I hope everyone had a great holiday season and is looking forward to the new year with hope and anticipation. Now is the time when we can re-dedicate ourselves to our Kiwanis mission and explore new ways to making our Kiwanis experience even more meaningful and rewarding. It is time to expand our club's influence in our community by exploring flexible membership options.

Many clubs in our District are developing club satellites. You can identify a group of prospective Kiwanis members based on geography, age, schedule, employment or special interest and form an offshoot of your club. Perhaps these folks cannot always find the time in their schedules to attend the weekly club meetings, but are looking for ways to work along with your current club members providing service projects in your community. Seek these prospects out, and tell them about the opportunities with Kiwanis. There is a great fact sheet from Kiwanis International answering all the questions about forming a club satellite.

Consider offering corporate memberships in your club. A Corporate membership allows a club to designate an individual membership in a Kiwanis Club for an employee of a specific company or organization. If this employee changes jobs or is transferred, a new employee can be designated to take his or her place without being charged a new member fee.

The MNDAK District is developing a TAG (Together Achieving Growth) group. Quite a few members have been educated in the past several years on how to build new clubs and revitalize existing clubs. If you would like help with your club exploring its growth potential, or know of a neighboring community that should have a Kiwanis Club, several people are willing to help. Contact Vickie Walters, our District Director of Membership and New Club Building at vickie.walters@dsu.edu; Chuck Schroder, our District representative on the International Committee on Growth at ecshroder@alliancecom.net; or me, at pbklair@redwing.net. We will help you personally or find Kiwanians in your area who can work with your club on membership.

Above all, be flexible and willing to change. Look at your membership. Is it diverse, or are you missing opportunities with other groups in your community? Do you have good meetings and programs? Are your service projects meaningful? Don't forget, most Kiwanians joined your club to do service. Many clubs are developing the 3-2-1 concept that Kiwanis International is promoting. These clubs are doing three hours of service, two social hours, and one meeting hour each month. It's working for many clubs, and these clubs are experiencing an incredible growth in membership.

Thank you for staying flexible, and let's make 2010 the year that Kiwanis has the greatest impact in the lives of children in our communities and throughout the world.