Blackhawk Golden ‘K’ General Meeting
Minutes
September 2nd, 2026
President Richard Johnson presided, and called the meeting to order with a ring of the bell at 9:30AM.
Richard Johnson led with the singing of America, the National Anthem, and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Invocation: Richard Johnson, mentioning as we approach Labor Day, bless those who labor, and the children.
Raffle: Linda Bontly oversaw the ticket sales and drawing this week.
The weekly pot was $15 and the big (Joker) pot was $297.
Richard Johnson drew a ticket from the bucket, ticket number 5877. Congratulations to the winner, Carl Cramer.
The deck of cards has 31/53 cards remaining. Carl Cramer drew the 2♦.
A collection was passed for the Salvation Army.
Happy Box: Carl Cramer announced he is happy because he won the raffle. He is donating the winnings to the Salvation Army!
Luci Cramer announced she is happy because the Cramers and their extended family all stayed together in the Wisconsin Dells in a barn to celebrate Luci’s 80th birthday.
John Janes announced he is happy because his high school class of 1964, everyone that turned 80 years old, 43 people, met up for a meal.
Nikki Bennett announced she is happy because the Bennetts are starting a new business and starting an Alzheimer’s Walk team.
Ryan Lewis announced he is happy because he had a successful beekeeping season’s honey harvest.
Roger Willeford announced he is happy because his daughter was rafting on the Colorado and is okay.
Jokes: Joker Roger Willeford had three good jokes.
Member Health: Linda Bontly had a status update on Ron Shuler, who she will visit soon.
Mel Lemirande has a status update on John Sarnow, who is having hearing problems.
Glenn Disrude has a birthday this month on the 26th, and a song was sung.
Other Announcements: John Janes spoke upon the Pistons and Props Airshow, which was supported by Kiwanis members John Janes, Ray Szczepaniak, Ryan Lewis and one guest. It was a great success! Ticket sales doubled from last year.
John Janes spoke upon the upcoming Blood Drives, which will occur on the 14th and 15th. The need for blood is high.
Tom Neumann spoke upon the meeting next week, which is at Oakhill Cemetery’s chapel. He mentioned the Senior Fair booth at the Woodman’s Sports and Convention Center is a week from Friday, and the Farmer’s Market booth is a week from Saturday.
Maury Frey spoke upon the Alzheimer’s Walk, quickly approaching, and mentioned the can will be passed for it in two weeks.
Nikki Bennett introduced the day’s speaker, Rita Key. Rita Key is a founder of Rock County Restorations Substance Abuse Recovery Center. Rita has worked in recovery as a women’s department coordinator and in a transitional living home. She has a degree in organizational communication and nonprofit management. She has worked in marketing and development and has had a lot of experience in the nonprofit sector through many volunteer positions in the community.
Rita explained that people would try to enter treatment centers, and insurance would deny them.
People found their car was safer because of the number of overdoses in sober living houses.
The Rock County Restoration’s women’s sober living home is currently, the only house that offers living for people without 30 days’ sobriety is already completed.
Women with children are able to stay.
The home will help women with a place, a job, and many other things.
The first two days, there is no movement. Residents sleep and get to know their housemates and their roommate.
The house has a rule that women never go to court alone.
Financial literacy and other things are required programs. Residents must have a savings account.
The house’s health and fitness program includes a coach that comes once a week for physics and, if needed, physical therapy.
Another program is life skills, including cooking, and gardening with a skilled gardener present.
Residents are required to do five things a week to help with their success (for example, counseling or Bible study).
There are numerous gaps in the system. The women’s sober living home has a psychiatrist, counselors, and a case manager, the only paid staff. The city’s options have a 6 to 8-month waitlist for psychiatrists.
Kewanee member Tom Newman asked, “What are the residents’ average ages?” Rita responded, “35 to 65, and mostly 50-plus. Many have opiod-related problems. The average addict is a 50+ year-old white male who started with prescriptions and switched to heroin.”
Kiwanian John James asked several questions, including:
“What qualifications do volunteers have?” Rita replied, “They pass a background check and have a driver’s license and insurance.”
“Are residents tested for drugs?” Rita answered, “There is random testing once per week.”
“Are there children at the home?” Rita, “Two were staying four nights per week. Trauma can heal.”
“What are residents’ average education?” Rita responded, “Three had a bachelor’s degree, two entered into GED. Most have a high school diploma or equivalent.”
Kiwanis member Bob Wilcox inquired, “Is treatment becoming more challenging?” Rita stated, “Suboxone is an opioid replacement. One woman had it every 30 days in jail. After release, she had to go to a methadone clinic every 24 hours, and it wasn’t working.”
Kiwanian Bob Knudson asked, “The two children, where else were they staying?” Rita answered, “One was with family, the other was with a foster family.”
Rita’s presentation was well received and appreciated.
Nikki Bennett thanked Rita Key for speaking and presented her with a gift card.
Richard Johnson adjourned the meeting with a ring of the bell at 10:53AM.
Reminders: Next week the meeting is at the Oakhill Cemetery chapel.
On this day:
1789 US Treasury Department is established by Congress
1858 Gas lighting used for the first time in Hawai’i
1859 Solar super storm affects electrical telegraph service
1867 First secondary school for girls opens in Haarlem, Netherlands
1900 Telegraph use between Germany and the US begins
1901 Theodore Roosevelt advises “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far” in an address to the Minnesota State Fair, entitled “National Duties”
1919 Italy agrees to general voting rights and proportional representation
1929 Unilever forms by the merger of Margarine Unie and Lever Brothers
1930 First non-stop airplane flight from Europe to the US (37 hours)
1931 American crooner Bing Crosby makes his solo radio debut on his “15 Minutes with Bing Crosby” program broadcast on the CBS Network
1936 NFL Chicago College All-Star Game: All-Stars 7, Detroit Lions 7; 76,000 at Soldier Field
1937 Film “The Prisoner of Zenda,” based on the novel and play by Anthony Hope, starring Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., is released
1940 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
1949 “The Third Man,” directed by Carol Reed, starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, and Orson Welles, is released in the United Kingdom (Academy Awards Best Cinematography 1950)
1952 Dr. F. John Lewis performs the first successful human open-heart surgery using cooling blankets to induce hypothermia
1957 Milwaukee first baseman Frank Torre scores 6 runs to tie the MLB record; Braves rout Chicago Cubs 23-10
1958 US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Defense Education Act into law
1960 American Mike Troy swims 200m butterfly world record 2:12.8 to win the gold medal from Australian Neville Hayes at the Rome Olympics
1960 American sprinter Wilma Rudolph wins the coveted 100m gold medal at the Rome Olympics in 11.0 seconds, beating Britain’s Dorothy Hyman by 0.3 seconds for the first of Rudolph’s three gold medals
1963 CBS expands its “CBS Evening News” program, anchored by Walter Conkrite, from 15 to 30 minutes
1966 Joe Auer returns the opening kickoff 95 yards for a Miami touchdown in the Dolphins’ first ever NFL regular-season game; Oakland Raiders go on to win 23-14 at the Orange Bowl before 26,776 fans
1967 The Principality of Sealand is declared an independent state by Major Paddy Roy Bates
1968 Jerry Lewis’s 3rd annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $1,401,876
1969 The first automated teller machine in the United States is installed in Rockville Centre, New York
1972 Chicago Cubs pitcher Milt Pappas no-hits San Diego Padres, 8-0
1972 Rod Stewart scores his first solo UK #1 single with “You Wear It Well”
1973 English writer J.R.R. Tolkien, who was best known for the inventive fantasies The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55), died at age 81
1974 Jerry Lewis’s 9th annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $16,129,213
1978 American radio disc jockey and stunt pilot Hal McClain (38) performs world record 180 outside loops in an airplane over Houston, Texas
1985 Jerry Lewis’s 20th annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $33,181,652
1987 Philips introduces Compact Disc Video (CDV) discs
1991 “Ropin’ the Wind” 3rd studio album by Garth Brooks is released (Billboard Album of the Year 1992)
1991 Jerry Lewis’s 26th annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $45,071,857
1996 Jerry Lewis’s 31st annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $49,146,555
2001 Jerry Lewis’s 36th annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $56,780,603
2007 Jerry Lewis’s 42nd annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $63,759,478
2012 Jerry Lewis’s 47th annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $58,706,015
National Grits for Breakfast Day – Grits, a type of porridge made with corn, are celebrated today with National Grits for Breakfast Day. Grits are of Native American origin, coming from rockahomine, a type of mashed corn eaten by the Muscogee tribe. Colonists learned how to make it from them, and grits became a staple of the American South, where they remain a staple breakfast food today. While they are now available nationwide, three-quarters are still bought in the South, an area sometimes called the “grits belt.”
The name “grits” comes from the Old English word grytt, which means “coarse meal.” Grits are often made with dent corn, a variety of corn that is softer and starchier than others. Stone-ground grits are made by grinding whole dried kernels between stones of a gristmill. Quick grits are made by removing the germ and hull and then finely grinding them so they can cook quickly. Grits are sometimes also made with hominy, which is alkali-treated corn that has had the hull and germ removed, with the endosperm remaining. Grits are similar to polenta, considered to be Italian grits, and to cream of wheat, made with kernels of wheat.
Spalding Baseball Day – Spalding Baseball Day celebrates and pays tribute to Albert Goodwill Spalding, commonly known as Al Spalding, who was born on today’s date in 1850, in Byron, Illinois. Spalding was an American professional baseball pitcher, a baseball owner, and the co-founder, manager, and executive of the Spalding sporting goods company. He also was the first baseball player of note to use a fielding glove, when he began protecting his hand with one in 1877.
Spalding started his baseball playing days in 1865 when he joined the Rockford Pioneers, a youth team. He played amateur ball for a handful of years before attracting the attention of professional ball clubs, who gave him monetary offers. But he followed the wishes of his widowed mother, who wanted him to go into business, by instead working in Chicago at a wholesale grocery and then at an insurance company, before working in Rockford as a bookkeeper at a newspaper and then at an insurance agency again. None of these pursuits produced much success.
Spalding turned his attention back to baseball, first playing professionally for the Chicago Excelsiors. After the first professional baseball association was formed in 1871, he joined the Boston Red Stockings—the team that has been known as the Atlanta Braves since 1966. Spalding played with the Red Stockings for five years and played his final two seasons with the Chicago White Stockings—the team that has been known as the Chicago Cubs since the early twentieth century. With Spalding both managing and pitching, the White Stockings won the National League championship in 1876.
World Coconut Day celebrates coconuts, promotes their use and importance, and commemorates the formation of the International Coconut Community, formerly known as the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community. Coconuts grow on the coconut palm tree and are a fruit from the drupe family. They grow in more than 80 countries and are an essential crop in the tropics. It takes a year for a coconut to ripen, and a tree may produce about 100 of them each season. Coconuts have antifungal and antiviral properties and are high in lauric acid, electrolytes, and antioxidants. The flesh, which is high in fat, can be dried and eaten fresh, or be used to make coconut milk or coconut oil. Coconut water can be found at the center of the coconut. The leaves, shell, and husk—which contains coir—also have many uses.
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. This content may only be reproduced without alteration and with credit to the original author(s).
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