New Member Profile: Alan Barnette

Alan is businessman here in Austin since moving here twenty-four years ago from Boulder, Colorado where he owned an art gallery for twelve years. He currently runs a retail store on South Congress and a small metal fabrication shop up in Jollyville. He’s also worked as a professional musician for the last forty years and originally moved to Austin to work together with a group of musicians with whom he still performs.

Alan was raised to believe that it is one’s duty to help those unable to help themselves. He’s volunteered for a variety of benevolence organizations for the last thirty years, including the Big Brothers Big Sisters and Boulder County AIDS Project in Colorado; and AIDS Services of Austin, Project Transitions, and the Octopus Club here in Austin. Through his membership in University Baptist Church, he’s helped feed and shelter the homeless youth that live on the streets around the university.

We love Alan’s diverse background of service and volunteerism, and we’re looking forward to the great things he’ll contribute to our community as a Kiwanian!

New Member Profile: Marcelo Urieta-Bravo

Marcelo Urieta-Bravo is an alumnus of our sponsored service leadership program CKI at Austin Community College. While enrolled at ACC, he served as chapter president from 2012-13, distinguished lieutenant governor in 2013-14 for the Texas-Oklahoma District, and distinguished governor for the Texas-Oklahoma District in 2014-15. He graduated from St. Edward’s University in 2016 and helped to re-establish the CKI chapter on campus. Throughout his time in CKI, Marcelo held numerous roles on Circle K International committees.

Marcelo now serves as an assistant district administrator to the Texas-Oklahoma District of CKI, and he specializes in advising the district’s nine lieutenant governors. He’s looking forward to giving back to CKI as Kiwanian and giving developing young leaders the same opportunities he had as a member of CKI.

Annual Meeting Results

The club’s annual meeting was held on Thursday, May 17 at the weekly luncheon and the slate of officers presented by the Nominating Committee was adopted by acclamation:

  • President – Bill Gordon: 10/1/2018-9/30/2020
  • President-Elect – Raymond Miller: 10/1/2018-9/30/2020
  • Immediate Past President – John Cano: 10/1/2018-9/30/2020
  • Secretary-Treasurer – Ron Kingsbury: 10/1/2018-9/30/2020
  • Director (Club Satellite Liaison) –  Maria Harper: 10/1/2018-9/30/2020
  • Director –  Kirby Cossey: 10/1/2018-9/30/2020

Ruth Ann Cossey and William Assamoi will continue the second of their two-year terms as directors.

New Member Profile: Braderick Morrison

Braderick Morrison is a born and raised Hoosier who just recently moved to Texas. Brad received his Bachelor’s of Science in Sociology from Ball State University. After graduation, Brad moved to Indianapolis, IN to begin a career in the sales industry. After two years, he decided to move to Texas to further his career opportunities and soak up the Texas heat. Brad moved to Austin at the beginning of the year and started working at Main Street Hub, a social media marketing company located in downtown Austin. Brad has been involved in the K-Family since the start of his college career. He has served as president of his home club at Ball State and on the Indiana District Board as Membership Retention Specialist. His favorite service events have been working with children at after school programs in his college town of Muncie, IN. His hobbies include photography, refurbishing old furniture, and of course, volunteering. 

We’re so glad to have Brad as the newest member of our club and excited that he’s continuing his K-Family journey with us!

Kiwanis One Day & Halloween

Each year, Kiwanis and its sponsored programs around the world join in a day of service. For Kiwanis One Day this year, we helped the Dottie Jordan Recreation Center with two projects:

  1. Family Pumpkin Carving Day – our club donated funds for the purchase of pumpkins and our members helped the kids with carving.
  2. Movie in the Park – the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority sponsored a screening of Monsters, Inc and provided snacks and refreshments. We helped with food preparation, setup, and event oversight, and cleanup.

New Member Profiles: Maria Harper and Chris Varney

Maria Harper and Chris Varney were formally inducted into our club on Friday evening. They were sponsored by Raymond Miller.

Maria grew up in the metro-Detroit area where she was involved with the Michigan District Key Club serving as a Lt. Governor and District Bulletin Editor. She then went to the University of Missouri for her undergraduate degree in Journalism and German where she was involved with CKI at the club level. Most recently, though, she moved to Austin from Boston where she’s now working at a small digital advertising agency and getting re-introduced to the Kiwanis family! She has a passion for community impact, specifically involving education of underserved areas. Through the Kiwanis Club of Austin-Northeast she hopes to be able to bridge some of the gaps in the community to provide equal chances for all kids.

Chris moved to Austin from Boston in the summer of 2017. He’s from central Illinois and went to school in Missouri and is currently working in marketing. He is looking forward to spending a lot of time outside in the state parks around Austin as he discovers Texas. He has a particular interest service projects that address nutrition and food security, and is looking forward to getting involved in any way that he can.

We’re very excited to welcome them to our club and we value their ideas and the skills that they bring to the club as we work together to improve our community.

Helping Winn Grow

Our club recently pitched-in to help develop the new vegetable garden at Winn Elementary. The Sustainable Food Center hosted a free resource giveaway, and Past President Ed Randle dug right into service by loading up his truck with compost that we delivered to the school. The new garden will be a valuable hands-on teaching tool for students to learn – especially for the new Montessori program on campus that is all about experiential learning.

Central Texas Food Bank

Our club recently helped out with a morning shift at the Central Texas Food Bank. In just a few hours of work with other great community volunteers, we were able to sort and package 7000+ meals!

Club News – Nov. 3

Club Meeting – October 27, 2016
Kiwanis Family Month Preview
November is Kiwanis Family Month! We’ve invited our sponsored service leadership programs to present during our meetings this month. We also have new marketing resources about each of our programs that can be shared with prospective members, friends, and school administrators.

Club Meeting – November 3, 2016
Club Business Meeting
During this meeting, we had a number of announcements, discussions, and some club business to accomplish. Key Club at Manor New Tech High School has selected a member to attend Key Leader on the weekend of November 11. Remember, our speaker honorariums fund these scholarships for leadership training for aspiring young leaders of our Key Clubs. 

We will have two pecan sales this season! Thanksgiving orders are due by Friday, November 11 (distribution on November 17), and Christmas orders are due by Thursday, December 8 (distribution on December 15).
Other Actions:

  • William Assamoi was approved to fill the vacancy of the2-year director position
  • Ruth Ann Cossey was approved to fill the vacancy of the 1-year director position
  • The club approved a change in club policy to change the terms of the president, president-elect, immediate past president, and secretary-treasurer to a 2-year term. 

Service: Halloween Spooktacular – October 28, 2016
This past Friday, October 28th, members of our club volunteered at the Halloween Spooktacular at Dottie Jordan Recreation Center. We assisted in setup and manned the disc golf booth. For each disc that the kids got in, they got two candies. We had a great time connecting with the community and entertaining the neighborhood kids who came out to enjoy the variety of activities!

Club News – Oct. 20-25

Club Meeting – October 20, 2016
Dream Session

President John shared the club goals for the year that will be aligned with the 2016-2017 Kiwanis Recognition Program, “Energize the Dream,” for Clubs and Members. Lt. Governor Raymond led the club members in a Dream Session as they  shared their dreams, goals, and ambitions for this Kiwanis year and the future:

  • More Mueller involvement, recruiting efforts
  • Holiday specific events (Trick or Treat for UNICEF Halloween, Christmas, etc.)
  • Satellite Club (evening)
  • Stronger, more active club
  • 30+ members strong
  • 5 new members this year
  • Connect with UT’s Division of Diversity and Community Engagement to increase our club’s reach
  • Recruit more leaders plugged into the local community, community activists
  • Make the club more appealing and attractive to newer members and youth
  • Have a signature project: Playground suggested multiple times
  • Get involved with local festivals (Kiwanis Kites at the Zilker Kite Festival)
  • Initiate an American flag project as a fundraiser
  • Chili cook-off event
  • Sponsor one of each service-leadership programs
  • Sponsor more SLPs as we recruit more active members
  • Sponsor creation of Pflugerville Kiwanis Evening Club and re-charter University Area Kiwanis Club
  • Hold a golf outing fundraiser, food centric fundraisers (we cook food), get involved with renaissance fairs

Kiwanis One Day – October 22, 2016

23 Volunteers
2 Hours of Service
8,208 meals for children in Haiti

This past Saturday, October 22nd, members of our club, the Kiwanis Clubs of Northwest Austin, Golden K-Austin, Greater South Austin, and Anderson High School Key Club (group photo above) gathered at Triumphant Love Lutheran Church to package meals for Haiti relief efforts with Kids Against Hunger of Central Texas. This was a fantastic Kiwanis One Day project that brought our clubs together in service to the neediest children and families in our hemisphere!

Text