West Visalia Kiwanis

Our guest speaker today was Mr. Huerta (Sequoia High) talking about his non-profit Next Level Intervention. We didn’t have a large audience (summer vacations) but those that showed loved his talk and hearing about all the work he is doing to change young people’s lives. Great job Mr. Huerta! Chad Bringe Herman Chatrath Buz N Donna Southard John Redden West Visalia Kiwanis

She won!!!! Granddaughter of longtime member Charles Douglass (he passed in 2021) won the Miss California Teen competition last night. Congratulations Keira, Heather Douglass Bixler, & everyone associated with . For
many of our members we’ve known Keira since she was born and have loved watching her journey and are so excited to see all she will accomplish in the future. Congrats again Keira!!!!!

Great meeting today with Deputy Jacobs and three of her Explorers. We loved their stories and appreciate their perseverance through all their individual challenges. Thanks for organizing Richard Hineman & Linda Bailey, and running the meeting Buz N Donna Southard. Amazing group of young/ future law enforcement candidates.

Club meeting today, one more of our scholarship recipients and his parents (Congrats BJ!), and Easton & Coach Moreno from Showdown baseball. Both great interviews, makes our club so excited about our future. Great meeting incoming President Martin Abbiss.

Our club members participated in the Hands In the Community event earlier today (which we have done for years), we had so much fun…and no one got hurt. 😂 Richard Hineman Richard Flores Fred Weber

Crowley Eagles 6th grade promotion ceremony earlier today. Congratulations to our Student of the year - Alexander! We hope you enjoy the gift cards & school supplies. And a huge thank you to Richard Flores for all the work you did during the school year representing our club, we couldn’t have done it without you…and a few others that helped along the way. EAGLES for life! 🦅

What an incredibly fun “last official” 8th grade promotion ceremony at Willow Glen. Congratulations to Josefina & Alessandro - our Elite Warriors! Lots of amazing gifts for both of them. Great job Martin Abbiss, you had them laughing, crying and cheering for all the students. Appreciate working with Mrs. Ochoa, Mr. V, Laura and all the team at Willow Glen. WARRIORS!

Willow Glen Elementary, year end awards assembly for 4th - 7th grade students. Congratulations to Trish Tran, the Warrior-Student of the Year! Martin Abbiss did an amazing job for her presentation, as well as all the work he did during the school year. Let’s GO WARRIORS!

Excellent meeting today put together by our West Visalia Kiwanis - Student Loan President Chad Bringe and club President John Redden. We had the honor of interviewing and congratulating 8 of our scholarship winners in front of some of their family members. Our club gave out $20,000 in scholarship money this year.

A very informative/ interesting meeting today for our club…Herman Chatrath spoke to our members about estate planning. Based on the amount of questions, I think he could’ve spoke for another hour. Thank you Herman for your time and for being a very valuable, new (active) member.

Day 4 of scholarship presentations at El Diamante. Congratulations Sydney & Barclay…so incredibly proud of all you’ve accomplished as well as what you will do in the future. Also, congratulations to Athan for receiving a scholarship from Dr. Cheng. Great job Martin Abbiss, Herman Chatrath & Ming Li. You’re all doing an excellent job, including Mr. Southard at RHS.

Day 3 of our scholarship presentations was last night for Golden West High School. Congratulations to Jaylyne & Diana...after reading your writeups, we are so excited to see what you both will accomplish in the future. Great job presenting team. Martin Abbiss Richard Hineman John Redden

Last night was day 2 of our scholarship presentations for our club. Congratulations Paityn & Haily on receiving these scholarships. Thank you Martin Abbiss & John Redden for presenting, as well as recognizing the Anduri family for their support. Let’s go PIONEERS!

Incredible meeting today at our club; two student of the month winners from Crowley, one from Willow Glen, Principal Yang, Vice-Principal Mr. V, family members, a really nice lady from Pro Youth (we can’t say she’s a Breakfast Lion 😉) lol…awesome interviews. Congrats Vanessa, Javier & Sebastian. You three will change the world.

Today was first of 13 scholarships to be given out over the next week to deserving VUSD students, totaling $19,500! Today, we started at Sequoia High with Chad Bringe and a fellow Downtown Kiwanis partner Olivia Velasquez. Congratulations Tiana Sanchez, we’re excited to see all you will accomplish in the future.

Our Youth Services team keeps on rolling…thank you Martin Abbiss & Richard Flores for awarding another Student of the Month this afternoon at Willow Glen. Congratulations Sebastian!
And…our club was asked to donate a couple of bikes (& helmets) for their Tricky Tray on Thursday. So very happy to be community partners with Willow Glen, 16 years and counting. Let’s GO WARRIORS!

Did I mention that prior to our amazing meeting today, our Youth Services team (Richard Flores & Cherol Eriksen-Drobot) awarded a Student of the Month at Crowley Eagles this morning. Congratulations Vanessa! Let’s all show some EAGLE PRIDE! 🦅

It’s crazy to think this community service club does all this…weekly!
Dustin Cole from the Brave Project, BreAnna Trejo (Brenda & Jessica) Family Services of Tulare County, Cindy Lopez, The Cat Haven and a few other discussions about awards assemblies, scholarship presentations and other sponsorship opportunities. Let’s GO WVK! President John Redden…4 more years!!! 😉

Keira Bixler (granddaughter of a long time member Charles Douglass) received an award from our Key Club LTG for her work at Redwood High School - Key Club. Congratulations Keira, we know your grandfather is smiling down on you with a tremendous amount of pride. 🙏🏼

Incredibly fun meeting today set up by our President John Redden. Our two main speakers represented CSET & TC HOPE. Glad our club was able to donate funds to go towards their projects. Also a special thank you to Savemart (Walnut & Akers) for ALL the items they provide us to donate in our local community. This most recent delivery included numerous toys Santa will be using this Christmas when he goes to see all the good little boys & girls. Thank you Savemart! Heather Gardiner Fred Weber (a.k.a. Santa) 🎅🏽

Fantastic meeting today set up by our President John Redden. Willow Glen Student of the Month (Ramiro) with his dad & Mr. V., amazing young man with 3 teenage age older sisters! 🙂 MWHS Coach Kelley & two of his players…Carter & Brian. Wow, very well spoken young men. Martin Abbiss did a fantastic job with the interview. Let’s go WARRIORS & PIONEERS! 🦅🏀

What an incredibly fun meeting today…President John Redden gave Heather Gardiner the perpetual trophy for our involvement with the Special Olympics Bowl-A-Thon. She set a record for a single member fundraising for this event. Past years we awarded the trophy to the highest score (Patrick Salazar) but the committee changed the rules. 😂 And…Martin Abbiss officially received his Distinguished Kiwanian award! He was out of the country when the award was presented at a District meeting. Congrats Martin!

It’s just another typical day if you’re a member of our West Visalia Kiwanis club. We started this morning at Crowley Eagles and finished our day at Willow Glen. Two separate Student of the Month winners who will be interviewed and honored in two weeks at our club meeting. Congratulations Javier & Ramiro! Eagles & Warriors forever.

Tonight, one of our newer members (Martin Abbiss) received a Distinguished Kiwanis Award at our district meeting. Unfortunately Martin wasn’t present to receive the award (returning from Nepal) but his mate Richard Hineman accepted on his behalf. Richard talked about all that Martin has accomplished in a very short amount of time….this is a well-deserved recognition. Congrats Martin.