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HISTORY
The first Kiwanis club was organized in Detroit, Michigan, USA on January 21, 1915. A year later the Kiwanis Club
of Hamilton, Ontario was chartered, and Kiwanis International grew rapidly into a leading service club in these
two founding nations. Our own Kiwanis Club of Guelph was chartered by the Hamilton Club, in 1921.
In 1962, worldwide expansion was approved, and today Kiwanis clubs are active in every part of the world.
MOTTO
"Serving the Children of the World ...
one Child and one Community at a time!"
Type of membership
Active or retired business and professional men and women.
The "average" Kiwanian is 55.1 years old (so we're always looking for 'younger blood'),
a college graduate, married, and a homeowner. He or she is likely an owner or manager of a firm in the $25 million
or less range.
Women in Kiwanis
Membership was opened to women in 1987. There are now more than 51,000 women members, and 1 in 7 club presidents
is a woman.
Kiwanis youth organizations
Kiwanis International sponsors several service clubs for young people:
Circle K International has 11,000 members on 570 university and college campuses;
Key Club International has 215,000 members in 4,600 high schools; and Builders Clubs
have been organized in 2,000 junior high and middle schools.
Other members of the Kiwanis family include K-Kids in elementary schools, young European adults in Kiwanis Junior,
and Aktion Club, which involves persons with disabilities in community-service activities.
Kiwanis Service
In one year, Kiwanis clubs sponsored 147,000 service projects. To do so, Kiwanians raised and spent almost $70
million and contributed 6.2 million hours of volunteer time.
Kiwanis' continuing service emphasis is called "Young Children: Priority One," which focuses
on the special needs of children from prenatal development to age 5. Projects conducted as part of the "Young
Children: Priority One" service emphasis involved $14.3 million and 1.3 million volunteer hours.
In 1994, Kiwanis launched a Worldwide Service Project ... a $75 million campaign in partnership with UNICEF
to eliminate Iodine Deficiency Disorders by the year 2000 ... and it was a success!
Iodine deficiency is rare in areas where iodized salt is used, but in other parts of the world, IDD is still
the leading cause of preventable mental and physical retardation. As many as 1.5 billion people are at risk, especially
young children.
The Kiwanis Club of Guelph is in the Black Walnut Division (5E) of
the Eastern Canada and Caribbean District of Kiwanis International
and is the largest geographic district of this Service Club
Organization. It is also the most diverse, since it includes all of
Eastern Canada starting at the 85th Meridian in North Western Ontario
and ends with Newfoundland. It includes the following 13 Caribbean
Countries: Bahamas, Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, Trinidad,
Martinique, Barbados, Guadeloupe, Suriname, French Guiana, St Lucia,
Dominica, Antigua. Here is a link to the Eastern Canada & Caribbean Website
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