Renowned for hosting the Kiwanis Musical Festival, which is now in its 72nd year, the Kiwanis Club of Chatham-Kent is looking for men and women interested in service – to the community and further abroad.
At a breakfast meeting Saturday morning, club members hosted a meet and greet to let potential new members know what it means to be a Kiwanian.
Club treasurer and membership chair George Service, with president Mary Alice Marchand, discussed the history of its club and longevity in the community.
“Kiwanis is alive and well in Chatham-Kent,” Service said of the club, which began its legacy of service to the community in 1930. “We have namesakes in the community that include the Kiwanis Theatre, Kiwanis Stadium near the old auditorium and the Kiwanis music band shell in Tecumseh Park.”
With a current membership of 54, the club combines local projects and partners with international Kiwanis projects, such as the joint UNICEF Eliminate project to help rid the world of maternal and neo-natal tetanus through vaccination. Since beginning the project in 2010, Marchand said the results of the vaccination program are being seen.
“UNICEF started by going into 39 countries to vaccinate babies, and a child died every nine minutes of tetanus,” Marchand said. “The number of countries identified is now only 18 and a child dies of tetanus every 15 minutes.”
The Kiwanis International goal for that project is $110 million.
Locally, Kiwanis is working on a new project in partnership with the Chatham-Kent Public Library called Reading Buddies. Service said six Kiwanians go into the library and read to kids for a half-hour session each.
Taking a turn recently, Service said he it is an experience he will never forget.
“I had a nine-year-old who loved to read and would read to me the entire time I was there. I would help with word meanings every so often,” Service explained. “After, I received a card from the child that said, ‘I miss my grandparents. I feel my grandparents in you.’ I can tell you that is something that makes it all worthwhile.”
Also at CKPL is the Learn a Skills Partnership, where a local comes in to teach a skill such as painting or quilting to the kids over a six-week period and the child goes home with a finished product.
The Kiwanis Club partners with many other groups such as the Public Health Unit for the Learn, Share, Grow program and the Masonic Lodge Child ID Clinic.
For the 150th birthday celebration for this year’s Canada Day, the club will be giving out 150 books to 150 kids in partnership with the CKPL.
With members dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time, Kiwanians volunteer for many local events such as Meals on Wheels, Salvation Army Christmas Kettles, Canadian Cancer Society, Habitat for Humanity and the Children’s Water Festival.
The area also has the Aktion Club of Chatham-Kent, a Kiwanis club for adults with disabilities that is sponsored and supported by the Kiwanis Club of Chatham-Kent, and liaises with the Association of Community Living.
“Aktion Clubs do a tremendous amount of service work in the community, for parades, Rib Fest and community clean up,” Service noted.
Key Clubs are high school clubs sponsored by Kiwanis.
A recent member, Kerry Halls, spoke to the group about what made him want to join Kiwanis.
“I retired three years ago and wanted to part of something positive,” Halls said. “I went to a Kiwanis meeting and found there what I was looking for. They made me feel very welcome and the people there were there for all the right reasons; they were committed for all the right reasons.”
Going out to another meeting in February last year, Halls said he impressed with the club’s approach to new members.
“You can do service work to the level you can commit to; nobody is going to push you to chair a committee in the first month. I had the opportunity to sit back and find my niche,” he noted.
While there is a morning meeting each week, Marchand said there is no attendance requirement, and to compromise for people who can’t make the weekly meetings, there is a dinner meeting once a month.
With very successful and usually sold-out fundraising events like the Crepe Night and scenic tours, Marchand said the members are like family and get together for club activities and to enjoy each other’s company.
Anyone interested in Kiwanis is welcome to come to a meeting, held each Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m. at Holy Trinity Anglican Church Hall, 81 Selkirk St. in Chatham or contact Service at georgeservice27@gmail.com.
