Kiwanis family clubs become harvest heroes

Kiwanis family clubs become harvest heroes

Jul 28, 2025 | General interest, Service Leadership Programs, Service projects | 0 comments

In Minnesota, U.S., members of Key Club and Builders Club joined Kiwanians to feed hungry kids.

By Zak Mohamed, Fridley High School Key Club 

On a crisp Friday morning, the Fridley Community Center in Minnesota, U.S., buzzed with energy, laughter and a rhythmic gong of celebration. Why, you ask? Because 80 volunteers from all corners of the Fridley community gathered for one powerful mission: to fight hunger, one oatmeal packet at a time. 

This is Harvest Pack, a high-energy, heart-filled event where our service shines bright. The outcome was nothing short of incredible. Together, students, community members and service leaders packed a staggering 32,488 oatmeal meals, all of which are now helping to feed local elementary school students over weekends. 

Community in action
The event was a shining example of what happens when generations come together for a cause. Sixty enthusiastic Key Club members took the lead in running stations, pouring oats, sealing bags, boxing meals and keeping the energy high. 

But they weren’t alone. Ten members from the Builders Club rolled up to help and worked with focus and pride. From the adult side of the Kiwanis family, 10 Kiwanians joined in — seven from the Kiwanis Club of Columbia Heights-Fridley and three from the Kiwanis Club of Northeast Minneapolis. Each volunteer brought something special to the table, whether it was experience, speed, encouragement or just a knack for scooping oats without spilling. 

These weren’t just any oatmeal packets. Every meal will be placed into the backpacks of elementary students across communities, ensuring that they won’t go hungry when they head home for the weekend. It’s a simple idea with a powerful impact: One meal can make a difference in a child’s weekend. 

Knowing this, each volunteer moved with purpose. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t have a little fun along the way.  

Our gong show
One of the most memorable parts of the event was the gong. Each time a box was filled and sealed shut, a volunteer would strike a shining gong, its loud clang echoing throughout the room, triggering cheers and applause from all corners. The gong became a symbol of teamwork and progress — a fun way to celebrate every step toward our meal goal. 

While the packing stations worked tirelessly to fill thousands of bags, another team kept the operation running smoothly. Volunteers helped refill ingredients, supplied stations with everything from oats to cinnamon, and loaded heavy boxes onto trucks. These harvest heroes were the heartbeat of the event, making sure no station ever slowed down. 

In fact, events like Harvest Pack do more than feed kids. They inspire a culture of compassion and community action. During the day, our team packed enough meals to make a real dent in local food insecurity. Everyone who volunteered left knowing they took part in something meaningful 

As the last box was sealed, there was a shared sense of pride — along with a little oatmeal dust on our clothes. After all, we didn’t just pack food. We packed hope. 

Virtual club focuses on abuse prevention 

Virtual club focuses on abuse prevention 

Jul 23, 2025 | Club building, General interest | 0 comments

Members help “alert adults” recognize and address dangers to kids.

By Julie Saetre

For more than five decades, Sharon Doty has worked as an advocate for abused and neglected kids, both professionally through her law practice and as a volunteer for a variety of organizations. When a friend encouraged her to explore Kiwanis membership, she attended meetings of a few virtual clubs, but nothing seemed to fit. 

“We started talking about something that would call to me,” Doty says. “My life has been in service of creating a world where no child ever has to fear being sexually assaulted by someone who says they care about them. My life has been about educating adults how to recognize the potentially risky adults in our environment and how to interrupt behaviors so that kids are not at risk.” 

In September 2024, Doty was part of a group that launched the virtual Keeping Them Safe Kiwanis Club. As its membership chair, she works with the club’s 14 other members to empower Kiwanians to expand their capacity for creating safe, protective environments for kids. The club’s presentations are based on training materials from the Keeping Them Safe organization Doty founded in 1996. 

Identifying behaviors
Through in-person presentations, Zoom meetings, a PowerPoint presentation and more, club members teach other Kiwanians how to recognize behaviors in adults that indicate they could be a threat to children. Multiple studies involving conversations with convicted sexual predators have identified these behaviors, Doty says. And some of them can be easily overlooked. One example: letting a child have or do something their parents have prohibited — such as playing a certain video game or drinking a sugary soda — as long as the child keeps it a secret.  

“I would bet you a million dollars, because I am a grandparent, that there’s not a grandparent, aunt or uncle out there who hasn’t done something mom and dad won’t allow the kids to do, because it’s not harmful in their world,” Doty says. “But you’ve taught the kids two things. One is that it’s OK not to follow mom and dad’s rules. And the second is that if a responsible, trusted adult tells them not to tell mom and dad, that’s OK too.  

“So now, inadvertently, with no intention of causing harm, we have taught them things that create an environment where a predator can access them.” 

The club also teaches Kiwanians non-threatening, non-accusatory methods of addressing such behaviors once they’ve learned to identify them. Something as simple as saying, “Wow, that child’s parents wouldn’t let me give them a soda last week. Let’s double-check with them to make sure it’s OK,” both interrupts the behavior and puts the individual on alert that other people are paying attention. 

Alert adults
While those who hear the club’s presentations find the information helpful, some hesitate to pursue additional training or implementation. The reason, Doty says, is that they’re afraid that simply showing interest in the topic will appear inappropriate to others.  

“We’re not accusing anybody,” Doty says. “These are the things that actually empower and enable us to fulfill this mission of creating safe environments. That kind of interest in being willing to go forward with the conversation is the beginning of something. We want to begin with Kiwanians having ownership of this as a way we can impact the world. I call it a community of alert adults.” 

To reach even more people, the Keeping Them Safe club is creating a library of educational videos and a companion YouTube channel. The club has partnered with a nonprofit that will produce the videos so more individuals can be aware and involved. 

“Our initial goal is to create 12 four-minute videos that educate adults and empower them to create safe environments,” Doty says. 

Virtual clubs and single-focus clubs are two opportunities for Kiwanians to tailor a service experience to their personal interests and goals. Learn more about the various types of Kiwanis clubs. 

8 ways to support children’s literacy 

8 ways to support children’s literacy 

Jul 18, 2025 | General interest, Literacy, Service projects | 0 comments

Here are ideas that your club can use to support one of Kiwanis’ core causes.

By Destiny Cherry

Education and literacy represent one of the three Kiwanis International causes that form a continuum of impact — helping young people develop throughout childhood and into adulthood. Looking for ways your club can support kids in this way? Here are eight ideas: 

  1. Read to children at your local library, children’s hospital or school. In addition to serving kids, it’s an easy way to build connections with organizations in your community. Host story time at your local library, read to kids in after-school programs and during designated class times, or read to young patients in a children’s hospital. If you have multilingual club members, try to diversify your reading languages to accommodate multilingual language learners (MLLs) or English language learners (ELLs).  
  2. Tutor at schools in your area. Schools offer a wide range of opportunities to tutor students across age groups and academic levels. While high school tutors usually require subject-specific knowledge or more advanced educational experience, elementary and lower middle school grade levels are a bit more flexible and do not typically require college degrees. Tutoring can take place in a multitude of settings, depending on the school and the specific instructor’s comfort levels. If the instructor and school approve, this could take place during class time, but it can also be an after-school or summer-school service project.  
  3. Hold a book drive. Your club can hold the drive at a community-centered location, offering snacks and drinks during your hours of operation and perhaps providing small tokens that donors can take home to keep Kiwanis in mind. Promote the donation of books that reflect a range of races, ethnicities, religions and languages. Ensuring that children see themselves represented in the stories they read is crucial to their development of self and identity. You can then divide and distribute the books to multiple locations — or partner with a location for the event and donate the books there at the end of the drive.  
  4. Begin and fill a Little Free Library. A Kiwanis International partner, Little Free Library grows a community’s love for books and reading while expanding access to books beyond time, space or privilege. Through the promotion of free, 24-hour book exchange, Little Free Library is a tangible testament to your club’s commitment to literacy, educational development and a connected community.  
  5. Host a social media reading challenge. Whether you host the challenge on your club’s social media accounts or on a city/community account, it could take on a variety of forms. One idea: The first family to read 50 books and submit the reviews of each book as evidence are the winners. Or your club could provide a bingo card of reading-related tasks — such as reading in a park, checking out a library book or reading nonfiction — that a family would fill out, submitting a photo of each activity. Spice up the challenge by adding book-related prizes or bookstore gift cards as incentives. 
  6. Create reading kits for kids. Reading kits can be a fun, simple, accessible way to get everyone in your club involved in a service project. These kits require only a few supplies and some imagination. All you’ll need is colored paper, markers, pencils, glue sticks and scissors. Make it a club effort by having different members contribute different supplies. Kits can be anything from a member creating a background, then leaving space for a child to create a character and continue the story, to having members design the characters themselves — and leaving spaces for the kids to fill in the story. After creating the reading kits, take them to a library during story time or a children’s hospital and complete the reading kit alongside the kids. Include handmade bookmarks to add some flair. 
  7. Fundraising for e-readers. Offering a built-in dictionary, translators, audiobook capabilities and access to a library of books, e-readers have been an increasingly useful way to help children who struggle with reading. But they’re not always available in large quantities to libraries, schools, hospitals and childcare centers. Raising money for one (or all) of these organizations can allow children who may be falling behind to bridge the gap and catch up with their peers. Fundraising can take on hundreds of forms. Your club can create its own idea or get inspiration from another successful approach. 
  8. Sponsor a “literacy corner” for local businesses. To connect with local businesses — and help them extend their own support for child literacy — approach them about putting a club-sponsored “literacy corner” in their locations. It can be as simple as a bookshelf, basket or small table with children’s books and learning games in the corner of a coffee shop, diner, barber shop/salon, laundromat or local retail store. Your club can take on the responsibility of accumulating the items, while the business would oversee the maintenance and cleanliness of the corner. Hold a fundraiser for the corner, or books and games can be donated from a drive. The business could also encourage customer engagement — welcoming people to bring in lightly used books or games. 

More sources of success
If you’re looking for more inspiration, check out some recent success stories on our blog. And check out more tips for promoting literacy.

Don’t forget the ways that Kiwanis Children’s Fund grants have funded many ways to read.