Ideas for exhibits that showcase your club 

Ideas for exhibits that showcase your club 

May 15, 2026 | Club building, Fundraising, General interest, Service projects | 0 comments

Here are some ways to spruce up your space when you have a showcase at community events.

By Julie Saetre

Is your club scheduled to host an event in the community — or attend one? Make the most of your presence with a showcase exhibit. Whether you’re staffing a booth, conducting a service project or hosting a club open house, a display is an opportunity to put your club’s story in one spot. From the joy of service to the fun of fellowship, here are some ideas to make it all memorable:  

  • Picture the possibilities. Select 10 to 15 photos (depending on the size of your space and the expected crowd level). Include shots of service projects, fundraising events and fellowship activities. Enlarge the photos for more impact — and consider adding captions or brief descriptions. Choose your images carefully: Focus on children being helped or having fun (and make sure you have photo releases signed by parents or guardians), members working together and other action shots. Find more tips for getting great shots on page 7 of the Kiwanis Tips & Tools guide. 
  • Show and tell. Include items from past and present projects, gatherings and accomplishments. Examples: a T-shirt from a recent walk-a-thon or race your club sponsored, an invitation to an upcoming fundraiser, a letter of appreciation from a local official or a beneficiary of a service project. 
  • Power up. Prepare a PowerPoint or similar presentation of your club’s greatest hits. Keep each slide simple and easy to read, with one key highlight or statistic per slide. Intersperse your text slides with colorful photos (similar to the ones suggested in the first bullet point) and contact information for your club. Be sure to include slides that invite new members to join your club! 

Get the conversation started in your club! Suggest taking time at an upcoming meeting to brainstorm how a showcase exhibit can appeal to potential members. 

The two-way benefits of sponsoring SLPs

The two-way benefits of sponsoring SLPs

May 12, 2026 | Club building, General interest, Service Leadership Programs, Service projects | 0 comments

Mentorship boosts the value of clubs that provide it.

By Tony Knoderer

For a Kiwanis club, there’s no shortage of great reasons to sponsor a Kiwanis Service Leadership Program (SLP). Of course, many of those reasons involve the benefits to SLP members themselves — students in K-Kids, Builders Club, Key Club and Circle K International, as well as adults with disabilities in Aktion Club.

But SLPs also benefit the Kiwanis clubs that sponsor them.

Over the past two years, Kiwanis clubs that sponsor an SLP club are 1.5 times more likely to have grown their membership (31.5% vs. 20.9%) than clubs that don’t sponsor an SLP club. In that time, SLP-sponsoring clubs were also 6.7% less likely to have lost members.*

When discussing SLPs with your club, these key facts about retention and recruiting are worth remembering. So is every success story about club growth and leadership connected to sponsorship. 

The benefits for students
It’s no wonder that SLP sponsorship has a positive impact on a Kiwanis club’s value for its own members. By helping to fulfill a Kiwanis cause — youth leadership development — it’s the kind of mentorship that makes a noticeable impact.

Members of SLP clubs develop skills and self-discipline alongside like-minded peers. According to multiple studies, students who volunteer: 

  • Tend to get higher grades. 
  • Improve their social and emotional health. 
  • Strengthen their ties to other youth and adults. 
  • Feel connected to the larger community — and motivated to contribute to it. 
  • Develop leadership abilities that lead to better employment opportunities. 
  • Have better awareness and understanding of public issues. 
  • Get more first-hand experience of diverse cultures and communities. 

From elementary school to young adulthood, service matters — and so do mentors. For young leaders, Kiwanians model the value of a lifetime journey of service. Learn more about each program and find links on our SLPs webpage.

*Analysis based on North American clubs, 2023-25 certified membership data. 

Legacy of Play Contest winner announced

Legacy of Play Contest winner announced

Apr 22, 2026 | General interest, News, Service projects | 0 comments

The award will help a Kiwanis club in Michigan, U.S., bring play to kids of all abilities.

By Tony Knoderer

The Kiwanis Club of Lapeer, Michigan, U.S., has won the 2026 Legacy of Play Contest, sponsored by Kiwanis International and Landscape Structures Inc. As a result, the club will receive US$25,000 in inclusive playground equipment — and local children of all abilities will soon have an all-inclusive playground.

“We’re ecstatic!” said Kara Lambourn, the club’s co-secretary and committee chair for the playground project, after learning of the award and informing her fellow Kiwanians. “We were very pleasantly surprised, but we’ve been rooting for this — along with people in our community. This will be transformational for our project.” 

The playground will be located in Rowden Park in Lapeer. (See the illustration above.) When it’s completed, it will fulfill an important need in the area: a space where everyone can play, learn and grow together. 

Working toward such an important goal, the Lapeer club started the project by engaging people in the community — from potential partners and donors to the families who were intended as the beneficiaries of the playground.

“We started researching five or six years ago,” Lambourn says. “We held community focus groups and determined what the community’s needs and wants were.” 

In addition, the club has worked closely with the City of Lapeer to ensure that the playground’s design, location and long‑term vision align with the city’s goals. The result is a design for kids of all physical and developmental abilities — including those with sensory needs, autism spectrum disorders, cognitive disabilities and other developmental challenges.

With the $25,000 award, the club is much closer to its dream of creating an inclusive play space for all kids and families.

For Paul Palazzolo, executive director of Kiwanis International, the project is a perfect example of what Kiwanis clubs can do when they have a vision of what their communities need — and then work with partners in the community to make it happen.

“Making kids’ lives better is the heart of what Kiwanis clubs do,” Palazzolo says. “When members make sure that all kids in their communities are included in new opportunities, that’s a special outcome.” 

The 2026 contest marked the 10th year of the Legacy of Play Contest — and for Karlye Emerson, president and CEO of Landscape Structures Inc., the Lapeer club’s winning project is what the contest is all about. 

“The Kiwanis Club of Lapeer is creating a space where every child feels welcome and included,” Emerson says. “We’re proud to support their vision alongside Penchura, our local playground consultant, and help bring life-changing play to the Lapeer community.”