Blackhawk Golden ‘K’ General Meeting
Minutes
October 7th, 2026
President Tom Neumann 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 the new year, help we Kiwanians help the children.
Raffle: Maury Frey oversaw the ticket sales and drawing this week.
The weekly pot was $11 and the big (Joker) pot was $333.
Luci Cramer drew a ticket from the bucket, ticket number 5692. Congratulations to the winner, Ray Szczepaniak.
The deck of cards has 28/53 cards remaining. Ray Szczepaniak drew the 5♥.
Tom Neumann thanks greeters Don Kellogg and Dick Fay, invocator Richard Johnson, rafflemaster Maury Frey, and server Maury Frey.
A collection was passed for ECHO.
Happy Box: Ray Szczepaniak announced he is happy because he won the raffle, and is donating the proceeds to the Alzheimer’s Walk.
Today’s presenting guest Dave Niemi is happy because he is here in Janesville, and is able to visit his daughter in Madison.
Jokes: Joker Carl Cramer had a good joke about banks. They really should do a better job of filling their ATMs. Carl has already been to five today, and they all said “insufficient funds!”
Joker Bob Wilcox had a good joke. “What is the difference between a well-dressed man on a bicycle and a poorly dressed man on a unicycle? A Tire.”
Member Health: Mel Lemirande had a status update on John Sarnow, who is having a problem aspirating food. He is in the VA hospital in Madison.
Paul Neitzel, Jerry Langdok, Doris Henning, Dale Fulton, Dave Figi, Robert Wilcox, Steve Skelly and Darlene Johnson all have birthdays this month, and a song was sung.
Other Announcements: Tom Neumann spoke upon the fact we lost six members this year.
Lariena announced we will have flu shots, here at Rotary and open to the public, on November 11th, Veteran’s Day. Medicare is supported, and COVID-19 shots are an additional option.
Committee Reports: John Janes announced the recent blood drive was giving away toys, for which he had one remaining. Steve Skelly took it for his granddaughter.
Jim Farrell introduced the day’s speaker, Dave Niemi. After 33 years of elementary/middle school teaching & administration, Dave Niemi now serves in public relations at Kwik Trip Inc. In this role, he encourages store leaders and support center coworkers to embody the mission, values, culture and ethics that brought them to Kwik Trip. He also shares the Kwik Trip story with schools and business groups and helps resolve guest concerns to “make things right.”
Dave and his wife Carrie live in Holmen, Wisconsin, and have been blessed with six grown children (five married) and ten beautiful grandchildren. Dave loves running and traveling to visit his extended family throughout the Midwest.
The first Kwik Trip opened in 1965 as a grocery store.
The stores now see 12 million people a week.
The Kwik Trip kitchens make 90,000 items every day.
Kwik Trip began to maintain contracts with dairy farmers within 100 miles of La Crosse back in 1981.
Kwik Trip sells 600,000 lbs. of milk per day.
The company philosophy is based on hiring good people. It involves three questions:
Who have you helped this week?
Who do you have strife with?
When have you treated someone the way they like to be treated?
An 8% share of those who apply are hired.
10,000 to 15,000 people are hired yearly.
Gas stations’ turnover for new employees is nearly 100%. Kwik Trip’s is 30%.
In 1989, the two owners, Don and John, took over. Two billion in bonuses have been given out since then.
Kiwanis member John Janes asked, “What are your policies for hiring the disabled, and felons?” Dave replied, “We intentionally have almost 900 positions for the disabled. They have worked with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. Felons, yes, unless it is a problem directly. For example, if someone has a past retail theft, they might be okay for a factory line.”
Kwik Trip makes their own bottles.
Multiple drop points for truck drivers at midpoints was one of the drivers’ ideas.
Kiwanian Mel Lemirande inquired, “How many states are Kwik Trip located in?” Dave responded, “Seven. There are two stores are in Illinois, which is partly the result of a greater amount of red tape and higher taxes.”
PDQ and Stop’N’Go were chains that Kwik Trip purchased.
Kiwanis member Tom Neumann asked, “There are nine in Janesville. Aren’t they cannibalizing each other?” Dave answered, “No. They are neighborhood stores. La Crosse, with a population around 50,000, has twelve!”
Kiwanian Jim Farrell inquired, “Janesville has an ordinance about alcohol sales being in a separate area. How does Kwik Trip work with that?” Dave, “It isn’t a problem. In Minnesota, they must be separate buildings.”
Kwik Trip has their own trucking brand, Convenience Transportation.
The company has four to five general contractor relationships who each build five to six stores per year.
Employees have access to a free clinic, which will perform blood draws, and etcetera. They’ll send directly to your doctor.
One way the company optimized business was in their handling of bananas. Bananas come from Guatemala and Nicaragua, green and hard. Kwik Trip now have their own banana ripening rooms they pump full of ethylene gas.
The company has a food safety lab staffed with a Doctor of Microbiology.
Kwik Trip’s practice is 5% profit sharing to the family, and 40% to the employees.
The company has the minimum markup, that Wisconsin requires, on fuel.
Kiwanis member Maury Frey asked, “How did tariffs affect the company?” Dave explained, “Coffee cannot grow in the U.S., which was hit hardest. Anything that is available domestically, we use.”
Kiwanian Steve Skelly inquired, “When will EV rapid chargers be available?” Dave replied, “We have around 40. Wisconsin had a law about not selling electricity. That was eventually altered. Retrofitting costs nearly $2 million. New builds do now have the infrastructure.”
Kiwanis member Bob Wilcox asked, “How long is it estimated that gasoline will be available?” Dave responded, “Conservatively, in the 50s. Kwik Trip’s fleet is natural gas, which will be 100 years.”
Kiwanian Greg Turco inquired, “What is next?” Dave answered, “That is another department. More distribution centers? EV?”
Steve Skelly asked, “Do you roast your own coffee?” Dave, “No.”
Tom Newman inquired, “What became of roller dogs?” “In part, the machines are too difficult to maintain.”
Jim Farrell asked, “Rock County Police use fuel, as an example. Are discount programs in place?” Dave replied, “I’m sure. No tax, etc.”
Dave’s presentation was well attended and appreciated.
Jim Farrell thanked Dave Niemi for speaking and presented him with a Kiwanis Parker pen.
Tom Neumann adjourned the meeting with a ring of the bell at 11AM.
On this day:
3761 BC Monday, October 7, 3761 BCE is the epoch (origin) of the modern Hebrew calendar (Proleptic Julian calendar)
1542 Explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, on a voyage for Spain, is the first European to discover Catalina Island off the coast of California
1714 People riot due to a beer tax in Alkmaar, Netherlands
1765 Stamp Act Congress (First Congress of the American Colonies) convenes in New York City to devise a unified protest against new British taxation
1806 Carbon paper patented in London by inventor Ralph Wedgwood
1816 First double-decked steamboat, Washington, arrives in New Orleans
1826 Granite Railway, the first chartered railway in the US, begins operations
1849 Short-story writer, poet, and critic Edgar Allan Poe died in Baltimore, Maryland
1868 Cornell University opens in Ithaca, New York
1886 Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba
1900 The term “orienteering” is first used for an event
1909 British Security Service, commonly known as MI5 (Military Intelligence, Section 5), is formed as part of the Secret Service Bureau
1916 Georgia Tech, coached by John Heisman, defeats Cumberland 222-0, achieving the most lopsided score in the history of US college football
1928 Paavo Nurmi runs a world record 10 miles (50:15.0)
1929 Ramsay MacDonald is first British Prime Minister to address the US Congress
1931 First infrared photograph in Rochester, New York
1942 The US and UK governments announce the establishment of the United Nations
1950 US forces invade North Korea by crossing 38th parallel
1952 First “Bandstand” broadcasts in Philadelphia on WFIL-TV (Dick Clark joins in 1955 as a substitute host)
1952 Vladimir Putin, president of Russia from 1999 to 2008 and again from 2012, was born in Leningrad, Russia
1955 Aircraft carrier USS Saratoga is launched in Brooklyn
1955 Beat poet Allen Ginsberg reads his poem “Howl” for the first time at a poetry reading in San Francisco
1955 Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who was known for his extraordinary technique and rich tone, was born in Paris
1957 “How to Marry a Millionaire,” the first movie to become a TV sitcom, premieres
1958 US manned space-flight project is renamed Project Mercury
1959 “Pillow Talk,” a film directed by Michael Gordon and starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson, is first released
1959 Far side of the Moon is seen for the first time courtesy of the USSR’s Luna 3 space probe
1960 JFK and Richard Nixon’s second presidential debate
1963 John F. Kennedy signs the ratification for the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
1964 The Beatles appear on an episode of “Shindig” (ABC-TV) in the US
1965 A 50 mph (80 km/h) gust helps Robert Mitera ace the 447-yard 10th hole at Miracle Hills, Omaha, Nebraska, to score the world’s longest straight hole-in-one
1965 Charles Linster performs 6,006 consecutive push-ups
1966 Rolling Stones record four songs for their first live LP “Got Live If You Want It!” at a concert at Colston Hall in Bristol
1968 Motion Picture Association of America adopts a film rating system
1971 “The French Connection,” directed by William Friedkin and starring Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, and Fernando Rey, premieres in the US (Academy Awards Best Picture 1972)
1975 US decides John Lennon won’t be deported to the UK for his pot conviction
1977 Guitarist Steve Hackett quits the progressive rock band Genesis
1982 Musical “Cats” opens at Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway, New York City, and runs for nearly 18 years, winning seven Tony Awards and a Grammy
1985 21st NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-J): Atlantis 1 lands at Edwards AFB
1986 Steve Yzerman is named captain of the Detroit Red Wings, a title he holds for over 1,300 games
1996 Rupert Murdoch launches Fox News with Roger Ailes as the CEO
2001 Crude oil resumes flowing through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline after workers weld shut a bullet hole that causes 260,000 US gallons of oil to spill out
Balloons Around the World Day highlights the act of giving, brings smiles to thousands of faces, and showcases the work of artists who sculpt, twist, and decorate balloons. Balloons shaped like animals, hats, and other objects are given out for free or are exchanged for donations to organizations and local causes. Public balloon sculptures are also created.
Jeff Brown of Juneau, Alaska, organized Balloons Across America Day in 2000. He brought together balloon twisters and asked them to give away twisted balloons for an hour. The response went beyond what he imagined. It turned into an all-day event around the world, where balloon artists performed and taught twisting, and made large balloon displays. Over 300 twisters participated, in schools, libraries, hospitals, malls, grocery stores, and on the street. They were located in 43 states, in Guam, Italy, Germany, France, Singapore, and Canada, and on a US Navy ship in the Pacific Ocean. After the day’s successful global reach, it was changed to Balloons Around the World Day for its second year.
Brown didn’t choose the first Wednesday in October for any specific reason, but he did find out it was during Universal Children’s Week and National Pizza Month, which he thought fitting. He also thought early October was a time of the year when balloon artists would have more time because kids were back in school, but it was far enough before the end-of-the-year holiday rush.
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International Walk to School Day, also known as National Walk & Roll to School Day, National Walk and Roll to School Day, National Walk Our Children to School Day, and National Walk to School Day, is observed next on Wednesday, October 6th, 2027. It was observed Wednesday of the first full week in October from 1997 until 2018. It has been observed the first Wednesday in October since 2019.
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The rose is the national floral emblem, or national flower, of the United States. Senate Joint Resolution 159, which adopted the rose as the national floral emblem and asked the president to declare it as such with a proclamation, was passed in 1986 and was signed by President Reagan on October 7 of the same year. Accordingly, President Reagan signed Proclamation 5574 on November 20, 1986, certifying the rose as the national flower. A ceremony to mark the occasion took place in the White House Rose Garden. Therefore, the “National Flower” in today’s name refers to the rose, and the holiday is not a general holiday about flowers, but a holiday about the national flower of the United States. The holiday is celebrated on October 7 because that is the anniversary of when President Reagan signed Senate Joint Resolution 159 into law.
A perennial shrub, there are about 100 species of roses, which easily hybridize with each other. Roses are native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere: most are native to Asia, some are native to North America, and a few are native to Europe and northwest Africa. They have a rich aroma which differs depending on their variety and the climate they grow in. Roses may be red, pink, white, or yellow, with many shades in between, such as dark crimson and maroon. They have petals and hips—their fruit—which both are edible, and have been used in medicines. Their stems have prickles which are referred to as thorns.
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National Forgiveness & Happiness Day celebrates unconditional love. Armed with this love and with forgiveness, people take the time and put in the effort that is needed to repair damaged relationships. People are encouraged to ask for forgiveness and to forgive each other. The day fosters awareness for and understanding of the power of love, the joy of forgiveness, and the peace of humility. A religious-based holiday, created and sponsored by Robert Moyers and the Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance, its ultimate goal is “to do the will of God each day and to love one another as God loves us.” The day’s architects came up with the “Prayer of Forgiveness,” which asks God to forgive others, for help to forgive others, and for help to forgive oneself. The prayer also asks for restoration of joy and removal of bitterness. The Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance also came up with the “Be Healthy Plan For Positive People,” a plan which is to be shared with others on the day.
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National Pumpkin Seed Day celebrates the crunchy seed found inside pumpkins, also known as pepitas, and the many ways it can be enjoyed. Observed on the first Wednesday of October, the day arrives during pumpkin season, when seeds are often saved for roasting rather than discarded.
Pumpkin seeds have a long history as a food. Archaeological findings in central Mexico have traced them back to 7000 B.C., and they can be eaten on their own or added to dishes such as salads, yogurt, and oatmeal. An ounce contains 8.5 grams of plant-based protein, according to Fleming Island & Beyond.
SuperSeedz Gourmet Pumpkin Seeds founded National Pumpkin Seed Day in 2016. The company’s founder, Kathie Pelliccio, began making pumpkin seeds in her kitchen with a cast-iron pan, using them as additions to salads, yogurt, and oatmeal. Fleming Island & Beyond describes the holiday as an opportunity to highlight the seeds’ culinary versatility and nutritional qualities.
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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