community
Kiwanis Club of Vernonia Receives Charter
december
2009
11
members of area clubs. Over 100 people sets its path here in this community, and, Kids all the way through several youth
were in attendance.
as each Kiwanian in this room tonight and adult programs.
Each of the new Vernonia Club
“As the Vernonia Kiwanis Club can be proud of what its club has accom-
plished, we certainly cannot rest on our Officers, Board of Directors and its
laurels,” said Palazzolo during the pre- twenty-six Charter Members were intro-
sentation of the Vernonia Charter. “Be- duced during the celebration.
“As I present this Charter to
cause there is always more work to be
Marilyn, each of us in this room needs
done.”
Vernonia City Administrator to know how we can make a difference
Bob Young is the new club’s Vice Presi- right now,” said Palazzolo. “Because
dent. “It was an incredible honor to there is work to be done, there are chil-
have Paul Palazzolo here in Vernonia to dren out there that need us, there are
young people out there who need to
present our Charter,” said Young.
know they can be part of the Kiwanis
Kiwanis Pacific Northwest Governor, Pat-
family. And we can do that right now.”
Kiwanis
International
was
or-
rick Ewing, and Vernonia Club President,
“This is a very exciting time for
ganized in 1925 and is a service organi-
Marilyn Nicks, listen as International Pres-
ident, Paul Palazzolo, addresses the crowd zation dedicated to serving the children Vernonia,” said President Marilyn Nicks,
at a dinner to celebrate the presentation of of the world. Kiwanis and its Service upon receiving the Charter. “We have
the club charter to Vernonia.
Leadership Programs has a membership great hopes for this club. Every one of
of more than 600,000 men, women, and us is here because we want to make a dif-
youth in nearly 16,000 ference in our communities and make it
clubs in more than better for our children and for those that
70 countries and geo- follow us. Kiwanis International has
graphic areas. It is the accomplished great things world-wide.
only service organiza- Our desire is to be part of that greatness
tion that builds leaders here in Vernonia, one event, one project
Each of the five Wauna Federal Credit They are also hosting a fundraiser for the Co-
at every level—from and especially, one child at a time.”
Union (WFCU) branches will be hosting holi- lumbia Humane Society and are a Toy and Joy
the youngest Kiwanis
day fundraising activities for their local com- collection site for Columbia River Fire and Res-
cue in November and December.
munities.
WFCU encourages employees, volun-
The Astoria and Warrenton branches
are teaming together to host fundraising activi- teers, members and non-members to participate
ties for Clatsop Community Action and a Wish- in the fundraising activities to help local chari-
table organizations during the holiday season.
ing Tree in December.
The Vernonia branch sent Boxes
of Love to members in the US Armed
Forces in November. They will continue
to sell t-shirts for the Vernonia Education
Foundation and are a collection site for
the Vernonia Volunteer Firefighters Toy
and Joy program in November and De-
Kiwanis International President, Paul Palazzolo, presents Vernonia
cember.
President Marilyn Nicks with a gavel and bell.
The Clatskanie branch has “Ad-
opted a Family” with Turning Point and
will host a Giving Tree for the holiday
season in December.
The St Helens branch is hosting
a blood drive on November 25th for the
American Red Cross and the Help Truck
Angie Rhodes, Allison McLeod and Heidi
on December 10th as a collection site
Burch show the Boxes of Love they sent to US
for various Columbia County charities.
Armed Forces members.
On Friday evening, November
20 th , it became official: The Kiwanis
Club of Vernonia received its Charter
and became part of Kiwanis Internation-
al.
Vernonia President Marilyn
Nicks accepted the Charter from Ki-
wanis International President Paul
Palazzolo, during a dinner and celebra-
tion held at the Vernonia Community
Church. It was a special honor for the
Vernonia Club to have Palazzolo, from
Springfield, Illinois, in town to make
the presentation. Also on hand for the
celebration was Kiwanis International
Trustee Randy DeLay from Houston,
Texas; Area Director Jim Courtright of
Phoenix, Arizona; and Pacific Northwest
Governor Patrick Ewing, from Victoria,
British Columbia; along with numerous
Wauna Supports Local Communities
this Holiday Season
Weedman Has Plans for Columbia
County continued from page 7
consulting firms in Wilsonville
and at Intel, where he worked
in the class 1 fab, a humidity-
and temperature-controlled
station where circuit boards
and wafers used in Intel prod-
ucts were manufactured. In
this position, Weedman was
responsible for a lot of confi-
dential material, he said, in-
cluding Intel trade secrets. He
was also responsible for de-
stroying outdated equipment
and protecting Intel’s trade se-
crets in that process; inspect-
ing tools prior to their ship-
ment from San Jose to Intel in
Hillsboro, and took a lot of day
trips to San Jose to ensure that
chemicals were completely re-
moved from tools sent to the
company.
Most recently, Weed-
man spent four years with the
Port of Portland, working at
Portland International, Trout-
dale and Hillsboro airports,
where he was responsible for
ensuring compliance for un-
der- and above-ground storage
tanks, recycling and other tasks
related to waste, recycling and
remediation, overseeing eight
programs in total. In April,
Weedman became a victim of
downsizing.
“Mine was one of 50
positions [to go],” he said.
“It was easier to take a piece
of each program and add it to
someone else’s workload than
to add my full workload onto
someone else’s,” he continued.
So, the Jennings
Lodge-area resident welcomed
a daily 41-mile commute to
and from Columbia County,
and recently adopted a dog
from the local shelter.
An avid sports fan,
Weedman admits to rooting
for the Oregon Ducks, watch-
ing both NFL and college foot-
ball and frequent trips to bowl
games. He said he travels to
the Orange Bowl, the Fiesta
Bowl or the Sugar Bowl every
year, depending on his sched-
ule. “I have gone from Miami
to Phoenix a number of times
to go to more than one game at
a time,” Weedman said with a
laugh.
He also enjoys golf,
softball and bowling, although
he said he plays softball less
often these days. Before an
injury to his right hand, Weed-
man said his average was 210,
but until a surgery to repair
the damage, he will bowl left-
handed, even though his av-
erage score fell to 125 when
he switched. He bowls with
a group of friends on a team
called “A Drinking Team with
a Bowling Problem.”
“I’m used to having
a lot of different projects to
move forward,” he said. This,
however, he says is “a little
more focused.”
Weedman lives in the
Jennings Lodge area with his
girlfriend, Cynthia Bennett
and her children, 17-year-old
Marissa, 12-year-old Lauren
and 10 year-old Hayden. He
said there has been consider-
ation of a move to Columbia
County, but he’s starting to get
used to the commute, so, only
time will tell.
For more informa-
tion on recycling in Columbia
County, see http.columbia-
center.org/recycling.
This article has been
published at April’s web site,
http://www.examiner.com/x-
19696-Columbia-County-Buzz-
Examiner.”
