New Kiwanis Club Forming in NW Hendricks County

One of my many activities in the community is serving as Lieutenant Governor of the Circle City Division of the Indiana District of Kiwanis.

Yeah. Try fitting that on a business card.

Basically, it's a fancy way of saying that I oversee eight Kiwanis clubs in three counties. Four of those clubs are right here in Hendricks County:  Avon, Brownsburg, Danville and Plainfield. My home club is the Kiwanis Club of Danville.

For those who may not be aware, Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time. Basically, we do a lot of really cool stuff for OUR KIDS, and 2015 will mark the 100th year that we've been doing really cool stuff for OUR KIDS.

I'll be getting into more detail about Kiwanis in an upcoming guest column for Hendricks County Home magazine, so stay tuned for that. For the sake of this post, though, Kiwanis clubs raise money and complete community service projects in support of OUR KIDS in their community -- usually working closely with the community's school corporation -- across the state, and around the globe.

Were any of you ever in Key Club in high school? Or Circle K in college? Ever heard of the K-Kids Club, Builders Club, or Bring Up Grades (B.U.G.) Program? That's all Kiwanis.

Ever been to the Easter egg hunt in Ellis Park in Danville? That's Kiwanis. Ever bought an elephant ear at the Hendricks County 4-H Fair or at the Hendricks County Ribfest? That's Kiwanis. How about a strawberry shortcake at the Ribfest? That's Kiwanis. Ever heard of -- or attended -- Masquerade Mayhem in Avon? That's Kiwanis. I could go on and on, but you get the point:  Kiwanis is doing a lot of things in a lot of places that you may not be aware of.

One area where Kiwanis is not serving, however, is anywhere within the North West Hendricks School Corporation. And that's a situation I aim to fix.

To that end, I'm starting a new Kiwanis club in northwestern Hendricks County. I haven't determined if it'll be located in North Salem, Lizton or Pittsboro yet, but its focus will be to serve the school corporation there. In fact, superintendent Rusty King has already signed up to be a charter member of this new club!

Here's what I'm looking for at this point:  people who are interested in joining Mr. King as charter members of this new club. I need at least 15 people who are dedicated to making this happen. Thirty people or more would be even better.

Once I get the Kiwanis applications from at least 15 people, I'll set up an organizational meeting where these new Kiwanians -- not me -- will decide what to name the club, where to meet, when to meet, how often to meet, and what community service projects would best meet the needs of that area of our wonderful county.

Are you interested in learning more? Shoot me an email at eric@redzonewriting.com and let's set up a time to meet. I'll come to you.

Let's get this new Kiwanis club up and running by the end of September so that we can start serving OUR KIDS of North West Hendricks School Corporation as soon as possible!

(Oh, and Mill Creek parents? Don't think that I haven't noticed that there's no Kiwanis club serving OUR KIDS in your school corporation. I'll be coming to you next!)

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