KIWANIS CLUB OF ALLEN, TEXAS

Kurt Kizer

Club President 2005 - 2006

When asked to write something about my experience as president of Kiwanis, my first reaction was can I remember that far back? Granted, it wasn't that long ago. My term was 2005-6, but I still have to admit it was quite a blur. The one thing I do remember quite well was how long the term seemed to last. The elections occur six months before the term begins, then you serve as president-elect for 12 months, then president for 12 months and then there are still responsibilities as immediate past president. So from beginning to end it's about a 31/2 year process. And a lot of things can happen during that time, including significant career and family changes, both of which occurred for me, which impact the time available to commit to the position.

As far as my tenure goes, I would say it was fairly nondescript. The biggest crisis was when Ta Molli's abruptly shut down and I had about 2 days to find a place for our weekly meeting. We eventually landed at IHOP, and although I heard mostly complaints about it, we're still there. Which tells me that others have discovered the same thing I did; there's not a whole lot of good options in Allen without raising the price quite a bit. Besides, I like IHOP. This turned out to be perhaps the only perk of being the president. Financially the club was successful. It was a good year for the circus and we were able to increase our donations to some of the local organizations. But more importantly, we started the "Flag Project", which hopefully will be a significant fundraiser in the future. To be fair, this project was actually initiated during Charisse's term. Regardless, it is my hope that this project will be a long and successful fundraiser for our club.

My philosophy with respect to the Allen Kiwanis club was, and still is, a bit on the isolationist side. I had little interest in Kiwanis outside of our community. The few times I attended the Division Council meeting I felt I was the victim of a shake down as I entered and was strongly "encouraged" to pay $5 to be entered into a drawing for some prize for which I had absolutely no use. I attended one Interclub meeting and made a couple of visits to the fledgling Farmersville club. I had no interest in attending a state or national convention. And as for being a "distinguished club", I didn't feel compelled to meet some arbitrary requirements so that an outside entity could tell me whether or not our club was good. We were designated a distinguished club during my term. And I am happy about that because I know it is important to some of our members. I hope this attitude doesn't make me a bad president, but I just wasn't passionate about that aspect of Kiwanis. What I am passionate about are the people in our club and the many, many good things that we do in our community. I'm proud to be known as a Kiwanian and the impact we have here in Allen. I noticed the other day at a board meeting of the Allen Parks Foundation that out of nine people at that meeting, four were members of Kiwanis. I think this is pretty typical of our representation in the city.

When the notice came out requesting all of the former presidents to write a few words about their experience, I noticed a number of names that I did not know. And there are probably several newer members that do not know who I am. Unfortunately career changes for me over the past year or so have limited my availability to attend our weekly meeting. But I want people to know I'm still proud to be a member of the Allen Kiwanis Club and hopefully can participate more regularly in the not too distant future.