Last year, back in October or so, I was approached about forming a new Kiwanis club here in Cedar Rapids. One of my co-workers was a member (and lieutenant governor of the district) at a club in Marion, but wanted to form a club closer to AEGON so that meetings would be more convenient. So basically, he started recruiting from within AEGON – Investment Systems to be more exact. I wasn’t really up on what Kiwanis was was all about, so I figured I’d attend one of the organizational meetings to get a feel for it, and since most of the attendees would be co-workers, it wouldn’t seem like a “high pressure” sell.
After attending a couple (pre)Kiwanis meetings, it was apparent that Kiwanis was indeed something of which I wanted to be apart. So from late last year until April of 2008, we (the Hiawatha-CREW Kiwanis Club) set out to recruit enough members to charter our new club. We started out with a meek crew of about eight or ten individuals. Not everyone was from AEGON, which greatly helped the recruiting process. We had a few early members from Rockwell Collins, the City of Hiawatha, and Heritage Bank, just to name a few. Our initial goal was twenty-five members, the minimum number needed to charter a club.
By time April rolled around, we had recruited over 30 members, and by the time our charter night rolled around in June, we were over 40 strong. If someone had told me we’d have over 40 members in less than a year, I would have never believed it…at least not at first. However once I was involved in Kiwanis and we began to work on community projects, I realized that being a member of Kiwanis really sold itself. Whether it’s helping your community, especially the children; being a part of something bigger than yourself; or simply networking with other adults with a common goal – there’s something for anyone who wants to do more.
In the short time that we’ve been organized, we’ve worked on several projects and we’re in the planning stages of several more. Our very first project, the Dictionary Project, was a smashing success. Passing out dictionaries to many 3rd grade classes around the Cedar Rapids area was an incredible way to inspire young minds. Our job was simple, request the dictionaries, free of charge, from The Dictionary Project, and distribute them to the 3rd graders in our community. We received so many thank-you notes from the teachers and the kids that received a copy. It was extremely cool…
Now that we’re an official club, we’ve elected officers, board members, and we’ve created multiple committees to streamline the administration of our club. I’m very fortunate to be one of the first board members. It’s exciting to be a charter member, but as a member of the board, I get to help guide our new club in a more proactive role.
My second role is that of Webmaster. Check out our site at http://www.hiawatha-crew.org. It’s a work in progress, but in the end, I think this site will be easy to work with and maintain. I decided not to build it from the ground up, but instead use Community Server to build our site. This has been a life-saver with as busy a schedule that I maintain.
I’m writing this post because I’m hoping it gives someone that little extra push they need to take a chance and experience something like Kiwanis. I promise, if you’re willing to put in a little effort, the reward will be tenfold. And I invite anyone with interest or curiosity to stop by and sit in on one of our meetings. We’re always looking for new members.
- the UB
You people should be ashamed of yourselves.
In Bangor, Maine, for one place, the Kiwanis is nothing but a front – a networking site for crooked “Good Ole Boys” to get together and pull the wool over the eyes of the general populace with their disingenuous “Charity” drives.
http://outsider222.wordpress.com/2008/02/10/recap/
Most of these clowns are just trying to win political offices to do the bidding of their crooked, big money patrons.
I’ve written to Kiwanis USA and Kiwanis international, to no avail; we can assume I’m not telling them anything they don’t already know.
I suppose you are all so jaded that you think you will get away with these sleazy tricks.
But you won’t. What goes around comes around.
I’d like to comment on outsider222’s post..
outsider222 believes we should be ashamed our ourselves. hmmm, yes…We should be ashamed of ourselves for mentoring our youth? For helping children benefit from an education. From placing pediateic trauma kits in every volunteer emergency response unit in the state of iowa. For volunteering our time and resourses to aiding the victims of the Iowa floods of 2008? Is this your definition of disingenuous “charity”? I could go on, but I think you get
my point.
I can’t speak to Bangor, Maine – but this is Iowa, and we do things differently around here. We pull together in times of need. Disingenuous isn’t a word in our vocabulary.
Kiwanis does allow for the opportunity to network. As does the church I attend, and the people I meet at my favorite coffee shop. If I’m ever in the market for a service that one of my fellow Kiwanians (or anyone else in my network) can provide, I’ll certainly retain their services. Does that make a person crooked – a “Good ole Boy”? I think not.
As for contacting Kiwanis USA/International, well my guess is you used the same tone you’ve decided to take here on my blog. The tone of a cynical, nay spiteful, individual. I’d say the alias outsider222 pretty much describes your attitude. You appear to be just a bit jaded yourself.
My advice to you, outsider222, is this…don’t label a dozen eggs rotten just because you found one bad egg. To generalize and label all of Kiwanis as such, because of your individual experience shows your inablity to for reason.
- the UB