Dear Friend,

Welcome to the Kiwanis Club of Cincinnati Monthly Newsletter. We hope you find each edition informational and helpful in planning your calendar. We expect the newsletter to evolve based on input from our readers, so please provide us your input!

In this issue you will find:

• Kiwanis Inspirational Moment


• Celebration!


• Upcoming Events


• Kiwanis Club News


• New Members


• A Club Member Feature


• Kiwanis International News


• Did You Know?


• A Word of Encouragement


• Membership Information




Inspirational Moment Abigail Adams, wife of the second U.S. President John Adams said: "If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind, whom should we serve?" There is only one choice, between care for ourselves and altruism. Kiwanians have chosen altruism. We lay out ourselves in the service of mankind, to change the world one child and one community at a time.




Celebration! Join us in congratulating our club members on these recent and upcoming milestones! Birthdays Rob Porter - December 3 Sopheap Sok - December 10 Jeanette Yacucci - December 12 Congratulations! Congratulations to Mary Shy who began her new job at OmniCare, Inc. on 11/24 as a PMO Director! Happy Anniversary! Congratulations to club member Ty Foster and his wife Deb on their upcoming anniversary (Dec 23rd)! Our Club is Helping Train Future Leaders At the last board meeting, our club voted unanimously to support and build a K-Kids Club at Horizon Science Academy! Our own Monica Espinal will be the new club's faculty advisor. K-Kids Clubs are the elementary school version of Kiwanis' service leadership programs (like Key Club). These clubs foster volunteerism, community and leadership in the kids who are members. We are so excited to be supporting such a worthy club! Besides K-Kids, we also are working on helping to build the Circle K Club at the University of Cincinnati and we annually support Key Leader. More about Kiwanis Service Leadership Programs




Upcoming Events To RSVP for any event, please either contact the RSVP Contact or email us at info@cincinnatikiwanis.org. 12/05 - 5:00 PM - Hillrise Retirement Community Christmas Party - Members of the club will join the Hillrise board of directors to help in hosting the annual Christmas party for the residents. Dinner will be served and gifts will be shared with the residents. Club members will be bringing cookies to share and have contributed slightly used items which will be wrapped and presented as gifts to the residents. RSVP Contact: Brian Yacucci 12/08 - 6:00 PM - Monthly Board Meeting - All are welcomed to join the club for our monthly planning meeting. This month we will meet at Ronald McDonald House. RSVP Contact: Brian Yacucci 12/12 - 4:15 PM-5:45 PM - St. Francis Seraph Soup Kitchen - As we do each month, we are serving dinner at the St Francis Seraph Soup Kitchen. It is fun, rewarding, and your help is greatly appreciated! The work includes preparing and serving food and cleanup. The time goes very quickly and our efforts are very much appreciated. RSVP Contact: Bill Swanson 12/15 - 12:00 PM-1:00PM - Lunch & Learn - Southwest Ohio Kiwanis for Kids (SOKKS): How they are making a difference in our kids' safety. RSVP Contact: Brian Yacucci 12/22 - 5:00PM-7:00PM - Ronald McDonald House Dinner - Join us in our monthly service project cooking dinner at the Ronald McDonald House. We serve the residents - families and patients, and always find it a rewarding experience! RSVP Contact: Brian Yacucci Check out our club calendar for more details





Kiwanis Club News Our Club in the News While it doesn't mention our club name, a recent article from the Catholic Telegraph about Tom Geiger House includes a photo of the playroom we renovated! Read the Article Monthly Quiz Winners Congratulations to Cyndee Crim, Hubert Kirchgaessner, Laura Reinhardt, Amy Zimmerman, and Brian and Jeanette Yacucci, who correctly answered this month's quiz! Want the answers to November's quiz? Ready to try your hand at December's quiz? Check out the Quiz page on our club website > Event News from November 11/10 - Monthly Planning Meeting - Thanks to Linda and Tim Gramke who hosted the club for our planning meeting. The evening included a wonderful potluck dinner and a lively meeting including the club budget, goals and sponsoring service leadership programs. [Attendance: 11 members] 11/12 - St. Francis Seraph Soup Kitchen - This month, Tim and Linda Gramke, Jim Gerwe, Bill Swanson and friend Andrea Allen served dinner at St. Francis Seraph Soup Kitchen. The slowdown in the economy was evident as there were more customers than usual. Come join us – we serve dinner on the 2nd Wednesday of every month! Attendance: 4 members, 1 Guest] 11/12 - Division 6 meeting - There were 37 Kiwanis members who attended the Division meeting. They represented 11 of the 13 clubs in the 6th division. The meeting was held at Receptions in the Western Hill Sports Mall. Rex Cheek of Kiwanis International Store was the guest speaker talking about marketing Kiwanis. [Attendance: 4 members] 11/14-16 Key Leader Retreat Chaperones - Brian and Jeanette Yacucci and Jim and Alyson Gerwe volunteered to chaperone 65 high school students at the Kiwanis sponsored leadership retreat in Ashley, Oh. The retreat was held at Recreation Unlimited Farm and Fun camp, a not-for profit organization. Key Leader Retreat is a life-changing experience that inspires young people to achieve their personal best through service leadership. In the course of this exciting weekend activities, high school young people learn about five keys of leadership: Personal Integrity; Personal Growth; Respect; Building Community; and Pursuit of Excellence [Attendance: 4 members] 11/17 - Lunch & Learn - Adopt a Class - Bill Burwinkle, Executive Director, and Debbie Schwab, team leader for Rockdale Elementary, talked to the club about the Adopt a Class program. The program, started in 2004, is committed to building a personal, sustainable connection between school children (Kindergarten through 8th grade) and positive role models. Look for more news about our club's adoption of a 3rd grade Rockdale class on the Service page on our club website. [Attendance: 6 members, 2 guests] 11/22- Growth Summit for Southwest Ohio Kiwanis - Although it was an all day session, the Growth Summit was very inspirational. It was led by Earl Forbes, a Kiwanis International staffer who has 30 years of experience in Kiwanis and has been on the International staff for 15 years. He shared the success stories of other Kiwanis clubs, explained the new club membership options Kiwanis is offering, and provided valuable and exciting resources to help improve our club and to recruit new members of our team. [Attendance: 1 member] 11/24 - Ronald McDonald House Service Project - Once again, everyone had a great time preparing dinner for the RMH families, and it was delicious too! This month, we served about 60 residents taco lasagna, cornbread and tossed salad. Lauren Harmon and 2 others from the University of Cincinnati Circle K club joined us again this month! After we cleaned up, we wrote letters to our Adopt a Class students at Rockdale Elementary. [Attendance: 11 members, 3 UC Circle K members] Total Service Hours for November Total Club Sponsored Service Hours: 214 hours (includes Key Leader weekend) Total Non-Club Sponsored Service Hours: 11 hours More past events.....




New Membership Outstanding Membership Growth for Division 6! At the November Division 6 meeting, a membership growth of over 20 members was reported from the clubs in our division. Recruiting new members not only provides fresh ideas and energy for our club, but more help for our causes and projects! We have so many projects going on right now, we need all the help we can get. 1,2,3 You Hold the Key More than 12,000 people have joined Kiwanis International since the beginning of the 1-2-3 You Hold the Key program. The reason: Nearly 7,000 members invited them—members who were justly rewarded. Recruit new members during the current administrative year and you’ll be rewarded, too. With keys to wear proudly and new member recruitment adds towards achieving your Distinguished Member status! More about 1,2,3 You Hold the Key




An Interview with Brian Yacucci, club president and member since May 2001 (Club Member since May 2001) Each month we feature one of our club members so our readers can get to know the people who make up our club. This month’s featured member is Brian Yacucci, our club president who joined our club in 2001. Brian’s wife Jeanette, our club treasurer has been a club member since 2006. Brian grew up in Bordman Ohio, a suburb of Youngstown and the home town of Bernie Kozar (past star quarterback for the Browns). He has an older brother and a younger sister. Brian was busy during his high school years as a member of the marching band, the national honor society, and an eagle scout! His first job was at McDonalds, where Brian worked all areas of the restaurant. While most teenagers learned to work a specific area, not Brian, he did it all! Brian left Bordman after high school to head to the University of Cincinnati to major in Architecture. In addition to his studies at UC, Brian held several part-time jobs. While he worked at the university bookstore, his job at the front desk of the Sawyer Resident Hall proved to be more unique. Brian worked the 4 – 8am shift on Tuesdays and Thursdays where he used this time to do homework, do his laundry and, if needed, doze a bit. Brian learned to be quick at waking up when the front door opened! Brian played tuba in the UC marching band the fall quarter of his freshman year but had to quit because he couldn’t keep up with the drinking requirements of the band. Brian’s 6 year architecture program included 8 quarters of co-op work. Brian worked 3 quarters at a small firm, Creative Housing Solutions. Then he worked 5 quarters at a larger firm, Cole + Russell Architects (C+RA), which Brian joined fulltime after graduation. He worked for C+RA for 4 yr before being contacted again by the owner of Creative Housing Solutions (CHS) asking him to consider joining them. Brian accepted that offer and is still with them 5th yrs later. CHS has proven to be a better fit for Brian. Because of his very demanding class and work schedule, Brian initially resisted joined Circle K until his 3rd yr of college. His best friend from high school (an OSU student) was pushing Brian to join. When his friend came in to town one weekend, he persuaded Brian to attend a club meeting. In his first meeting, 2 members were running against each other for club president and it was very competitive. By his 4th year of college Brian was the club vice president and then became the Lt Governor in his 5-6 year of school. His division included UC, Xavier, Miami, University of Dayton, Wittenburg University, Mount St Joseph, Wilmington College and Central State, so Brian was quite busy. Brian and his wife Jeanette originally met when they were in different Circle K clubs but they were just acquaintances. They reconnected in 2003 at the rubber duck banding in Cincinnati when they were (once again) members of different Kiwanis clubs. Brian likes to cook and Jeanette wanted one of his recipes so Brian emailed it to her so she invited him up to Dayton to join some friends for dinner. Then one thing led to another! They were married May 20, 2006 and are expecting their first child in March. Of all the Kiwanis service projects Brian has been part of (and there are many!), he most enjoys the monthly dinner our club cooks at the Ronald McDonald House. Since Brian loves to cook, this is a great outlet for his creative spirit – planning and preparing the meals. The parents and children as always so appreciative of the home cooked touch we give to them even though they are far from home. Outside of the club activities, Brian has focused on Key Leader. This is a leadership program open to any high school student (not just Key Club). The program is held from Friday night to Sunday morning 2 times a year and is presented to groups of students all over the world. Kiwanis International sponsors the program and provides the professional facilitator. The District hosts the event. Brian’s primary role is site coordinator, which means he’s responsible for location planning and set-up; basically all the behind the scenes activities. The program is offered by the District and held at Recreation Unlimited which provides a camp experience for mentally and physically challenged kids but also opens itself up to groups like the Key Leader program. In his spare time, Brian loves to do home improvement projects! He totally gutted his first house and redid it room by room. By the time he and Jeanette were married, he had completed the whole house. In their current house, Brian has been doing smaller projects but there wasn’t much challenge for him. So last winter he remodeled 2 basements for friends. He really enjoyed the process and at the same time was helping out his friends! Another activity Brian enjoys is off road motor cycling. The men in his family go to Allegany National Forest in Pennsylvania and the Hatfield – McCoy Trail System in West Virginia one or 2 times per year. The Trail System was originally a co-op set up for off-road cycling but is now owned by the state. For only $35 you can have a week full of cycling fun. When Brian was growing up, West Branch State Park was a favorite place for his family and friends to hang out. Most people don’t know this but Brian was an avid water skier up through his high school years. He learned to ski at 6 yr old and went to West Branch 2 times each week in the summer for skiing fun. There were always other friends and his family to join in the fun. One memorable time the group tried to see how many skiers could be pulled behind the boat at one time – the record was 13 at one time! More club stars...




Kiwanis International News BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA AND KIWANIS INTERNATIONAL: A promising partnership for children No single organization can solve the tremendous challenges facing children worldwide. That’s one reason Kiwanis International has joined in a memorandum of understanding with Boys & Girls Clubs of America to foster, nurture, and establish a legacy of serving children, a cornerstone mission for both organizations. If you don’t already have a relationship with a Kiwanis club or a Boys & Girls Club, now’s a great time to explore opportunities to work together to benefit area children. How can you start your partnership?... Read More and Watch the Video Signature club projects Imagine 600,000 Kiwanians all taking part in the same service project. If one person can change the world, what can 600,000 do? The potential is unlimited. Kiwanis is known locally by your clubs, and globally by our signature projects... Kiwanis One Day A day of global community service, held each April. Read Around the World A worldwide initiative to share books—and the love of reading—with young children. Young Children Priority One A service initiative focused on the health, development, support, and safety of children—prenatal through age 5. Kiwanis International website




Did you know? * Ronald McDonald House Charities was founded in 1984, a decade after Dr. Audrey Evans and Philadelphia Eagles' tight end Fred Hill, whose daughter had leukemia, opened the first Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia. In memory of McDonald’s founder and children’s advocate, Ray Kroc, RMHC was established to help seriously ill children and their families and to continue the success of the first Ronald McDonald House. * "The smile known around the world," In his first TV appearance in 1963 the happy clown was portrayed by none other than Willard Scott. * The FreestoreFoodbank grew from humble beginnings out of one man’s passion for helping his neighbors. In 1971, Frank Gerson, an employee of the city dump, made a practice of rescuing discarded household items and giving them to people in need. He called his venture the “Free Store.” * One of Ohio’s largest food banks, the FreestoreFoodbank serves a population of some 160,000 low-income persons in a twenty-county region.




A Word of Encouragement We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future. ~Franklin Delano Roosevelt More Inspirational Quotes

Membership Information

To become a member of Cincinnati Kiwanis, either contact a Cincinnati Kiwanis member or come to a meeting to fill out a membership application. Our membership is open to the public.

The public is invited and encouraged to join us for all our activities and events. New members means more volunteers working together to make a greater positive impact on our community...read more

Thanks everyone for all the hard work this past month in putting this newsletter together!