When a fire in Pennsylvania destroyed multiple homes, Kiwanis members jumped into action.

By Julie Saetre

Kiwanis clubs often plan projects to help their communities based on needs surveys, discussions with community leaders and other detailed research. But sometimes an urgent situation emerges, and Kiwanis members jump into action to provide immediate relief.

That was the situation on May 29, 2023 — the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S — in Easton, Pennsylvania. In the middle of the afternoon, a six-alarm fire broke out in the West Ward area of the city. By the time it was controlled, it had damaged or consumed 15 row homes.

The devastation left 45 people, including parents and children, without homes. When Bill Walters, secretary and manager of special projects for the Kiwanis Club of Easton, heard the news, he knew his club could help. The day after the fire, club leaders began to organize a relief effort in conjunction with other area organizations and Easton City Council Member Taiba Sultana.

To address the pressing matter of housing for those impacted by the fire, Third Street Alliance — a nonprofit that provides shelter and childcare for women, children and families in need — offered to help. Other organizations joined with the Kiwanians to plan a lunch for those affected.

At the same time, Walters was busy working to ensure those individuals had quick funds for urgent expenses such as prescription drugs, eyeglasses and cell phones.

“After the fire, I sent an email to our club leadership team, immediate past president, current president, president elect and chair of our foundation,” Walters says. “I made a suggestion of what I felt we might be able to pull together quickly.”

The Easton Kiwanis Club Board approved a minimum of US$3,000, based on the club’s treasury, non-disbursed budget monies and donations from members.

Help in six days
On Sunday, June 4, less than one week after the fire occurred, the Easton club and Full Gospel Cathedral hosted the lunch. Fidelity Bank and its branch manager, Linda Johnson, provided pizza, pasta and beverages, and counselors from the American Red Cross were available for trauma counseling. Easton Kiwanians James Owen (club president), Janet Owen, Nick Ciambrone and Dean Young (who is also the executive director of the Easton Boys and Girls Club) distributed a $75 gift card to each of the 45 guests.

“Today was a good day to be a Kiwanian,” Owens said at the event. “This enabled us to make sure there were considerations and immediate/critical needs met for those families who had children. This is only a beginning. The city of Easton and other agencies are working together to make sure the needs of these folks and others are met as the recovery continues. We will be there to do our part.”

Since the luncheon, the Easton club continues to receive additional donations, which members will distribute to those impacted.

“The healing has begun,” Owens says. “It will be a long way through. Love will guide the way, and we will be there alongside to support and provide resources to the best of our ability. We are Easton, and we are Kiwanis.”

In a surprise twist, the social media coverage of the club’s quick relief drew the attention of a retired schoolteacher in Easton. She searched for club information on kiwanis.org and requested to join.

“Our membership chair spoke with her,” Walters says. “She is so happy that Kiwanis is about kids, she is planning on attending our meeting next week.”

The Prescott Kiwanis Club held its 75th auction in March

By Julie Saetre

Going once. Going twice. Sold!

For 75 years, those words have been representative of a fundraising tradition for the Kiwanis Club of Prescott, Arizona, U.S. In that time, the club’s annual auction has helped support children and families in the area — raising more than US$4 million in the past 50 years alone.

The auction had even been a 10-day televised event for many years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been online for the past three years, and it continues to be a major community event. This year, 624 items went up for bid during the event’s 10 days. And for the second straight year, a live evening event was added.

All together, this year’s auctions raised $171,000 — the culmination of much volunteer planning and effort.

“Preparing for the online auction starts at least 10 months before the auction goes live,” explains Tim McShane, a member of the Prescott Kiwanis Club and the 2023 auction chair.

Hard work pays off
Items worth $30 or more are donated by area businesses and organizations. This year, for example, participants could bid on hotel stays, rounds of golf, automotive services, computer repair services, youth sports camp reservations and much more.

With over 600 items ultimately donated, McShane says, it requires a lot of club coordination and organization — such as approaching item donors, completing item and business descriptions, and getting publicity information about the donor.

“The data input to our local and web-based auction system involves several people and several hundred hours,” he adds.

The subcommittee planning the live event also begins working months in advance, securing facilities and auction items. Those members handle a number of logistical roles, including publicity, finance, food service, sound, entertainment and event flow.

“Although we don’t keep track of volunteer hours for the auction, it’s likely 3,000-5,000 hours per year,” McShane says. “Approximately 10-15 members do the majority of these hours.”

That hard work pays off for the community’s children and their families: All auction proceeds are invested in a variety of youth, family and community services.

Partners and projects
Long-term success has resulted in support for a wide array of projects and causes over the years — including tens of thousands of dollars for scholarships awarded to high school graduates heading to a university or trade school.

Another auction-funded project allowed the Granite Mountain Middle School Band to install a locker system for their instruments. The club has also partnered with the city of Prescott for an outdoor play area at the Goldwater Lake Recreation Area. And the Kiwanians have sponsored a number of kid-friendly projects and facility improvements at the Prescott YMCA.

One of the largest auction-related projects is Kayla’s Hands Playground. The $350,000, state-of-the-art play space is dedicated to Prescott native Kayla Mueller, a human rights activist and humanitarian aid worker who was kidnapped while leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Syria in 2013 and murdered in February of 2015.

All of these projects and partnerships exist, McShane says, because of the club’s continual maintenance and development of community relationships.

“We’ve used our club contacts, community centers of influence, print media and, most recently, social media to keep the mission of helping the children and their families in our community at the forefront of our efforts,” he says.