North Carolina East and Texas Trips

This blog is written by Mark Eisinger, the President of Civitan International for the year October, 2009 to September, 2010. I 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. Previous Blogs are available, please see panel on the right. I encourage you to read "Cancun Rocks", a blog about Cassi and my preview visit to Cancun in preparation of the 2010 Civitan International Convention September 3-6, 2010. www.civitan.org More information for the Cancun Convention now available at http://www.civitan.com/template.php?t=sr&id=43.

North Carolina District East

On Thursday, November 12^th, I boarded another flight to Raleigh, North Carolina. Past International Director Joe Parker picked me up at the airport. The rain soaked streets and soil were getting wetter as the remnants of Hurricane Ida still hovered over the state. Joe had a full schedule for me starting with the Hawfields Civitan Club meeting. We arrived at their clubhouse as the attendees were arriving with plenty of potluck food. We had an early Thanksgiving feast! They had a great turnout with some incredible guests. They were recognizing two students for their school participation. There were also coaches and other volunteers from their recent football program. They also discussed their very profitable and fun Halloween Forest project.

I spoke to the group about Civitan International’s rock-solid foundation and the Civitan International Research Center. Afterwards, one of the mother of one of the students recognized asked me more about the research center. She said that her husband was a researcher at Duke and she was a researcher at University of North Carolina, so she was very interested in our research center and the progress we are experiencing. I gave the club president a Presidential Visit banner patch and we took a group picture with the club members.

After the meeting, Joe and I went to his home, where I had my own room and bath. Very comfortable! Evalee was a great hostess, making sure I had my favorite drinks and snacks.

The next day, we again headed out for the Greensboro Civitan Club meeting. It continued to rain, but the rain seemed to stop when we arrived at the restaurant. Joe’s daughter Whitney was there along with many familiar faces visiting from the district and from other Civitan Clubs.

After a brief stop at Joe’s home, we changed clothes and headed out to Duke University. We drove around the campus and I marveled at the beautiful architecture. We stopped at the Duke Chapel and went inside, this was an incredible church with very ornate interior architecture.

We then walked through the Duke Football stadium, then into the famous Camden Indoor Stadium. The 70 year old “gymnasium” had narrow halls and reminded me of an old high school gymnasium. The stadium only holds 8,000, and the entire lower section has no seats. This section is reserved for students known as the Camden Crazies provide many arm motions and chants to distract the other team. Many of these motions appear to be orchestrated from years of students practicing at similar games. Duke performed well with a solid win against University of North Carolina Greensboro.

The next morning, we left early to drive to Garner, NC to the Garner Civitan Club Clubhouse. This was the site of the North Carolina Civitan District Meeting, my Governor Margie Gooding’s first meeting of her year. I had been to the clubhouse before with Past International Director Reggie and Dee Foster a couple years earlier, but didn’t have access to the inside. The large room was prepared with tables and chairs and a good breakfast was available. Over 100 attended the meeting. Wayne Mullis from North Carolina West, current International Director for Region 2 sat with me at the head table along with Margie and the keynote speaker, Linda Coleman from the State of North Carolina Personnel division. I was on the agenda with “The Big Picture” team building exercise. The attendees had an enjoyable time. Some told me later that a similar exercise was completed in presidents’ training by Harriet Covington. I received district gift, an acrylic paperweight with the districts theme art shown through the acrylic and a sea shell with a painted lighthouse.

Joe and I drove back to his house to pick up a last minute certificate that was in the mail, and we headed toward Wilson, NC for the Charter Banquet for the brand new Wilson Civitan Club. We arrived at a quaint bakery and restaurant for a delicious meal and “special European style” strawberry shortcake. The members arrived with canned food for their food drive project. The young president and president-elect appear to be great leaders for this new Civitan Club. The club had 21 charter members (note: the club reached 30 charter members only two weeks later, a Golden Circle Club). Wayne Mullis and other guests that attended the District Meeting were also in attendance supporting the new club.

I honored to install the charter officers and provided a keynote address. I talked about the rock solid organization, the Civitan International Research Center and quoted the poem “The Dash” by Linda Ellis.

After many farewells, Joe and I headed “home” and I reflected on a wonderful, full weekend of activities, meeting hundreds of Civitans on their turf! It was a wonderful trip.

The next morning, Joe, Evalee and I went to a mall restaurant and had salads, then off to the Raleigh airport for my return home. By the way, the sun was out that day and the rain had stopped, just in time for my return home!

Service Club Leaders Conference

On Thursday, November 19^th, I boarded Southwest Airlines for a trip to Austin, TX for the Service Club Leaders Conference.

More about the conference below, but first, my Governor Debbie Juhlke picked me up at the airport and we headed toward her home town of Round Rock, only about an hour away from Austin. We stopped at a Jason’s Deli for a quick bite and then headed toward Debbie and Dr. Tim Juhlke’s plant. Tim gave me a guided tour of the plant describing the lubricants that are manufactured there. Then we headed downtown to Bella Notte, a fantastic reception hall, for a meet and greet for the recently chartered Heart of the Rock Civitan Club. Approximately half of the members attended in an open house format. Pictures were taken of each member individually with me and we enjoyed wine, cheese and fresh fruit. We talked about Round Rock and the many projects that were planned including a new Junior Civitan Club at a local middle school. I met a great group of new Civitans!

Following the meet and greet, Debbie drove me to see the official “round rock”, then we headed back to Austin to the downtown Hyatt Hotel on the river.

The Service Club Leaders’ Conference is an opportunity for service club staff and volunteer leaders of Civitan, Optimist, Soroptimist, Mensa, Lions, Ruritan, Kiwanis, National Exchange, Quota, and the Women’s Federation to all meet together at an annual conference. I arrived just in time for another meet and greet, with heavy appetizers sponsored by the Hyatt Hotel chain. The hotel was impressive with an atrium through the middle of the hotel. Many rooms overlooked downtown and the river. The rain seemed to have followed me, as the weekend was very wet.

American Mensa hosted the weekend and a great speaker Cynthia D’Amour provided us some very pertinent information about how to recruit members, how to retain them, how to insert fun in the process and an interview with two college students learning what individuals their age are looking for in a service club.

On our final night, we were transported by bus to the Iron Cactus for a wonderful Tex-Mex meal and margaritas. The dinner was sponsored by the Austin Chamber of Commerce and featured a live band with singer Ryan Harkrider. Austin is the live music capital!

The next morning was very foggy but we headed toward the airport and my flight took off without delay.