More Kiwanians in the News

Two more articles featuring members of our club have appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch recently.

First, we received mentioned for our work as a co-sponsor with the Virginia Historical Society for their Family Day on July 17. Kiwanians served as guides and helpers for the event.

For more about the day, click on this lik.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/jul/18/HIST18-ar-317665/

Also, Kiwanians Bill Barrett and Tony Pelling donate their time to assist with the Byrd Theatre Foundation, which preserves the 80-plus-year-old theatre in Carytown. They are quoted in this T-D article about their efforts to raise funds and keep the theatre running.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/entertainment/2010/jul/26/byrd26-ar-350107/

New Member talks about U-boat war off Atlantic coast during 7/12 meeting

Bill Watson, a recent addition to our club, shared insights into a little known part of World War II history during our July 12 meeting.
During the first six months of 1942, the Germans were determined to disrupt American naval forces off of the Atlantic coast with their fleet of U-boats. Overall, more than 5,000 Americans were killed during this part of the war, Watson said. In particular off of the coast of Virginia and North Carolina, which Watson focused his speech on, the damage was extensive. Seventy-seven ships were lost or damaged, 367,649 tons was sunk and another 110,340 tons were damaged with 1,147 killed in this particular area.
Winston Churchill called the U-boats "our worst evil" and American naval leaders initially ignored British intelligence regarding the boats and their prominence.
The Germans had developed a plan known as Operation Paulenslaug (Drumbeat) which would "shock" the US with the U-boat fleet. It was very successful during the first six months of 1942 until the Americans wised up to the attacks by having convoys protect their ships and practiced blackouts along the coast. Other reasons the U-boat attacks diminished, Watson said, included new refueling vessels allowed the U-boats to stay at sea longer and go to other water such as the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, also Adolf Hitler wanted the boats to return to the Mediterranean where the Allies were beginning to have land success.

Watson joined our club recently from Raleigh, where he was a member of their Kiwanis Club and has served as club president. Watson received a bachelor's, master's and Ph.D. in economics from North Carolina State University. A Durham native, Watson served in the army during the 1970s and has 30-years in the electric utility business. Currently, Watson "keeps the lights on" by making sure electric cooperatives in Virginia, Delaware and Maryland are in compliance with North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) for electric system reliability. Bill and his wife, Laura, have one son who serves in the U.S. Army Special Forces.

Introducing a new Kiwanian - Noah Greenbaum

At July 12th meeting, we had the opportunity to welcome Noah Greenbaum to our club. A lifelong Richmond native, Greenbaum graduated from the Collegiate School and is a 2007 graduate of the University of Virginia where he was a kicker on the football team and a member of St. Anthony's Hall fraternity. He was an all-ACC and all-UVA athletic honor roll selection.
After a brief attempt at trying to kick professionally, Greenbaum began a career as a planning associate and portfolio manager for Johnson & Gillis Wealth Management group.
In his free time, Greenbaum serves as football and baseball coach at Collegiate as well as serving of committees for HYPE and Quiot Club (young professionals organizations for the chamber of commerace and Historic Richmond Foundation, respectively). He is also active with the UVA footvall alumni association.
He and his wife, Meredith, recently celebrated their first wedding anniversary.

Our longest interclub visit...

Our club is planning a trip to visit Kiwanians in Costa Rica in November. We would visit the same members from the Costa Rica club who visited us last year and spoke at one of our meetings. An exciting trip is planned with time in the capital, San Jose, at banana farms, tropical rain forests and the beaches of the Pacific Northwest. For more information, contact Tony Pelling.

Kiwanians in the News - Randy Rollins

Kiwanian Randy Rollins was featured in the Richmond Times-Dispatch last week for his work with assiting those that have lost their right to drive gain it back. By helping people get their license back, Randy is helping them improve their chances at landing a job.

To read more about Randy's work, click on the link below.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/2010/jul/09/b-driv09-ar-283884/