Civitan Rocks Our World!

Germany District Convention

2010-08-11T21:09:00.001-07:00

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.

Travel From Hungary to the Germany District Convention

The drive through pastures and hills reminded me of the Midwestern United States, there were many windmills, similar to the ones I saw in Indiana only weeks ago. It was very rainy, windy and cool. We drove through Budapest and John described that we were on the Buda side and we would cross the Danube River and be on the Pest side. We stopped high above the Danube so we would see the huge Parliament across the river. There was a beautiful cathedral, statues and square. We stopped in a couple of shops, but the rain pushed us back into the car to continue our journey.

We arrived in Gyor around 2:00pm. We checked in to our Hotel Kloister, a building built in the 1700’s that had been a church with a convent, a prison and a shelter for homeless, before becoming a quaint hotel in 1986. We wanted to get something light to eat. We explored the squares with many shops closed for Sunday. We had a light lunch at McDonalds (can you believe it?).

Then, the rain pushed us back to the hotel where we finally had some downtime to snooze or read a book. Later we went out into the heavy rain again and found a small restaurant nearby and had a wonderful dinner of breaded pork and roasted beef. I worked on a few things on my computer before going to bed. Cassi read and fell asleep early.

The next morning, we woke to still more rain and wind. We ate breakfast at the hotel and went out to explore the shops, only a few were open, we bought a few gifts in a glass shop. Then we began our Monday journey to Austria. We stopped in Batislava, Slovakia on the way and walked around the many squares and took photos of a clock tower and the castle. The rain and cold were too much, so we decided to continue driving.

On to Salzburg, Austria. Along the way we saw more windmills, the borders were near non-existent. There were border buildings/huts but no one stopped us. We drove around Vienna, but did not stop. The rain has finally stopped for now.

We stayed overnight in Salzburg, walked to old town and saw Mozart’s home, the castle on a tall hill, many old buildings including a cathedral. Some were built in the 1300’s. The alley ways were full of all kinds of shops, some for tourists, others for locals. We ate at a table with a couple from Slovakia, two women from Austria, and a mom and daughter from Japan. The daughter is studying violin in the city.

Tuesday, May 18^th, we went to Garmisch, a quaint town in Bavarian Germany, on the way to Weilheim. Garmisch had beautiful murals painted on the stores, homes and businesses. The half timber houses were beautiful. The rain would not go away. We left there and went to Weilheim.

Wednesday morning, awoke to a great breakfast at the hotel. We packed the car and headed toward Biberach, Germany, home of the Eisinger Bakery. We used the GPS and we were directed to the bakery/store/café. We went into the store and there was Hilde Eisinger behind the counter. One of the staff called Gustav Eisinger. While we waited, I took some pictures and looked at all of the Eisinger logos. Gustav arrived and we sat and sampled his famous pretzels, bread and cinnamon rolls, with coffee and cappuccino. Then Gustav began a tour of the bakery back room, where all the bread and pastries are made from scratch. After that we began a walking tour of Biberach, he said there were five Eisinger Bakery locations in Biberach and four in surrounding towns. Each location has a coffee service, pastries, sandwiches, pretzels and other things. It is similar to Starbucks with an emphasis on the pastries and bread rather than coffee. We had lunch in a private room of the Restaurant Ente with Gustav and Hilde. For the first time, I had fish, a local fish with fresh large asparagus.

We continued our walking tour as Hilde went to visit her friends. We went up many steps to the top of a hill, from there you could see the whole city. There was a large wall that went around the whole city at one time. In fact, a small portion of the wall is still in the bakery. Other portions are still surrounding the city. At the conclusion of our tour, Gustav mentioned that he is the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Biberach. We had a last coffee and gave Gustav Claxton Fruitcake. He gave us some Eisinger balloons, a mug, a cup and saucer and two plates, all with the Eisinger logo, which Gustav tells us has the pretzel in the logo. He gave us directions to Attenweiller, the small town where my great grandfather lived in the 1800’s. We drove to the mill pond, the mill and the area where great-grandfather lived. Although the mill is no longer working and the old homestead burnt years ago, it was calming to see the small stream created by the mill pond. This stream was described in a document written by my great-grandfather’s brother.

We continued our journey toward Rothenberg. This town was my mom and dad’s favorite when they toured this area. It is an ancient walled town that survived many battles and still remains a walled city today. The streets were cobblestone and the buildings were very old and architecturally beautiful. Although it was still rainy, we left the hotel to visit some stores. There were many shops with hand made items, souvenirs, beer steins, Black Forest wood coocoo clocks, and many others.

The next morning, Thursday May 20^th, was misty, but Cassi and I shopped for gifts for self and family. We bought a coocoo clock, and had it shipped to our home. We also bought a small suitcase to pack our many souvenirs and gifts from Hungarian and German Civitans. Around 11:00, we left for Heidelberg. This city was affected by war more than the previously encountered cities. Many old buildings were next to brand new glass buildings. Again beautiful architecture everywhere you looked. We saw a bombed out church that was left to remind the citizens of the tragedies. We also saw the old Heidelberg Bridge and drove to the U.S. military base, then to the castle.

The next day, we went to Hannover where this modern city still has some older buildings that are maintained. Our next stop was our final one, Sehnde, the site of the Germany District Meeting. We arrived at our hotel, dropped our bags in our room and met Hans Jurgen Grethe and his wife Renate and left to go to a local castle for dinner. We saw many windmills along the way. The castle was “only” 150 years old, they told us, a young castle compared to many others. We ate inside the castle walls, another authentic German meal with Governor Michael Koneke and Civitan members from the Sehnde Civitan Club.

The next morning, we met Hans Jurgen Grethe, Germany Governor Michael Koneke and the Sehnde Civitan Club President and many other Civitans in the meeting rooms at the hotel we stayed at. A representative from the Mayor’s office, Meike Vorholt, greeted us and made a speech in English. We found out later that she was a lawyer and had been a foreign exchange student in America when she was in High School. After a presentation of gifts, we all drove to Die Tafeln Sehnder Tafel, or food bank, a project of the Sehnde Civitan Club. We toured the facility and learned the history of this project. They serve many local hungry every week.

We went back to the hotel where the German District Meeting began, we gave gifts to each other. And Cassi and I tried to understand the many different discussions, some of the information was translated for us. We went to an Italian buffet dinner at Bei Baki for our final meal in Germany. Then back to the hotel room to pack our bags for the trip home.

It was hard to believe that our trip had come to the end. The time went very fast. We left for the airport in Hannover and the ANA flight headed toward Amsterdam, we had another very short layover, but made it to the plane for the Delta flight to Minneapolis. We were fortunate that the volcanic ash cloud had dissipated. A week earlier the Amsterdam airport had been closed. This plane had monitors in each seat. The monitor had a wide selection of free movies, television, games and many more time consumers. I watched Avatar while Cassi watched It’s Complicated. She also played some games as she likes computer games.

Fortunately, we had a long layover in Minneapolis, because when we gathered our suitcases to go through customs, only one of our two checked bags arrived. Our suit bag did not arrive. We were told to wait and it never arrived, so we finally went thru customs with only one bag and were told to report our other bag when we arrived in Las Vegas. After customs, we re-checked our one bag and then headed to the gate for our flight to Las Vegas.

Back on a regular domestic plane, we rested on our trip back to Vegas. We arrived in Vegas, still no suit bag. I reported it lost and the agent told me it never made it out of Amsterdam! It took two days for it to finally be delivered to our doorstep.

Cassi and I have many fond memories of this trip and thank the Civitans and the Civitan organization for allowing us the opportunity to represent them in Europe and throughout the world. It was truly a fantastic experience.

European Division Convention

2010-06-22T21:31:00.000-07:00

European Division Convention

The trip we have been waiting for, Cassi and I waited for Deluxe Taxi on the morning of Tuesday, May 11, we had waited an hour. After many phone calls, a large taxi van arrived. We had wanted to get to the airport early since we had no seat assignment from Salt Lake City to Paris, even after several attempts by Delta’s website and phone. When we arrived, the Delta kiosk would not check us in, then our bag was too heavy, so we had to transfer some of the gifts into the other bag, then they still couldn’t give us a seat assignment for Salt Lake to Paris, not even a boarding pass, this worried me. They said to ask at the gate. After many denials, the gate agent finally asked a supervisor and the supervisor was able to get us seat assignments for both legs.

We boarded the plane and our seats were in the bulkhead. This was okay for a short flight from Las Vegas to Salt Lake. Even thought we left late, the flight to Paris was a continuation of our flight number, but on a different plane. They held the flight and we boarded late. The seats were again in the bulkhead and had very little leg room. We were not going to be comfortable for a 10 hour flight. From the look of things, our layover in Paris had been reduced due to the late departure.

We took off going north toward Canada to go north of the volcanic ash cloud over Iceland. This volcano had affected many flights to and from Europe a month earlier.

We settled in, me reading my John Grisham book Ford County and Cassi reading her J.D. Robb novel. We were served chicken and pasta for dinner. Then we watched a movie titled Leap Year. I was able to sleep half the flight, which was unusual for me. Cassi, not so lucky. We were served a light breakfast near the end of our flight. We only had 20 minutes before our flight was to leave from Paris to Budapest. We walked quickly following the signs through passport check and then from the B terminal to the D terminal. The Paris airport requires you to leave the secured area and then re-enter through security at the next terminal. Cassi only had her purse, so while I unpacked the laptop and the bag of liquids, Cassi headed toward the gate. A lady who had followed us was stopped at security since she could not show her boarding pass from Paris to Budapest, I waited for her to be redirected, then managed to pass security and re-pack and run toward the gate. Cassi was waiting and indicated that we were safe. We were among the last to board this final flight of the day. A young couple with cowboy hats had been on the same flights as Cassi and I. I believe they were from Hungary.

We arrived in Budapest and followed the signs to baggage. It was Wednesday afternoon around 3:00pm. We waited as many bags arrived, ours were not there… we stood in line and described the bags and were told that there were two more flights from Paris that night, but the bags would not be delivered until the next morning once found. We left the baggage area and found Hungary District Governor Ference Stadler and Adrienne. Adrienne was holding a Civitan logo sign. Ference only speaks Hungarian and Russian, so Adrienne was our translator. We rode in Ference’s Suzuki, he called “Suzi”.

The two hour drive to Szeged was brief, but Cassi and I were quite tired of sitting. We dozed slightly until we arrived at the Tisza Sport hotel. The hotel room was small, with a large picture window and a balcony with two chairs. Two twin beds were separated until we slid them together. We had brought a change of clothes in our carryon and changed quickly and went downstairs, where Ference and his daughter Eva met us. We went in “Suzi” to the outdoor restaurant and had Hungarian Goulash (one of many types of Goulash we would taste this weekend). We then had “pancake”, but it was more of a crepe. One had cottage cheese inside, another with chocolate sauce on top. We met many Civitans from Hungary and Germany and Norway; and reacquainted with many familiar faces including current Civitan International Senior Director Svenn Manum and Synovve, incoming International Director Hans Jurgen Grethe and Renate, and Aud Aasland.

We then went to a theatre and saw the opera “Faust”. The theatre was quite old and ornate. The opera was rather difficult to understand in French with Hungarian sub-titles. Both Cassi and I are interested in reading the opera to understand better. The stage effects were very manual, but effective with platforms dropping from the ceiling and then propped up perpendicular to the stage. The stage also turned in multiple ways.

We walked back to the hotel and slept. The next morning, we ate the breakfast that was included. We had scrambled eggs which tasted different than we were used to. They also had sausage, cereal, cheeses, bread and cold cuts. Coffee was quite good and juices were plentiful.

We then took a walking tour to downtown Szeged and a tour guide told us stories about the different buildings and sites along the way. We went over the Tisza River bridge. Then to the Ferenc Mora Museum, then to the Serbian Orthodox Church, a very non-descript church from the outside but beautiful on the inside. Then to the Dom Cathedral with two clock towers and a nice square where we took a break and sampled a free Coke Zero. We were then taken to City Hall to meet up with the Deputy Mayor and other leaders of the Szeged city. Szechenyi Square was across from the beautiful City Hall and the Bridge of “Sigh”, a bridge from the tax building to City Hall. The nickname was due to the sighs people would make as they left the tax building with less money.

We left there and headed toward our lunch site, we stopped at a mineral spring where very hot sulfur water that tasted bad but many residents were bottling in empty 2 litre plastic bottles. We passed a spa that had the same mineral water, then on to Szent Istvan Square and The Water Tower. We went to this restaurant that looked old on the outside, but very new interior. We had goulash soup and then a fried platter of various types of turkey, similar to a corden bleu. We then walked the long walk back to the hotel.

We arrived back at the hotel around 3:00pm and the luggage had not arrived. We went into our room and called (via Skype on my iPhone) to the airline lost and found baggage. They stated that the bags had arrived at the Budapest Airport last night. We called the baggage delivery service and they said the bags should arrive in an hour. We dosed off until a knock on the door, our bags had arrived. We only had twenty minutes to change into our business suits for the evening conference and dinner.

We were welcomed with applause at the hotel lobby as the Civitans could tell that we had received our luggage. We walked to a conference building and were entertained by young teenagers dancing and singing Hungarian Folk songs. After a short break, we began the meeting. Welcomes were given and thank yous. Each had to be very patient as the speeches were translated in Hungarian, Norwegian, English and German. Svenn presented updates from the International Board meeting including the new Campus Club concept and the 2012 International Convention European site selection. We spoke on new opportunities to sell fruitcake and we passed out sample slices to everyone in attendance. I congratulated them on their service, their expansion with the first Campus Civitan Club and told the story of the 17 year old from Tennessee who had shared that Junior Civitan had saved her life. I played a card game and gave out Las Vegas souvenirs to many winners. I also gave Las Vegas Pens to each Governor, to Svenn and banner patches for each district and the division. Hans Jurgen Grethe presented Svenn Manum with the coveted European Award.

After more entertainment from young dancers, we went into dinner. We ate family style, pork and turkey, and had fruit baskets for dessert. We walked back to the hotel after a wonderful evening.

On Friday, May 14, Governor Ference Stadler and daughter Eva, along with Svenn Manum and Synnove, Hans Jergen Grethe and Renate and many others traveled to Zsambek for the charter of the first Campus Civitan Club in Europe. This technical school was a Catholic based school of over 500 of older high school students studying carpentry, brick mason, cooking, sewing and other skills.

Other delegates enjoyed the Szeged Aquapark and Thermal Baths near the hotel.

We enjoyed a lunch prepared and served by the students of the school. It included Hungarian Goulash soup, turkey and noodles and “pancake” for dessert.

Andrea Legerszki and Sister Polly, a graduate of the school took us on a walking tour of the school, an ancient church building that had been destroyed both by the war and an earthquake.

Sixteen Campus Civitan Club members were initiated by European Coordinator and Senior International Director Svenn Manum, and I installed the officers by using the rock speech. I gave them each a rock and a Civitan Rocks theme pin. The new Primo Primmessimo Civitan Klub was official.

We headed back to Szeged and after a quick change, went to the downtown Szechenyi Square for the Wine Festival. Over 100 booths had wine and a few food booths. We ate sausage and potatoes and chicken and potatoes and tasted a few wines.

Saturday, the final day of the convention, we boarded buses to go to the Opusztaszer Memorial Park. This was a very interesting walking tour of the history of Hungary in murals, exhibits in large huts and even a horse and “cowboy” performance. Unfortunately it rained most of the day, but the lunch was a highlight with soup, cucumber and sour cream salad and a roast beef dish with potatoes. Delicious.

We headed back to Szeged and some went to a shopping center, some to a Hungarian District Board Meeting and others back to the hotel.

The evening was the Good-bye Party, we walked to a very old building that had a hall with a stage. A singer with a wide collection of songs, mostly English versions was on the stage. The evening began, with some welcoming remarks from Ference, Svenn and me, translated into Norwegian, German, Hungarian and English. Torgeir Willadssen asked us how we liked this language tossed salad? I called it the Tower of Babel. A buffet of cold cuts, chicken legs, meatballs, potato salad and bread were available, gifts were exchanged and some danced to the music. It was a wonderful good bye party for all who attended.

On Sunday, many of the delegates had to catch a 4:00am bus to the Budapest airport, others took a 9:00am bus. After breakfast, Cassi and I began our journey toward Gyor, Hungary. Ference and his wife Eva and daughter Eva were also there to say so long to the busload of delegates and us. Peter Makra, the president of the Szeged Civitan Club rode up on a bicycle with a poncho, and we exchanged gifts, he gave us homemade wine, we gave him Claxton fruitcake as a gift!

Hungary ROCKS!

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Coming soon, more details about our road trip to Germany for the Germany District Convention. Special thanks to Hille Willadssenn for some of the photos included above.

Three Civitan Club Charters and North Carolina West

2010-03-12T19:06:00.000-08:00

Tennessee and Arkansas, Two Charters in Two Days!

I left on Monday, November 30^th on Delta Airlines for a trip to Knoxville, Tennessee. Past International Director Howard Yarnell and Past Appalachian District Governor Cathy Yarnell picked me up at the airport for an hour drive to Kingsport. We arrived at the Michael Dunn Center where individuals with disabilities go to school, learn skills and work. There I saw my Governor Terri Honeycutt, Past International President Betty Harrelson, International Director Sheila Idol and Becky Brunton, all club builders of the new Avery Trace Civitan Club. The new Civitan Club has 33 members and 26 members were present. I performed the initiation of new members, the installation of officers and presented the charter with Sheila and Terri Honeycutt to the President. The club is now looking at the many projects that they will be working on in the next few months. I provided a Presidential Visit patch for their brand new banner.

The next day, December 1^st, Becky Brunton drove me back to the Knoxville airport for my Delta flight to Little Rock, Arkansas. I was headed to another charter banquet in Hope, Arkansas. Master Club builder Mike Blackwood picked me up at the airport and we drove for about 90 minutes to Hope. Hope is the birthplace of President Bill Clinton and Former Governor Mike Huckabee. Mike had arranged for an interview for me and the charter President Kim Smith with the local television station KTTS TV 50 Jerry Westmoreland, the Hope Star newspaper and the local radio station. Great publicity for the charter of the new Civitan Club. I was able to go recruiting with Mike and saw his effective methods! After a few stops to talk to a few more candidates for membership, we headed to the Hope Country Club for the charter festivities.

We arrived and the Master Club Builders Connie Black, Ellen Vohs and Rita Blackwood were present. Others arrived including Heartland District Governor Debbie Juhlke and Tim, club builder Peter Zargari and Region 7 International Director Fred Norman. Then almost 30 of the charter members arrived for the banquet. Mark Keith from the Hope Chamber of Commerce provided the welcome to the city. After a keynote speech titled “Why?” and quoted the Civitan Creed “My Hope is for a better world through Civitan”, I initiated the new members with the assistance of the club builders.

Fred Norman installed the charter officers. I provided members with First Member recruitment pins and many qualified for the Member Sponsorship Team (MST) pins already. I also presented President Kim Smith with a Presidential Visit patch for their brand new banner.

Fred Norman provided me with ride back to Little Rock. We talked about upcoming events and meetings and brainstormed on many ideas for recruitment and retention. I awoke the next morning to rain! Caught the hotel shuttle to the airport and discovered that I was an hour earlier than I expected for my non-stop flight to Las Vegas. I found a little take-out called Yarnell’s Ice Cream, wonder if they are related to Howard and Cathy Yarnell? There were many cowboys and cowgirls from Arkansas that were headed to Las Vegas for the National Finals Rodeo that runs from December 3 to 12^th. Yeehaw!

(Note of thanks to Holiday Inn for providing two free nights lodging for this two day trip.)

Albuquerque, New Mexico

The Chelsea Civitan Club in Chelsea, Alabama chartered on December 9^th, but unfortunately, I was not able to attend the Charter Celebration. The Albuquerque Women’s Civitan Club chartered on December 31^st, but scheduled their Charter Celebration for December 16^th. I arrived that Saturday afternoon and Governor Dan Brown picked me up at the airport. We drove around Albuquerque and Rio Rancho before arriving at Dan’s home. Unfortunately Jan Brown was traveling and was not home for the weekend. After unpacking and a little rest, Dan and I headed to the Embassy Suites Hotel for the charter celebration. The club was rockin’ as everyone arrived. They were at 38 charter members up to that time and were hoping that two more guests would join so they would have 40 members.

That night six more women joined. Carol Kline-Watson was the MC. I initiated most of the 44 charter members and installed the officers and directors using the rocks and the world speeches. I also had time on the agenda for the keynote speech and spoke about the new special interest clubs, about the Lovely Ladies Civitan Club in Las Vegas and the dynamic women’s clubs throughout the world. Dan and his co-governor Tony Cook told me that this was the fastest club they had ever built, noting that this may be an avenue that should be duplicated in other cities. After the celebration, Dan and I headed back to his house and watched two football games in fast motion using his DVR.

Sunday morning, Dan and I went to West Mesa Christian Church, a small but mighty church near Dan’s home. Then to Dan’s office where many Civitan clubs were going to come together for a workshop called “Mark”eting, my view on Recruitment and Retention for clubs. We had about 20 Civitans from the Great Southwest Civitan District that attended. After the workshop, I returned to Dan’s home, Tony joined us and we sat and watched another two football games in fast motion and discussed Civitan’s positive future, the Cancun convention and many other topics.

Monday morning, Dan took me back to the airport and I headed to Asheville, North Carolina.

Asheville and Statesville, North Carolina

Many months ago, I had received a request from the Hendersonville Civitan Club’s long-time member John Bradke. The Hendersonville Club requested my presence at one of their meetings. To save the organization’s money, I try to utilize my trips to visit multiple clubs, I called my Governor Dan Allen and asked if there were any opportunities that I could visit more clubs during my visit. He stated that there were two area meetings in January, one in Asheville on Monday, January 18^th and one in Statesville on Tuesday, January 19^th. John was amenable to this so plans were made. I arrived at the Asheville airport and was greeted by John and the Hendersonville Civitan Club president Wayne Wesson. We drove to John’s home in Hendersonville for coffee and cookies. John’s wife Rusty was a fine hostess. John showed me his art work, most of which was painted by himself! We discussed recruiting, the Civitan International Research Center and Civitan efforts to help legal residents become citizens of the United States.

We headed out toward Ryan’s steakhouse in Asheville for the area meeting. There was a very large attendance from many area clubs. Unfortunately the Asheville Civitan Club did not participate, I was hoping to meet the local Civitans. I was warmly welcomed and spoke on the many aspects of Civitan, including the special interest clubs and the Civitan International Research Center. I stayed at John’s home that evening.

At breakfast, John showed me his moustache cup collection, over 25 were displayed on a shelf in his living room. Dan Allen and I had some time to be tourists. We decided to visit the Biltmore Estate. America’s largest home is now open to the public for tours. It was built in the late 1800’s by George Vanderbilt, a wealthy bachelor with railroad money. He wanted to build a self sustaining estate with a dairy, vegetables and animals for food. The house was like a castle with 33 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, electricity throughout, an electric elevator, a rotisserie in the basement, an indoor pool and a two lane bowling alley. It was quite an amazing castle. The dairy is now a winery and Dan and I toured this as well and tasted some samples.

Then we headed toward Statesville for the next Area Meeting. We arrived at Trinity Episcopal Church and helped set up the tables. Many clubs arrived, after a meet and greet, we had dinner. I provided the keynote speech again highlighting the same Civitan efforts. Dan Allen headed home that night, I stayed a local hotel and Paul Blackwell picked me up in the morning to drive back to Asheville for my return flight home.

North Carolina is a beautiful area, green trees and grass, mild temperatures. However, they did have some snow remaining from an unusual snow storm before I arrived.

North Carolina East and Texas Trips

2010-02-12T20:32:00.000-08:00

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.

Cancun Rocks!

2009-12-18T19:00:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year to every reader of my blog.

This blog's topic is the preview trip that Cassi and I took to Cancun, Mexico. I encourage every Civitan to book your vacation for Labor Day Weekend, 2010 for the Civitan International Convention in Cancun! Cancun Rocks!

On October 30th, Cassi and I were thrilled to be able to travel to Cancun to preview and begin planning for the Civitan International Convention at the Cancun Hilton Hotel, Golf and Spa Resort.

Our church (Central Christian Church, www.centralchristian.com) had some Peso coins that had been found in the offering so I bought them, about $3 worth or 40 Pesos. I did some research and Pesos use the same $ symbol as US uses. We had found a good fare on Continental Airlines going through Houston. We used our new passports at the Las Vegas Continental Airlines counter to receive our boarding passes and check our baggage. I was pleased that Continental did not charge for the first bag and provided a small breakfast without charge. On the plane from Houston to Cancun, we were given a form to fill out for the family that asked what we were bringing into the country.

We landed in Cancun and went through an easy passport check process where they checked our passports and asked why we were in Cancun. We just commented “vacation” and he passed us on through. Then we picked up our bags and got in a fast moving line that checked our baggage and turned in our form.

I saw an ATM in the Cancun airport and decided to get some more Pesos. This is one of the least expensive ways to convert money. I knew that there were approximately 13 Pesos to a dollar, but when the screen asked me how many pesos and showed denominations like 100, 200, 500, 1,000; I got confused, I pressed 500 and got one 500 Peso bill, I calculated it later and it was only $47 US, I probably should have gotten more.

We had a van pre-arranged to pick us up at the airport, so we were able to pass the timeshare salespeople and others that asked us if we needed a ride. We went out of the airport and our van driver met us and we left in his van for a scenic trip toward the Hilton. There was a Wet-N-Wild water park and many hotels along the road, all of them facing the beaches of the Caribbean Sea.

Soon we arrived at the unique shaped Cancun Hilton Hotel, (http://www.hiltonworldresorts.com/Resorts/Cancun/index.html#Cancun+index+++) with flags of many countries displayed including the U.S. and Canada. We were dropped off at the front door and a bellman took our bags. The lobby was beautiful, with floor to ceiling glass windows that overlooked the swimming pools and gardens. The atrium was circular and opened to the ceiling 10 stories above us. It reminded me of a cruise ship.

We checked in and went to the 8th floor to our Junior Suite. There was nothing Junior about it. It had a full tiled living room with a couch that makes out to a bed, a flat panel TV and a dining table. Through double doors, a king size bed in a large bedroom with a flat panel TV, a desk, a coffee maker, a safe in the closet and a bathroom with two sinks, a tub and a separate shower. There were two sliding glass doors that opened to an expansive balcony that overlooked the beach and the sea. The sound of the waves were very relaxing. As we went out on the balcony, there was a table with chairs, two chaise lounge chairs and a whirlpool tub on the balcony!

The beach sand was white and the water was an incredible green blue. I had never seen the sea with these unique colors.

On the bed was roses petals and a hand folded towel turkey, just like they leave on your bed on a cruise. We were also treated to a fruit plate and bottled water.

We settled in, unpacked our bags and relaxed on the balcony. We decided to have dinner in a Hilton restaurant called Milato. This restaurant was literally on the beach. Waves splashing only 50 feet away, it was an incredible way to dine. I had tilapia, Cassi had a steak. We shared for a little surf and turf.

We then relaxed in our room, read and went to sleep early with anticipation for the next day as we explore Cancun.

On Saturday, we woke up to a beautiful morning, had breakfast in the Hilton lobby restaurant. They had a very large buffet, but we chose the “American” breakfast off the menu. Yes, I know, we are not very adventurous! We then met the Event Manager, Manual Gomez for a tour of the property and the convention space. We went to the convention area which is very close to the atrium, we entered the convention space grand entrance and there again was an incredible view. The wall to ceiling windows overlooked the beach and the sea. There we toured the small and large rooms and the ballrooms. Two of the large rooms had full length windows so you could still see the sea. We noted the beautiful mural made of rocks, an ATM, a business center and a large built in check-in booths.

We then went out to the swimming pool area, where Manuel showed us the 7 connecting pools and waterfalls, the swim up bar, the café lounge near the pools, and the free grass umbrellas along with beach beds that you have to reserve for a fee. They also had a kiosk where you could get tubes, towels, ping pong paddles and more! There were two tennis courts, and the villas next door and the pathway to the Cancun Hilton Golf Course. Then we returned to the hotel and saw the incredible spa, the gift shops, the kids day camp, the workout facility (again I am reminded of the cruise ship amenities) and some small meeting rooms that we will probably use for the board meeting prior to the convention opening. Again a huge balcony overlooked the beach and the sea.

We then were shown each of the different rooms starting at only $99 plus only 2% tax (no resort fee). Each room has a view of the sea and the beach, many overlook the swimming pools. Then we saw the superior rooms that have a small balcony, then the junior suites with the large balcony and the whirlpool tub, then the master suite with a kitchen and a larger balcony with a whirlpool tub. Finally we were able to preview the Presidential Suite. I takes up a whole wing of the top floor with two bedrooms, a large living room, a kitchen and dining room and a huge balcony overlooking the 9 swimming pools and the sea. The balcony was a huge “L” shaped with a larger whirlpool tub. The Hilton is going to provide the Presidential suite complimentary for our convention. Cassi commented that this was one of the most beautiful resorts she had ever seen. With the sea on one side and the lagoon on the other!

That afternoon, we decided to see the sites of Cancun. We boarded a bus near the entrance to the Hilton and paid our 7 Pesos each (about 50 cents US) and traveled along the main street to downtown Cancun. We noticed the familiar restaurants like Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, Bubba Gumps Shrimp Company, Outback Steakhouse, Starbucks, Chili’s, Hooters, TGIFridays, Hard Rock Café, Rainforest Café. And unique restaurants with Mexican food, Argentinean Steakhouses, Italian food, seafood and Cuban. The shopping ranged from flea markets to shopping centers, shopping malls with movie theatres and popular retail stores and a luxury mall with Gucci and Rolex and more. We even found a Walmart to pick up some toiletries! There was also a Sam’s Club, Office Depot, bike rentals, boat rentals and car rentals.

Of course I had to stop at the Hard Rock Café for photos, bought a cool t-shirt, a drinking glass and a shot glass, they gave me a free plastic shot glass as well. We returned to the Hilton on the buses going the opposite direction by paying another 7 Pesos each and it dropped us at the entrance of the hotel. We had some fun taking pictures of me posing with the flags of the different countries.

That night, we were guest of La Bodeguita Del Medio, a famous restaurant founded in Cuba in 1942, now with a replica location in Cancun. The manager Ricardo Portilla treated us to a multiple course meal tasting appetizers, entrees and accompaniments to entice us to have a special event at their restaurant. This unique place provides a ladder and a marker and encourages diners to write on the walls and ceilings! Please note I wrote CIVITAN ROCKS! In two places. Maybe we will have a contest to see who can find the festive words!

The next day, we went to see the Tulum Ruins. http://cancun.travel/en/things-to-do/mayan-culture/tulum/ These ruins are south of Cancun in the Riviera Maya. We passed many resorts and themed parks like Xplor where they have zip lines, kayaks and four wheel ATVs. Xcaret, http://www.xcaret.com/ an ecological park with many family orientated exhibits and a great dinner show about the history of Mexico.

We arrived at the Tulum Ruins and walked around the gift shops. Cassi loved the iguanas and had her picture taken with one on her shoulder and one in her arms. We then boarded a train to the ruins entrance, paid the entrance fee and began to explore these unique Mayan Ruins. The many partial buildings and walls were marked with placards to understand the culture, the history and the architecture. The famous Tulum beach was a spectacular view of green and blue sea and many families played on the beach and in the water.

We drove back to the hotel, took a refreshing nap, and then had a quiet dinner in the Pizza & Pasta Factory at the Hilton. We wanted to try all of the restaurants at the Hilton and found them all to be very good. We also went to the gift shop to see the different items and toiletries that were available, along with souvenirs, towels, shirts and other beach attire.

Cassi and I awoke to our last full day in Cancun, what a fast few days. We decided to take some pictures on the beach and out by the pool to memorialize our work vacation and try to share the incredible sights at this beautiful Hilton resort. We scheduled a couples massage (a first for both of us!) and felt very relaxed! When we returned to our room, there were two kissing swans (towel creations) and more flowers on our bed.

Then that night, we were escorted back south to Xcleret for the dinner show depicting the Mayans, then the Spanish Conquistadors, the settling of Mexico, the sports and the cultures. It was an incredible history with replica costumes, music, incredible balladeers and actors of all ages.

We then returned to the Hilton for our final night. We packed our bags then slept. In the morning we were again picked up by a van and headed back to the airport. Some simple forms to be fill out, but once we checked the bags, we were free to shop at the duty free store and last minute souvenir shops. Our trip was ontime and uneventful. We landed in Houston and went through the passport check and customs very smoothly. We had a long layover so we had lunch at Pappadeux’s, a great Cajun restaurant! Then we headed on to Las Vegas, back home, safe and sound. A rockin’ vacation in beautiful Cancun!

Can’t wait to return Labor Day, 2010 for the Civitan International Convention with hundreds of Civitan friends taking over most of the Cancun Hilton Hotel! Cancun Rocks!

Civitan District Conventions-Third 4 Trips

2009-11-06T21:46:00.000-08:00

Tucson, Arizona

During the July International Convention in Las Vegas, I promised the Phil Schlesinger Civitan Club that I would be at their Installation Banquet this fall. The Phil Schlesinger Club was recognized as the Big Fish Club, the club with the most delegates at the convention. 26 members attended and most paid their own way by saving for months. They also were the delegates who brought the country flags into the hall during the Parade of Flags.

Since I was planning on flying to Tucson for the banquet, I had two requests to come a couple of days early to install officers of the Roadrunner and the Old Pueblo Civitan Clubs. I was hesitant since this was another travel weekend, but I was able to bring my daughter Morgan and we stayed at my cousin Lori Foster’s home.

We left on Saturday morning, September 26^th and arrived around noon in Tucson via Southwest Airlines. My cousin Lori Foster picked us up (Lori joined Civitan!) Morgan wanted to drive through the University of Arizona campus, a campus she was considering as a current Senior in High School. We had lunch at Frog and Firkin http://www.frogandfirkin.com/, salads for Lori and me, cheeseburger and fries for Morgan. We then settled in at Lori’s home.

Carl Mangelsdorf III, Past President of the Roadrunner Civitan Club and creator and founder of the Golf Civitan Club concept picked me up to take me to the Roadrunner Club Installation. We met at Ana Nygren’s home and ate a Mexican themed dinner. I was thrilled to initiate three new members and then install the officers and directors. Many awards were presented by outgoing President.

The following day, Carl again performed chauffer duties and drove me way out east to the Tanque Verde Guest Ranch, a dude ranch that was founded in 1868. I was introduced at the beginning of the Old Pueblo Civitan Club banquet and after a couple of awards, I was able to initiate a new member and then install the officers and directors. The buffet that followed was extensive and delicious!

That afternoon, Lori, Morgan, friend Austin and I went to the Saguaro National Park to see the hundreds of cacti and drove by the Desert Museum and Old Tucson. When we arrived back at the home, Lori steamed king crab legs for dinner.

On Monday, I worked on church and Civitan projects. Then Carl again picked me up for the 29^th Anniversary Phil Schlesinger installation banquet. We both wore tuxes, I was all in black (of course), Carl wore a white tux jacket. Carl was the master of ceremonies and many, many awards were presented including member longevity awards for members that had five years to 29 years of service to Civitan. I was given a great frame with three pictures of the Phil Schlesinger Club members at the Civitan International Convention.

On Tuesday morning, Lori took us back to the airport and we headed back to Las Vegas. The trip home was quick and safe. After I dropped off Morgan, I went to work at the church for a few hours. Then I went home to wash my clothes and repack!

Mississippi

The very next day, Wednesday, September 30, I headed back to the airport for a trip to Columbus, Mississippi, home of my Governor John Longmire of Mississippi North Civitan District. The Delta flights were on-time and John met me at the airport security area. After gathering my baggage, we went to a restaurant on a river called Ruben’s. I had Surf and Turf, Ruben’s Style, rib-eye steak and catfish! John had a whole catfish.

Then we went to his 32 acre “plantation” with a creek and deer stands and beautiful home. John’s wife Helena was looking up a tree at their pet raccoon named "Ringo". Ringo was very tame, John’s sons James and Daniel played with the raccoon, fed it cat food and it tried to climb my leg. I got some bad mosquito bites there. We had a great evening playing Yahtzee.

I stayed up late that night. I wanted to write an October 1^st “Civitan Rocks – Day One” letter for my Blog (still available for reading on this blog page). I also sent out many emails to my Governors, the International Board of Directors, Europe, Asia and African Civitan leaders and staff at headquarters. The emails went out just after midnight Mississippi time. As I became Civitan International President, I thanked outgoing President Danny Jackson and Corine for their hard work during a challenging year.

My first day of Civitan International President included a drive to Tupelo, Mississippi for the Tupelo Luncheon Club banquet. This is the largest club in Civitan with 156 members. When we arrived, I was surprised with the Summit Center’s marquee that had “Welcome Civitan International President Mark Eisinger”. That was unexpected. About half of the members attended the banquet and I was able to feast on more beef and catfish! I was honored with the Key of the City of Tupelo by a representative of the city council.

I made a speech similar to my Las Vegas, installation banquet speech outlining Civitan qualities and the next year’s plans and goals. Then I installed the many officers and directors for the next year’s successes. I also presented a Fellow to President-Elect David Neilsen and George Copen.

After the banquet, John and I went to Elvis Presley’s birthplace park, gift shop and chapel. We took photos and then followed new Tupelo Luncheon Club President Phil Gann to his home to see his catfish pond, his memorabilia collections of Elvis, Coca Cola, sports, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Phil gave me a Tupelo goody bag and a keychain had the words Elvis Rocks Our World!

We then headed back to Columbus and changed into our Civitan Rocks shirts and then went to the Mississippi University for Women. We provided pizza and soft drinks in an open house environment to 8 women interested in a new Campus Civitan Club now being formed. We took turns talking about the benefits of the organization and the potential projects the new club could participate in. David Neilson, the Junior and Campus District Chair also attended this meeting and Katie Banasiewicz, a former Junior Civitan Governor from Alabama Central Civitan District, now a sophomore at the MUW.

We took the leftover pizzas to John’s home, then after a round of pool, the family and I played a game of Crazy 8’s. It was a fun time with John’s family!

Connecticut

The next morning, John played chauffeur again, back to the airport, this time I traveled to Atlanta, then to Hartford, CT for the New England Civitan District Convention. Unfortunately, my flight to Atlanta was delayed and I missed my flight to Hartford literally by two minutes. I was further discouraged that the only available flight was at 9:30pm, arriving at midnight. I was standby on the 6:00pm flight. I stood in a long line to see if there were any other options on a different airline and miraculously a seat became available on the 6:00pm flight. I arrived at 8:25pm in Hartford and Region 4 International Director Charlie Jackowski and Patti met me as I left the secured area. We went to get my bags and then off to dinner with my Governor Matt Oblon. Due to the later flight, I missed the proposed German Dinner celebration at the East Side German Restaurant but had a great Italian dinner of tilapia at Baci Grill.

After a great rest at the Crown Plaza hotel in Cromwell, Charlie and Patti and Past New England Governor Leo Kania arrived early for our trip off to the New England Civitan District convention at the La Trottoria restaurant near Simsbury, CT.

Had a great time at the convention seeing so many familiar faces and friends. Even Carl Mangelsdorf IV was in attendance and met some great people like Karen and Andrew Rose, a young

couple leading the Civitan Club of Simsbury and the

Farmington Valley. I gave the presentation called the Big Picture (puzzle team building exercise), a Civitan Rocks speech and installed the District officers with Rocks!

After the meeting, Matt Oblon, Mark Oblon, Charlie Jackowski, Carl Mangelsdorf and I discussed the creation of a new Golf Civitan Club in Danbury, CT.

Then back to the hotel, to get ready for the Middletown Civitan Club Installation Banquet which was conveniently held at the same hotel I was staying. We had a wonderful meal and I enjoyed the blueberry pie! Mayor Sebastian N. Giuliano and his wife attended the banquet and I installed the officers with Rocks! I was given a painting of a legendary restaurant called O’Rourke’s.

The next morning, Matt Oblon and Candy and Matt’s boss picked me up at the hotel and we drove to Boston for the New England Patriots vs. Baltimore Ravens NFL Sunday football game. I think this was my first professional football game! It was incredible. Patriot’s stadium was huge and outdoors. The weather was great (two weeks later, the Patriots played in the snow!) The Patriots played a great game and the Patriots were victorious winning the close game 27 to 21. We drove back to Cromwell happy that the home team won. Matt, Charlie and I then met for dinner, another Italian restaurant called Lido’s, where I enjoyed more fish!

After a final night in Cromwell, on Monday morning, Charlie chauffeured a final trip to the airport and I headed for Vegas via US Air! I was blessed with a safe flight home.

Phoenix, Arizona

I had one night at home, to unpack, launder, and repack! The next day, Tuesday, October 6, I flew via Southwest Airlines to Phoenix where I met up with my Heart of the West Governor Roger Smart. I was picked up at the airport by Heart of the West Civitan District Area Director John Maddox and Roger. We took off to Sun City, Arizona to meet with the Civitan Club of the Sun Cities. Over a Chinese lunch, I became their keynote speaker and talked about the latest goals and happenings for the coming year.

After lunch, we headed to the Joyce Ridge Civitan House to meet up with Past Governor Deborah Maddox. Many years ago, Civitan gave the down payment for the home for 22 developmentally disabled individuals. Most of them have jobs and pay all or a portion of their rent. Max McQueen, Civitan House Director, took us on a tour of the three buildings.

We then went to the Arizona Grand Resort, http://www.arizonagrandresort.com/luxury-arizona-villas.php, this resort is one of the candidates for the Heart of the West Civitan District Convention next summer. We stayed a night at this location. Roger and I dressed up for the great banquet that evening, the 30^th Anniversary of the Phoenix Bird Civitan Club. Made up of developmentally disabled individuals, many who are residents of the Civitan House.

We had a great evening. Roger and I were honored to install the Phoenix Bird Civitans and the Metro Phoenix Civitan Club at the same time. There were many Civitans from all over Phoenix area. I was given a saguaro cactus wind chime as a gift from the Phoenix Bird club.

The next morning, Deborah met us and we had breakfast at the Arizona Grand and a tour of the convention facilities. Then, Roger and I headed to the airport and I again headed back to Vegas! Another Rockin’ trip, 12 days of travel was quite wearing.

Civitan District Conventions-Second 3 Trips

2009-10-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

Magnolia District Civitan Convention
On Thursday, August 27, I began my trek to Louisiana for the Magnolia Civitan District Convention. I combined this trip with work for Central Christian Church, www.centralchristian.com. One of the companies we work with is headquartered in Shreveport, and I was able to find a non-stop flight on a low-fare Allegiant Airlines. This is one of those no-frills, low cost airlines based in Las Vegas traveling to smaller regional airports. Very inexpensive, but you have to pay to select your seat, pay for your first and second bag, even pay for juice or a Coke. The MD80 plane seemed retro, there was no back pocket on the seat in front of me and the seats do not recline. First time I have seen this type of seating. But I arrived safely!

Then the trouble started. First the bags took over an hour to get from the plane to the baggage carousel, but then I was pleased that Hertz upgraded me to a Mustang! I walked out the double doors and down the lane of cars and found a dirty white Mustang. Well that didn’t stop my enthusiasm, I figured it was just going to get dirtier! Placed my bags in the trunk and opened the car door. The smell of tobacco smoke came out of the car, still not dissuaded, surely with the open road and the windows open, I could blow the smoke and dust out of the car. I started the car and found that there was only ¾ tank of gas, despite the documentation that indicated that the car was full of gas. That was the last straw. So I went to the Hertz counter and complained, I was greeted with another vehicle. Dirty white on the outside, but clean and full of gas. This little compact Chevrolet Aveo looked like it had roller skate wheels.

I had borrowed my wife Cassi’s GPS, which made it easy to navigate to the business meeting I had planned for the church. Then off to the Hilton hotel down the street. I went to my floor, entered my room and opened the curtains and before me were the Sam’s Town Hotel and Casino and the Eldorado Hotel and Casino. I thought I was looking out of a window in Las Vegas! There was a Ralph & Kacoo’s restaurant about 20 miles away. The last time I enjoyed Ralph & Kacoo’s was in Birmingham in early 1998 during Governor-Elects’ Academy. Across the highway from our hotel was a Ralph & Kacoo’s Restaurant on a hill. Three of us went to the restaurant and shared an appetizer of alligator. Although the sign is still displayed in Birmingham, the restaurant has been closed for years. I didn’t have alligator this time, but did enjoy a mixed grill platter that included catfish, shrimp, soft shell crab, crab stuffed shrimp and oysters.

On Friday morning, I left the hotel and ventured toward Lafayette, Louisiana, the site of the Magnolia Civitan District Convention. My Governor Peggy Brewer and Ralph were meeting me just north of Lafayette for lunch at a Cajun restaurant called Perjean’s. I had downpours of rain so thick I could barely see. Then there would be sun and clouds with no rain, then I would drive into another downpour. When I arrived at the restaurant, Peggy, Ralph and Kate Geoghegan greeted me at the front door of the restaurant. The parking lot was almost full for early Friday lunch. The menu was quite extensive. I was undecided and was reluctant to try the crawfish, so I settled on blue crab cakes. The lunches arrived and the food was delicious. Kate had crawfish etouffee and fried crawfish and allowed me to try both. Wow, they were delicious!

We then drove to the Lafayette Hilton and checked into our rooms. Ralph offered to give me a tour of the city, and then Breaux Bridge, and Atchafalaya Swamp. We stopped at a visitor center that had free Community coffee, a fantastic goody bag for me and Ralph and I watched a short movie about the forming of the swamp, its inhabitants, and its ecological benefits.

On Friday evening the Magnolia Civitan District Convention began, I was thrilled to see Past International President Alvin Owens and Lorraine and after an awesome fried catfish dinner, and a very amusing Cajun comedian Dave Petitjean, I addressed the attendees with a question and answer session. I utilized the topics from my speech I made at the Civitan International Convention Installation. Then we all went to the hospitality room to bid on some silent auction items and discuss many Civitan ideas.

Saturday morning began the business session of the convention, I was surprised when I was presented with the Key to the City of Lafayette. I provided a fun activity with The Big Picture puzzle team building exercise. This was the largest group that I had ever had for this exercise and was pleased with the result. It was entertaining as well as educational. After lunch, I trained the Area Directors in their new positions.

Then at dinner, I presented the installation of Peggy and her new team, using the Civitan Rocks installation speech. Alvin Owens to assisted me with the pinning of the team. Peggy and her team had prepared a rendition of the WE WILL ROCK you lyrics complete with blow up guitars, sunglasses and more. Awards were presented to many clubs and Civitans that night.

Early the next morning, I awoke and started back to Shreveport for my return flight to Las Vegas. The weather, the car and everything cooperated and I arrived home safely.

I had a weekend off, as no districts plan their conventions on Labor Day weekend. So I worked my regular days at the church and had a list of honey-do’s and to-do’s to complete. I realized on Friday prior to Labor Day that my upstairs air conditioner was not working, so I shut it down and called in to have a service man come on Tuesday. Fortunately the days were not too hot. I also had a sprinkler that would not stop running, so I had to find and replace the solenoid.

Florida Civitan District Convention
On Thursday, September 10th, Cassi and I awoke early. She was finally able to travel with me to the Florida Civitan District Convention in Indiatlantic/Melbourne, Florida. We had scheduled a flight on Southwest Airlines from Las Vegas to Orlando and our two flights were on time and safe. We receive our luggage and took a shuttle to our Holiday Inn Hotel. After we freshened up, we met newly elected President-Elect Gay Aaron and Past International Director Helen Galloway in the lobby and then met more Florida Civitans at the Tony Roma’s including B.J. Cook and Marilyn Terborg and Robert Brightman.

I had changed my status on Facebook to indicate that I was on the way to Melbourne, Florida. Like usual, I receive comments from 5 or 6 friends each time. But this time, I received an email from Jim Hale. Jim and I worked at a Rent-A-Racer in Indianapolis in high school. I haven’t seen or spoken to him for more than 30 years. He tells me in the email, that he lives only a few blocks from the hotel I was staying at. Although we were not able to meet up due to each other’s schedules, it amazes me that we live in a world where we can connect with friends without geographic boundaries. www.facebook.com/civimark.

The next morning, my Governor Frank Kelley and his wife Kim met us at the hotel to travel to Melbourne. It was great to catch up with Frank and spend time getting to know Kim. Cassi and I noticed all of the lakes and rivers and then when we arrived at the Crown Plaza Hotel, we found ourselves on the beach. We checked in and we were very pleased with our fourth floor balcony overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the beach before it. A sign on the sliding glass door warned of the light from our room, that could disturb the sea turtles. This was the best view from a hotel room so far! I was glad that Cassi could enjoy it. She does so love the ocean view and sounds of the waves.

I attended the Board of Directors meeting and then the convention began with Friday night banquet. It was great to see Past International President Polly Forestier and Victor. Polly is very involved in the district, I find that very admirable. The luau themed event was entertaining and the Michelee Puppets demonstrated one of their educational puppet shows that showed how to help a friend that is be bullied at school.

The next morning started early with the Past Governors’ Council and the new Presidents and Presidents-elect forum at 7:00am. I attempted to attend both by starting at the Past Governors’ Council then moved to the Forum. Then the opening ceremonies began at the Business Session. I made my Civitan Rocks Our World speech. During lunch, the Florida District presented a young high school Senior with a $1,000 scholarship.

After lunch, I was to present a workshop to the delegates called “Mark”eting Civitan, Recruitment and Retention. This interactive visual and verbal workshop encourages the delegates to think about potential members that could be Civitans and then gives them methods to begin recruiting them to the club, project or social. Frank Kelley also had me train his area directors for the coming year.

Cassi and I arrived at the closing banquets in my suit and her dress. The banquet room was decorated by Frank’s home club, the Clearwater Civitan Club. With blow-up guitars on the walls and palms, the Civitan Rocks Our World banner up front and a small bag of three rocks and a larger rock that had the word SPIRIT on it. I has the honor of presenting two Freedom Fellows to George and Elli Corey and a Research Center Fellow to Lori Clapp, then I also presented three Honor Keys to Steve Steenberge, Paul Deeley and Lori Clapp. I used my Civitan Rocks installation speech and the room Rocked! Lori spoke about her year and thanked the many people and clubs that helped her and Frank spoke about the coming year.

In the morning, we awoke early again and met Frank and Kim Kelley and their son Bryan and Lori Clapp for breakfast. Then Lori drove Cassi and me back to Orlando. Our flight on Southwest again was uneventful (that is good!) and we only had one-stop and didn’t have to get off the airplane. When we arrived at Las Vegas airport, we waited and waited for our suitcases. After an hour, we decided to go over the to Southwest baggage handling office and Cassi found our two bags sitting there, apparently they arrived on an earlier flight than we did. As I become a more seasoned traveler, I think I will remember that this could happen, could save me an hour here or there!

Region 5 Civitan Convention
On Thursday, September 17, I fly on United to Toronto, where Paul Scudds and Anna Cavicchia met me at the airport and we went to their favorite Italian Restaurant called Mastro’s. I stayed at their home for the night, then off to Midland, Ontario for the Region 5 Convention where both Canada District East and Canada District West have their combined conventions. Again, I felt that I was driving through the forest, can’t seem to get used to that. It was cooler in Midland than Toronto, especially when we arrived at Georgian Bay. We had lunch at Scully’s overlooking the bay and the boat harbor. Along with Paul and Anna, Norma Johnston, Sandie Smale, and Greg and Suzanne Dobbie had lunch with us. I had the Crabby Patties, which reminded me of my daughter who watches Sponge Bob. I posed with one of the Blues Brothers at the restaurant. The off to the hotel, noting the beautiful murals on the walls of buildings along the way in this quaint village.

I checked in to the Best Western and my suite was very large, with a fireplace, Jacuzzi tub, bathrobes. I called Cassi and told her. She wished she would have been able to join me. She was supposed to be there, but the FDIC auditors were at her bank for an annual review. My friend Trina Smith posed with me with one of her favorite hats!

Friday night began with a Western themed dinner. There was a local DJ and the “Boat Races” began at 10pm. I was able to participate in this fun activity, but I am sworn to secrecy!

The next morning began with an early morning hot breakfast and the Civitan International Foundation of Canada meeting. Fred Chalk announced his retirement as Chairperson of the Foundation after a celebrated 20 year term. After competitive elections were completed, Lyle Armstrong became the new Chairperson.

The Region 5 Meeting then began and Region 5 Director Bob Evans led his final meeting. I was able to address the delegates and provided a speech similar to the Las Vegas installation speech “Civitan Rocks Our World”. Incoming Region 5 Director Ross Munro addressed the delegates as well.

The districts then split into their respective rooms and conducted the business of Civitan for the next Civitan Year, speeches were given by incoming as well as outgoing leaders.

After a quick “ironing board” luncheon, I presented my “Mark”eting Civitan, Recruitment and Retention seminar followed by “The Big Picture” puzzle team building exercise. The Governor’s reception followed, then it was back to the room to put the tux on! Every table had “Rockets” candy, another fitting candy (like Pop Rocks and Rock Candy) to go with the theme “Civitan Rocks Our World”.
The outgoing and incoming district leaders and International dignitaries and spouses and guests assembled for the receiving line. Then a bagpipe player led the line into the banquet hall and the head table were seated. The program was very formal with remarks and thank yous. The honor key was given to Linda Keast and Greg Dobbie. Civitan of the Year was presented to Fred Chalk. A Research Center Fellow was given to Region 5 Director Bob Evans and Fred Chalk. A Junior Civitan Fellow was presented to Norma Johnston. I installed the new leaders of both districts with the assistance of Bob Evans and Ross Munro. I used the “Civitan Rocks” installation. Paul Scudds and Anna Cavicchia provided three rocks in bags for each person in attendance. I also presented a speech about the Civitan International Research Center, the past Civitan year and the future of Civitan. Both of my Governors Ted Coqueran and Paul Scudds spoke on their goals for the next Civitan year. The Junior Civitan Governor Aliyah Mohamed and her brother and father attended the convention. Aliyah’s father was very impressed with the Civitan organization and the brother is interested in forming a Campus Civitan Club at the University of Toronto. Incoming Governor of California District Sandie Shapiro was present as well, and we had some time to discuss the next year.

After a brief pause to remove the head table, a great band called “The DeSotos” performed hits from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. The drummer was the lead singer and he was a great impressionist of the song artists of that era.

Sunday morning began with a breakfast reception for incoming Governors Ted Coqueran and Paul Scudds. Everyone said their goodbyes and so longs, with many saying “see you at Sno-Do!” Most of the Canadian District East were transported by bus. Then Paul and Anna loaded the car and we were off to the Toronto airport. I flew Continental this leg of the trip. I arrived with plenty of time to navigate the bag check, customs and security and walk a long way to get to my gate, a hidden gate B7 in Terminal 3. A small jet made a short trip to Cleveland and I thought about the sitcom “That 70’s Show” that sings “Cleveland ROCKS!” and I thought about the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. Too bad I didn’t have time to shop for souvenirs. I saw a Max & Erma’s Neighborhood Bar. Many great memories of the Max & Erma’s in Indianapolis when I lived there.

We boarded the long flight to Las Vegas and I was surprised that Continental provide a light dinner with the flight for free? Rare these days. Only a salad and a chicken and cheese wrap, but it was a good snack to tie me over.

Another fantastic weekend convention. The Canadians definitely know how to celebrate! Oh, by the way, I never had time to use the fireplace or the Jacuzzi tub… Too much to do at the convention. They worked me all day on Saturday. But that is what I am here for! Civitan ROCKS Canada!

Civitan Rocks - Day One

2009-10-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

Greetings Civitans and future Civitans!

Today is the first day of a new Civitan Year. As your new Civitan International President, I first want to thank President Danny Jackson and Corine for serving our great organization. Thank you to the leaders of this past year for their hard work and their efforts to volunteer to help others during a challenging time. Congratulations to club builders, to new clubs, and clubs that qualify for Honor Club status and Golden Circle status. Congratulations to member recruiters and to new Civitan members. Welcome to Civitan!

With every new year, we are able to start anew, to look toward the future with anticipation. I believe that this year will be one of renewal. We have the opportunity to make a huge impact in our world. The Civitan International theme for this year is Civitan Rocks Our World. This theme symbolizes the worldwide impact we make and celebrates the Civitan members, the Clubs and Districts that make a difference in the lives of people we help.

Why Civitan? Civitan Rocks! Because we:
• Have a ROCK-solid international, service club organization with a hard working volunteers and staff.
• Have a renowned Civitan International Research Center discovering cures to diseases and disabilities in our lifetime.
• Have an awesome Junior Civitan youth program and Campus Civitan college program!
• Will expand the use of today’s technology, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and video conferencing, to reach Civitans and potential Civitans of all ages.
• Will strategically expand into new countries and add clubs in existing International countries.
• Will build more special interest clubs this year, including Civitan clubs for golfers, scrapbookers, quilters, bowlers and more.
• Will Leave a Legacy by building younger clubs in communities so that the Civitan name and service will continue in those communities.

I believe that we will have a successful year. I hope you believe what I believe. Now, how do we begin? Recruitment of new members and retention of members is of utmost priority. I challenge each of you to write down four names of people you would like to invite to be in Civitan, in your club or another club; and invite them (in-person, by telephone, by email, by letter, by greeting card) to a club meeting, project or social.

Ask them to have the same great opportunity you are experiencing. Think about former Civitans, your friends, co-workers, son, daughter and other relatives, . Please recruit a member by December 31st and let’s kickoff the year right! Encourage these new members to recruit more members. Someone asked you, someone asked me, so please ask someone to join Civitan! To help retain club members, thank your fellow Civitans for their membership and participation! Tell them that they are making an impact in the lives of others. Tell them “YOU ROCK!”

A special invitation for those of you that are not Civitans, we invite you to join the excitement, join our cause to help others, children, seniors, and especially individuals with disabilities. Our vision is larger than our membership, so join us, we need YOU to help us make a difference in the lives of others less fortunate. Join Civitan! (Email me for more information, my email is listed below or click on www.civitan.org.)

I will be communicating with you throughout the year through my “Civitan Rocks!” blog, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and more. Please see the links below.

Our theme is more than a message, it is a drive for the future. We are not maintaining an organization that will last for ten more years, we are building an organization to last another 92 years and more! Civitan Rocks Our World!

Have a Rockin’ Year! Passionate about Civitan,

Mark Eisinger, MST
President 2009-2010
Civitan International

Mark's links and email:

www.civitan.org/blogs
www.facebook.com/civimark
www.twitter.com/civimark
civimark@helloworld.com

Link to Mark Eisinger’s full speech from the Installation Banquet at the Civitan International Convention in Las Vegas, NV, July 8, 2009:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBoKLZT8Xlc&feature=channel_page

International links:

www.civitan.org
www.juniorcivitan.org

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Civitan-International/35675760574
http://www.youtube.com/user/civitandave

Civitan District Conventions - First Three Trips

2009-09-13T17:59:00.000-07:00

Today is September 11th and I pause to remember and to pray for those that were affected by this unfortunate event 8 years ago. I was able to visit the Pentagon Memorial with my Governor Maribeth Jacobs, immediately following the Chesapeake Civitan District Convention. This will be discussed in my blog.

My birthday recognition for Civitan

August 5^th was my birthday and Facebook’s Cause application sent me an offer to celebrate my birthday by asking my Facebook friends to donate to Civitan International in lieu of gifts. I was led through the process and easily set up status updates that would automatically update every few days and on my birthday. My goal was $500 to be donated, in increments of $25 each. I was able to raise $175 for Civitan International in just a few days and a few of the donors were not Civitans!

Heartland District Civitan Convention

The next day, I headed to the airport for my first trip of 9 District Conventions with a flight on Southwest Airlines to Little Rock, Arkansas. Cassi was supposed to accompany me, but her work at the bank took precedence so I traveled alone. Incoming International Director Fred Norman picked me up at the airport, and we traveled to Hot Springs. We discussed club building and some new ideas for the future.

I was surprised about the humidity and the trees. It looked like we were driving through a forest! We arrived on Thursday, August 6^th at the hotel and met up with some good friends. Current International Director Shirley Stone and her husband Bill invited me to join them for dinner, along with Dr. Hank Janzen. We headed for the best ribs in Hot Springs. McClard’s Bar-B-Q Restaurant (www.mcclards.com) has been smoking meat for over 80 years. The smell was awesome when we found the small, old restaurant. We selected various versions of ribs and it was a memorable dinner!

The next morning started the convention themed “Having a Ball in Hot Springs”, complete with goody bags made of material and emblazoned with various graphics of different types of “balls”, baseball, juggler’s balls, billiard balls, golf balls, etc. They even had matching t-shirts! My Governor Debbie Juhlke and I were brought to the front of the meeting room and I threw the first pitch accurately into Debbie’s baseball glove! The baseball was imprinted with the “Heartland District”.

Current Governor Jack Fournier presented me with the baseball as a souvenir.

For lunch, we went to the Hot Springs Country Club where Civitan hosted a great luncheon with various businesses that purchased tables. Civitan's honoree was Keith Jackson, a former Green Bay Packer Football player. Keith had an awesome message about “Passion, Purpose, and Productivity”. He was very personable, signing autographs and taking pictures with Civitans and guests. He found out I was going to be International President and that I was from Las Vegas. He stated that he didn’t gamble, he went to Las Vegas for the buffets! I suggested he try the Paris Hotel buffet on his next trip. Keith made a note of this dining option.

On Friday evening, there were two options for the city tours, one was an art walk, I chose the walking tour of the Garvan Woodland Gardens. I was able to dine on a box dinner with Past International President Markham Howe and his wife Gayle. The wide variety of lush plants from all over the world were expansive. A young University of Arkansas student provided explanations of the history and the plants that we observed.

On Saturday, we began the business meeting with nominations, elections and I spoke about “Momentum” and our desire to maintain a momentum of growth, excitement and impact in our communities through Civitan. Debbie then revealed our new theme “Civitan Rocks Our World” with a loud Freddy Mercury style announcement (Mike Blackwood) and “We Will Rock You” on the speakers! New logo shirts with a custom front “Heartland District – Solid as a Rock” set this district’s shirts apart from other theme logo shirts.

Saturday afternoon had two great seminars, C. W. Miller presented Tricky Triangles, a great communication seminar. While I presented a new workshop “Technology On The Rocks” (adapted from Civitan International Public Relations Director David Bledsoe’s workshop held at the Las Vegas Civitan International Convention), an hour long Powerpoint overview of technology changes and those that are being used by Civitans as tools for awareness, recruiting and social interaction.

After a break, the participants returned for a live session with an online look at Skype video conference with my daughter Morgan in Las Vegas, an example of Facebook, Twitter, TweetDeck and YouTube, along with the Civitan website. The room was only set for 20 Civitans, but many chairs were brought in for a total of 45 who attended this new workshop.

At night, awards were given and I presented a keynote speech similar to my installation speech at the International convention and then I installed Debbie Juhlke and her team as the next Heartland Civitan District leaders! I used rough rocks to symbolize Service, polished rocks for Knowledge and a crystal for Fellowship. Special thanks to the Hot Springs Civitan Club for great hospitality and organization as the host club for the convention!

Sunday, Past International Director Jack Truesdale and Lee drove me and Albert Cox back to Little Rock. We had some time, so Jack drove around the Clinton Library and many downtown Little Rock sites. This was my first visit to Little Rock, so I appreciated the tour. Then off to the airport and back to Las Vegas!

Alabama North Civitan District Convention

On August 13, Southwest Airlines was our transportation to the Alabama North Civitan District Convention. My daughter Morgan joined me on this trip, with only two weeks before her school start, this would be our only opportunity for a trip before school absorbed her time. We flew into Birmingham, my Governor Elizabeth McDowell and her husband Robert, picked us up at the airport. We traveled to Lake Guntersville State Park and checked into the rustic lodge.

Friday afternoon, Morgan was outside on our balcony that overlooked Lake Guntersville, she was taking pictures of the lake and a squirrel that was on the ledge a floor below. We found some peanuts and tossed some down. The squirrel went to each one, and one by one, sat on his hind quarters and used his front paws to hold the nut and nibble. Then, we borrowed Elizabeth and Robert’s Jeep Cherokee and drove over to the campground area, saw a couple of emus, shopped at the country store, bought a couple of YooHoos and drove through the forest. We came upon deer standing in the middle of the road. I stopped the car and we marveled at the closeness of these beautiful calm animals. We counted five total in this area. Then we continued to drive and saw more deer, we counted a total of 17 deer.

Friday evening, Alabama North Civitan District Junior Civitan Governor Kristin Ford and Junior Civitan Secretary/Treasurer Brittney Alexander arrived and Morgan was glad to have teens her age there to hang with. Seeing Past International President Dr. Bobbie Walden and Bob and Past International Director Ric Moore and Frances was wonderful! Since it was a western theme, I gave my Civitan Rocks Our World speech (similar to my installation acceptance speech) while wearing a western outfit including my prized leather jacket from the 50^th anniversary of the National Finals Rodeo which are held in Las Vegas.

Saturday was a great day with business sessions, nominations, elections, awards. I was presented the Key to the City of Guntersville, my very first key to a city! Then in the afternoon, I was honored to train the Alabama North District Area Directors. Then the presidents joined the directors for a reception and I presented my team building exercise “The Big Picture” using puzzles and leading the group to a very applicable Civitan orientated meaning.

Saturday night completed awards presentations, finalized the silent auction, presented door prizes and a key was found that unlocked the treasure chest. I installed my Governor Elizabeth McDowell’s team for the next Civitan year. I again used the “Civitan Rocks” installation speech. Elizabeth had the three rocks in a little woven bag at each person’s place. She also had special one-inch “Civitan Rocks Our World” pins and name badges made.

Morgan made some new friends and enjoyed our time together. Early Sunday morning, Robert McDowell chauffeured us back to Birmingham to board our home flight back to Las Vegas, another special weekend concluded!

Chesapeake Civitan District Convention

Thursday, August 20^th started early as I went to McCarran Airport to catch my Delta (Northwest) flight to Detroit, then onto Washington DC – Reagan National Airport for the Chesapeake Civitan District Convention. I thought I was lucky since Delta upgraded me to First Class from Las Vegas to Detroit, but Mother Nature was not my lucky charm. As we approached Detroit, the pilot announced that we needed to circle Toledo for about a half hour due to a large bank of thunderstorms preventing airplanes to land in Detroit. This delay caused a 45 minute reduction in a one hour lay-over. Since I was in First Class, I did get the advantage of an early deplaning. I rushed to the gate for my connecting flight and when I arrived, they closed the door. Out of breath, I asked the gate attendant if I had missed the flight. She assured me that they had not begun boarding process. So I sat and waited.

Although we left late, I still was in pretty good shape with my timing. You see, I was to give a keynote address to the Frederick Civitan Club meeting Thursday evening at 7:00pm. The plane traveled on the taxi lane and then made an abrupt stop… the engines stopped and the pilot announced that the thunderstorms have prevented east bound flights from taking off. There were 15 planes in front of us and he had no idea how long the wait would be. The wait turned into an hour long delay and then we took off toward Washington D.C. I arrived at 7:00pm and after luggage and found Governor Joe O’Toole, we were on the road to Frederick. Here we are driving by our nation’s most notable landmarks, the White House, the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial. And here again we are driving through a forest! Beautiful drive.

We finally arrived at the restaurant around 8:30pm, Even though it was a half hour after the meeting had ended, there were 25 Civitan members and guests still waiting our arrival. I felt honored that so many would stick around and wait. They had watched the new Civitan International Research Center video. Past International President Syd Fishman attended, along with International Director Charlie Jackowski and Patti, Past International Director Fon Smith and Charlie, Club President Bill Jackson and of course Governor Joe O’Toole and JoAnn. I gave a speech similar to the one that I gave the night of my installation in Las Vegas at the International Convention.

Next, we caravanned to Martinsburg, WV to the Holiday Inn, the weekend home of the Chesapeake Civitan District Convention. Friday was filled with meetings of the Chesapeake District Foundation and the Board of Directors. Then after a nice meal with Governor Joe and JoAnn, the Foundation Meeting began, where many important topics were discussed, elections held and grants given. It was great to see Foundation President Chip Hill and Secretary Bev, Treasurer Whit Mallory and Eleanor, and my fellow Governor from 1998-1999 Doug Potter and Patty and Past International Director Patty Kinder and Eugene at this meeting.

Saturday morning began with the festivities of a convention opening. Elections were held and Incoming Governor Maribeth Jacobs and I presented the new theme “Civitan Rocks Our World”! I presented my “Big Picture” team building exercise with the delegates and they had a great time! In the afternoon, I met with the six Area Directors and they are now officially trained!

Saturday evening started the banquet celebration. The theme of the banquet was “Lost in the 50’s”. It was very conducive to the new Civitan Rocks theme. Many wore clothing of the era, including poodle skirts, slicked back hair, pink ladies and Thunderbirds. A young Civitan, Julie Ludwick, sang the National Anthem with her beautiful voice! I sported a bowling shirt and rolled up jeans while I installed Governor Maribeth Jacobs and her new team. The “Civitan Rocks” Installation Speech was again the popular selection. Past International President Syd Fishman assisted me in the pinning of the new team. The room was decorated with records, inflated guitars, microphones and saxophones. The disc jockeys began their production, all were wearing the same color of bowling shirt as I was wearing. They entertained everyone with a hoola hoop competition, line dancing, even the late Elvis visited obviously from his later years. The Civitans, young and experienced enjoyed the music by taking advantage of the dance floor.

Sunday morning after a breakfast gathering, the Chesapeake Civitan District Convention came to a close and all bid farewell until next time. Maribeth became a tour guide and drove me to some monuments I hadn’t seen before. We went to Iwo Jima, past the Arlington Cemetary, and the Air Force Memorial, then we stopped at the Pentagon Memorial and saw the tribute to the 184 persons who died on that spot on September 11, 2001. The “wing” style benches, one for each of the 184, some pointing toward the Pentagon (those on the plane) and some pointing opposite (for those in the Pentagon). It was a very moving experience. After a quick lunch at a huge mall nearby, I was back on a Northwest flight to Minneapolis, then on to Vegas. Oh, and I was upgraded again… both flights! Another fantastic Civitan weekend experience!

Next blog, more trips to Magnolia District and the Region 5 Canadian Districts Convention! Until then, have a great week!

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

2009-08-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the new Civitan Rocks Our World blog.

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!

One of the best weeks of my life!

2009-07-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

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 one 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 3rd

The week started with my mom and dad arriving on Friday, July 3rd. Richard and Ramona Eisinger traveled from my former hometown of Indianapolis, IN and we checked into the timeshare at the Wyndham Grand Vacations, it was a beautiful two bedroom "condo" with jacuzzi tubs, and overlooked the two pools, incredible view. My mom's brother Bob and his wife Bobbie also arrived that day.

4th of July

On the 4th of July, my wife Cassi and I were able to check into our suite on the 29th floor of the Las Vegas Hilton... it was actually 3 rooms all merged into one huge suite with three separate balconies, a western style suite that our daughter called the "saloon". The Las Vegas Hilton comped the room for us since the Civitan International Convention was going to be held there from July 6-8th. My cousins Lori Foster and Kathy and Keith Cuvelier arrived and they checked into another timeshare two-bedroom "condo" at Wyndham, only a few doors down from mom and dad's "condo".

The Staff and Board Members arrived for the beginning of the pre-convention activities, the Civitan International Board began our meeting at 3:00pm.

Cassi and I heard that there were going to be fireworks at the Las Vegas Hilton that night, so around 9:00pm, my relatives all joined us in the suite. We went out on the large balcony. The fireworks began at the golf course across the street. We were surprised how close they were! Just as the golf course fireworks ended, all of the sudden, the Las Vegas Hilton fireworks began, they were launched from the parking garage 26 floors beneath us. When the fireworks exploded, it was right near our balcony, we felt like we could reach out and touch the beautiful colors!

July 5th

The International board finished our meeting in the morning. (Photo right: Glen and Patsy Perkel and Virginia Campbell and John McAffee in Host District Hospitality Room) All of my Governors-Elect arrived for our Governor/Governors-Elect update. It was a great reunion of an awesome team! After a wonderful President's Award Dinner, Cassi and I joined over 130 putters to participate in the Putt-N-Chip fundraiser at Angel Park Golf Club's executive putting course. The putters were impressed with the tough "real green" course with the water falls and sand traps.

July 6th

Although I wasn't able to golf this year for the Civitan International Golf Benefit, Danny and I switched places so I was able to be there for the awards presentation and say a few words thanking the golfers for raising over $285,000 this year!

What's Next? The next post (part two of three) will bring you the opening ceremonies and the rest of the Civitan International Convention experience. Come back and read more soon!