Grants help CKI do more in communities

Grants help CKI do more in communities

Sep 6, 2024 | General interest, Kiwanis Children's Fund, Service Leadership Programs | 0 comments

Six Circle K International projects receive Tomorrow Fund grants.

By Erin Chandler

Circle K International members are the next generation of servant leaders — and they’re already making a difference in college and university communities around the world. The Kiwanis Children’s Fund established the Tomorrow Fund to help these clubs implement more creative solutions to problems and make the greatest possible positive impact. 

This July, the Children’s Fund awarded Tomorrow Fund grants to six new CKI projects that will bring vital resources where they are needed most. 

Connect, Learn and Act for Disaster Prevention
Circle K International of Ashiya University, Japan
Ashiya University CKI plans to host a disaster-preparedness course for attendees of the 2025 CKI Asia-Pacific Conference. A Tomorrow Fund grant will go toward the fees for an expert-led lecture and workshop. The course will also include a tour of a disaster-prevention experience-learning facility. Ashiya CKI members hope the clubs that take part in the experience will be motivated to host similar courses in Asian communities that commonly deal with disasters such as earthquakes, floods and tsunamis. 

Literacy Kits Donation for Young Students
Circle K International of Pace University, New York, U.S.
A Tomorrow Fund grant will help Pace University CKI purchase backpacks, school supplies and hygiene kits to distribute to kids in need in New York City. CKI members will fill the backpacks with supplies and deliver them to schools participating in Jumpstart’s “Read for the Record” early literacy program. The school supplies, including copies of the book being read aloud during “Read for the Record,” will help engage kids in learning and reading, while the hygiene supplies will reduce absences and boost confidence. 

Leading for Literacy: Little Free Libraries
Circle K International of the University of Alabama, U.S.
University of Alabama CKI will use its Tomorrow Fund grant to help purchase kits with all the materials necessary to build Little Free Libraries at three area Title I schools. Through this project, kids whose families might not be able to purchase books will be able to build their home libraries, practice reading outside of school and develop their love of learning. The club plans to turn its Leading for Literacy book drive into an annual event that will allow club members to continually restock each Little Free Library.   

Community Book Fair
Circle K International of the University of Central Florida, U.S.
University of Central Florida CKI intends to increase literacy rates in its community’s public elementary schools by hosting a series of engaging, interactive book fairs. A Tomorrow Fund grant will help the club purchase books and school supplies, some of which will be available to students for free, and themed learning games. CKI volunteers will lead the games during the book fairs and donate them to the schools afterward. The club also intends to follow up with the participating schools, hosting storybook readings and providing tutoring where needed. 

Decorating Bags for Meals on Wheels and Senior Resources
Circle K International of the University of South Carolina, U.S.
The University of South Carolina will use its Tomorrow Fund grant to purchase paper and cloth bags for the local Meals on Wheels and Senior Resources programs, as well as art supplies to decorate the bags with messages and artwork. The bags will be filled with food for community members who struggle to afford groceries or to get to the store. CKI members hope the decorated bags will help fill both the nutritional and emotional needs of those who receive them.  

Once Upon a Time Literacy Service Project
Circle K International Florida District, U.S.
A Tomorrow Fund grant will help purchase supplies for the district-wide “Once Upon a Time” project to promote literacy at the 2025 CKI Florida District Convention. Participants will rotate through a variety of small service projects: making reading pointers, bottle cap letters, sight word flashcards, number flashcards, paper bag hand puppets, bookmarks and booklets. They will also write messages inside books that the Kiwanis Club of Avalon will distribute to local K-Kids. The project’s organizers hope to inspire young children to love reading and to inspire clubs to replicate these projects in their communities. 

How to get involved
Does your Circle K International group have a project idea that could benefit from a Tomorrow Fund grant? Learn more about the grant and how to apply. If your Kiwanis club does not yet sponsor a CKI club, learn about the advantages of chartering one.  

Microgrants create meals, mentors and music

Microgrants create meals, mentors and music

Aug 14, 2024 | General interest, Kiwanis Children's Fund, Service projects | 0 comments

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

By Erin Chandler

In April, May and June 2024, the Kiwanis Children’s Fund awarded new rounds of microgrants to clubs making a big difference with fewer members — giving away books and personalized shelves to hold them; providing honey, fruits and vegetables to their communities; advocating for mental health, and more. Here are four projects that address kids’ needs in each of the Kiwanis cause areas: health and nutrition, education and literacy, and youth leadership development.  

Health and nutrition

Raintree Children’s Services Oven Repair and New Vision Lunch Project
Sometimes, clubs can make the greatest impact by simply providing for the repair or replacement of essential appliances — and the Children’s Fund is happy to help. The Kiwanis Club of Third District, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., and the Kiwanis Club of Spalding-Christiana, Jamaica, each proved that with projects that received microgrants in June. For more than 10 years, members of the Kiwanis Club of Third District have cooked a monthly meal with the adolescent girls at Raintree Children’s group home. They even plan to make a cookbook together. However, they recently discovered that the temperature control in the home’s oven was broken. A Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrant will help to repair the oven thermostats so that this enriching project can continue.  

Similarly, for four years, Kiwanis Club of Spalding-Christiana has gone all-out annually to prepare a healthy and delicious meal for the kids at New Vision Children’s Home, but the club recently learned that the door on the home’s deep freezer is faulty, requiring weights to keep it closed and maintain the temperature. A Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrant will allow the club to donate a new freezer to the home so food can be safely stored throughout the year. 

Education and literacy

Musical Instruments for Elementary Schools
The Kiwanis Club of the Desert, Tucson in Arizona, U.S., began donating gently used musical instruments to elementary schools in 2022. Each year, they choose a different school to benefit from the project based on the number of students who participate in the free lunch program. To give kids whose families are struggling financially a fair chance at discovering and nurturing a passion for music, the club has partnered with the Kiwanian-owned Chicago Music Store to create an inventory of instruments that can be loaned out at each school. The store also offers discounts on cleaning kits and supplies. This year, with help from a Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrant, the students at Butterfield Elementary School will tune up their own musical instrument library. 

Youth leadership development 

Safety Town
Every year, the Kiwanis Club of Springfield, Oregon, U.S., hosts Safety Town, a two-week course that teaches local 5-year-olds how to be safe around strangers, animals, water, railroads, earthquakes, fires — and especially on roads. The club sets up an eight-block town inside a local school gymnasium, complete with buildings, sidewalks and a floor mat depicting streets, crosswalks, traffic lights and signs. A Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrant will help the club update the “town” with new pedal cars and materials to repair the buildings, as well as snacks and craft supplies. Safety Town’s life lessons are not limited to small children: Teenagers serve as mentors, helping the younger children learn — and some teens return after their first Safety Town experience to continue to help out.  

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 can also apply for a grant to help kids in your community today.

Grants expand medical services for kids

Grants expand medical services for kids

Jun 24, 2024 | General interest, Kiwanis Children's Fund | 0 comments

Kiwanis Children’s Fund grants for pediatric medicine will help four clubs help more kids.

By Erin Chandler

This year, the Kiwanis Children’s Fund awarded pediatric medicine support grants to four Kiwanis clubs for projects that will help medical centers expand their services for children. These grants are especially important where access to medical services is limited by families’ financial or geographic constraints. The support they provide allows Kiwanis clubs and medical centers to unite in making sure all kids get the best possible care — whether through a specialized wheelchair, equipment that makes therapy fun, better milk storage or simply a pack of diapers to take home. 

Wheels of Hope: Empowering Kids of Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Center
Kiwanis Club of Sayville, New York, U.S.
The Kiwanis Club of Sayville and the entire Suffolk East Division of Kiwanis’ New York District are working together to provide specialized wheelchairs to Stony Brook University Hospital Pediatric Trauma Center. Trauma recovery has been shown to be faster — and hospital stays shorter — when patients can move around early in the process, socialize and experience changes of scenery. With help from a pediatric medicine support grant from the Children’s Fund, the division will purchase 12 Convaid Cruiser wheelchairs, which will be sized specifically for pediatric patients. Most importantly, the chairs will be built with the necessary safety measures, including harnesses, to move children with ventilators and other equipment to the playroom, to visit with family members and more. Hospital workers and Kiwanians hope these wheelchairs will help hundreds of children in their recovery from illness or injury.  

University of North Carolina Health Southeastern Pediatric Supply Drive
Kiwanis Club of Robeson-Lumberton Young Professionals, North Carolina, U.S.
A pediatric medicine support grant will help the Kiwanis Club of Robeson-Lumberton Young Professionals donate pediatric supplies to the University of North Carolina (UNC) Health Southeastern Regional Medical Center. UNC Southeastern is the only hospital in Robeson County, where over a quarter of the population struggles with poverty. Club members will work with hospital staff to determine the greatest supply needs for families on the pediatric floor, such as formula, clothing and, most of all, diapers. They will then purchase and drop off the supplies personally. The club hopes the pediatric supply drive will become an annual event, so that thousands of families get the supplies they need to give their children a healthy start in life. 

Children’s & Women’s Hospital Milk Room Expansion
Kiwanis Club of Mobile, Alabama, U.S.
In March 2024, staff from USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital approached the Kiwanis Club of Mobile for help in providing a bigger and better milk room — the area where breast milk and formula are prepared and stored — for its growing number of patients. The hospital is highly regarded for its pediatric care and delivers more babies annually than any other hospital on the upper Gulf Coast — and its Pediatric Emergency Department recently doubled in size. A pediatric medicine support grant will help the Kiwanis Club of Mobile and other clubs in its division purchase refrigerators, a freezer, a stainless-steel workstation and a milk warmer for the expanded milk room. The new equipment will allow for more storage and better organization while reducing the risk of infection, contamination and mislabeling. The additional refrigerators and improved milk warmer will also prevent the nutritional value of the milk from degrading. When the milk room opens next year, it will be ready to provide the best care for patients in the hospital’s Newborn, Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care units. 

Unity Medical Center Pediatric Sensory Gym
Kiwanis Club of Grafton, North Dakota, U.S.
Unity Medical Center is one of the few places where families in the rural area of Grafton can access occupational and speech therapy for children. Since August 2023, the number of kids in the Center’s therapy programs has more than doubled, and the Kiwanis Club of Grafton is stepping up — helping enlarge the pediatric gym and add a sensory gym to meet the growing demand. A pediatric medicine support grant will help to purchase gym equipment, including wall padding, a balance beam, tunnels, activity mirrors, monkey bars and more. Kids in the program will use the new equipment to develop skills such as motor planning, coordination, body awareness and sensory integration. Kiwanis club members will assist in delivering and setting up the equipment. They will also help with annual screenings to identify area children who would benefit from the therapy program’s services. The club hopes that the new and improved gym will be ready for patients in September 2024. 

How do I apply for a pediatric medicine support grant?
The Pediatric Medicine Support Grant Program offers onetime grants for clubs to fund projects that specifically support local children’s medical centers. Grant money can be used to purchase products or supplies for patients’ hospital stays or to support a capital improvement project. 

You can learn more and apply for a Pediatric Medicine Support Grant on the Kiwanis website. For more information about the Kiwanis Children’s Fund, visit kiwanis.org/childrensfund.