December 8, 2009
Today’s Program The Hanukkah Light Story Today’s Speaker Rabbi Luski
Rabbi Jacob Luski was born in Havana, Cuba. His family immigrated to the United States when he was 11. Rabbi Luski completed high school in Charlotte, NC. During these years Rabbi Luski was active in and President of Temple Israel Youth.
Rabbi Jacob Luski graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management. From there, he enrolled in the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, New York, where he received his Master of Arts in 1974, and then continued at JTS to graduate from Rabbinical School, receiving his Rabbinical Ordination in May 1977.
In 1977, Rabbi Jacob Luski became the spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Israel of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida and has continued in that capacity to the present. In 1989, he became the Jewish Chaplain at the VA Medical Center, Bay Pines, Florida, as well.
Rabbi Jacob Luski was presented with an honorary degree, the Doctorate of Divinity, Honoris Causa, from the Jewish Theological Seminary in February, 2003 in recognition of his many years of dedicated service to the Jewish Community and the Conservative Movement. In addition, Rabbi Luski was the 2002 recipient of a Silver Simha Tribute for 25 years of service as the spiritual leader of Congregation B'nai Israel in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Rabbi Luski has long been known for his commitment to the Jewish community, and serves on the Board of Directors for various organizations, among them MERCAZ, the World Council of Conservative/MASORTI Synagogues, and the Jewish Federation of Pinellas County. He is a Rabbinic Cabinet member for the United Jewish Appeal and the State of Israel Bonds, and is a member and past chairman of the Joint Commission on Rabbinic Placement for the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, The Rabbinical Assembly and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Rabbi Jacob Luski has also been the recipient of the Leadership Award, Heritage Award, Reunification Award and the Star of Peace and Hope Award of the State of Israel Bonds.
What’s Happening
A Helping Hand on Thanksgiving
Each Thanksgiving Kiwanian Jeff Francis along with his friend Sharon Griffin delivers turkey dinners to the needy in St. Petersburg. Jeff, given a list of unfortunate souls from Bobbi Gilgosh, has done this noble task for over twenty years with no fanfare and ….. the cost is donated by Jeff. Another Kiwanian doing more than his share for the community. Great job, Jeff!
Program Update
On December 22, 2009, Mr. Tom Reese, environmental lawyer, will be our featured speaker for a program titled “Save the Panther”. Mark your calendar.
Kiwanis Holiday Calendar
Help-A-Child Gift Wrap December 11
Progressive Dinner December 12
Christmas Angels Deliver gifts by December 15
Ring the Bell for Salvation Army December 16
Painting of the YWCA Shelter January 16
December YCPO Projects
Please join us for one or both of these worthwhile projects
Christmas Angels – Beginning Tuesday November 24, 2009 we will have Christmas Angels available – We once again are working with the Pinellas County Foster Parents Association to try and brighten 100 foster children’s Christmas. Each Angel lists a child’s name and wish list. Please select the child or children you wish to buy for and bring wrapped gifts to the Tuesday December 15th meeting. We also will have our Christmas Shopper Service for those of you who would like to participate but don’t like to shop. You simply need to choose the Angels for the children you would like to sponsor and then give the shopping team a minimum of $25 per child, and they will do the rest. For any of you that will be out of town on the 15th and cannot attend the meeting, please drop your wrapped gifts off at Kathy Condon’s office at 100 2nd Avenue North, Suite 320, 33701, between 8 and 5 Monday through Friday. (Report from Kathy Condon.)
Help A Child – YWCA Homeless Shelter Christmas Party Gift Wrap and Assembly Project. Kiwanians will wrap presents and assemble toys Friday December 11, 2009, at First United Methodist Church Hall beginning at 9 A.M. Please give us an hour or two on Friday December 11, help will be needed all day. Donations will be arriving throughout the day so anytime before, during, or after your work day there will be items that need to be assembled or wrapped. Please bring your own wrapping paper, bows/ribbon, scissors, tape etc., or your own tools to the event. As always, Bobbi Gilgosh has invited anyone who is available to come to the Christmas Party on Saturday December 12, 2009 at First United Methodist Church. Hall doors open at 9A.M. and Santa will be there by 10 A.M. To watch the reaction of the kids as they see the wrapped presents is memorable and heart-warming. (Report from Kathy Condon.)
Christmas Trees
Support our fellow Kiwanis Club, Sunshine City, who is partnering with Palm Lake Christian Church, by purchasing a Christmas tree from their lot. We will be selling the trees from now until they are gone at the church which is located at 5401 22nd Avenue N, St. Petersburg.
Kiwanis Holiday Progressive Dinner
Tis the season for the not always annual Kiwanis Holiday Progressive Dinner. Mark the calendar for December 12th. Cathy Swanson, Mitch Cochran, and Harvey Ford have cheerfully opened their homes for the Kiwanis Club to enjoy the holiday spirit. There is a forty person limit, so sign up early.
The schedule:
5 p.m. – Appetizers at Cathy’s home (5281 Venetian Blvd NE 33703)
6:30 p.m. +/- - Dinner at Harvey’s home (7477 18th Street NE 33702)
8 p.m. +/- - Dessert at Mitch’s home (2061 Hawaii Avenue NE 33703)
Mission Possible
Your mission, should you choose to accept it is: ring a bell for one hour at the Northeast Shopping Center on Wednesday, December 16, 2009, for the Salvation Army. Check with J.C. Russell to sign up.
Van Gogh, Warhol, Matisse, Neimann
You can paint like those guys at the YWCA Home Shelter on Saturday, January 16, 2010, 429 6th Ave S, St Petersburg. Pat Biscotti informed us that if your paint skills have not advanced past elementary finger painting, we still need supervisors to organize the Key Club and Circle K volunteers. Check with Pat Biscotti to volunteer.
Play it again, Sam
On behalf of the Committee on Young Children Priority One and the Boys & Girls Committee Ron Scoggins presented a check for $2,000 to Bobbi Gilgosh on Tuesday November 24. The money, representing equal grants from the two committees, will be used to purchase Christmas gifts for over 100 foster children with special medical needs. Bobbi formerly worked with Help-A-Child on this project, but that organization will not be doing their Christmas party this year, so she is working with the YWCA of Tampa Bay. Accordingly, not only will Christmas gifts be purchased for foster children, but also for the children of homeless families temporarily housed at the YWCA. Bobbi and her husband Al, a deceased member of the Kiwanis Club, were active for years in the foster parents' community and have been foster parents for a number of children with special medical needs. She will be hosting the annual Christmas gift assembly and gift wrap event at First United Methodist Church on Friday morning December 11, a project in which this club has also been involved for many years. Projects like this exemplify core Kiwanis principles and bring seasonal smiles to the children, donators, and volunteers involved alike. (Reported by Ron Scoggins)
New Members
New member John Ralph, sponsored by Markus Mittermayr, was raised in Ohio and came to Florida to attend Stetson University in DeLand. He has been a CPA in public practice my entire career. John Ralph & Associates, PA, CPAs is a small tax and financial accounting firm with two CPAs in addition to John, for six in the office. John is married to Kathy, and they have two sons, Andrew a sophomore at USF, and Harrison, a senior at Northside Christian High School. John has season tickets to the Rays and the Bucs games, and in addition to attending those he enjoys being on the water in their runabout or wave runner.
New member Kathleen Young, sponsored by Worth Blackwell is Principal of Highland Lakes Elementary School in Palm Harbor. Previously, she served as Principal at Lakewood Elementary for five years. Starting in 1995 as a classroom teacher, she then became a Title 1 Facilitator and later an Assistant Principal. She received a Bachelor’s of Science and a Master’s of Education degree and is currently in pursuit of a Doctorate of Education.
Welcome to Kiwanis Club, John and Kathleen.
Last Week at Kiwanis
Kiwanian of the Day, Markus Mittermayr, introduced Bob Neri, Senior Vice President/Clinical Officer of WESTCARE. WESTCARE is a national non-profit organization dedicated to helping drug offenders stay out of the prison system.
Started almost forty years ago, WESTCARE has facilities in seven states, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands.
With the drug abuser not in prison the WESTCARE treatment results in better self-esteem and less money spent. WESTCARE has three locations in St. Petersburg; The Mustard Seed (2510 Central Avenue), Turning Point (1801 5th Avenue N), and WESTCARE Foundation at 1735 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Street South.
The court system works with WESTCARE hand-in-hand to determine who is a good fit to be in their program. Additionally, clients come to them through referrals or word-of-mouth. Much of the funding for WESTCARE is supplied by the Department of Corrections budget.
The cost savings for a client to go to WESTCARE instead of prison or jail is astounding. Look at these bullet points that we received in a flyer from Bob:
Prison WESTCARE
Serving Time Drug Treatment
Very Limited Services Supervised Work
No Payment of Restitution Drug Screens
No Payment of Child Support Payment of Restitution
Guaranteed to Return to Community Payment of Child Support
Payment of Taxes
Average Stay – 33 months (990 days) Average Stay – 7 months (210 days)
990 days x $59 per day = $58,410 210 days x $49 average per diem = $10,290
Plus $78,000 for construction of bed
More disturbing facts from Bob:
- One out of ten people have a drug problem which impacts four more individuals
- One out of one hundred Americans are in jail or prison
- 75% of those in prison or jail are there because of drug related crime
- For every dollar spent on education, 66 cents goes to the prison system
The good news:
- 68% make it through the WESTCARE program
- 93% resume a better lifestyle and stay out of farther trouble
Thanks Bob for presenting a fascinating look at a governmental agency working with a non-profit agency to save all of us money and benefit those that will not be hardened and influenced by prison time.
This Week’s Quiz
- Which State’s nickname is the “The Pine Tree State”?
- Where was Mother Teresa born?
- Name the lead actresses in the movie “Thelma and Louise”.
- Who was the President before James Buchanan?
- Which President served the shortest period of time?
Last Week’s Quiz
- Jerry Sloan, now in his twenty-second year with the Utah Jazz and in the Basketball Hall of Fame, is the longest tenured coach for the same team of the four major American team sports (NFL,MLB,NBA,NHL).
- The only alpine parrot lives in New Zealand.
- The GPA for the Blutarsky character (John Belushi) in Animal House is 0.0, as stated by Dean Wormer.
- Iowa has produced the largest corn crop of any state for each of the past 14 years. In an average year, Iowa produces more corn than most whole countries. For example, Iowa grows three times as much corn as the country like Argentina. Kansas is the state that grows the most wheat.
- The phrase "Seven Seas" (as in the idiom "sail the Seven Seas") can refer either to a particular set of seven seas or to a great expanse of water in general. People from different time periods have meant different things by the phrase "Seven Seas". In Medieval European literature, the Seven Seas referred to the following seas:
- the Persian Gulf
- the Black Sea
- the Caspian Sea
- the Red Sea, including the closed Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee
- the Mediterranean Sea, including its marginal seas, notably the Aegean Sea.
- the Adriatic Sea
- the Arabian Sea (which is part of the Indian Ocean)
The International Hydrographic Organization lists over 100 bodies of water known as seas. |
