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Children: the purpose of our service

Worldwide, Kiwanis clubs address a multitude of needs, but the primary focus of their service is young children.\

Here’s proof.

Dolls for children

In The Austrian Kiwanis clubs of Innsbruck, Innsbruck-Andechs, and Innsbruck-Maximilian, team with a workshop for persons who have disabilities to sew Kiwanis dolls. The toys are distributed to hospitalized children.

Advice for Dad and Mom

In New parents across the Wisconsin-Upper Michigan District receive a monthly newsletter titled “Parenting, the First Year.” A cooperative arrangement between Kiwanis clubs and the University of Wisconsin’s Cooperative Extension Service, the newsletter is packed with information about infant development, nutrition, health, safety, child care, and changes in family life.

Early intervention

Babies born into poverty more likely need medical attention than babies born into wealth. Yet, the needs of the needy go unmet because families cannot afford doctors, medicines, and healthful diets. The Kiwanis Club of Metropolitano, Panamá City, Panama, works the Panama Ministry of Health to provide an early intervention program that trains health workers and produces educational materials for parents.

Biggest baby blast

Parents have a lot of questions. Are we feeding her correctly? How can we make him stop crying? The World’s Greatest Baby Shower—conducted by the Kiwanis Club of Titusville, Florida, Parrish Medical Center, and Brevard County Extension Service— puts those fears to rest. In addition to demonstrations and exhibits, the fair features a series of parenting seminars.

Ride safely

A helmet is helpful, but it’s not the only safety precaution a bicyclist should consider. The Kiwanis Club of Bellingham, Washington, partnering with police and sheriff departments and a hardware retailer, hosts a bicycle rodeo. Riders are fitted with helmets, given instructions in hand signals and proper riding clothing, and sent home to their parents with informative safety literature.

Army of readers

Nearly 50 Birmingham, Alabama, Kiwanians participate in the Alabama District’s Jean Dean Reading Is Fundamental program, sharing books with more than 400 young children at 24 Head Start classrooms.

Healing the hurt

The New England District’s Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute is dedicated to providing medical care, research, and injury-prevention programs to combat the leading cause of childhood death and disability: accidents. Among its services:

• An online registry to share treatment options, statistics, and other medical information with pediatric specialists worldwide.
• A child-abuse curriculum for emergency medical personnel.
• A car seat inspection program.
• Welcome bags, filled with hygiene items, snacks, and restaurant vouchers, because parents often rush to the hospital unprepared for overnight—or longer—stays.
• A playroom well-stocked with toys, hospital dolls, blankets, movies, and other diversions for the patients and their siblings.

Seat check

In addition to donating funds to purchase child car seats, the Tuscola, Illinois, Kiwanis club provides volunteers to help the Douglas County Health Department inspect car seat installations. The team ensures the seats are properly strapped into the vehicles, in good condition, and are the correct seat for the child’s weight. Members also notify parents if their seats have been recalled.

Low-cost high-tech

Many health-care facilities in impoverished areas of the world do not have the equipment or resources to care for unstable infants. Even if they did, they would not have the expertise to make repairs or replace parts. The Kiwanis Club of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, works with a Netherlands foundation to deliver simple, low-cost incubators to hospitals worldwide.

Cabbages for kids

With a surplus of cabbages in Taiwan, sales prices fell, and farmers suffered tremendous economic losses. Yet some agencies struggled to feed the children they serve. Kiwanis’ Taiwan District purchased the vegetables at a reasonable price from the farmers and gave the cabbages to orphanages.

Safe and secure

Women and children of Geauga County, Ohio, escape domestic violence and find shelter at the Womensafe Greene House in Chardon, where they sleep securely in bunk beds built by East Geauga Kiwanians.

Trikes for tykes

After constructing a “Trike Track” for a Head Start center, the Darden, Alabama,
Kiwanis club purchases repair kits and maintains the tricycles and other “road toys.”

Take the kids

The Omaha West Side, Nebraska, Kiwanis club distributes “Kids in Car” brochures to parents of students at 10 elementary schools. In addition to providing other safety tips regarding children and vehicles, the literature urges, “Never leave your children alone in or around a vehicle for even a minute.”