter, to give themselves time to eat and be ready for the meeting activities. Arriving early provides an opportunity to share in the fellowship our club is proud to provide. This is also important in getting the meeting started on time.

If you need to leave the meeting early for any reason, do not hesitate to do so. We would rather that you spend a little of your time with us than not be in attendance at all.

Attendance:
At first weekly meetings might seem to be a very big commitment of your time. We understand this and thank you for joining us even with this time constraint. You will discover that this is not the burden it first may appear to be. As a matter of fact, if you are like most of us, you will find yourself looking forward to the next meeting, the fellowship, the education from the guest speaker, and the next service project.

Kiwanis encourages you to attend as many meetings as possible. The club is measured on attendance. "Perfect Attendance" awards are presented to members who meet Kiwanis "perfect attendance" criteria.

Attending every meeting is impossible for most of us. So what is "perfect attendance?" Perfect attendance is the term used but it really means continued participation. It means that you like your relationship with Kiwanis enough to help in a club service project, that you are interested enough in learning more about Kiwanis so that you attend another club's meeting either locally or wherever you might be visiting and it means that you and fellow members get together to see how another club operates by visiting friends in those clubs (inter-club meetings).

If we, as officer and board members, are doing our job correctly you will have no problem being the kind of Kiwanian that can sustain "continued participation" forever. Perfect attendance is really a measurement of how healthy a club environment we have at Kiwanis Club of Flagler Sunrise.

Attendance credit is given for:

• Attending a regular weekly meeting of any Kiwanis club.
• Attendance of a round table meeting of any club (generally a modified meeting called to provide the opportunity to meet when a regular meeting cannot be held, such as on a holiday).
• Attendance at a special Kiwanis club meeting or function (installation banquet, spouses night, charter night, annual banquet, etc.)
• Attendance at Kiwanis International meetings (or District functions that prevent attendance at your regular weekly meeting).
• A visit to the Kiwanis International Office in Indianapolis, Indiana or the Kiwanis International Regional Office in Switzerland.
• Attendance at a Kiwanis District or divisional meeting.
• For each 2 hours of service performed for a qualified club service project.

Leave of Absence:
If you anticipate a long absence (extended vacation, work obligation, etc), you may apply for a leave of absence of up to six (6) months through the Club Secretary. Your club attendance record will be frozen. Dues and other obligations will remain active.

Resignation from Kiwanis:
A member may resign from this club provided that such member's indebtedness to the club has been paid. The resignation shall be submitted in writing to the Board of directors and shall become effective when accepted by the Board.

Club Bulletin:
This club is privileged to have an excellent newsletter published weekly to keep the membership apprized of club activities. It is mailed to club members.

Responsibilities of membership:
Complete an orientation program. This includes watching our Orientation video (15 minutes), attending a club board meeting and attending at least one interclub (attending another Club meeting with other Flagler Sunrise Kiwanians) per year. Board meetings are held monthly and any member, whether on the Board or not, is invited and encouraged to attend.

Attend meetings regularly, wear your Kiwanis pin and be sure to sign in. Invite your friends, colleagues, neighbors, relatives, phone solicitors, etc. as guests. The guest fee is $15, the Club pays this fee for any “prospective member” for the first visit.

Participate in club sponsored or supported community activities. Our Club tries to do at least one activity a month and also supports the Division activities which vary from year to year. The Club is also actively involved with our Key Club at Suncoast High School.

Pay dues on time. Currently this club’s dues are $150.00 per quarter (or $50 per month), which includes the charges for breakfast at the Governor's Club. Please note that except for charter members, the Bylaws do not allow for inactive status which means the quarterly dues are assessed without regard to attendance.

Respect the beliefs and customs of others.

Service Projects:
As a "Service Club" one of our main reasons for existence is to provide service to our community. Throughout the year you will be offered a wide variety of projects to help with. You will not be able to help with them all, but particularly in your first year with the club, you should do as many as you can. This helps acquaint you with the different types of projects and increases your knowledge of the Club and its members.

Some of the projects are set up so that your name is placed on a rotating schedule. You will receive the date and time of your assignment. If you have a conflict with the date and time, it is your responsibility to find a member that is willing to switch the date and time with you. When rotating assignments are made, the number of members needed to carry out the services is carefully planned so as to not have more or fewer members than needed. If a member simply does not show for the project, it burdens those that do. So please make the appropriate arrangements when you can not make a date and time assigned to you.

Fund Raising Projects:
Generally, Kiwanis provide services to the community by our personal effort, but some projects require an investment of cash. To provide that cash, the Flagler Sunrise Club has fund raising projects. You may be expected to participate in one or more of these projects during the year.