Microgrants help kids get ahead 

Microgrants help kids get ahead 

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

By Erin Chandler

In October, November and December 2024, Kiwanis clubs around the world received Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrants. Available for clubs with 35 members or fewer, microgrants recently helped clubs complete projects that brought clothing and other essential items to people facing weather adversity, books to community libraries and classrooms, and more. These projects might be smaller in scale, but they will make a big impact. The following three projects highlight some of the ways Kiwanis clubs are using microgrants to help young people in need keep up with their peers in the Kiwanis cause areas of education and literacy, health and nutrition, and youth leadership development.  

Health and nutrition
Kids’ Fun Zone
The Kiwanis Club of the Coast Fork, Oregon, U.S., plans to promote the physical and emotional health of some of the most vulnerable kids in their community. A Children’s Fund microgrant will help purchase a swing set, sandbox, monkey bars and more play equipment for a local center that serves people recovering from homelessness. Club members will take part in installing and inspecting the equipment. The “Kids’ Fun Zone” will let the kids at the center play, exercise and socialize in a safe and stable environment.  

Education and literacy
Library and reading center
Many students at Escuelo Nuevo Belén in Panama feel the effects of their community’s high poverty rate in their educational attainment — some struggle with reading and writing, while others never complete their primary or secondary education. By transforming part of the school into a library and learning center, the Kiwanis Club of El Águila De Panamá hopes to change approximately 2,500 of these students’ futures. A Children’s Fund microgrant will help to remodel the space, with new tables, chairs, bookshelves and other furnishings. The club also plans to clean and paint, install new lighting and air conditioning, purchase books and train teachers and volunteers to jumpstart kids’ love of reading and learning.  

Youth leadership development
Suited Seniors
When the Kiwanis Club of Duluth-Norcross, Georgia, U.S., learned that students who lack financial resources and mentorship are less likely to pursue career opportunities requiring interviews, they did something about it. In partnership with local businesses, the club will donate professional clothing items for approximately 50 students across five local high schools. They will also organize workshops on interview techniques, résumé writing, personal branding, goal-setting and other tactics to build students’ confidence and readiness as they enter the next phase of their lives. 

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

If you want to help the Children’s Fund provide grants like these that reach children around the world, you canmake a giftto The Possibility Project. Your club can alsoapply for a grantto help kids in your community today.  

No child without Christmas 

No child without Christmas 

A Kiwanis club in the Bahamas delivers holiday magic in its island’s largest toy drive.

By Meredith Atwood, president, the Kiwanis Club of South Eleuthera

The Kiwanis Club of South Eleuthera, Bahamas, has been providing gifts and hope to our communities for over 50 years through the No Child Without Christmas Signature Project. In 2023, our team spent months planning and raising over B$30,000 to prepare for the day that we affectionately nicknamed “Santa’s Road Trip.” With everything from bikes and iPads for the kids to bedding for the adults, our Kiwanis club successfully pulled off the island’s largest toy drive. 

To understand who the Kiwanis Club of South Eleuthera’s No Child Without Christmas Signature Project serves, first you’ll have to understand the island that I call home. Eleuthera is a passionate Bahamian island with a population just over 9,000. Growing up in Rock Sound, a southern settlement on the island, I witnessed firsthand the contrast between our community’s rich culture and extreme poverty. 

Personally, I consider myself and my six sisters some of the lucky ones — we never had to worry about going to school hungry and we found presents under our tree each Christmas. This, however, was not the case for many of my peers. In a community where many families are without food, bedding and running water, Christmas gifts are a luxury that many kids will never experience.  

Being private and proud is a common denominator among Eleutheran families, including my own — but for families that are struggling, these traits often lead to children suffering. The No Child Without Christmas Signature Project aims to remove the stigma of asking for help around the holidays so that the children of less fortunate families are included in the festivities and, more importantly, develop optimism and hope for a better future. 

A crucial mission
Last year’s initiative saw the project’s largest turnout — a success we credit, in part, to our increased marketing efforts, which included door-to-door visits. On Eleuthera, word of mouth continues to be the most effective and accessible form of marketing. We utilized the hubs of our tight-knit communities, such as school bulletins and grocery stores, to display flyers to advertise the event. We also were grateful to have the support of our local newspapers, and we made additional efforts to advertise the event via email and social media. 

As I sit here reflecting, I wish you, whoever you are reading this, could have experienced the No Child Without Christmas event firsthand. But let me try to paint a picture of my experience, both at the event and in the days leading up to it. 

Our journey began with a crucial mission: to gather toys. The lack of readily available toys on Eleuthera led our team on a trip to Florida. There, we curated 1,500 gifts for the children of our communities. The feeling of purchasing such a vast number of toys was akin to the excitement I felt as a child on Christmas morning. For weeks, I counted down the days until I could see the joy on the children’s faces as they received these gifts.  

Pulling into each settlement in our truck, which we fondly called our “Santa’s sleigh,” to deliver gifts was a moment like no other. The prearranged gifting sites varied from school parking lots to grocery stores, and each time we were equally overwhelmed by the local turnout. From over 500 meters away, the excited screams of children reached our ears. With our holiday music playing and dressed in our Kiwanis festive attire, our team announced over the mic, “Kiwanis are here, come get your gift!” But we needed no announcement — the children were already running toward our truck.  

Every stop was special, but the moment we pulled into Rock Sound — the settlement where I grew up — will remain with me the rest of my life. As over 100 children crowded our truck, I turned to look at the parents waiting at the perimeter. They beamed with as much excitement as their children did, but there was an added layer of emotion. As a parent, all you want is for your child to feel loved and to have opportunity. No Child Without Christmas aims to ensure no child or parent feels forgotten. 

What we truly gave
In the end, our signature project reached all 11 settlements of South Eleuthera and over 50% of South Eleuthera’s youth. Our team of 20 volunteers (with the help of dozens more who contributed financially), hand-delivered over 1,500 presents to youth ranging from toddlers to teenagers. For many, this would have been their first and only Christmas present. 

As I write this, I am still seeing the positive impact No Child Without Christmas has had on our island. As I drive through the dirt backroads of our small communities, I see children riding their new bikes together to pick up groceries for their parents. I see others sharing their new basketballs in a pickup game. Earlier this year, a teenage girl ran up to me after recognizing me from the event. She thanked me and wanted to tell me she has been studying with her new iPad. She hopes to go to university one day. While some of these children will still return to homes without running water, they will hold on to the joy from that day of just being a kid. 

While the Kiwanis Club of South Eleuthera handed out Christmas presents, make no mistake about what we truly gave the community’s future generations: a sense of hope and the knowledge that there is no shame in accepting help from a neighbor. Through the No Child Without Christmas Signature Project, we’re arming our kids with the qualities they need for a more successful future on our island.    

No Child Without Christmas received the Group I Bronze Award in the 2024 Kiwanis Signature Project Contest. Get details about the 2025 contest, which opens January 7, on our contest webpage.

Microgrants boost clubs’ community support

Microgrants boost clubs’ community support

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

By Erin Chandler

In July, August and September 2024, more clubs around the world received Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrants for small projects that will make a big impact. These clubs are giving out books throughout their communities, providing food and emergency supplies to families and training parents of children with autism in sensory therapies. The following three projects highlight the ways Kiwanis clubs are using microgrants to advance the Kiwanis causes of education and literacy, health and nutrition, and youth leadership development. 

Health and nutrition 

Edmarc Holiday Baskets
The Kiwanis Club of Churchland, Virginia, U.S., says their members are “few in number but mighty in volunteering.” This holiday season, with help from a Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrant, they will prove it by helping families with children in hospice care. These families may not have the time or money to shop for holiday meals and other essential items while caring for their terminally ill children. The Churchland Kiwanians will take care of the shopping with a list from Edmarc, a well-known hospice provider in their community. They will then gather with Key Club members to assemble food baskets that will bring holiday cheer in dark times.  

Education and literacy 

Adopt-a-Teacher
Sometimes the best way to support a child’s education is to support the teacher. In the Kiwanis Club of Greater Mount Laurel’s Adopt-a-Teacher project, teachers in the New Jersey, U.S., community apply for help with purchasing classroom supplies they would otherwise have to provide themselves. Club members vote on the winning application and, with help this year from a Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrant, fulfill the entire wish list. The selected teacher also receives a year’s membership to BookSmiles, which supplies teachers with books for their classes. The club even works with BookSmiles to make sure other teachers with books on their wish lists get the titles they need.  

Youth leadership development 

Do Good Bus Trip
The Kiwanis Club of Slinger, Wisconsin, U.S., will use its Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrant to help members of its sponsored Builders Club develop into a new generation of servant leaders. Each month, Kiwanians accompany their Builders Club members on the local volunteer-run “Do Good Bus” to Casa Guadalupe Education Center, which offers literacy support to Spanish-speaking Latino families in the area. Builders Club members read to children at the center and lead them in craft activities they have planned themselves, such as making bookmarks and holiday ornaments. They have even helped Spanish-speaking kids write letters to Santa. Grant funds will supplement Builders Club book drives and fundraisers to purchase supplies for each trip.  

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

If you want to help the Children’s Fund provide grants like these that reach children around the world, you canmake a giftto The Possibility Project. Your club can alsoapply for a grantto help kids in your community today.