Tag Archives: morning kiwanis

Brian Carter Reveals What Fishy in Fond du Lac

Monday Morning
We had 19 members and our guest speaker, Brian Carter, at Monday’s meeting at the Ramada Hotel. It appeared that Gary Miller had an InterClub to the FDL Evening Club on Wednesday evening (9/19) at the Elks Club. “Happy Bucks” were offered by Steve Millin for his daughter’s wedding last Saturday evening and Bob Kahl for his and Deanna’s 51st wedding anniversary. Glen Treml was the 50/50 Raffle winner and he drew the Queen of Hearts, the big winner. The pot topped out at $503, $251.50 to the party fund and $251.50 to Glen. A new game starts on Monday.

Brian Carter, Fond du Lac Seafood Co.
Brian Carter, owner of Fond du Lac Sea-food Co., LLC, joined us on Monday to give us an update on his business. Brian has been in business for eight years and during those eight years they have sold over 132 different types of fish out of their store at 63 N Main Street. Brian’s store is open Tuesday through Saturday and closed on Sunday and Monday. When asked why he was closed on Monday, he had a very simple answer; fresh fish isn’t delivered over the weekend so he’d have nothing to sell even if he was open on Monday. Brain brought along a large filet of Norwegian Atlantic Salmon that he poached for our members to sample. Brian explained where the fish he sells comes from and how it’s raised. While some fresh fish is from the wild the majority of the fresh fish in his store comes from fish farms. The salmon we had on Monday came from a Norwegian fish farm that is actually set up in the fjords of Norway. This particular farm is all natural but not all such farms are all natural. The trick for businesses like Brian’s is to know where and how their fish are raised. Great Program!

New Fond du Lac City Manager Addresses Kiwanis

Monday Morning
We had 18 members and our guest speaker, Joe Moore, at Monday’s meeting back at the Ramada Hotel. Vickie reported that our cheese curd operation at Fond du Fest had a shaky start but took off once they got oil and gas. 310 lbs. of curd were sold with gross sales of about $3,600 and a probable profit of $2,000-$2,500. Thanks to everyone for helping. Gary Miller is organizing an InterClub to the FDL Evening Club on Wednesday evening (9/19) at the Elks Club. Watch for the sign-up sheet on Monday morning. “Happy Bucks” were offered by Steve Millin for his two sons surviving the Tough Mudder Event, Vickie for Jack helping out all day at Fond du Fest and Gary Ring for his son’s wedding in Chicago this past weekend. Gary Ring also had an “Honor Buck” for Greg Brunette for all of his years as Club Treasurer. Greg selected a soft side cooler from the Kiwanis Prize Bucket. John Cooper was the 50/50 Raffle winner and he drew a ten of spades, a $10 winner. That means there are 29 cards left in the deck with five pay cards and a pot of over $490.

Joe Moore, Fond du Lac City Manager
Joe Moore, FDL’s new City Manager joined us on Monday morning of his second week on the job to tell us about himself and how he found his way to Fond du Lac. Joe and his wife Molly and their two daughters decided to retire from his 27+ year Army career and find a job in a community where their two daughters could attend high school. Fortunately for Fond du Lac Joe was looking for a City Manager job, and ours just happened to be open. Joe’s first impression and that of his daughters is that they’re almost positive they are in the right place at the right time.

Kiwanis Happenings – March 8, 2012

We are going to recap two weeks worth here:

Monday Morning
We had a smaller group at Monday’s meeting compared to the previous week. We had 16 members and our guest speaker Don Whitty from Habitat for Humanity. “Happy Bucks” were offered by Vickie Goldapske for the outstanding birthday song from her table mates, Jan Krug for a great vacation that she just returned from and Gary Ring in celebration of his and Lois’ wedding anniversary. Jan Krug also had an “Honor Buck” for Gary Miller’s taking the Polar Plunge several weekends ago. Gary picked a deck of Green Bay Packer playing cards from the Kiwanis Treasure Trove. Gary Miller thanked those members that made an InterClub to the Noon Club last Tuesday. Glen Treml was the 50/50 Raffle winner and he drew the Jack of Hearts. Close but no cigar. That leaves 51 cards in the deck with nine pay cards and over $200 in the pot. Lots of chances to win.

Kay Vandervort, FDL Big Brothers-Big Sisters (March 1)
Kay Vandervort is the new Executive Director (since December 1st) of the FDL Big Brothers-Big Sisters. Kay formerly was the Executive Director of FDL Volunteer Center. Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Fond du Lac County is dedicated to serving children, families and the community by developing resources, environment, and mechanisms to provide a caring adult in the life of every child in need. Big Brothers-Big Sisters works in conjunction with area schools, community social services agencies, and other referral sources to better meet youths’ needs. Big Brothers-Big Sisters has developed a variety of pro-grams to fit the diverse lifestyles of their volunteers. Following are the various mentoring opportunities available:

  • School/Site-Based Match
  • Community-Based (Traditional) Match
  • Big Couple Match
  • Big Family Match
  • Bigs for a Day

Kay provided us with several sobering statistics about the population they serve. She also talked about where their funding comes from. Check out bbsfdl.org for more information.

Don Whitty, Habitat for Humanity-Fond du Lac County (March 8)
Habitat for Humanity of Fond du Lac County is a nonprofit, nondenominational Christian housing ministry organized to work with the local community to build simple, decent, affordable houses with those who lack adequate shelter. Don Whitty is the volunteer on-site building supervisor, and he joined us on Monday to talk about how a Habitat Build happens. Don has been in the construction business most his life and has built a number of houses during his career. Now he volunteers his time to make sure that Habitat Houses are built to industry standards and codes through the use of largely volunteer groups. Certain parts of the build like dry wall, plumbing, electrical, heating and ventilating, excavating, and flooring are done by professionals; many of them also volunteer their time, but the rest of the build is done by volunteers. Don gave us a number of stories about how volunteers would come to the job site not knowing which end of the hammer to use and leave with a real sense of accomplishment. He also told us how the women-only build days have become a very fun part of the project. Don also mentioned that Lowe’s is a large contributor of materials and person power in our local Habitat builds. Don finds his volunteer role very fulfilling and sees it as a way to give a little back to the community.