June 2025

KI-NOTES June 2025 (Issue NO. 41) A Publication of the Texas-Oklahoma District of Kiwanis International Contact us Governor: Bobby Quinten Immediate Past Governor: Dr. Kathy Culbertson OUR STORY KI Notes Staff The first Kiwanis Club in what is now the Texas-Oklahoma District, was officially completed February 10, 1917, at Dallas, Texas, with a membership of 200. Due to the increasing number of clubs across the country members realized the need of setting up the District organization. In October 1918, the Dallas Club selected one of its members to serve as interim Governor of the Texas-Oklahoma District until an organization conference could be arranged. The first meeting was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and on February 10, 1919, the Texas-Oklahoma District was organized. 4 Governor's Message 6 DCON 12 Events 14 A Look at Clubs 24 What is Marketing? 29 Silent Auction at DCON 30 10X10 Marketing Plan 36 CKI Updates 38 In Loving Memory 39 Editor's Message www.instagram.com/texas.oklahoma.kiwanis/ Contents www.txokkiwanis.org https://twitter.com/txokkiwanis 24-25 District Officers Editor: Evelyn Herrera District Marketing Chair: Marshall Kregel txokdist@swbell.net texas oklahoma district www.facebook.com/texasoklahomakiwanis P. O. Box 820945, North Richland Hills, TX 76182 817-640-7711 Texas Oklahoma Kiwanis District  Governor's Message Bobby Quinten ALL THAT JAZZ ABOUT CONVENTIONS As your governor, I am honored to welcome you to the 107th Texas-Oklahoma District Convention at the Denton Convention Center July 24-26! I am extremely grateful to those who have registered to attend. I promise that your DCON team is assembling an impactful conference well worth your time and resources to attend. Are you sitting on the fence about joining me at DCON? Here are just a few of the benefits that a Kiwanis District Convention provides. Friendship—there is nothing better than like-minded people gathering together, breaking bread, and sharing their experiences. Long-time Kiwanians reconnect. New Kiwanians make lasting acquaintances. Best Practices—when Kiwanians gather, inevitably they share stories from their community activities. When you pack to return home, you pack ideas, projects, and learnings from others that could be game changers for your club back home. Training—DCON is THE training week for T-O Kiwanians. Experienced experts will host interactive forums on subjects critical to your club’s success in the coming year. Officers will learn to lead effectively in their Club Leadership Education classes. We will introduce Kiwanis Engage to everyone at DCON. Service—Attendees will have multiple opportunities to serve the local Denton community with fundraisers and projects. The Service Room gives convention goers a chance to sample projects that they can take home to their clubs. Friday evening’s Murder Mystery Dinner supports the award-winning Denton Kiwanis Children’s Clinic, celebrating its 100th birthday this year. Inspiration—you will hear stories about how T-O Kiwanians are making children’s worlds a better place. You will hear keynotes that will lift you up and challenge you to work even harder for kids. You will celebrate our colleagues who left us last year and lean on each other for the work ahead. Planning—our House of Delegates will elect the next governor and governor-elect for the Mighty T-O District. There will be important bylaw changes up for consideration as we build together a robust district for the future. Celebration—we will show our gratitude to those who reached their goals, led successfully, and went above and beyond for the Kiwanis mission. We all leave for home uplifted, excited, and prepared for the road ahead. So, come on! Please join me in Denton this July. I promise good times, good food, good people, and good ideas for taking your community engagement to the next level in 2025-26. See you there! Bobby Quinten TX-OK Kiwanis Governor Friday, July 25, keynote lunch speakers include Lucie Nguyen and Karim Shaaban. Lucie is the immediate past governor of the Texas-Oklahoma District CKI. Karim is the president of the Nederland Key Club and a recent top foundation scholarship award winner. The Saturday, July 26, keynote lunch speaker is Gary Weiland. Gary was a firefighter in Denton, Texas, for 7 years when he experienced a series of very unfortunate events. His leg was amputated just below his knee. These incidents were not enough to stop Gary. He continued on to work, became an American Ninja Warrior and entrepreneur, and joined multiple USA para teams. For any questions on the WIK program contact us at: txokdistrict@gmail.com. A. Martin Mullins, III, “Marty” Marty was born in Memphis, TN, moved to Texas at the age of 6, and grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Marty’s Kiwanis adventure started when he was invited by his banker to a Kiwanis Club of Cedar Creek Lake meeting in September of 2009. After attending the meeting and seeing what the club was about, he joined and was elected club president-elect for the 2010-2011 year. Marty serves on the Kiwanis Club of Cedar Creek Lake’s Board of Directors, chairing several project committees; has served as president twice, president-elect twice, interim president twice, Division 26 lieutenant governor for three terms, and is presently on his second term as trustee for the Region 7 Piney Woods. Through his relatively short time in Kiwanis, he has been honored as a Distinguished Member, a Distinguished President, a Distinguished Lieutenant Governor, a Walter Zeller Presidential Fellow, and Kiwanian of the Year twice. When not taking care of Kiwanis business or working, Marty volunteers in his community. He presently serves as the Chair of the Cedar Creek Lake Area Chamber of Commerce (GBC/Mabank/Tool/Seven Points/Kemp); Chamber Ambassadors Vice President and Chair and/or committee member on all Chamber events; Chair of the Gun Barrel City Chamber Chapter; President of the Board of Directors for the Library at Cedar Creek Lake in Seven Points, TX; Vice Chair of the City of Gun Barrel City Ordinance Review Committee; and volunteers at the Refuge at Cedar Creek Lake Food Pantry. Marty has been married 28 years to his wife, Anne, and has two grown daughters, Melissa and Krystal, along with four grandchildren. Melissa is a member of the Tyler Rose Club. After 35 years in the engineering industry, Marty and Anne, who is an architect, started TexasAbility, LLC, where Marty performs plan reviews and site inspections for compliance with the Texas Accessibility Standards. He also volunteers with several industry organizations, including serving as the vice president of the Illuminating Engineering Society in Fort Worth, TX; Texas Chapter Board Member of the International Association of Electrical Inspectors in Irving, TX; membership chair for the Southern Section Board (11 states) of the International Association of Electrical Inspectors in Alabama; and on the Legal & Legislative Committee for the Accessibility Professionals Association in Austin, TX. Marty is looking to advance his Kiwanis journey by running for 2026-2027 Governor-Elect and would appreciate your support. Texas-Oklahoma District Foundation will once again be recognizing Women in Kiwanis (WIK) at the foundation luncheon on Friday, July 25, 2025 at DCON in Denton. The WIK endowment fund helps raise money for scholarships for CKI and Key Club students to attend leadership trainings. For more information on the award and how your clb can order, check out the WIK page on our district website under "Support Our Programs". Awards to be presented at the luncheon can be ordered up until July 7, 2025. OUR DISTRICT KIWANIS TEXAS-OKLAHOMA DISTRICT   Weatherford, OK, Kiwanis Club is participating in a competitive blood drive this June 9, 2025. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Stafford Air & Space Museum the Kiwanis club will compete with their local Rotary club to drive up the numbers of donors. Save the date! Denton Kiwanis is bringing back the 4th of July Fireworks Show! The event is being held at the Denton Fairgrounds on Thursday July 3. Parking on the fairgrounds will be available at $10 per car. No cost to come into the fairgrounds if you park somewhere else. Scholarships & Boat Races Featuring The Kiwanis of Holly Lake Ranch, Big Sandy Kiwanis of Holly Lake Ranch, Big Sandy, awarded scholarships to local area high school graduates at a special luncheon on May 14th. The nine scholarship recipients are seniors from Harmony, Hawkins, and Big Sandy High Schools. We’d like to congratulate these graduates for their accomplishments, and we wish them well as they enter the next phase of their academic careers. The 2025 scholarship winners are Kylie Adams and Kalynn Ellison from Hawkins High School, Maecy Toland and Konnor Ellison from Harmony High School, and Ryleigh Allen, T.J. Shipman, Kayden Smith, Emily Thibodeaux, and Lubryson Ross from Big Sandy High School. Freshman students from Hawkins High School gathered at Holly Lake on May 12th for the annual Cardboard Boat Races. Kiwanis volunteers served hot dogs prepared by the Holly Lake VFD to the kids before the races began. The object of the race was to sail boats constructed of nothing but cardboard and duct tape across the lake. While a few of the boats made it across the lake, some of the sailors failed to launch and went down with their ships. The winning team made it across the lake in 1:36. Creating massive impact one project at a time. A Look at Clubs Featuring The Hi-Plains Kiwanis Club HI-Plains Snapshots 1 3 1. Our newest member Stefanie Rodarte-Sudo was inducted into the Hi-Plains Kiwanis Club on May 15, 2025.  2. A visit to the Amarillo Regional Crime Center (ARCC) by the Hi-Plains Kiwanis Club was done on April 10, 2025. Picture shows Kiwanis member and police officer Carla Burr; Lieutenant Shane Chadwick, director of the ARCC; and Kiwanis member, retired police officer, and current Director of Amarillo Community Development Jason Riddlespurger. They're next to one of the drones used by the ARCC. 3. Amarillo Director of Community Development Director and Hi-Plains Kiwanis member Jason Riddlespurger speaking at the opening of the Amarillo Transformation Park for the Homeless. 4. Meeting with the Randall and West Plains Key Clubs on April 24, 2025 to discuss strategic planning for the upcoming year. Hi-Plains Kiwanis members Stefanie Rodarte-Sudo, Jason Riddlespurger, and Cassi Zenor, the Key Club advisor for both schools, guided the students. The following pictures show what the club has been doing the past quarter: 2 4 The Kiwanis Club of Weatherford, Texas, recently celebrated three wonderful men in our club for their dedication to the children in our community. They all 3 received a Legion of Honor Certificate, pin, and a cap. (1) President John Callison presented James Loiacano with a "Legion of Honor" certificate for "40 Years." (2) Treasurer James Loiacano presented Mike Barham with a "Legion of Honor" certificate for "30 Years." (3) President John Callison presented Larry Royal with a "Legion of Honor" certificate for "40 Years." (4) Mike, James, and Larry are pictured with their caps. Not pictured: John Forrest, who later also received a Legion of Honor certificate for "25 Years" and a pin. Kiwanis Club of greater abilene “KIDS NEED KIWANIS” GOLF TOURNAMENT Submitted by Lyndel Cook Kiwanis Club Of Arlington Visiting Larson Submitted by Evelyn Herrera The Kiwanis Club of Greater Abilene Kids Need Kiwanis Golf Tournament presented by Chad Dodson Roofing was April 17th at the Abilene Country Club. Phil Hill, Golf Committee Co-Chair, asked all members to support our golf tournament. Atmos Energy supplied the huge cooker full of pulled pork and other goodies for the golfers to eat and drink. There were two flights of golfers. The first flight started at 8:30 a.m. and the second flight started at 1:30 p.m. Several items were donated for the raffle and prizes were awarded to the golf teams with the best scores. So far, the tournament has grossed more than $98,000. More invoices are coming in and all the expenses still need to be tallied. Thanks to all the Kiwanians and sponsors that helped make this tournament a success. The Kiwanis Club of Arlington visited Larson Elementary to award the children for all of their hard work. Two honor roll winners were gifted bikes for their fabulous efforts. The BUGS program is one of the Kiwanis Club of Arlington's main programs. Both the members and students involved find great joy in excelling through it. By maintaining the program at several Arlington schools, children are encouraged to keep working hard while having fun. Kiwanis Club of Weatherford, Texas Celebrating Three Submitted by Shawn Loiacano Featuring the Kiwanis Club of greater abilene President Gail Jay reported that eight members of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Abilene met at Sam’s Club at 10 A.M. on April 28, 2025, to complete a service project for Division 35. Members in attendance were LTG Lyndel Cook, President Gail Jay, Secretary Nancy Baker, VP Phil Hill, Past President Ikie Taylor, Susan Holland, Susan Reid, and Lee Ann Millender. In preparation for the event, President Jay priced items from the list suggested by Love & Care Ministries of Abilene. Love & Care Ministries is a nonprofit that serves the community each week by feeding, ministering to, and loving people in need. This ministry has been operating since 1995. Kiwanians chose this non-profit for their service project because of the impact it has on the homeless and less fortunate people. A caring heart does not like to see people go hungry. While looking at the list of items, members were asked about the selections listed. We needed to get as much for our money as possible. Meat items were highly suggested, and adding “just a little sweet” always makes a person feel good. Kiwanians purchased 20 cases of pudding cups, 20 cases of Vienna sausages, and 10 cases of tuna pouches, making a total of 1,180 servings of food. After loading the 50 cases into LTG Cook’s pickup, we caravanned from Sam’s to Love & Care Ministries to unload them. Workers met us with carts to transport them inside. One worker commented, “We were praying that we would have food to feed everyone, and our prayers were answered!” That statement reinforced our mission of serving others. Although what we gave may have seemed small to them, it was just what was needed. We were all blessed by serving that day! Several members from the Greater Abilene Club attended the governor's visit. Thanks to Governor Bobby and the T/O Leadership Team for bringing a great program with lots of information and new ideas!!! KIWANIANS HEAD TO SAM’S CLUB FOR GOVERNOR VISIT SERVICE PROJECT PACK MORE CARE INTO EVERY KIT Whether you’re packing kits for outreach, emergency response, or community events, our value travel-size toiletries make it easy to offer comfort and care in every bag. From shampoo and soap to oral care and deodorant, these compact essentials are designed for mobility without sacrificing quality. Mineola Kiwanis Club 50th Anniversary Submitted by Joyce Curry In celebrating fifty years of Kiwanis service to Mineola and the surrounding area, Kiwanis President and Past Texas-Oklahoma Governor, Sam Curry, decided to carry out the event all year long. He invited former member and Charter Secretary, Tony Pegues to speak about his memories of the early days of the club. In the late 70’s and early 80’s, the club sponsored the Miss Mineola Lake Country Pageant, which was a preliminary to the Miss Texas pageant. Karen Madison Griffith, was invited to speak about her year as queen. The club awarded scholarships to the winners and runners up as well as grooming for the Miss Texas pageant. A local car dealer gave a car to drive for the year. Sam served as Charter President and has taken that role every twenty-five years. The club was chartered in 1975 by the Tyler Club and former International President Aubrey Irby. Mineola Kiwanis will end the year in the fall with a big birthday cake at the Division 34 Council meeting. Assemble Your KIt ? Up Next: Public Relations What is Marketing Marketing is the process of promoting and selling products or services. It involves advertising your brand and what you have to offer consumers to convert leads into customers and opportunities into sales. For example, if your company has launched a new product, you might employ a marketing campaign where you send email newsletters to existing customers and post about discounts on your company's social media channels to attract new customers. Here are the steps marketing professionals typically use to plan a marketing campaign: 1. Establish your business goals. This will provide your target, helping you stay focused on tasks and initiatives that directly align with your goals. For example, if your business goal is to increase profit margins, then you might choose to cut costs and invest in free advertising like social media management. 2. Know your competition. When a company provides a service or product, employees need to understand who their competition is to set competitive prices and develop strategies to gain customers. These strategies might define new ways to fill a need or service that hasn't been addressed by the company's competitors. 3. Identify your unique value proposition. This will be the focus of your content and messaging. Once you determine your competition, it's helpful to have a tangible example of how you stand apart in an improved way. For example, this could be a lower price point or a quicker production cycle. 4. Develop target buyer personas. A buyer persona is a fictional description of your ideal customer. It's helpful to give your buyer persona as much detail as possible. For example, you might believe your ideal customer is someone in their 30s who manages a household. However, if you also include where they live, what kinds of movies they enjoy, or where they do their grocery shopping, you can gain more insights into their lives and identify more opportunities to market your company to this type of buyer. 5.Design a strategy that targets potential markets. Marketing professionals find it helpful to employ several channels and platforms to amplify their efforts. This way, potential customers can interact with marketing in a variety of ways, such as through social media, search engines, and digital news media. Building a comprehensive plan that reaches people with several different touchpoints can make your marketing more effective. 6. Assess and optimize your strategy. As you track your marketing efforts, it's helpful to note where campaigns are succeeding and where there are challenges. For example, it could be beneficial to analyze where social media engagement is at its highest and if there is a pattern between content, visuals, or messaging. Related: 12 Marketing Tips for Your Marketing Campaign This awesome material taken from: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/marketing-and-public-relations Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their audiences. Essentially, it is the creation and delivery of messaging that informs and persuades the public. The messaging is meant to generate publicity, promote an organization, or persuade people to change their opinion or take action. For example, a typical public relations campaign might include senior leadership or key organizational leaders participating in television and radio interviews or a spokesperson offering quotes to a newspaper or magazine. Public relations is relationship-focused. Here are some skills public relations professionals use every day: Relationship Building Public relations is centered around relationships. Skills such as active listening and empathy are invaluable when working in a public relations role. If you can understand what someone is saying and communicate it back to them, it shows that you hear and understand them and helps you build trust with that person. Networking This skill is different from relationship building in that networking is the ability to introduce yourself to build a relationship in the future. Confidence and enthusiasm will help you introduce yourself to others effectively to build a strong network of relationships. Honesty Professionals are more likely to work with someone they trust. If you are sincere and straightforward, it will be easier to retain working partnerships. Public speaking Successful oral communication is an important way to gain acquaintances, form relationships, and motivate others. It's helpful to learn how to speak with certainty when working in a cooperative role like public relations. Read more: Essential Public Relations Skills and How To Improve Them Differences between marketing and public relations Though marketing and public relations are similar, there are some distinct differences between the two. Understanding these differences can help you learn when you need one over the other. Here are some differences to consider: Marketing is focused on products or services, while public relations is focused on the organization at large. Marketing supports sales and increasing revenue, and public relations supports organizational positioning. Marketing is typically proactive, whereas public relations is usually reactive. Marketing is often a one-way communication where the audience receives information but does not answer back, whereas public relations is a dialogue with the public. Marketing is most effective when leveraging an existing trust with potential customers and partners, while public relations is what builds that trust in the first place. Marketing is about creating demand, while public relations seeks to create trust and awareness. Marketing often uses paid media efforts to accomplish goals, whereas public relations is typically free, relying on earned media like news media mentions or spotlight features from celebrities and other public figures and influencers. Marketing typically comes after a brand or a company has been established, but public relations is employed at the beginning of the process to build the brand or company. Marketing in its simplest form is transactional, whereas public relations is relational. Marketing is a short-term discipline used to drive immediate purchases, while public relations is a long-term effort that may change or grow as the company moves forward. ? This awesome material is from: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/marketing-and-public-relations What is  Public Relations ? Updated with Top Marketing Trends for 2025 and 2026 *This document was updated and released in May 2025 by Marshall Kregel. Your club’s marketing and PR programs are important for the health and success of your club. The more people hear about your club and your activities, the more they will be interested in participating with or joining your club. A marketing plan for a club doesn’t just lump all the marketing and PR efforts into 1 single program, like a website. Instead, take a look at the following 17 options and choose 10 of them for your club’s personalized marketing plan. Each part constitutes 10% of your total marketing effort. But don’t panic!! Start small and build up. Out of your ten choices, pick a couple to start with and add a few new marketing options each year until your club has a well-rounded program over a few years. Determine the demographic that you are trying to reach and direct your marketing efforts in that direction. If your club is a Golden K club, then your marketing efforts will probably lean towards seniors or retired members with a major push towards Kiwanians who have served in the past. Seniors will take the time to read printed material but may not have a Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter account. On the other hand, people who are just now getting into the workforce or starting a family don’t have as much time to read a brochure mailed to their home. Reach out to them on social media. If you need help setting up or maintaining your social media, contact your district marketing team or enlist the aid of your local Key Club. These kids were born with digital capability. It must be genetic. And…they love to show off! Have a well-maintained website that focuses on the wonderful projects that your club does in the community. Use lots of pictures and videos. Don’t concentrate on pictures of people eating dinner. Rather, include pictures of your club doing service projects. Include the kids too IF you have release forms from the parents first!! Websites are just as important today as they were 10 years ago. Social media has a great following, but websites provide a constant source of information about the club and also provide a “landing page” for special projects or purchases. A great example of a good Kiwanis website: https://www.kiwaniscluboftexarkana.org/ Kiwanis International is helping clubs establish new websites, and they are FREE to clubs! Contact us for information. Promoting your club on Facebook. Facebook is the “go-to” social media platform that will provide the best overall audience for Kiwanis clubs. It definitely exceeds websites for viewership, so each club should have an active “club” Facebook page, whether or not all the members have their own Facebook pages. As of April 2024, Facebook had almost 3.1 billion users worldwide. There are lots of great promotional videos and images to post in the new Tx Ok District E Library: bit.ly/4knFC98 If you need help building a club FB page, contact your marketing or PR chairs. Email campaigns. Use MailChimp.com. It’s a great program that is not hard on the budget. Collect business cards from every guest at your meetings. Hold raffles where you collect cards, draw one from a bucket, and the winner gets something cool. MailChimp allows folks to “opt out” so you won’t spam your audience. MailChimp has great templates, and the program makes it easy to add email addresses to your contact list. Email campaigns are great for older crowds that still use email for social or business. Younger folks coming out of high school or college use text or video platforms to communicate. Many of them do not have email addresses. A monthly e-newsletter (e as in electronic). And shared via your favorite social media and your email campaign. Some clubs around the district have great success with their monthly newsletters. Getting a monthly note doesn’t spam your audience. Be sure to include the links to your newsletter on ALL of your social media. If you want to see some good e-newsletters, contact us, and we’ll send you a few links to look at. Every year, we have a district-wide newsletter contest, and we can easily send you some samples of award-winning newsletters! Face-to-face (doesn’t mean regular meetings). Get out into the public! Join your local chamber of commerce. Set up a booth at a local event and meet the public. Be a guest speaker for other community groups. Everyone is looking for a good guest speaker. When being a guest speaker, you can tout your business or company, but don’t forget to mention all the great things that Kiwanis does in the community! A signature project (or multiple) that resonate with the community and have very little competition. Don’t just adopt someone else’s nonprofit program; create your own identity. Include occasional projects that are easy to start and finish in 1 day, if not a few hours. People are more inclined today to want to see the results of their efforts NOW. Instant Gratification. The Texas Ramps (wheelchair ramp building) always gets lots of volunteers because the team can build an entire wheelchair ramp in just a few hours and the volunteers can see someone in a wheelchair using it for the 1st time. And it’s important to stay relevant in the community. That means that you should invite a younger crowd to bring ideas for service to the club for Kiwanians to look at and choose a few for future efforts. Hold an open house on a Thursday evening, serve non-alcoholic drinks and cake/cookies, and invite the community! These meetings work! Think big, like sponsoring a balloon at a balloon fest, or a float in a parade, or a gala dinner for your local fire or police department, or maybe a local veteran’s group, or an orphanage. Kids Need Kiwanis so try to turn the event into a fundraiser to help grow children’s programs in your community. Invite the public and sponsor a special program aligned with your club projects. Build A solid connection with your local media. This may include radio, TV, newspapers, your local town’s community newspaper, and your town’s community Facebook pages. Include your media choice as a partner in a special project. They want the story, and they want the attention too! Sit down with them and offer them a part of the program and lots of promotion on your part. We have a sample news or media release form on file and can send you a copy. We have it on the marketing section of the district website. The KI brand pages also have media clips for local TV and radio. Maintain the correct Kiwanis brand on all your communications. KI has standardized the logos and colors for all Kiwanis programs. This creates continuity between the clubs and districts, with all using the same logos when in public view. Make use of all the free presentation material offered by KI on the international website. They have videos, radio messages, and material on marketing and PR, and they have brochures and membership materials that are free (or inexpensive). We have moved this material to a special district link where we will store all educational materials for Texas and Oklahoma: bit.ly/4knFC98 Include your local Key Clubs, CKI clubs, Builders, K-Kids, and Aktion Clubs. These kids and adults would love to participate in a big event, and these folks are newsworthy! The SLP (service leadership programs) can be an awesome part of your club’s outreach. Include them in your service projects and fundraisers, and the energy level will increase 200%, guaranteed! Talk to us if you would like to build one of these great programs in a local school, and we will help you with all the details and forms. The kids would love to participate; they just need a partner. Be there for them! Create your own YouTube video channel and start taking videos of all your creative programs. It’s easy to forward a great video to an audience on your Facebook and website pages. Once your club has a YouTube channel, it is easy for members to upload videos straight to YouTube from their phones or computers. Then, the videos can be shared across all your social media platforms, or the links can be sent via email. YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world after Google. In fact, Google owns YouTube. Storing little videos on the club YouTube channel and writing a description along with each video gives your club a chance to be seen by thousands of visitors. Short-form video is hugely important. Short-form video content drives social strategy. (Taken from Coursera.org/articles/marketing-trends) "As marketers increasingly target digital-first generations, they’re meeting them where they are: scrolling short-form videos on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. According to HubSpot, short-form video is the content type with the highest return on investment (ROI) and is primed to see the most growth in 2024, with 53 percent of marketers planning to increase their investment in TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels." Special note regarding HubSpot. It is a massive website that is a (if not THE) recognized leader in online marketing training. Lots of free classes that will teach you the basics of marketing and PR. How to Set Up a Nonprofit Account on PayPal Every club needs a way to take funds electronically, either in person or online. This opens up many ways to create fundraisers and donation links for people to use to support your club. Please don’t put a barrier between you and electronic funding. And don’t worry about fees. They aren’t really an issue. You can slightly increase the cost of that golf tournament ticket or ask your client to voluntarily pay the fees when they make a purchase or donation. Creating an account to use PayPal for nonprofit organizations is easy. Make sure you have your personal information ready and follow the steps below. 1. Create a PayPal business account for your nonprofit organization. 2. In the business account drop-down menu, select “nonprofit organization.” 3. Click Create. 4. Enter information related to your account, such as business details and email address. 5. Select the category under which your nonprofit operates, whether educational or registered charity. 6. Provide backup documentation to support the nonprofit status. You may be required to enter your federal tax ID or the owner’s Social Security number if you set up a business account. 7. Enter bank information to enable ‘donate by bank transfer’ and receive money from your bank account. Develop strong and healthy partnerships in the community. A partnership is a 2-way street. There is give and take on both parts. A partner that just takes and does not give back is more of a charity than a real partner. Perhaps the least that they could do is to become a member of your club, even if they can’t donate money or time to your club programs. They should also promote the partnership on their social media platforms. We have a special partnership program in the district called “Corporate Memberships,” where businesses pay the yearly dues for an employee to be a member of your club. This has been an amazing success for the Kiwanis District, with hundreds of new members each year belonging to businesses that pay their membership fees and dues. Hold contests. People love to win things! Sponsor a local golf “shoot-out” or tournament. Or do a raffle at one of your gala events. Or offer a prize to each club member that signs up a new member (or 5). Make sure the Kiwanis brand is prevalent at each event so that people will see it and start to remember it. Banners, shirts, bumper stickers, etc., are all ways to show that you are proud of your organization. New Club Building. Are you the only club in town? No one club can be “everything” to its’ community. Sometimes projects or programs (like new Key Clubs) come along that might call for a new club. This is a GREAT way to get local publicity, plus you have a partner Kiwanis club to participate in your big events. Your district has a great support team in 2024 and 2025 to help build new clubs anywhere in the district. If you would like to know more about building a new club in your area, send us a note, and we will quickly get back in touch by phone or email or visit you personally. Quality editorial content persists. (Again, from the Coursera.org website) “Marketers will continue to invest in editorial content, like blog posts and podcasts, to generate engagement, support conversions, and promote thought leadership. According to HubSpot, 82 percent of marketers surveyed plan to increase or maintain their investment in podcasts and audio content, and 92 percent plan to increase or maintain their investment in blogging in 2024.” The Texas-Oklahoma District of Kiwanis has a large marketing team that can help you put together a plan for an event or just for your club. Marshall Kregel is the Marketing Chair, Susan Hennum is the PR Chair, Chris Bunkoff is the Partnership Chair, John Cano provides website assistance for clubs wanting new websites. Finally, Laura Arnhart is our district administrator but works tirelessly on marketing for clubs. Contact Marshall Kregel, Chair, at Marshall.Kregel@gmail.com for assistance. The 10x10 Plan for Marketing Options for Your Club Hello from the Circle K International Texas-Oklahoma District! As we step into summer, our district is energized and already hard at work planning an exciting year filled with service, leadership, and fellowship. We’re especially excited for our joint Summer Board Meeting with Key Club, taking place June 6–8, 2025, in Arlington, TX. This collaborative meeting helps us strengthen ties within the Kiwanis Family and align our goals for the year. Looking ahead, make sure to save the dates for two of our biggest events: Fall Retreat—October 24–26, 2025 District Convention (DCON)—February 27– March 1st, 2026 Both events will offer incredible opportunities for members to learn, connect, and lead. If you or someone you know is interested in sponsoring any of our events, we would be grateful for your support. Checks can be made out and mailed to: T-O CKI Attn: Colleen Biggerstaff 720 S. Greenville Ave. Allen, TX 75002 Thank you for helping us build a stronger future of service-led leadership! Yours in service, Zach Padilla District Governor, Texas-Oklahoma Circle K International By Zach Padilla, District Governor Circle K Texas-Oklahoma District Updates—Summer 2025 KI Notes submissions can be emailed to txokkiwanis@gmail.com. In Loving Memory Month Division Club Name May 38 San Marcos Pamela Cook May 3 Greater North Houston William Sellers May 8 Bonham Joe Moss May 23 Harker Heights Alice Krebs IN LOVING MEMORY "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart." - Eleanor Roosevelt Texas Oklahoma Kiwanis District  Editor's Message Evelyn Herrera Keep it Simple When it comes to organizing a club project, it is easy to lose yourself in all the complexities. So much goes into ensuring a project runs smoothly, volunteers keep up, and goals are met. In the thick of it, it is easy to forget the concept of simplicity. Developing and working on projects doesn't always have to be so complicated. Sometimes simpler is better. If your club wants to be of service but feels it has limited resources, begin with something small and simple. My advice is to jump-start small projects by joining local groups. This may include joining your local community pages or community apps such as NextDoor. Once you join, keep an eye on posts. For example, on my local Facebook group page, someone was in need of household goods as they had just moved into the neighborhood. A post like this can spark a small Kiwanis drive, such as members donating items they don't use anymore, to help someone in need. Community posts help connect your club and volunteers directly with people in need. One day someone may need some dishes, food, or a ride to the doctor. You don't need to start big projects to serve your community; just stay connected.