"One of the best weeks of my life" Part Three

Welcome to the Civitan Rocks Our World blog.

This blog is written by Mark Eisinger, the incoming President of Civitan International for the year beginning this October 1st, 2009 to September, 2010. I will chronicle the times, travels, stories, ideas for service projects, fellowship and knowledge. Come back often and I will alert you to updates if you follow me via www.twitter.com/civimark and/or www.facebook.com/civimark. Many have asked about the speech I made at the installation banquet, I have emailed many copies of the script. Civitan International Director of Communications David Bledsoe has now uploaded the speech on Youtube.com. Here is the link, please share with others in your district and club: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBoKLZT8Xlc. Thank you David! That said, let's begin with "One of the best weeks of my life":

How do you jam as much into one week as possible? Well you asked the right person! This is part three of a three part report about the week of July 3rd through July 10th, 2009. The week was packed with the arrival of relatives, Civitan International Convention, Heart of the West Civitan District Convention and the Charter of Civitan Club On The Greens!

July 9

As most of the delegates began their way to the airport or packed their vehicles to go home, the Heart of the West had their District Convention at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel and Casino. The convention began with Mary McElhatten, a professional coach and author of the book “Rocket Risks” www.rocketrisks.com and founder of MaiWorld, she presented a workshop in taking risks to achieve your goals. It was very well received. We then discussed and voted on issues and elected our next leaders. After lunch, I was the trainer for the Presidents and Presidents-Elect (See "graduating class" photo) that were attending the convention. Then that evening, our dinner was held with President Danny Jackson installing the district officers and directors. The district presented awards to the many clubs for projects, honor clubs and honor keys. The district also took the time to thank the many volunteers who coordinated the many successful aspects of being the International Convention Host District. And my Governor Roger Smart outlined his goals for the 2009-2010 Civi-Year!

July 10

The charter of the brand new Civitan Club On The Greens began with a golf tournament. Thirteen golfers participated at Angel Park Golf Club on the Cloud 9, twelve hole golf course. Club Charter Member Michael Ryder won the tournament with a score of 52 highlighted by a hole-in-one on hole number 7. This was Michael’s first hole-in-one! The closest to the pin award went to 15 year-old Thomas Smith, grandson of Charter Member and CSI guy Dan Ford.

Our charter luncheon followed with 35 attending. Incoming Senior Director Svenn Manum, his wife Synnove Kittlesen and Erland Rondestveit from Norway attended our luncheon as well as Canadians Paul Scudds and Anna Cavicchia. From Idaho, International Director Virginia Campbell and John McAffee and Governor Teresa Wakeman and her husband Kevin attended. From Tucson, Carl Mangelsdorf III and Lenore Padilla attended. Virginia Campbell initiated the 23 Charter Members and Carl Mangelsdorf III, the founder of the first golf Civitan club in Tucson installed the Charter Officers (See photo above). One of the Charter Members was Mark Anderson. Mark was the Las Vegas Charter President-Elect who asked me to join Civitan 20 years ago. And now Mark Anderson is back as a Civitan! Roger Meyers, (see photo below) a brand new Civitan is the Charter President. With an extended charter deadline, Civitan Club On the Greens had 31 charter members, creating another Golden Circle Club!

That was the grand finale of one of the best weeks of my life. I believe that I jam packed everything I could possibly do in one week. But looking back at the wonderful people in my life that shared the week with me made it all worthwhile. With any end, there is always a beginning. I am looking forward to many more “best weeks in my life”.

What's Next?

My next blog will begin to highlight my travels to Civitan District Conventions beginning with the Heartland and Alabama North District Conventions. Stay tuned!

"One of the best weeks of my life" Part Two

Welcome to the new Civitan Rocks Our World blog.

This blog is written by Mark Eisinger, the incoming President of Civitan International for the year beginning this October 1st, 2009 to September, 2010. I will chronicle the times, travels, stories, ideas for service projects, fellowship and knowledge. Come back often and I will alert you to updates if you follow me via www.twitter.com/civimark and/or www.facebook.com/civimark. That said, let's begin with "One of the best weeks of my life":

How do you jam as much into one week as possible? Well you asked the right person! This is part two of a three part report about the week of July 3rd through July 10th, 2009. The week was packed with the arrival of relatives, Civitan International Convention, Heart of the West Civitan District Convention and the Charter of Civitan Club On The Greens!

July 6th

The opening ceremonies for the Civitan International Convention were incredible! The parade of Civitan country flags were presented by the Phil Schlesinger Civitan Club from Tucson, AZ (The Big Fish Club) and the Phoenix Bird Civitan Club from Phoenix, AZ. Both clubs have been in existence for 30 years and are made up of men and women with developmental disabilities. The Elvis and Cher look-alikes were very talented! Fellows and Honor Keys were awarded at this event.

As an Honourary Canadian, I felt it my duty to offer up our suite for the Canadian Party. As usual, the Canadians were swift in decorating and creating a great environment for this year's party. Gay Aaron was awarded this year's Honourary Canadian.

During the party, Cassi and I went down to the Las Vegas Hilton chapel to witness Alabama-North Governor-Elect Elizabeth McDowell and her husband Robert renew their vows after 37 years of marriage. Pastor "Elvis" officiated the wedding (Robert's choice) and Elvis sang three tunes.

July 7th

The opening business meeting presented the new candidates for Civitan International Board and President-Elect. The awards luncheon included entertainment by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis look-a-likes. See the Awards Annual Report for all of the award details.

We had some great workshops including my friend Dan Ford, Senior Crime Analyst for the real CSI: Las Vegas. Dan presented real life cases and compared the real CSI with the TV show CSI: Las Vegas. The Heart of the West Civitan District even had custom CSI T-Shirts and hats to sell. Dan Ford is a Charter Member and Charter Director of our new Civitan Club On The Greens (See next blog, part three of three.)

Heart of the West, as the Host District conducted a slot tournament for the delegates with some great gifts and cash prizes.

The evening was highlighted with the President's Council annual reception that was held at the Hofbrauhaus. http://www.hofbrauhauslasvegas.com/ Great food, great beer and the Jager Paddle? Special thanks to my friend Herb Warren who was able to have most of the buses donated for transporting the council members to the Hofbrauhaus.

July 8th

The big day! Elections were held with all approved by acclimation, Gay Aaron as the new President-Elect. Following the meeting, Heartland Civitan Bill Buscher announced his candidacy for 2010-11 Civitan International President-Elect.

Then the Membership Extravaganza, recruitment and club building awards were presented, and we were entertained by an incredible ventriloquist Mark Merchant, who is a Civitan. Then the moment arrived, it is very difficult to hold our secret of our new theme, but we did it! After a fantastic rendition of WE WILL ROCK YOU by the Governors-Elect and guest singer Dee Hutsler (Alabama Central Past Governor) we unveiled the new theme “CIVITAN ROCKS OUR WORLD!” I was very proud of my Governors as they performed admirably and we thank Dee for his participation.

The afternoon gave us a in-depth look at the Civitan International Research Center discoveries, as Dr. Harold Sontheimer led the Research Center Forum. The new DVD is now available through the Civitan International Supply House, www.civitan.org.

Finally, the Installation Banquet. The ballroom looked enormous and the Civitans looked incredible. Dressed in tuxedos, suits, evening gowns, we were serenaded by a jazz band. The new Civitan Board of Directors and Officers waited patiently backstage as the festivities began. Each were introduced and made their way across the stage with their spouse.

President Danny Jackson and First Lady Corrine were presented flowers and gifts by Senior Director Jay Albertia. Then my beautiful wife Cassi and I were announced and made our way on stage and then down the stairs to our table.

Richard and Ramona Eisinger, my dad and mom, gave me a boxed gift and asked me to open it. It was a gavel from 1954 that my Grandfather had used when he was involved in an organization. Our daughter Morgan, relatives from Arizona and Geoff and Brenda Sage from Central Christian Church were also able to attend. After dinner, Bettye Sue Bolen, my President when I was a Governor in 1998-1999, honored me by installing my Officers, Board and my Governors. Bettye Sue used my story of the "Civitan Rocks", a rough stone for Service, the polished stone representing Knowledge and a crystal representing Fellowship. Rosemary Smith, one of our loyal staff members arranged to have a little bag of three rocks for each attendee with one rough “Service” rock, one polished “Knowledge” rock and one “Fellowship” crystal for each one to take with them to remind them of this evening.

Once the installation was completed, the podium was mine. I showed the gavel that my mom and dad had just given me and I made my speech to the delegates. I thanked the Heart of the West for their support with over 100 delegates attending the convention. I also thanked the Phil Schlesinger Civitan Club from Tucson for having the largest number of members of a club at the convention. My speech highlighted what I believe and my vision for the future of Civitan. I had many delegates approach me and tell me that my comments were important to hear. Since then, many have asked for copies of the speech to read again and to share with their clubs. I am very proud to be your 2009 -2010 President of our Civitan organization. And I am very hopeful for the future of this organization. Please see the September Civitan Magazine for an article highlighting points of the speech.

Special thanks to John Rynearson and all of the staff and interns that helped make the convention a success, but especially to Mary Luck, the convention coordinator for a spectacular convention. And to John VanderPloeg and his volunteers in the Heart of the West District for hosting the convention. Our Public Relations Director David Bledsoe stayed up nights to have a video edited and uploaded each morning, so Civitans that were unable to attend could see the highlights of the previous day’s activities.

What's Next? The next post (part three of three) will bring you the Heart of the West District Convention highlights and the Charter of Civitan Club On The Greens as "One of the best weeks of my life" continues!. Come back and read more soon!