Oh, the 1 million possibilities

One child and one community at a time, Kiwanis clubs and Kiwanians are changing the world. Imagine, however, the difference 1 million members will make in the year 2015!

start up funds for Phase I Developmental Therapeutics Studies to meet the needs of children’s cancer patients.

Ohio

Living Water Ministries (LWM) should be known for the good things it does for Lindenwald, Ohio. Operating out of a restored building that once served as a crack house, LWM helps at-risk children cope with their very difficult lives.

Yet on Father’s Day 2005, a rape occurred in a neighboring house. In retaliation, an arsonist torched the house. Heat radiated across to LWM’s office, melting the siding and destroying four windows. The town razed the burned house, but LWM could only afford to board up its windows, wait for winter’s cold temperatures, and suffer the stigma associated with those horrible crimes.

“The side of that building was a constant reminder to the community—and to the victim—that something very bad happened here,” says Lindenwald-Hamilton Kiwanian John McWilliams, who regularly volunteers at Living Water.

So John invited children’s center coordinator Cathy Hester to tell LWM’s story at a Kiwanis meeting.

“At the end of my talk—I couldn’t believe it—they voted to pay for the repairs,” Cathy says, apologizing for the tearful strain in her voice. “Then, they literally adopted our children for Christmas. They bused 75 of them to a local hotel. They gave them gifts, sat with them, sang Christmas carols with them, and served lunch.

“I still can’t believe what they did. I just love them.

“I’m now a Kiwanian myself.”

Imagine: 1 million Kiwanians!

Sri Lanka

Yesterday, she was dying. Today, she rests quietly, drugs helping her sleep. Tomorrow, the doctors promise, she’ll be playing in her mother’s arms.

Only eight months old, the baby girl was bitten by a mosquito and contracted dengue fever. Taken to the Kiwanis Intensive Care Unit at Lady Ridgeway Hospital in Colombo City, Sri Lanka, she was near death upon arrival. Her blood vessels had virtually collapsed, making it nearly impossible to start an intravenous feed of life-saving medicine. Persistence prevailed. A cure effected. Recovery.

“Tomorrow,” her doctor says, “she’ll be a normal child again.”

The hospital, with the only pediatric facility in Sri Lanka, sees many of childhood’s worst health problems, including encephalitis, pneumonia, heart disease, and sepsis. “These,” the doctor says, looking across a fully occupied room of 10 beds, are very sick children.” Nevertheless, the intensive care unit claims a success rate near 90 percent.

Part of that success can be attributed to the Kiwanis Club of Colombo City, Sri Lanka, which equipped the ICU with eight beds and a computer. The computer compiles doctors’ records, and the hospital’s pediatric specialists use this data to prepare training programs and treatment manuals for doctors throughout Sri Lanka and Asia. As more physicians are trained and receive prescribed pediatric procedures, more and more children can be healed.

Imagine: 1 million Kiwanians!

Japan

Ten-year-old girls have outgrown dolls. But alone, at night, in a hospital, the night before surgery, when you’ve never been really sick before, and you’re feeling uncertain, lonely, even scared, a soft, cuddly toy helps even a 10-year-old child fall peacefully into a comforting sleep.

Imagine! The Kiwanis Club of Luebeck, Germany, fosters children's musical and artistic talents with a contribution of 10,000 euros. Imagine: 1 million Kiwanians!

“Akiko” decorates “Miku’s” hair with a pink bow. The night before surgery, her nighttime companion is her Kiwanis doll.

Akiko rests peacefully with her Kiwanis-made friend the night before her surgery.

At Tokyo, Japan’s Self Defense Force Central Hospital, hallway lights cast a soft glow into “Akiko’s” room, where she lies sleeping, clutching “Miku,” her Kiwanis doll. The doll is a gift from the Kiwanis Club of Tokyo. Akiko decorated the plain white cloth body with a smiling face, yellow T-shirt, and a red ribbon in her hair. Later, she listened attentively, as her surgeon, Dr. Watanabe, used the doll to explain the procedure he planned for her the next day.

A week after the surgery, Akiko proudly displays Miku on the family piano. “She wants everybody to look at the doll,” her mother says, “as a witness to how she did her best at the hospital.”

Kiwanians distribute hundreds of Kiwanis dolls to hospitals, health clinics, child-care centers, and other facilities throughout the Japan District. Each doll, handmade by Kiwanians, their families, and an army of high school students, brings comfort to a child in need. (View a video of the young patient and Miku.)

Imagine: 1 million Kiwanians!

Alabama

Hi! My name is Jimmy Hook. I am nine years old and in Ms. Jackson’s third-grade class at Garrett Elementary School in Montgomery, Alabama. Dad is helping me write this, because I am autistic, and it is difficult for me to concentrate on things sometimes. Thank you, Kiwanis club, for being a big part of building the Miracle League Field at Edward Thompson Park. I have never been able to play any organized sport with other kids. Little League or Dixie Youth Leagues are just not set up for someone like me.

Jimmy Hook guards the third-base line during a Miracle League Baseball game, while behind him is a sign promoting the Alabama National Fair, another of Jimmy’s favorite pastimes.

Dad took me to the Opening Day ceremony at the Miracle League Field last year, and I told him right away I wanted to go on that field. So he signed me up right there, and I got a shirt and a hat. By the time we were to start playing I wasn’t so sure I wanted to play ball any more. But, my Dad went with me out in the field, and he went with me to bat. When I hit the ball, he carried me to first base, and then I ran with him to second, and third, and HOME! That was enough for me that first day. You see, I have problems in crowds sometimes, and I just have to get away from all the people and noise.

We went back the next week and the next week and the next week. I had more fun each time, and the coaches were great helping me all the time, and I knew some of the other kids from my special education class. I was really disappointed when the season ended, and I have been practicing hitting the ball all winter.

So I was ready when we had sign-up this spring. In fact, I was disappointed we weren’t playing that day, even though it was rainy and about 40 degrees. The season finally got started, and there are a lot more kids and more teams, but I got to be on one of the red teams, and that’s important because red is “my” color. I wear a red shirt and a red hat, and I normally won’t wear hats but I have to when I’m playing ball.

This year, I told my dad I want to play in the field by myself and go to bat on my own too. He stays on the bench or catches behind the plate. I like to slide into all the bases, even first. And I can hit the ball all the way to the fence, sometimes. In the field, I like to play pitcher, because there are a lot of balls hit to the pitcher and I like to field the ball. I also like to play in the outfield mostly because there is a sign out there for the Alabama National Fair, and I like to be by it. It reminds me of all the fun I have had at the fair, and my dad says we will go again this year, yippee!

Thanks again Kiwanis club for making all this possible for me and all the other kids. If we didn’t have the Miracle League Field, a lot of us would never be able to play ball, and I love playing ball!—Jimmy (and Le) Hook

Imagine: 1 million Kiwanians!