WELCOME TO DIVISION 42!

Dear Kiwanis Colleagues and Friends,

As we are nearing the end of our 2025–2026 year, our final DCM will be held on September 10th, 6:00pm at Moorpark Presbyterian Church, 13950 Peach Hill Road, Moorpark, CA. I invite you all to join us as we wish our division’s new leadership success in the upcoming year. This will be my final DCM as your Lt. Governor. We will welcome our new Lt. Governor for 2026–2027, Margaret Sigurdsson, and induct our new Lt. Governor-Elect, Allen Grizzard-Paul.

Let’s take a brief look back at a year that is now becoming part of Division 42 Kiwanis history.

We held our first DCM at CLU last October. I still remember the excitement of beginning a new year filled with hopes, dreams, and fresh ideas. I sincerely believe we had a successful year. Several clubs inducted new members, and many worked hard to grow their membership, resulting in a welcome influx of new members across most of our clubs. However, our work is not done; we will continue striving to bring new members into Kiwanis. As new presidents begin serving in many of our clubs in August, I wish each of them a wonderful year. Let’s continue working together as a team to fulfill the Kiwanis dream.

As most of you know, we recently held DCON, the District Education Conference, in Reno. I was unable to attend, but appreciated receiving excellent reports about the conference. My sincere thanks to Katy Porter, Allen Grizzard-Paul, and Margaret Sigurdsson for sharing their insights with me.

To begin, our incoming Lieutenant Governor, Margaret Sigurdsson, and Katy Porter shared that they attended several valuable seminars and learned how to use AI safely and effectively in our clubs. They emphasized that using this technology requires precision and careful review, including double- and triple-checking details such as dates, years, days, and other important information.

They also attended a workshop on SLPs and learned that, in some cases, the county or local Elks Club may be able to provide a bus at no cost to transport children to needed activities or events. This may be worth exploring further to see whether our local Elks clubs could assist us.

They also learned strategies for attracting new members. Personally, I would encourage anyone interested in membership growth to speak with our Thousand Oaks president, Brian McMahon. At last week’s club meeting, Brian shared that the Thousand Oaks Club has inducted 21 new members this year, which I believe is a record for us. Congratulations, Brian, on a job well done.

Finally, Allen Grizzard-Paul informed me that our new District Governor for 2026–2027 will be Brian Dahlquist, and the new Governor-Elect will be Michele Hock. Congratulations to all, and best wishes for a successful year. Thank you to all the dedicated members of our Kiwanis family.

Reminder: incoming CLE (Club Leadership Education) will be held at The ARC of Ventura on August 29, 8 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Breakfast coffee and donuts and Jersey Mike’s lunch will be provided. Cost is $15 per member. I look forward to seeing you there.

Paul Lopez