Feature

Kid power

How one Wisconsin K-Kids club empowers children of all abilities to serve and lead

Hundreds of miles separate Wisconsin from Louisiana and Mississippi, but the news about Hurricane Katrina traveled with a full force of emotion upon Manitowoc's Matthew Bialek. Though his school was collecting relief supplies, Matthew--a third-grader at the time--belived he could do more as a member of the Franklin Elementary School K-Kids club. So he decided to join. All he had to do was write a couple paragraphs explaining why he wanted to be a K-Kid.

Franklin Elementary K-Kids make Christmas decorations.

Saving lives Here's an excerpt from Mara Bowman's award-winning speech. Two years ago when a fire destroyed one of our fellow student's home, we saw a problem, developed a plan, and solved it. Our president at the time, Matthew bialek, asked the community service committee to discuss what we as K-Kids could do to help prevent such an event from happening again. We decided to contact the fire chief and explained our plan to him. Now each year before the holidays, we visit neighborhoods, distributing smoke detectors and batteries to people who need them. This gives me such a great feeling to know how much I helped by community. The fire chief always thanks us for our service and tells us we are saving lives every year. Does you club sponsor a K-Kids club? Make sure it includes children of all abilities and brings out the best in everyone.

For Matthew, who is severely dyslexic, a two-paragraph essay could be a daunting challenge. But his cause was too important to give upon, so he grabbed three dictionaries and went to work. He wrote not just two paragraphs, but three.

Matthew went on to become the head of the club's service committee. His first accomplishment as a member of the K-Kids club? Shipping thousands of books to school libraries in the Gulf states.