Message From The Lt. Governor

GRANT DENORMANDIE

Kiwanis Will Be 100 Years Old Soon

Kiwanis International has chosen Indianapolis as its 2015 convention destination, bringing the organization’s 100th anniversary celebration to its hometown. More than 10,000 members will attend the 100th Annual Kiwanis International Convention from June 25-28, 2015.

Not many organizations or businesses survive for 100 years. My own family's business is in it's 109th year of continuous operation. Being part two organizations that old causes me to reflect on my 50 years in business and my 5 years in Kiwanis and ponder the question "Why do some organizations make it to 100 and some not."

About 15 years ago I attended a Family Business Conference sponsored by Cole-Taylor bank. If I remember correctly, we had about 100 family business owners attending. Out of those 100, only two businesses had reached 4th generation ownership. One was our family company. The other was Strough Brewing of Detroit, Michigan which was represented by August Strough, actually 5th generation if my memory is correct.

August and I spent quite a bit of time sharing some of the things that enabled our companies to survive past 100. He told me of the unique way his company stock is held by a perpetual trust legally grandfathered because it was set up in the mid-1800's. I shared with him our company's unique compensation plan. But in the end, I think we both agreed, our organizations persisted because of our family member's strong desire to work together to build something bigger and better than any of us could individually.

I know after only 5 years in Kiwanis that the same holds true for our organization. We are a family of individual members who share the deep conviction that we can do more for our communities as a team than we could ever do on our own. So as 2015 draws near let's prepare to celebrate the 100th birthday of Kiwanis, an organization that not only survived, but made such a big difference for so many others.

Club secretaries. Please email your news and events so I can place them on the Calumet site calendar. All of our members want to support your club’s activities but unless we know about them we can’t do that.

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