Cedar Rapids Quota Newsletter
“Spice Up Your Life With A Dash Of Quota”
January 2009
CLUB NEWS
January Business Meeting
Speaker Phyllis Zalenski will be at our Business Meeting in
January. Her topic is ‘Who Gets Grandma’s Pie Plate?’.
Sounds kind of intriguing, doesn’t it? Although more
explanation could be provided herein, let’s just say that the
best thing you can do to find out what this is all about is to
attend this month’s meeting! Phyllis needs to do her talk early
due to other commitments, so the meeting will start promptly
at 5:30pm, give or take. You won’t want to be late for this!
B&N Gift Wrapping
Another successful fundraiser for us was wrapping gifts at
Barnes & Noble before the holidays. We made over $300!
Way to go everyone! Although everyone that wrapped
presents met some very nice people and had some good
experiences, Betty’s is worth sharing. Here’s what she said “It
was rather slow but we did wrap purchases for about 8 - 10
people. The most amazing thing happened, though, that
made it all worth while. Three elementary aged children
came up and began stuffing $20 bills into the box. When I
asked them about it, they said that their family had been out
enjoying the Christmas lights and they each had $20 to give to
a charity and that they had chosen ours. Obviously they had
been in earlier and had talked with someone because they
definitely had their minds made up. I explained to them what
Quota did and they seemed to know all about it. My
granddaughter turned to me after they left and said, "That sure
made it all worthwhile."
Alliant Grant
Marcia recently received word that we have been awarded a
$2,000 grant from Alliant Energy. Way to go, Gloria and
Marcia, for making this happen!
Junk
Are you looking around your house thinking that maybe it’s
time to get organized and get rid of all the stuff you don’t need
or want any more? Perhaps you’re just planning on doing
some spring cleaning? If you are, then maybe you’d like to
participate in a garage sale! It has been suggested that the
Club have a garage sale in early summer. (Rumor has it that
Barb and Marcia have been cleaning out closets.) This will be
discussed at the January Business Meeting. Another good
reason to attend!
Quota Cares Month
March is right around the corner, and that means it’s time to
get serious about putting our ‘Wii Cares’ program into high
gear! Our plan is still to purchase Wii systems for several
retirement homes in the area. And then install the systems for
them, teach them how to use the system and play the games,
and then set up leagues, for bowling, for example. There’s
quite a lot of work involved to pull this off. So, if you want to
get involved and help make this a successful project and a
great experience for some of Cedar Rapids retired folks,
please contact Donna. The whole project should be a lot of
fun!
Birthday Party
Cops ‘n’ Kids
More B&N
This year, Barnes & Noble’s holiday book drive, called ‘Get
Flooded with Books’ collected over 4000 books for children
affected by the flood. These books were donated by B&N
customers. On Saturday, January 17th, Barb, Marcia, Gloria,
Marian, Terri and Ramona helped sort those books for
distribution to various schools including Taylor, Wilson, Grant
and Roosevelt and also to Waypoint, FEMA trailers, Palo,
Jane Boyd and the St. James and Trinity pre-schools. Our
Club was one of the sponsors of the program. The books will
be handed out by police officers at various school functions
over the next several weeks. Ramona will send out
information regarding times and places for these events, and if
you can help out the police by being there, please let Ramona
know. This is a great way for us to continue our work with the
Police Department and get some exposure for our Club in the
community.
Strategic Planning Meeting
The Strategic Planning Committee will be meeting with the
police on Wednesday, January 21st at noon to begin to finalize
our 5-year plan for this program. The Committee will keep us
posted on the results. If you have any suggestions, please
contact Ramona.
02/16/16
Quota is celebrating its 90th birthday on February 6th 2009.
And, what better way for us to join in on the fun than by having
our own birthday party in Quota’s honor. Chef Marcia has
agreed to bake a cake and bring it to the February Business
Meeting. Who knew she was a baker along with all of her
other talents? Barb will ask the Longbranch about giving us
ice cream for dessert that night as well. Sounds like quite a
sugar rush! So forget your diet for one day, don your party
hats and come on out and celebrate at the February Business
Meeting!
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Doesn’t she look like an angel, with that smirky little smile?
Look deep into her eyes though, and you can see even at that
age she was quite a prankster. Do you know who this future
Quotarian is?????
Cedar Rapids Quota Newsletter
“Spice Up Your Life With A Dash Of Quota”
January 2009
Central Area Meeting
DISTRICT NEWS
The 2009 Central Area Meeting will be held October 9-11,
2009 in St. Louis, Missouri. Mark your calendars!
Congratulations
The Kirksville Club was advised by Central Area Director
Brenda Chadwick that Kirksville won the Grand Prize for the
Quota International Photo Contest! A mom took a picture of
her son while he was being treated at the ER after an accident
and was hugging one of our Quota bears. As Governor Mary
Jane Kiefer says you just never know how those pictures will
come about. Congratulations to Kirksville, and to District 7!
Mystery Dinner Theater
Kirksville is trying something new this year for a ways and
means project. They are doing a mystery dinner theater.
Eight people are in the play, with 3 of their own Club
Quotarians participating, Mary Jane, Polly Matteson & Kristie
Swaim. The play is named the "Class of 54". It’s going to be
held Saturday evening, February 7, starting at 5pm. There is
a choice for dinner with the cost being $25 for singles and $45
for a couple. If anyone is interested, let Ramona know.
Sounds like a great time!
Let’s learn a little bit more about our Friendship Club, Quota
Santa Maria. Although most of the Cedar Rapids members
would like to know more about Santa Maria for their wine
production, this month we’re going to cover some of the City’s
profile and government. This information is from the City of
Santa Maria website.
A five member City Council is the City’s governing body. This
council consists of four Council members and a Mayor, all of
who are elected for a 4-year term. In 2000, Santa Maria
became a Charter City. What is a Charter City, you might
ask? Good question. A Charter City can adopt laws that are
different than the general State laws to meet specific needs of
the City.
Santa Maria is slightly smaller than Cedar Rapids, with an
estimated population of 91,110 as of January 1, 2008.
What tidbits of information about Santa Maria will next month’s
newsletter bring?
Sad News
Past Governor Marjorie Beales passed away on Friday, Jan.
2, at the age of 98. Marge had been in a nursing home and in
hospice care for 5 months. Services were held on Jan. 8.
Also, Past Governor Betty Byers is recovering after suffering a
brain aneurysm. Doctors are cautiously optimistic; there may
be some paralysis, etc. Cards may be sent to Mercy Medical
Center, 801 5th St., Sioux City, IA 51101.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Oprah Wed Site Honors, Promotes Cops ‘n’ Kids
Program
Quota International's We Share Foundation was promoted in
a story on Oprah Winfrey's Angel Network Web site about the
Cops ‘n’ Kids program originally launched by Julia Burney and
adopted by Quota International clubs worldwide. This is
wonderful publicity for our Cops n Kids program AND for
Quota International! To view the story, visit
oprahsangelnetwork.org and type “Quota” in the search box.
90TH Anniversary Plans Unveiled By President Toddy
Silkman
A very special event will be taking place early in the coming
year—the 90th anniversary of our organization’s founding—on
February 6! To celebrate, Quota International has designed a
commemorative, limited-edition 90th anniversary pin that will
be available in mid-January. Pre-orders for the pin, as well as
stickers with the 90th anniversary logo, are now being taken.
Pins will cost $15 each. To learn more, visit www.quota.org
and click “Quota Headlines” for a special message from
President Toddy on 90th Anniversary plans.
02/16/16
SISTER CLUB
IOWA TRIVIA
With the inauguration of a new President this month, here’s
some fitting Iowa trivia. Did you know that Herbert Hoover, a
West Branch native, was the 31st president of the United
States and the first one born west of the Mississippi?
PRESIDENT’S CORNER
In thinking about Quota’s 90th Birthday, I concluded I could
best celebrate by reminding myself of the Quota goals of
service, friendship, good will. Carrying out the objects of
Quota will serve all of us well. Happy 90th, Quota!
This January needs some spicing up!! Enough about snow
and cold. Did you know that consuming ¼ teaspoon of
cinnamon after meals reduces blood sugar levels by as much
as 29 percent in some people? Did you know that according
to some studies, regularly adding cinnamon to your diet can
reduce total cholesterol? Did you know that mustard seed
lowers bad cholesterol and triglycerides and raises good
cholesterol? Did you know that ground red pepper can help
dissolve blood clots? Did you know that oregano raises good
cholesterol? Did you know that ginger calms your stomach
and reduces formation of blood clots? So let’s spice it up!!!
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
This sweet little jokester grew up to be an engineer (not the
train kind), author of your monthly newsletter and the Club’s
1st Vice Pres, Ramona Baldyga. Boy, can looks be deceiving!
The smirky smile has not changed!!!