Connecting with Key Club creativity 

Connecting with Key Club creativity 

Nov 20, 2024 | General interest, Service Leadership Programs, Service projects | 0 comments

In California, U.S., a Kiwanis club’s festival benefits from students’ energy.  

By Julie Saetre

Seven years ago, the Mountain View Kiwanis Club in California, U.S., decided to hold its first Harvest History Festival to celebrate Mountain View’s agricultural past. For help with the event, the club reached out to the two Key Clubs they sponsor. In fact, they made an offer: In return for assistance, the Kiwanis club would pay each student volunteer’s Key Club membership dues for the year. The response was enthusiastic — and impressive. 

“They helped with the setup, they helped with the tear-down. The city [representatives] were so impressed with them,” says Marina Marinovic, a Mountain View club member. “And so, as the festival kept going, I would think of ways that we could raise some money for them.” 

At subsequent Harvest History Festivals, Key Club members have sold snacks and raffle tickets to raise money for their club budgets. And their festival responsibilities grew to include face-painting, manning a coloring table, guiding children through arts and crafts projects and more. 

When one of Marinovic’s neighbors was giving away a puppet theater, Marinovic approached the Key Clubs and asked whether they’d like to create a puppet show for the festival. The members readily agreed.  

Thanks to their enthusiasm, Marinovic now hopes the clubs will be able to hold future performances for young patients at area children’s hospitals. It’s not just the spirit of service but the Key Clubbers’ passion for creative projects that makes her optimistic. 

“I don’t think they get an opportunity to do that so much in school anymore,” Marinovic says. “So it seems they enjoy doing something that is fun and great for children.” 

Is your club making the most of its Key Club sponsorship? Marinovic advises Kiwanis clubs to reach out to their Key Club members and discuss ways that their clubs can collaborate.  

“It’s great to interact with kids and see how resourceful and wonderful they are to work with,” she says. “It’s great to have the young energy there and for them to interact with older members. It just really brings up the spirit of the whole event. I don’t think we recognize that they can really support Kiwanis clubs as an asset.” 

How to make your club more visible 

How to make your club more visible 

Nov 19, 2024 | Club building, General interest, Service projects | 0 comments

Use these ACE tools to raise your community profile. 

By Tony Knoderer

Kiwanis clubs should take pride in their service. After all, improving children’s lives is one of the best things people can do. But when you let others know what you do in their community, something more than pride is at stake. 

The more visible your club and its service are, the more clearly nonmembers see what’s possible — and why joining your club is the best way to help make that possibility a reality. 

Kiwanis International has resources that can help your club raise its public profile. Take a look at these three Achieving Club Excellence (ACE) tools:   

  • Evaluate your impact. Start with an accurate sense of the difference you’re actually making. With this tool, your club can make an honest and thorough assessment of each service project and fundraiser. When you increase or expand your club’s impact, you also increase the number of people in your community with firsthand experience of that impact. 
  • Develop partnerships. When your club networks with local businesses, organizations and others, you create multiple avenues to prominence — from sponsorships for service projects and fundraisers to connections with key people in the community. This tool provides the steps to get you started. 
  • Celebrate success. Taking time to acknowledge the club’s work — and individuals’ contributions— makes everyone feel valued. And making your community part of the celebration can add to the excitement around your club. Use this tool to help determine when and how to celebrate with your community. 

Don’t forget: All these resources can be found on the ACE tools webpage, which includes other common concerns clubs face — and pairs them with the tools that help club leaders address them.   

Kiwanis Amplify to return in 2025

Kiwanis Amplify to return in 2025

Nov 18, 2024 | General interest, Leadership, News | 0 comments

Two Kiwanians stand as examples of the program’s impact on personal and professional leadership. 

By Tony Knoderer

In 2025, Kiwanis International will again offer Kiwanis Amplify — a leadership program for those who want to improve their ability to lead a team within Kiwanis and beyond. Registration will open in January. Kiwanis Amplify is an online course featuring interactive modules led by experts, with peer discussion that helps participants enhance each other’s understanding

Participants will take a deep dive into eight topics:  

  • Leadership. 
  • Communication. 
  • Event planning. 
  • Diversity, equity and inclusion. 
  • Working with others. 
  • Marketing.  
  • Strategic thinking.  
  • Self-care as a leader. 

Participants can work through the course at their own pace to earn a certificate of completion. 

Two members at a crossroads
When Kiwanis Amplify launched in 2021, two Kiwanians — Angelo Ciardella and Cynthia Blackman — were at a crossroads. Blackman was adjusting to service as her division’s lieutenant governor during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Ciardella was completing his nursing degree. Both found what they were looking for in the inaugural Kiwanis Amplify class. 

Ciardella, current lieutenant governor of Division 3 of the Eastern Canada and the Caribbean District, was impressed with the quality of the training material, but also with the depth and breadth of the topics. 

“I absolutely loved that the trainings did not focus on Kiwanis at all,” he says, “[but] rather the themes and skills needed to be a successful leader in life, which translate to our service journeys in Kiwanis.” 

Blackman, now governor-elect of the Eastern Canada and the Caribbean District, says the program “forced me to re-evaluate my perspective on being intentional with inclusive leadership and not being afraid to fail as a leader.” 

The skills that resonated most with Ciardella and Blackman were those they could apply to their personal growth. 

“Being given permission to fail was something that I needed to hear so badly at that time in my life,” Ciardella says. “The rigors of university, moving up in leadership in my club and that little thing called the pandemic were really causing me to be down on myself.” 

For Blackman, self-care was the big takeaway. “Oftentimes as a leader,” she says, “we place others before ourselves.” 

Professional impact
Ciardella and Blackman found that Kiwanis Amplify helped their careers. Ciardella partially attributes his job as a nurse at one of North America’s leading hospitals to Kiwanis Amplify. 

“The program helped me hone my leadership and communication skills, setting me above others in my industry,” he says. “Teamwork, communication, DEI, strategic thinking — these themes are so relevant in my work, and Kiwanis Amplify has helped me excel in these areas.” 

For Blackman, the program was a guide toward greater effectiveness in giving presentations — and in engaging with large groups of all kinds. 

“Kiwanis Amplify gave me the tools to adjust my leadership style at the office to one where I was more inspirational,” she says. “The [communication] module enhanced my presentation style and instilled confidence in me that allowed me to engage with various audiences actively and effectively.” 

Blackman found that her communication style was also improved, helping her become more conscious about her choice of words. Ultimately, she found the program so useful that she participated again in 2024. After the success that resulted from participating in the 2021 program, Ciardella got involved with shaping it and helping others. He joined a Kiwanis-led committee to make suggestions for Kiwanis Amplify’s second year, and he served as a program mentor in its third year. 

“These experiences have been some of the highlights of my Kiwanis journey,” he says. 

Get ready to register
To learn more, visit the Kiwanis Amplify webpage. And bookmark the page so you can sign up when the registration period begins in January. We encourage you to spread the word in the meantime: Kiwanis Amplify is available both to Kiwanis members and nonmembers (US$50 for Kiwanis members, US$600 for nonmembers). For everyone who participates, it’s an opportunity to improve your career, your community and yourself.