Governor Elect

Jim Scott

As we move into our new Kiwa­nis year we are look­ing back at some of the most unusu­al months that many of us have expe­ri­enced. The COVID-19 pan­dem­ic has caused seri­ous health and eco­nom­ic con­cerns to all. It has been an awak­en­ing, we have learned from this expe­ri­ence that we can adapt and move for­ward. Our Kiwa­nis meet­ings can take place suc­cess­ful­ly online until we are able to safe­ly meet­ing in per­son. Some Clubs are hav­ing bet­ter atten­dance at their vir­tu­al meet­ings and are hav­ing more Inter Clubs and a greater vari­ety of speak­ers due to the ease of not hav­ing to trav­el. If your Club is not meet­ing it is imper­a­tive that you ask your LG for help on how to set up Vir­tu­al Club and Com­mit­tee meetings.

Clubs have replaced some of their Ser­vice Projects that they have had for many years with new inno­v­a­tive ones. These new projects have allowed us to con­tin­ue to serve our com­mu­ni­ties as our mem­bers want to do ser­vice work. This is where we meet future mem­bers and they get to know us as there is no bet­ter way to bring in new peo­ple to our clubs than through com­mu­ni­ty service.

Dur­ing this past year as Vice Gov­er­nor it has allowed me to learn a great deal on how our Dis­trict func­tions. This com­ing year I will serve as Chair of our Ser­vice Lead­er­ship Pro­grams. It will also be a learn­ing expe­ri­ence as many of our schools are pro­tect­ing their stu­dents by not allow­ing extra-cur­ric­u­lar groups and our Kiwa­nis Liai­son is not allowed to enter schools. How­ev­er our SLP Clubs work­ing with their Admin­is­tra­tors want to con­tin­ue meet­ing and keep their Clubs togeth­er. These young men and woman are our future and when you meet them you quick­ly real­ize that we will be in good hands in future years. It is impor­tant that we fol­low our SLP mem­bers as they grad­u­ate. As a reminder SLP grad­u­ates from Key Club or Cir­cle K receive two free years of mem­ber­ship if they join a Kiwa­nis Club. We have to be proac­tive and ensure they receive an invite to your Club as they leave school or Uni­ver­si­ty. This group cer­tain­ly under­stands why ser­vice and vol­un­teer­ing is so important.

I look for­ward to sup­port­ing Gov­er­nor Delores’s goals as we move into our new Kiwa­nis year. It will be excit­ing as more peo­ple than ever, real­ize how impor­tant fam­i­lies are, as well as want­i­ng to serve in their com­mu­ni­ties to help make their town or city a bet­ter place to live. This is a per­fect oppor­tu­ni­ty for our future as that is exact­ly what Kiwa­nis is all about as we con­tin­ue to serve the chil­dren of the world. I’m look­ing for­ward to work­ing with you to help make this happen.

Jim Scott
Gov­er­nor Elect 2020–2021