Kiwanis Club helps those who help others
If you'd like your charity, community organization or service group featured, contact Christie Willhite at (630) 955-3536 or cwillhite@dailyherald.com.
The Kiwanis Club of Central DuPage keeps a growing list.
Court Appointed Special Advocates. Eyes for the Needy. Marklund Home. Hurricane Katrina School Bus Fund.
The list is populated with the names of organizations well-known in DuPage County for their efforts to make our communities a better place. Public Action to Deliver Shelter. Northern Illinois Food Bank. Western DuPage Special Recreation Center.
Organizations on the list help school children, senior citizens, people with disabilities, families in need during the holidays, the environment. DuPage Children's Museum. DuPage Senior Service Center. Special Olympics. Adopt-A-Family. The Conservation Foundation of DuPage County.
The list represents a caring community - the organizations and the people many of us would help if we could.
It's a list of 107 local organizations, agencies and groups that the Kiwanis Club of Central DuPage County has helped since the first members gathered in 1990 to support worthy causes with donations of money and volunteers' time. In 18 years, the Kiwanis Club has given away more than $241,000.
The club will host its second annual Golf Event fundraiser on Sept. 5. Event Chairman Phil Hartweg discusses the club's charitable efforts.
Q. What is your mission?
A. Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time.
We raise money and give it away to worthy groups.
Q. How do you work toward accomplishing that goal?
A. We have weekly meetings, many with speakers - representatives of local organizations working with young children and/or families. We then attempt to volunteer with select organizations or provide them financial support.
Q. When did you start? Who do you serve?
A. The club was founded in 1990 as a club meeting at noon and serving the central area of DuPage County. The founding clubs were the existing evening clubs of Wheaton and Glen Ellyn.
Q. How has the club grown?
A. We started with more than 40 members. We have gone above 50 members but now have "downsized" to just about 30 members. One of our prime challenges is to increase to about 50 members as that seems to allow us to do the most and be effective.
Q. What kind of successes have you had?
A. We have sponsored three to five College of DuPage scholarships each year. We have provided tutoring volunteers to a local high-density housing group. We routinely take pictures and fingerprints of young children and give these to parents as a Kids Care security program. We have done work projects to fix and repair the grounds and buildings of nonprofit agencies. We have collected used bicycles for a locally based international concern that donates these repaired bikes to handicapped and needy people. We have donated more than $241,000 to over 107 non-for-profit organizations and causes since the 1990 club chartering.
Q. What challenges does the organization currently face?
A. Our biggest challenge at the moment is to locate and involve new members.
Q. What do you wish the community at large knew about the Kiwanis?
A. We are a mixed group with mixed ages and have good fellowship while providing service and funds to a lot of worthy groups, individuals and organizations.
Q. How can readers get involved?
A. We have ongoing working relationships with a number of organizations, providing direct contact and opportunities for volunteering. In some cases, our members become involved with the groups we support directly by being board members for those organizations and doing volunteer activities on their own.
Currently, we need some volunteers for our Golf Event. We have Peanut Day coming up. We sell Entertainment Books. We do the Pancake Breakfast in early spring each year.
Vital statistics
Number of requests for help: Varies, but it's averaging about 50 per year. With the economy as it is now, we are getting a higher number.
Annual budget: Approximately $22,500 - varies based on success of fundraising
Sources of funding: Golf Event; Peanut Day; Entertainment Book sales; Pancake Day
Amount donated to other organizations: This year it should be $22,000 to $25,000
Number of full-time employees: None
Number of volunteers: 29 members (may vary slightly up or down) plus individual volunteers for some events
Current donation wish list: Cash to help our efforts; additional members
To donate: Kiwanis Club of Central DuPage County, P.O. Box 624, Wheaton, IL 60187-0624
Info: (630) 469-8166 or centraldupagekiwanis.org
The Golf Event
What: Kiwanis Club of Central DuPage County's second annual Golf Event fundraiser
When: Shotgun scramble start at 8 a.m. Sept. 5
Where: Klein Creek Golf Club, Winfield
Cost: $150, includes golf fees, club and shoe service, lunch
Details: 18-hole shotgun scramble for up to 144 golfers; door prizes, drawings, hole-in-one contest for a Chevy Malibu, hole contests for men and women
Info: (630) 567-6771 or centraldupagekiwanis.org