Janesville Blackhawk Golden Kiwanis

Blackhawk Golden ‘K’ General Meeting
Minutes
May 21^st, 2025

Roger Willeford presiding, called the meeting to order with a ring of the bell at 9:30AM.
37 members were in attendance today.

The meeting was led with the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of America, the National Anthem.

Invocation: Carl Cramer, mentioning the welcome rain, and the children.

A second drawing occurred for a Mac’s Pizza Shack gift card.  Ryan Lewis drew the ticket, number 645.  Congratulations, Maury Frey and Jerry Langdok.

Roger Willeford thanks greeters Jim Farrell and Tom Neumann, invocator Carl Cramer, rafflemaster John Janes, and server Maury Frey.

A board-sized Thank You card was passed for the retirement of Rotary staff member Mark Steinke.

Happy Box: Roger Willeford announced he is happy because he is back from Colorado.
Jim Farrell announced he is happy because he attended the Janesville Planning Commission meeting and the new affordable housing development’s location was unanimously voted down.
Linda Bontly is announced she is happy because she solo drove and spent a weekend in Chicago.  A dust storm happened, which was weird.  Sunday she woke up to a flat tire on her vehicle.
Ryan Lewis is happy because he won the raffle.  He donated the winnings to ECHO.

Roger Willeford announced that John Janes brought a guest today, April Wright, who has decided to join!

Jokes: Steve Skelly had a good joke about a son requesting a well-dressed funeral, and then paying monthly for the deceased’s suitcoat rental.

Member Health: John Sarnow had a status update on his health.  He has lymphoma.  Treatment via the Madison VA is ongoing, every other week.

Other Announcements: Roger Willeford spoke upon ECHO.  They are seeking board members.
Roger Willeford spoke upon the Rock County Older Adult Partnership Committee, who are meeting tomorrow.

Committee Reports: John Janes announced the Renaissance Fair is done.  It was busy!  Discussion followed regarding who was staffed where, and for how long.  One topic was how busy the entrance and exit lines were.
John Janes announced the next event with Kiwanis involvement is the bike race.  It is June 19^th.
John Janes announced the Kiwanis Park flower bed is planted.  Mel and Jerry will take up watering the first week or two.
Steve Skelly announced twelve buddy benches were ordered.  A session to construct them will occur soon.

Gregg Dickinson introduced the day’s speaker, Sheila Everhart.  Sheila was the secretary for Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association.  Previously, she earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing and business administration.  She became a teacher, then earned a master’s degree.  She then became a principal, and oversaw several schools, including one in Bristol Bay, Alaska, and in Bayfield, WI (which she highly recommends visiting).
Sheila told everyone she has her roots in Janesville, and grew up in the area.  She now lives here, and farms 1,000 acres with her husband and his brother.

Sheila is now the executive director of the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association.
The organization has four pillars: Membership, Cooperative Marketing, Education and Government Relations.

The latter exists without lobbyists.  The organization believes speaking directly to members of government is as effective.

Gregg Dickinson thanked Sheila Everhart for speaking and presented her with a Kiwanis Parker pen.

Roger Willeford adjourned the meeting with a ring of the bell at 11AM.

Reminders: There is an executive board meeting next week.

Minutes by Ryan Lewis.
Credit: Dave Figi, and Ryan Lewis, photographs.

Note: Kiwanis and its members are not responsible for errors or omissions.  We are open to discussion if you would like to request an alteration.

Sheila’s family operates a safe space for children in the old post office down town.