Peck Fox receives 2025 Circle of Service Award 

Peck Fox receives 2025 Circle of Service Award 

Aug 7, 2025 | General interest, News, Service projects | 0 comments

The honor recognizes the Kiwanian’s contributions to Circle K International.

By Destiny Cherry

Peck Fox has been awarded the 2025 Circle of Service Award by Circle K International (CKI), the Kiwanis Service Leadership Program for university students. A member of the Kiwanis Club of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S. — and the Alabama District administrator for CKI — Fox was honored in June during the 2025 CKI Convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. (See above, with 2024-25 CKI President Taylor DiCicco.) 

The Circle of Service award annually honors one or more individuals within Kiwanis International who have made the most outstanding contribution to CKI. 

Fox’s affiliation with the Kiwanis family began in 1975, when he joined the University of Alabama’s CKI club. He was a member of the board that created the Alabama CKI Luminaries project — the club’s annual signature project, during which members raise money by lighting lanterns and selling items on the university quad. Fox went on to serve as a CKI international trustee, further strengthening his love for service and the community. 

A distinguished record
Fox met his wife during his time in CKI, and soon after his time at the University of Alabama, he took a job as the Alabama District’s administrator. He has won the honor of distinguished administrator for the past four years.  

Fox’s connection to the Kiwanis family also includes his own family: His daughter is a past governor of CKI’s Alabama District, and his son-in-law is a past CKI president. 

Fox has been described as a mentor, leader, confidant and a supporter. He has also been described as loyal, compassionate, impactful and selfless. These traits have made a lasting impact on the youth he has served and the communities he has touched.

“Peck Fox is such an outstanding Kiwanian,” says Dillian Alcorn, current lieutenant governor of the Alabama District. “He has made an impact on so many people’s lives that if we could get a testament from each and every person he has impacted, we would have to turn in an entire book.” 

 

Microgrants jumpstart kids’ futures

Microgrants jumpstart kids’ futures

Aug 5, 2025 | General interest, Kiwanis Children's Fund, Service projects | 0 comments

From April through June, smaller clubs made a big impact through the Kiwanis Children’s Fund.

By Erin Chandler

In April, May and June, Kiwanis clubs around the world received Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrants for small projects that make a big impact on kids and families. The following three projects highlight some of the ways Kiwanis clubs are using microgrants to give young people of all ages a promising start in the Kiwanis cause areas of education and literacy, health and nutrition, and youth leadership development.   

Youth leadership development
Anchor House New Jersey Furniture Need
Kiwanis Club of Greater Monroe, New Jersey, U.S.
In 2024, Anchor House reached out to the Kiwanis Club of Greater Monroe for help upgrading the furnishings in its shelters, which provide safe housing and supportive services for children and young adults who are or are at risk of experiencing abuse, neglect or homelessness. A comfortable, welcoming environment bolsters residents’ sense of self-worth and ability to reach their potential. A Children’s Fund microgrant will help the club replace pieces that are damaged or worn with new chairs and couches for the therapy room, recreation room and library.  

Education and literacy
Full STEAM Ahead!
Kiwanis Club of Clintwood, Virginia, U.S.
The Kiwanis Club of Clintwood and the Ridgeview High School Key Club will work together to get local kids ages 5-16 interested in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) with a monthly hands-on program. A Children’s Fund microgrant will help fund subscriptions to three age-appropriate KiwiCo kits, which contain projects that help kids build, learn and have fun at the same time. Club volunteers will take the kits to community after-school and summer programs that are struggling to fund enrichment activities for kids. They will also guide the children through each month’s activity, sparking the creativity and inventiveness of tomorrow’s scientists, artists and engineers. 

Health and nutrition
Kiwanis Stuff the Strand 2025
Kiwanis Club of Plattsburgh, New York, U.S.
The Kiwanis Club of Plattsburgh brings a touch of drama to its annual food drive. The goal of this 2025 Signature Project Contest Top 10 event is to fill each of the 901 seats in the local Strand Theatre (see photo) with an increased weight of food each year. In 2024, the goal was to collect 7 pounds of food per seat, and members collected 20 pounds! Corporate and seat sponsorships increase the amount of food the club can contribute. This year, a Children’s Fund microgrant will help purchase baby food and baby formula, which are expensive and rarely in stock at local food pantries. Baby items also will be worth more points in the contest to see who can contribute the most donations. 

How you can help
To learn more about Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrants, visit kiwanis.org/microgrant-program.     

If you want to help the Children’s Fund provide grants like these that reach children around the world, you can make a gift to The Possibility Project. Your club also can apply for a grant to help kids in your community today.

 

Key Club International names Key of Honor recipients 

Key Club International names Key of Honor recipients 

Aug 1, 2025 | General interest, News, Service Leadership Programs | 0 comments

Christine Greene and Lauri Berry receive Key Club’s highest honor. 

By Destiny Cherry

Two Key Club International volunteers were recently recognized with the organization’s highest service award: The Key of Honor, which acknowledges a volunteer’s lifelong positive impact upon youth in general and Key Club specifically.  

The Key Club International Board presented Lauri Berri (above right) of St. Joseph, Michigan, U.S., and Christine Greene (above left) of Saco, Maine, U.S., with the 2025 awards during the Key Club International Convention in Orlando, Florida, U.S., in July. 

Christine Greene
Greene’s Key Club journey began in 1985, when she became the faculty advisor at Hermon High School in Hermon, Maine, where she taught English for 31 years. In 2001, Greene joined the New England & Bermuda Key Club District Board as an area advisor. There she mentored Key Club International club officers, ran training workshops and helped edit member newsletters. 

Greene held her teaching, faculty advisor and adult area advisor positions until her retirement from Hermon High School in 2012. From there, she spent the next 13 years serving as a volunteer adult area advisor in her district. 

A former member of Greene’s Key Club and current lieutenant governor, Kayla Adams — as well as other former members and coworkers — had no shortage of compliments about Greene.  

“Mrs. Greene always strived to get the best out of her students,” Adams says. “For many she was more than just an advisor; she was a mentor and a role model. She always strived to push her leaders to be the best that they could be.” 

Greene is the first woman from the New England & Bermuda District to receive this award. Her dedication has also been recognized through the placement of her name on the Kiwanis International Tablet of Honor, which recognized recipients’ dedication to Kiwanis, their club or their community. 

Greene officially retired from her duties in April 2025 after 40 years of service to Key Club and 35 years of teaching.  

Lauri Berry
Berry currently teaches at St. Joseph High School. She became the founding faculty advisor for the St. Joseph High School Key Club in 2005, a role she has held for 20 years.  

Before founding her school’s Key Club, Berry offered guidance and mentorship to students as the culinary arts teacher, baking club advisor, blood drive coordinator and musical costume designer. Afterward, she added three new roles: Kiwanis International convention chaperone, district board parent volunteer and chaperone, and district convention awards coordinator and judge.  

Last year, Berry was awarded the 2024 Michigan District of Key Club Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award.  

She is also an active member of the St. Joseph/Benton Harbor Kiwanis Club. Renea Callery, a Michigan District past governor and Student Learning Programs chair, recalls Berry being “equally committed to the ideals of Kiwanis, fostering strong partnerships between the Key Club and our local Kiwanis chapter.” 

In her letter of summation for Berry’s nomination, 2024-25 Michigan District Secretary Layla Garcia wrote: “Mrs. Berry excels at inspiring students to become compassionate, responsible and engaged citizens, as shown by the international vice president, four district governors and countless other district board members who have come from her Key Club.”