Ways to deepen club connection

Ways to deepen club connection

Aug 8, 2024 | Club building, General interest, Leadership, Service projects | 0 comments

Increase club value for members by enriching the connection with them and their families. These tips can help.

By Tony Knoderer

If anything can deepen the satisfaction that comes from serving kids, it’s the fellowship you feel with the people who volunteer alongside you. Don’t be shy about that part of club value — recommend a few ways for your club to boost the feeling of belonging.

Want some ideas? Here a few small but popular things that other Kiwanis clubs do to deepen individuals’ sense of connection:

  • Have a member or two (perhaps retirees) volunteer to call fellow members on their respective birthdays. 
  • Set aside a day or two each year to contact former members — or those who haven’t been to a meeting or service project for a while. Let them know that they’re not forgotten — and you’d love to see them again. When appropriate or relevant, tell them they shouldn’t feel guilty about life challenges that have prevented them from being active. 
  • Design an e-card to send Kiwanis anniversary greetings to members to celebrate the day they joined the organization. 
  • Consider recording the names of your members’ children. Where age-appropriate, send them a thank-you card in appreciation of “loaning” their parents to participate in Kiwanis activities. 
  • Design a meeting agenda that appeals to members’ children — and invite them to attend a club meeting, where you can thank them for “sharing” their parents’ time and show them how all members help other kids in the community. 
  • Show your appreciation for nonmember spouses and partners as well. Establish a special meeting — or use a regularly scheduled one — and invite them to learn more about Kiwanis. Members can share testimonials about what the club means to them and to the kids and community they serve. 

Don’t forget: Kiwanis International offers resources to help keep club members engaged. Check out our Achieving Club Excellence tools —including the member survey, which you can download to evaluate how well the club is meeting member expectations. 

A $75,000 gift to celebrate 75 years of service 

A $75,000 gift to celebrate 75 years of service 

Aug 1, 2024 | General interest, News, Service projects | 0 comments

In California, a Kiwanis club marked its milestone with a major investment in the community. Here’s how members did it. 

By Julie Saetre

The Kiwanis Club of Roseville, California, U.S., commemorated its 75th anniversary this year, and club members wanted to celebrate in a big way — by giving back to the community. Their solution: giving a US$5,000 check to each of 15 community groups, for a total impact of $75,000. 

The common thread among the groups, says club member Roy Stearns, is consistent service to kids and the community. 

“Each of the organizations selected has ongoing contact with a populace they have been serving for years who are struggling with some hardship, be it food insecurity, medical conditions, schooling, clothing, homelessness, foster care, child abuse or other problems,” Stearns says. “The Kiwanis Club of Roseville feels strongly that these groups know their constituencies best and how to utilize added funding where it makes a difference.” 

The Roseville Kiwanis Club is relatively small, with 45 members in a community of 150,000. So how did they raise $75,000? 

“We have a cadre of very dedicated Kiwanians,” says Mike March, the club’s president-elect, “and we’ve developed a stable of ongoing fundraisers that keep the funding rolling in and the donations to children’s organizations rolling where needed. Our members are very proud of that.” 

Inspiration from Roseville
If your club would like to make a significant community donation to mark a future milestone — or for any reason — these Roseville Kiwanis Club fundraisers could inspire some new approaches: 

  • Sell sweet treats. Each year during the holiday season, Roseville members set up shop in a rented storefront and sell See’s Candies. In 2024, the club netted over $13,000 as a result. 
  • Get competitive. The annual June golf tournament brought in over $2,000. 
  • Be flexible. The club used to host a popular crab feed, but prices for the crustaceans have soared. So members pivoted to a catered taco festival, which raised an additional $2,000. 
  • Throw a party. In the nearby town of Rocklin, the Roseville club sponsors the Rocklin Community Festival each May. Fans flock in for carnival rides, a craft show and music. For thirsty adult attendees, the club partners with a local brewery for sales in a beer garden. “This four-day festival brought out our Kiwanians to the tune of more than 800 [volunteer] hours,” Stearns says, “and it netted more than $40,000.” 
  • Spark a celebration. Members sell fireworks for the U.S. holiday of Independence Day on July 4. In 2024, they brought in over $30,000. 

In addition, Stearns says, the club keeps a solid reserve of funds for families in need — in case of another unforeseen event like the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Ultimately, the key component to financial stability is member commitment. 

“Let me be clear,” Stearns says. “All of these fundraisers require that our Kiwanians step up to the plate and take their turn at whatever they are capable of doing. And they do that because they strongly believe in our mission.” 

Plan a project to help newborns and new moms 

Plan a project to help newborns and new moms 

Jul 19, 2024 | General interest, Service projects | 0 comments

The month with the highest birth rate varies around the world. That means it’s always a good time of year to help babies. 

By Julie Saetre

In the northern hemisphere’s higher-latitude nations, birth rates are highest in July, August and September. In its subtropical and tropical countries, those months shift to October, November and December. And in the southern hemisphere’s nations, births are highest in March, April and May. 

In other words, it’s always a great time to help babies — and new moms. If your club would like to give babies and their parents the best possible start together, consider planning a service project to address their new needs. Take inspiration from these successful Kiwanis club initiatives. 

Host a diaper drive. For the past 10 years, the Kiwanis Club of Raleigh in North Carolina, U.S., has partnered with Saint Saviour’s Center, a community service organization that started The Diaper Train, the county’s first diaper-bank service. Kiwanis club members hold an annual drive to collect diapers and baby wipes (neither of which are provided in traditional government support programs), as well as children’s books. Since 2011, The Diaper Train has distributed more than 3 million diapers to low-income families in the county. The program assists over 1,100 children each month through donations and volunteers. 

Support young moms. In March, the Kiwanis Club of Young Professionals Kingston, Jamaica, partnered with the nonprofit JMMB Joan Duncan Foundation to donate J$100,000 to the scholarship fund of the Women’s Centre Foundation of Jamaica. The funds are being used to support adolescent mothers at the Women’s Centre, reflecting the United Nations’ 2024 theme for International Women’s Day “Invest in women: Accelerate progress.” 

Help a pediatric hospital. The Kiwanis Club of Mobile, Alabama, U.S., will use a Kiwanis Children’s Fund pediatric medicine support grant to expand a milk room at the Children’s & Women’s Hospital. The hospital — which delivers more babies annually than any other hospital on the upper Gulf Coast — recently doubled the size of its Pediatric Emergency Department and needs a larger, enhanced area for preparing and storing formula and breast milk. The Mobile Kiwanis Club, along with other clubs in its division, will use the grant combined with other funds to purchase refrigerators, a freezer, a milk warmer and a stainless-steel workstation. 

Prevent early childhood injuries. The Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute, part of the Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., offers free Early Childhood Prevention Packets that Kiwanis clubs in the New England and Bermuda District can distribute to doctor’s offices, maternity units, parent groups, daycare centers and homes, birthing education centers, and prenatal and pediatric clinics. Each packet contains a car seat identification sticker, a child passenger safety booklet, prevention information on Shaken Baby Syndrome, car safety tips, a burn-prevention brochure, a home safety checklist booklet, a “Helping Baby Back to Sleep” SIDS prevention booklet, fall-prevention tips, electric outlet covers and a temperature-sensitive bath duck to prevent burns from bathwater. 

Looking for something that requires less prep and fewer hands? Try one of these options: 

  • Knit baby blankets or booties for newborns at an area hospital. 
  • Interview parenting experts and distribute parenting tip worksheets to organizations helping inexperienced moms and dads. 
  • Provide new slow cookers, healthy recipes and pantry staples to families in need. 
  • Donate new or gently used board books for babies to groups supporting new moms.