Kiwanis clubs around the world volunteer for ‘One Day’

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (April 4, 2009) – Kiwanis clubs from California to Connecticut, from Mexico to Malaysia and everywhere else throughout the world are rolling up their sleeves today to help address local community and children’s needs in celebration of Kiwanis One Day.

“Kiwanis clubs worldwide will be demonstrating and celebrating Kiwanis’ spirit of service and dedication this Kiwanis One Day, working with the children of their communities,” said Don Canaday, Kiwanis International president.

Kiwanis One Day, launched in 2006, is the organization’s signature event.  The celebration, planned for the first Saturday in April but marked on different days in April and May depending on local need, encourages the entire Kiwanis family to come together to contribute more than a million service hours around the world in a single day.

More than 600 Kiwanis-family clubs participated in the inaugural Kiwanis One Day, and hundreds more stepped up last year for the second celebration. This year, volunteers from all of Kiwanis’ programs around the world, including Key Club, Circle K, Builder’s Club, K-Kids, Kiwanis Junior, Key Leader and Aktion Club, are readying to work on projects from beach cleanups and streetscape cleaning to playground building to read-a-thons to pet days at senior centers to packing meals for children and families in need. 

In the Michigan Kiwanis District, for example, members and volunteers will raise funds and work with Kids Against Hunger to provide 500,000 packaged meals, half to be distributed in Michigan and half to be distributed in several African and Central American countries. In Jamaica, Kiwanis clubs will set up a library and resource center at an AIDS hospice for childr4en and provide dental cleaning services.

In California, a Kiwanis Club is working with its youth programs to rehabilitate a canyon area, and in New England/Cape Cod, Kiwanians will help build a public playground. Kiwanis clubs in Japan will be making Kiwanis dolls. These fabric dolls allow patients to express their feelings by writing or drawing on them. In Colombia, Kiwanians will take a number of children in need to enjoy a day at an amusement park.

In Indianapolis, where Kiwanis’ offices are located, area clubs plan to volunteer in a nature park, paint and clean a Girl Scout Camp, serve lunch at a Ronald McDonald House, clean up a neighborhood and help spruce up and clean up a YMCA.

“No project is too large or too small to make a difference in a child’s or community’s life during Kiwanis One Day,” said Canaday, of Fishers, Ind. “The elbow grease we invest today will pay off in dividends for our community, our children and their futures.”

ABOUT KIWANIS INTERNATIONAL
Founded in 1915, Kiwanis is a global organization of member-volunteers working to change the world one child and one community at a time. Kiwanis International and its Service Leadership Programs, including Circle K, Key Club, Key Leader, Builders Club, K-Kids, Kiwanis Junior, and Aktion Club, dedicate millions of volunteer hours and invest US$100 million to strengthen communities and serve children annually. The Kiwanis International family comprises more than 600,000 adult and youth members in more than 70 countries and geographic areas. For more information about Kiwanis International, please visit www.kiwanis.org or call 800-KIWANIS.