Club hits hole-in-one with links outing

Ask Sostene “Sos” Codispoti to tell you about his Kiwanis club, and his reply will probably be: “I can’t believe you haven’t asked me before now!”

Golfers stop for a quick photo during the Kiwanis Club of Greater Dublin, Ohio’s annual golf outing this past year.

Sos can and will talk to you all day about the Kiwanis Club of Greater Dublin, Ohio—he’s that passionate about the club and what it stands for. In fact, it seems a lot of people are passionate about Kiwanis in Dublin. The club chartered with 86 members this past July, and already has grown to more than 100 members.

“You have to be committed to do something like this,” says Sos of the club-building experience. “I’d stop in and see people—talk to them about Kiwanis. When you talk to people, you find out that they know someone who is or was a Kiwanian. There are a lot of people who want to be involved in community service—you just have to talk to them. If you get people who are committed, you can build anything.”

And this is quite an ambitious club. The club meets Tuesdays, and there has been a program at every meeting. Featured speakers have included educators, an FBI agent, the state attorney general, political figures, head coach of Ohio State’s women’s basketball, and a former Ohio State football coach. The list goes on and on. In fact, programs already are scheduled through May.

Aside from great club meetings, the members have had immeasurable success with service projects and fundraising events. To name only a few: The club adopted six families this past holiday season, gathered donations for members of the US military, and worked with a food bank. Sos has even been seen driving Santa Claus around town in a convertible.

But it’s one particular event that had members’ jaws dropping to the floor. The club staged a golf outing, dinner, and drawing all on the same day this past August. According to Sos, the plan wasn’t to have all these events in one day, but it sort of ended up that way so the club members ran with it. The outcome was nothing less than astounding.

“In one day—August 19—we had our golf outing, dinner, and reverse raffle,” Sos says, “and we made $12,000.”

Thanks to a club calendar that’s packed full of speakers, events, and projects, members stay involved and prospective members become interested.

“It’s exciting when you find good people,” Sos says. “And when you’re talking to people about a good thing, it’s not hard to get them to join.