The Kiwanis Children’s Fund awarded 41 Youth Opportunities Fund grants to outstanding Key Club projects in November. 

By Erin Chandler

This year, Key Club International is celebrating 100 years of making a difference in schools and communities around the world. The Kiwanis Children’s Fund established the Youth Opportunities Fund so that Key Club leaders can continue taking action for the next 100 years and beyond.  

In November, the Children’s Fund awarded Youth Opportunities Fund grants for 41 outstanding Key Club projects that serve kids with medical needs, unhoused families and more — including their own classmates. Of the top 11 projects — as determined by the Key Club International Board committee and Children’s Fund representatives — nine are ongoing projects that have been awarded grants in the past. In alphabetical order by club name, the top 11 are:    

Colors for Children’s 5K/1-Mile Run
Key Club of Auburn High School, Alabama, U.S.
Participants in the Colors for Children’s 5K/1-Mile Run are pelted with colored powder at every mile, making for a vibrant, festive fun run — and all for a good cause. In its first two years, this Auburn High School Key Club event has raised approximately US$13,000 to support research and improved facilities at Children’s Hospital of Alabama. Thanks to a Youth Opportunities Fund grant, the third annual race will be better than ever, with snacks, water stations, race day video and photo ops, and medals for the runners. 

“Key to Sweet Dreams” Bedtime Kits
Key Club of Boyd County, Kentucky, U.S.
The Boyd County High School Key Club knows that kids need a good night’s sleep to learn and grow. That’s why members founded and coordinate a project to provide 125-250 “bedtime kits” consisting of sheets, a comforter or blanket, a mattress cover, a pillow, a stuffed animal, a book, a night-light, an alarm clock and a mattress to children in need each year. They also pack a bag of hygiene products for the whole family, while Ashland Build-A-Bed provides a twin-size bedframe. The club works with four Key Clubs, four Kiwanis clubs, a Builders Club and an Aktion Club in the district to collect supplies for the bedtime kits, which have gone to kids in their own community as well as survivors of natural disasters in Kentucky and Tennessee. 

A Night to Remember: After Prom Party
Key Club of Chillicothe High School, Missouri, U.S.
The Chillicothe High School Key Club hosts a free, fun, safe and substance-free prom after-party to make sure fellow students get home safely on prom night. A Youth Opportunities Fund grant will allow the club to hold this year’s party at Extreme Racing, where partygoers will enjoy go-kart racing, arcade games and paintball as an alternative to more risky behavior. 

Winter Blitz 2024
Key Club of Clackamas High School, Oregon, U.S.
In 2024, the Clackamas High School Key Club teamed up with the Key Club of Adrienne C. Nelson High School to raise a combined US$14,000 in a Winter Blitz fundraising drive. The total raised will be supplemented by a Kiwanis Children’s Fund grant to purchase food, clothing, household items, hygiene products, children’s toys and holiday gifts for over 600 families in need. The club has been serving its community through this project for 26 years, and they hope to be able to meet even more families’ needs in the future. 

The Hope Festival 2025
Key Club of Eastlake High School, Washington, U.S.
A Youth Opportunities Fund grant will help the Eastlake High School Key Club move its 2025 Hope Festival to a larger venue to accommodate the ever-expanding services it offers the club’s community. The Hope Festival provides free groceries, clothing, hygiene products, toys, haircuts, massages, vaccinations, health screenings and more to low-income and unhoused families. Members also offer fun activities for kids, and they partner with local organizations to connect people to essential services, including mental health and educational support, domestic violence assistance and help finding employment. The event allows young volunteers to develop their leadership and love of service while spreading hope throughout their community. 

Reading for Reason
Forest Hills Northern High School, Michigan, U.S.
The Forest Hills Northern High School Key Club consulted with librarians at the Cascade Library to set up a Reading for Reason program. Club members will read to children ages 4-11 at the library to help jumpstart their love of literacy — and every book will impart a meaningful message. A Youth Opportunities Fund grant will allow the club to deepen the kids’ learning through creative, interactive activities and crafts. Then, at the end of the session, each child will be able to bring a book home with them. 

Essentials for Education
Key Club of Hagerty High School, Florida, U.S.
The Hagerty High School Key Club is planning two drives to collect and distribute school supplies such as notebooks, pencils and backpacks for students, as well as classroom supplies like dry-erase markers, tissues and paper for teachers. A Youth Opportunities Fund grant will supplement the supplies the club gives to those in need. In the process, club members hope to raise awareness about educational inequality in their community’s schools. 

Eagles for Eagles
Key Club of Kennet High School, New Hampshire, U.S.
In 2022, a Kennet High School family support liaison reached out to the Key Club with a request to lend a helping hand to their own classmates. In their “Eagles for Eagles” project, the club raises funds for groceries, hygiene items and gas cards for approximately 30 Kennet High School students while maintaining their privacy. By alleviating the financial burden of these essential items, club members hope to increase their classmates’ attendance at school and work, academic engagement and self-esteem — and to allow the school’s support programs to focus on more long-term assistance. 

Life Skills Prom
Key Club of Kewanee High School, Illinois, U.S.
This year, a Youth Opportunities Fund grant will help 80 students with disabilities at Kewanee High School and five other area schools enjoy a circus-themed prom with dancing, catered food and new decorations. The Key Club hosts the prom in its school gym during the school day to make sure students in the Life Skills program, who may not be able to attend an off-site prom in the evening, don’t miss out on this special event. The students’ families also attend and take pictures. Everyone involved looks forward to the Life Skills Prom all year! 

Dance Marathon
Key Club of Lake Minneola High School, Florida, U.S.
The Lake Minneola High School Key Club has discovered a way to raise funds for kids in need and bring fun to the community at the same time — the Children’s Miracle Network Dance Marathon program. The club will hold fundraisers such as candygram sales throughout the year, culminating in a four-hour dance marathon. Proceeds from ticket sales, concessions and sponsorships will help to fund research and education, purchase medical equipment and enhance patients’ stays at Children’s Miracle Network hospitals.  

Project Wellness Pak
Key Club of Utica Academy for International Studies, Michigan, U.S.
The Utica Academy for International Studies will help fight rising homelessness in their community through Project Wellness Pak. Key Club members will package blankets and personal hygiene projects such as shampoo and conditioner, body wash, combs, hairbrushes, toothbrushes and toothpaste for people experiencing homelessness. They hope these Wellness Paks will increase health and quality of life for those sleeping outdoors, especially in adverse weather conditions. 

How to get involved 
Does your Key Club have a project idea that could benefit from a Youth Opportunities Fund grant? Learn more about the grant and how to apply on the Key Club website. If your club does not yet sponsor a Key Club, learn about the advantages of chartering one today on the Kiwanis Service Leadership Programs page.  

A Montana Kiwanis club turns trash into reading treasure. 

By Julie Saetre

“Education and literacy” is one of the three Kiwanis causes, and the Silver Bow, Butte, Kiwanis Club in Montana, U.S., found a creative way to bring kids and books together — while helping the environment. 

It started when Kiwanis International Trustee Cathy Tutty, a member of the club, purchased a house that came with an unwanted leftover: an old, nonfunctioning refrigerator taking up valuable space in the garage. 

“I thought, ‘What can we do with it?’” says Tutty. “I didn’t want to just take it to the landfill.” 

Doug Ingraham, a fellow club member who works at an asbestos abatement business, volunteered to remove the refrigerator’s freon if a purpose could be found for the appliance. Tutty had an idea: Transform the refrigerator into a freestanding “book box” — and place it in her front yard. 

After the freon and the refrigerator’s seal were removed, club members painted the refrigerator in “Kiwanis blue.” Then Tutty visited the elementary school just two blocks from her home and asked the librarian whether any of the students would be willing to help personalize the former fridge.  

“There were four groups of them,” Tutty says. “We got some nontoxic paint, and they put all these different-colored handprints on it.” 

The school also happened to be getting a number of new books for the library and donated the older books to Tutty for the box. And when another refrigerator became available from a neighbor’s estate, she decided to create a second book box for a local affordable-housing apartment complex. 

Partnership power
At the time, the Montana District of Circle K International (the Kiwanis service program for college and university students) was in Butte, holding its annual Fall Rally. The CKI members took on fridge-painting duties as a service project. Now the box is available 24/7 outside the apartment complex office. 

“All of that got Doug thinking, ‘We’ve got to figure out a way to get books,’” Tutty says.  

At the time, Scholastic — a large publishing and education company — was awarding one “book desert” grant to each state in the U.S., with a goal of expanding children’s access to reading material. Ingraham applied and received the grant for Montana, gaining access to 1,000 books and an official Little Free Library. He placed that library halfway between a high school and an affordable-housing community. 

Tutty occasionally supplements the book supply with additional purchases from Scholastic. 

“Every so often, I’ll buy US$300 worth of books when they have a special going on,” she says, “because you get 20 free books for every $150 you spend. So then I end up with 40 more books.” 

As for the box in Tutty’s front yard, she also stocks it with fruit snacks and small bubble blowers in the summer and sports drinks when the weather is cool — adding incentives for kids to stop by and grab a book. 

“It’s fun,” she says. “People say, ‘You have a refrigerator in your yard?’” 

Has your club gotten creative when supporting education and literacy? Let us know! Email shareyourstory@kiwanis.org.