Fifty years of helping others

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Review
http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1529750

A lot has changed in the past 50 years, but not the goals of the Stamford Kiwanis Club. The service organization, like all Kiwanis clubs worldwide, prides itself on building better communities.

Throughout the years, the Stamford club has helped numerous organizations, including Young Children Priority One and the Boys and Girls Club of Niagara.

Founded in 1959, the Stamford Kiwanis will be holding its 50th anniversary gala today at Club Castropignano Niagara in Port Robinson. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson will headline the event. A special guest will be the Kiwanis Eastern Canada and Caribbean Division Governor Sheron Cameron-Dunn.

About 100 people are expected to attend, including 94-year-old Harry Stewart, the club's first president.

Four of the original members, Gary Gunning, Howard Good, Leon Keith and Bob Ainslie, are still active in the club and will be attending the event. Another member, Edd Masters has been a Kiwanis member for 51 years as part of the Stamford club and the now defunct Niagara Falls club. The Niagara Falls Kiwanis branch closed 10 years ago.

The four charter members said raising money for charities and deserving individuals was a driving factor in joining the club.

“I grew up in the Kiwanis,” Gunning said.

Gunning's father served as both president and lieutenant governor of the Niagara Falls club and Gunning said he used to go to Kiwanis projects with him.

“When the Falls club sponsored the Stamford club, it was just natural that I joined.”

Good was a member of the Hermes Club, which ceased operations in 1959. The members were invited to join the Niagara Falls Lions Club and the newly formed Stamford Kiwanis. Good said he chose the Kiwanis because friends from the Hermes Club had joined it.

Keith joked he joined the club under pressure, but admitted he knew people in the Falls club, so he decided to “tag along with Howard.”

In 1959, Ainslie was a young doctor building up his practice when he joined. He said attending meetings was mandatory, not always an easy thing to do in his profession. He was committed to the cause though and found the time to attend.

Gunning said the Stamford club started with 50 members because that was the number needed to become a charter. Today, there are 31 members.

Keith said he remembers the first budget for fundraising projects was only $3,500.

“We had to get into ways and means quickly, to find projects to make money.”

One of the first major projects was Hunt's Kiwanis Niagara Falls tour map, a major fundraiser for more than 30 years.

Another early project was the Toy Time for Christmas project. Older toys donated to the club were refurbished and then distributed to needy children. The four men remember how their wives helped by washing and pressing donated dolls' clothing.

During Keith's time as president of the club in 1967, the members published a book entitled, Niagara Falls, Canada -A History. Keith said putting the book together was time-consuming, intensive work, but worth the effort.

“It was our contribution to the city for Canada's centennial.”

Several years later, a chapter from the book was published in a soft-cover version called River of Fame. Both books have been successful fundraisers.

Important fundraising projects today are bus bench advertising and the Kiwanis TV Bingo.

“For a small club, we've generated a lot of money, year after year,” said Ainslie. “I'm amazed at the accomplishments of our members.”