KIWANIS CLUB OF ALLEN, TEXAS
Colleen Biggerstaff
Club President 1999 – 2000
Prior to joining the club I
volunteered for various events and organizations in the Allen community, with
no ties to any single association. But
somehow it just felt like something was missing. At the time, I was competing in the Mrs. Texas International
Pageant and part of the judging is based on community involvement. It was 1995 and I was Mrs. Allen. At that pageant, I met Mrs. Garland, and her
name was Susan Hennum. Susan was
recognized for 2 years at the pageant for her community service through an
organization called Kiwanis. Since we
didn’t live far apart, she invited me to a luncheon sponsored by the Allen
Kiwanis Club and Division 37. There,
she introduced me to a gentleman who was to become my mentor and very dear to
me, David Olson. She also introduced me
to an amazing lady named Kris Kistner, who quickly became one of my heroes
because of her wonderful spirit and attitude, and her devotion to her passion –
the Key Club. David asked me on several
occasions if I would join the Allen club, and I finally told him that I would
if he would talk to my boss, Bill Nethery because it would involve
participation in some events that might take me away from work. He spoke to Bill who later came to me and
said, “I hear you want to be in Kiwanis”.
I said yes, and the rest, so to speak, is history.
I was a member of the club
for a couple of short years – Barbara McEwen was president when I joined – and
after seeing what a wonderful job she did as president - and those who
followed, I convinced myself that I might be able to pull off the job of
president, too. So I called the
nominating committee and offered my name – amazingly enough, they accepted
me! Did they really understand what
they were in for????? 2000 was a VERY
busy year for me – not only was I club president, but I was also awarded the
title of Mrs. Texas International, and was Assistant Builders Club
Administrator to Texas-Oklahoma District Chair Susan Hennum (how do I let Susan
talk me into these things………………). But,
it was also one of the most wonderful years of my life. Oh, and I was also “volunteered” to be a
part of the first Citizens Police Academy in Allen. Busy, busy, busy!
Mike Hagood was club
president after me. I will never forget
the board meeting during which we decided to add the circus as a fundraiser to
our list of activities. Mike Hagood
told me that he wasn’t convinced that the circus was something he thought we
should be investing our club’s time in, but lo and behold, the next year when
he was president, we went from hosting the circus for one day to hosting for 2
days! I guess he was impressed the way
we handled it when I was president! And
then of course, Sally took it to 3 days!
How time flies!
Because of the hard work and
support of our board and members, we achieved the level of Distinguished
Club. My year as club president was
wonderful and gave me the confidence to run for Lt. Governor of Division 37 –
they say that being Lt. Governor can be either the best or worst year of your
Kiwanis life. I’m here to tell you that
with the support of such wonderful people as David Olson and the rest of the
club and Division 37 members, it was most certainly my best! Enough so that I was able to convince my
dear friend Kris and later Bob Moorman that they could do it too! I later aspired to and ran for the position
of Governor of our district, and unfortunately I saw that the ugly head of
politics is alive and well even in Kiwanis. I recognized that many changes are
needed in our organization, and that our club here in Allen is already way
ahead of the District in many ways. I’m
proud to be a part of it!
My membership in this club is
like my extended family. I’ve met so
many wonderful and dear people, and residents of Allen usually either know me
from my almost 24 years with American National Bank, or through Kiwanis. What a wonderful way for people to remember
me by! My newest involvement with the
District level of Kiwanis is as a member of the Sponsored Youth Leadership Risk
Management Committee that was organized
by Governor Jerry Ward chaired by Susan Hennum. Our committee has been charged with submitting a written policy
and guidelines for criminal background checks for all Kiwanis members in our
District. This comes at the direction
of Kiwanis International, who is following in the footsteps of such
organizations as Boy Scouts of American, Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs, school
districts and even Rotary Clubs - all
in the interest of protecting our most valuable asset, our children. All of our committee members and District
office staff, including Governer Jerry Ward, will have had our background
checks done by Mid-Winter conference in February.
I see nothing but good things
in store for our Kiwanis club. Like I
told one of the Leadership Allen classes when I was invited as one of the
service organizations to make a presentation – Rotary writes checks, Lions
likes to party, and Kiwanians do all the work!
We are the leaders here in Allen and I see our club growing to include
new residents and younger members. I believe my daughter Heather was the first
Key Club graduate to join our club right out of high school! We need to be open to change and flexible
enough to be open and adjust to new ideas.
Part of the reason that our District is losing members, in my opinion,
is because we don’t seem to be open to new ideas or ways of doing things. And you know the saying , “If you keep
doing the same old thing, you will keep getting the same old results!” The Texas-Oklahoma District needs to keep
up with the Allen Kiwanis Club and Division 37!