The Hometown Helpers Community Club met Saturday, April 22, at the Presbyterian Church in Sylvan Grove.
Members shared in a public speaking project meeting designed to improve their speaking skills. Exercises included tongue twisters to warm up mouths and voices. Then members demonstrated what NOT to do when speaking. These “common mistakes” included things such as slouching or leaning on furniture, swaying or shifting from foot to foot, fiddling with hair or clothing, repeatedly clearing throat or saying things like “um” or “you know” and more. Other members enjoyed identifying the mistakes the speakers were making. Another exercise was designed to demonstrate a range of emotions and expressions made with the voice. Each speaker would take a simple phrase such as “I knew it” and practice delivering it in different ways to convey different emotions.
For the final exercise, club members divided into pairs. Each pair chose a simple household item and created a new use for the item and a commercial spot to promote it. Members enjoyed creatively “repurposing” the items, making their promotional spots and “selling” their products.
After the public speaking project meeting, the Hometown Helpers conducted a short business meeting. It was called to order by Vice President Kale Sorensen. Hometown Helpers recited the Pledge of Allegiance and the club pledge. In new business, the club agreed to volunteer as servers for the Sylvan-Lucas Unified alumni banquet on Saturday, May 27.
Members also decided to hold a rocket building session with rocket enthusiast Ed Myers of Kansas City on Friday, June 9. On Saturday, June 10, members agreed that they would travel to Hutchinson, KS, for a KOSMO (Kansas Organization for Space Modeling) launch at the state fairgrounds. KOSMO is a division of NAR (National Association of Rocketry). Details of the weekend’s events will be decided in the weeks to come.
It was reported that the new club logo is being designed by Alisa Agler. She will make logos to be used on the club’s banner and t-shirts.
The next Hometown Helpers meeting will be a gardening project meeting to plant flowers in the downtown planters for the city of Sylvan Grove.
Seeing no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Recreation leader Clara Sorensen led the club in playing human pinball, a game that tested members’ dexterity and agility.
For refreshments, the Sorensen family treated club members to cookies and pop.
