Foundation awards grants, selects heroes

The Kiwanis International Foundation Board, during its February 12-13 meeting, awarded several grants, including US$250,000 for tsunami relief in Indonesia. The Board also honored five heroes by awarding them the Robert P. Connelly Medal for Heroism.

The Connelly Medal recipients are:

• Michael Bennett and John Sawchuck disarmed a high school student who shot at two classmates and shot a teacher in the leg. They were nominated by the Kiwanis Club of Sand Lake, New York.

• Dominic Giunta lost his life while saving an eight-year-old child from drowning in a riptide. The Kiwanis Club of Dunedin, Florida, nominated Giunta.

• Paul Koster, who was nominated by the Kiwanis Club of Southampton Town, New York, rescued a man from drowning in rough surf.

• Kevin D. Shaw, who was nominated by the Kiwanis Club of Ellsworth, Kansas, suffered a heart attack and died after rescuing a woman from a burning truck.

District foundation matching grant requests for 2004-05 were awarded to:

• Alabama Kiwanis Foundation, Reading Is Fundamental-Jean Dean Program.

• Nebraska-Iowa Kiwanis District Foundation, pediatric trauma kits.

• Rocky Mountain District Foundation Inc., pediatric trauma institute.

Grant applications were funded for the following:

• Kiwanis International, Key Leader for 2005-06.

• Kiwanis International, Circle K International, LeaderShape for 2005-06.

• Kiwanis International, Key Leader for 2004-05.

• Kiwanis Club of Greater Southeast Portland, Oregon, for a children’s hospital’s pediatric cancer program.

• Kiwanis Club of Corvallis, Oregon, for a program that assists children, ages birth to eight years, who are at risk for social, emotional, and behavioral problems.

• Kiwanis Club of Eldorado, Altoona, Pennsylvania, for a baseball program for youth who have physical and mental disabilities.

• Kiwanis Club of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for an early intervention program for children with Down syndrome.

• Kiwanis Club of Logan, Utah, for a children’s literacy program.

• Kiwanis Club of Tuckahoe, Virginia, to send medical supplies and educational materials for a health service organization working with children on the Amazon River.

• Kiwanis Club of Ramona, California, for a program that supplies radio wave-emitting bracelets to persons who have dementia and may wander away and become lost.

Kiwanis Indonesia received a $250,000 disaster relief grant to build a school, medical clinic, and orphanage in areas affected by the December 26 tsunami.