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Service, with a focus on children, and fellowship keep them going
CANFIELD
Community service with a focus on children and fellowship are what draws people to Kiwanis Club, often for life, and have kept the service club alive for a century.
Twelve area Kiwanis Clubs, the members of Ohio Kiwanis Division 26, celebrated the 100th anniversary of Kiwanis International and simultaneously the 95th anniversary of the Warren Kiwanis Club on Monday at a banquet and meeting.
The Youngstown Kiwanis, the 15th club organized, will celebrate its 99th birthday in the summer.
The meeting, attended by about 100 Kiwanians and guests, was at A La Cart Catering.
“It’s a big night for us. Not many clubs last this long,” said Barb Kliner of East Palestine, a member of the Austintown Kiwanis.
“It is great for networking and community service, which is focused on children,” said Kliner, president-elect of Division 26, which was recently formed by the merger of Divisions 21 and 25.
“‘Saving One Child at a Time’ is one of our mottoes,” said Wally Sinn of Ellsworth, and a member of Western Mahoning County and Division 26 lieutenant governor.
Kiwanis has been a part of most of Christopher J. McCarty’s life.
McCarty, employee experience and government liaison for Mercy Health, was lieutenant governor of Key Club, a high-school club sponsored by Kiwanis, at Woodrow Wilson High School in Youngstown, and is past lieutenant governor of the former Division 21.
He said he is drawn to Kiwanis because it is a service organization with a focus on serving youths, and because of the fellowship the group provides.
“Kiwanis becomes a way of life,” said Randy Beard of Niles, a member of the Warren Rotary Club.
“It’s what we stand for and do and it becomes a part of you,” Beard said.
“We have an international focus on helping children, and in Ohio the focus is on pediatric trauma,” he said.
The 12 clubs in Division 26 have a combined 995 years of service, Sinn said.
Kiwanis, like a lot of service clubs, represents all the area’s communities and gives back to them on a daily basis, said Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally, a speaker at the event.