Date of Meeting: September 17, 2024

Venue: Laconia Police Department – Community Room

Attendance: 8 in attendance: 6 members and 2 guests

MEMBERS AND GUESTS:

Kiwanis Members:
Betty Ballantyne
Ray Chambers
Zach Dea
Bill Gile
Steve Loughlin
Don Nelson

Guests:
Amy Lovisek – Director of Recreation & Facilities - City of Laconia
Jilli Paul – Laconia High School Key Club Advisor

Amy Lovisek		Jilli Paul
Above photos by W. Stephen Loughlin

President Betty Ballantyne opened the meeting at 6:04 pm by thanking all in attendance and introducing our guests.

This was followed by:
Invocation: by Ray Chambers
Pledge of Allegiance: Led by Betty Ballantyne
Song: My Country Tis of Thee led by Don Nelson

GUEST SPEAKER:

Past President (2000-2001) Don Nelson was pleased to introduce Emily Lovisek, Director of Recreation & Facilities.

Amy Lovisek and Don Nelson enjoy a photo op prior to her presentation.

Amy was born and raised in Laconia and graduated from Laconia High School in the class of 1992. She was a 3-sport athlete (Basketball, Softball & Field Hockey) and was a member of the LHS Key Club!

EDITORS NOTE: While in high school, Amy Lovisek (maiden name: Amy Reitz) excelled in Baseball, Softball and Field Hockey. Below are a few of her high school pictures from 1992.

From 1992: Amy Reitz

Amy Reitz was Co-Captain of the Laconia High School girls Varsity Basketball Team

Amy Reitz was Co-Captain of the Laconia High School girls Softball Team

In Amy's senior year, Laconia High School won the Class I Field Hockey State Championships. Amy Reitz is holding the championship trophy.

Above photos from the 1992 Laconia High School yearbook

Amy attended Marshal University in Huntington West Virginia for her freshman year then transferred to Plymouth State to finish her education as a business management major. Rugby was her sport of choice during college. During the summer months of her college career, Amy worked for the Laconia Parks & Recreation Department as a seasonal maintenance staffer. The department was different back then, but she always had fun working there.

After graduation, Amy traveled with her sister across the country in a rental car to see the sights. She lived in San Diego for a year and worked at a resort on the Torrey Pines Golf Course. After that year was up, her sister flew back out and they traveled a different route across the country again!

After arriving back to Laconia, she worked briefly in the commercial lending department for Laconia Savings Bank (now known as Bank of New Hampshire) and as a wedding planner for the Margate Resort.

In 1999, Amy went to work full time for the Parks & Recreation department as the Waterfront/Program Director. This position had her working mostly with the beach staff, camps, and all things recreation programs. She was promoted in 2009 to the Assistant Director of Recreation & Facilities and then in 2019 was again promoted as the first female Director of Recreation & Facilities. In her time as director, she has altered the look and feel of the department from the logo to the parks themselves to staffing. She is proud to be called a Laconian and fights daily to protect the city’s natural resources. Amy has been married to her husband for 22 years and has 2 sons who she couldn’t be more proud of.

Amy begins her presentation.

During her presentation Amy showed a series of Power Point slides outlining her responsibilities as Director of Recreation & Facilities. Below are a few pictorial highlights from her presentation.

Opechee Park
Weirs Beach
Amy discusses the Robbie Mills Sports Complex
Above photo by W. Stephen Loughlin
Leavitt Park
Stewart Park		Rotary Park
Amy points to Laconia High School which is in front of Bobotas Park.
Above photo by W. Stephen Loughlin
Weirs Community Park Pavilion
Memorial Park
Gale Memorial Library		WOW Trail
Unless otherwise noted, all of the above photo were taken from Amy's Powerpoint Presentation.

In brief, Amy and her department is responsible for maintaining 20 parks year-round as well as most city buildings (excluding the schools). These include:

• Opechee Park
• Weirs Beach
• Robbie Mills Sports Complex
• Bartlett Beach
• Bond Beach
• Tardif Park
• Wyatt Park
• Leavitt Park
• Stewart Park
• Rotary Park
• Bobotas Park (located behind Laconia High School)
• Sanborn Park
• Weirs Community Park Pavilion
• Weirs Community Park Playground
• Weirs Community Park Amphitheater
• Memorial Park
• Veterans Square
• Gateway Park
• Perley Pond
• Torrey Park

Other areas maintained by Laconia Parks & Recreation include (but are not limited to):
• Police Department
• Goss Reading Room
• Gale Memorial Library
• Municipal Lots (City Hall/Pleasant Street)
• Community Center
• Department of Public Works (Messer Street)
• Department of Public Works (Bisson Ave)
• Central Fire Department

What is amazing is that all of these responsibilities of Laconia Parks & Recreation are handled by a staff of only 10 employees!

For a detailed list of responsibilities of Laconia Parks & Recreation and to view all the slides included in Amy’s PowerPoint presentation, “click” here.

Throughout her presentation, Amy enjoyed fielding numerous questions from those in attendance.

Amy enjoys a lighter moment.

Photo by W. Stephen Loughlin

Betty Ballantyne rings the bell concluding the meeting.
Photo by W. Stephen Loughlin

The meeting adjourned at 7:51 pm.

The Laconia Kiwanis Club recently received the following two Thank You notes:

• A Thank You from Jennah Valovanie who received a scholarship from the Laconia Kiwanis Club

"Click" on the above graphic to read Jennah’s Thank You note.

• A Thank You from Laconia Police Chief Matt Canfield for our recent donation of soda.
Click here to read Matt’s Thank You note.

In the August Kiwanis Bulletin, we noted that the Laconia Kiwanis Club contributed $5,000 to support the enhancements to the playgrounds in the Laconia School District. On August 27th, a ribbon cutting was held to celebrate the playground renovations at Elm Street School, Pleasant Street School and Woodland Heights School. Members of several organizations that also made contributions were present. Representing the Laconia Kiwanis Club at the Elm Street School ribbon cutting were Bill Gile, Zach Dea and his son, Alex.

In the above picture, can you find Bill Gile, Alex Dea and Zach Dea?
"Click" on the picture for the answer to the question and for the names of those participating in the Ribbon Cutting.
Photo by W. Stephen Loughlin

On September 7th the Laconia Kiwanis Club participated at the Laconia Multicultural Festival. Kiwanians and Friends of Kiwanis who participated included: Bill Gile, Betty Ballantyne, Kathy Calvin, Robbie Neylon, Tara Shore, Alex Dea, Abby Dea, Alex Dea, Carrie Chandler Brad Geltz, Luann Mussari and Mike & Jane West. The Club sponsored and ran the Kiwanis Kids Kraft Korner which included three different culturally-inspired crafts which children could participate in and take home. The crafts, which varied in complexity so as to appeal to all ages and skill levels, included: 1. Multicultural Yarn Doll - These are found all over the world, from Japanese Amigurumi, to African Abayomi, to colonial settlers dolls. 2. Native American Dream Catcher- The Native Americans viewed dreams as energy that surrounds individuals as they sleep and would construct dream catchers to prevent the bad dreams from affecting the person while capturing the good dreams and channeling that energy into the person’s life. 3. Indigenous Mexican God's Eye - Ritual objects made by the Huichol (wet-chol) indigenous people of Mexico and is primarily associated with the prayers for their children – prayers for a good long life, protection and to ensure abundant crops.
Above two photos by Carrie Chandler
Above photo by Betty Ballantyne
Above photo by Carrie Chandler
Above two photos by Zach Dea
Above two photos by Betty Ballantyne

On September 20th, Betty Ballantyne, Zach & Sara Dea and Key Club Advisor Jilli Paul participated in the Irwin Ford Drive 4 UR School fund raising program which was held at Laconia High School. Under the promotion, The Ford Motor Company agreed to donate $20 to the school for each test drive up to a maximum of $6,000. The Ford Drive 4 UR School program was developed in 2007 to help Ford dealers showcase their vehicles while raising money for schools by hosting a one-day test-drive event. Over the years, Ford has raised $35 million in donations across thousands of different events all over the nation.
Betty Ballantyne with Eric Fabian a long time supporter of Drive 4UR School.		L to R: Fred Caruso, Betty Ballantyne and Ford representative, Erin Powers
Above three photos by Irwin Employee Joan Brierly

On Saturday, September 28th, Past President (2001-2002) Phil Bonafide participated in the Veterans Car Show held at Funspot.

Phil Bonafide was proud to show off his newly purchased 1967 Pontiac GTO four speed which arrived at his house just a few hours before the beginning of the car show.

Above photos by W. Stephen Loughlin

THANK YOU
Many thanks to Joe Adrignola, Betty Ballantyne, Phil Bonafide, Carrie Chandler, Zach Dea and Amy Lovisek for their assistance with this bulletin.

Tuesday - October 1st : Venue: ZOOM MEETING
6:00 pm - Board of Directors Meeting

Wednesday - October 16th: Venue: Patrick's Pub & Eatery - The Emerald Room
6:00 pm - Annual Installation Meeting

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