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The Hastings Kiwanis Club sponsors many events to aid the youth in our community. This is accomplished through the hard work of our members and the abundance of "fun" from their fellowship.
The annual Kiwanis Pancake Day is our major fundraiser for the year. All the proceeds from the pancake sales are used to fund our many donations and projects for the youth in our community throughout the year. It's also lots of FUN!!
Husker Harvest Days is another one of our program fundraisers. Members help cook and serve kielbasa during the Husker Harvest Days annual event.
Duane is the carving king
The Head Start Reading Program - Reading Is Fundamental Reading Is Fundamental, or RIF, is a program sponsored by our Kiwanis Club in partnership with Hastings Head Start. RIF programs offer enriching activities that spark children's interest in reading. And every child involved with RIF gets to choose and keep new books, at no cost to the children or their families.
Ron reads to a table full of children
Kiwanis One Day is an annual event where Kiwanis, and it's family of clubs, join forces with the community for a day of hands-on service. This year Kiwanis and Aktion Club teamed up to help clean up the property and plant landscaping at the Prairie Loft Center just west of Hastings.
Surveying the land
Skip-A-Meal is a program where Kiwanis
Family members and non-members, donate the equivalent of one meal to help fund
numerous programs that directly benefit children. Skip-A-Meal benefits the
Kiwanis Children's Fund which is sponsored by the Kiwanis International
Foundation. Once a year, our club tours a local facility during a regular
meeting time. Members bring their own lunch and donate the cost of our meeting
meal to the Skip-A-Meal program. This year our club toured the brand new
Hastings Middle School just prior to it's completion.
Kiwanians eat their lunch at the new Hastings Middle School
Creative Kids Day at Imperial Mall 2008 Kiwanians helped kids plant flowers in their "own little greenhouse" as the soil pot with seeds was placed in a plastic bag and sealed until getting home to get help from Mom and Dad. Upon getting home, the plant stays in the unsealed bag but the water goes into the bag and soaks up into the pot and the bag acts as a mini-greenhouse. It is a project designed to promote adult/child communication with interaction.
Don and Mike are setting up for the big day
Since its founding in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller, Habitat for Humanity International has built and rehabilitated more than 250,000 houses with families in need, becoming a true world leader in addressing the issues of poverty housing. The Hastings Kiwanis Club volunteers service hours to the local Habitat Chapter. This year, our members helped install siding on the Habitat House.
Preparing some siding for installation
An annual project of our club, is the winterization of homes for the elderly and low income families. Kiwanis members seal windows with plastic to help prevent drafts and save on heating costs during the cold Nebraska winters. We work in conjunction with Catholic Social Services to select homes in Hastings for this project.
Kiwanians gather before the work begins
KEY LEADER is Kiwanis International’s leadership education program for students, primarily in high school. Its mission is to provide a “life-changing experience that inspires young people to achieve their personal best through service leadership.” Our Hastings Kiwanis Club sponsors, primarily from Key Club, area youth to attend each year's Key Leader Camp. In 2007, through the generous donations of our membership, we sent 9 students and 1 student facilitator to the Key Leader Camp in Gretna. We were very proud to have the largest representation for the weekend Key Leader event.
Alex and Kelsey are looking a little unsure about the rope line activity
Kids Against Hunger (KAH) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide fully nutritious food to impoverished children around the world. Feeding programs, orphanages, schools, and clinics are the direct paths we use to feed children. The Hastings Kiwanis Club is sponsoring this program to kick off our 2008-09 year. We received our initial startup shipment on October 25, 2008 to start the Hastings satellite. Several Kiwanis volunteers helped unload this shipment at the home of the new Hastings satellite in the Manual Arts building of the old Middle School. Here are some photos from that morning. Check out other pictures from this new project, they can be found on the KAH page.
Our startup shipment for the Hastings Kids Against Hunger satellite location
Kiwanis Salvation Army K Mart Shopping Spree 2008 Every year, the Hastings Kiwanis Club teams up with the Salvation Army and K Mart to help area youth experience the true joy of Christmas, giving. Salvation Army selects special children in the community and Kiwanis and Key Club volunteers team up with each child to help them purchase Christmas gifts for their family members. K Mart hosts the shopping and helps Kiwanis to finance the cost. Each gift is then wrapped while Santa Claus pays the children a visit and makes sure each child goes home with a gift of their own. This is a favorite for our club.
Tom and Andrea are awaiting the start of the children's shopping spree.
Kiwanis Lunch With Head Start 2008 Each year in December, our club has lunch with the children at Head Start. In conjunction with our Reading Is Fundamental program, the children are also given a book that they get to take home as their own. A wonderful time is had by all. This year one of the teachers let us in on a little secret, our visit is so special, it is the only time of the year that the children are served chocolate milk. Go Kiwanis!
Kiwanis Bowling Tournament 2009 This is an annual event for Kiwanis. It was originally sponsored by the Optimist Club before they disbanded. When their club dissolved, some of their members joined Kiwanis and the club transferred the funds for this program to our Kiwanis club. Letters are sent to area schools to invite children to a morning of bowling on us. Kiwanis members, along with Key Club, help the children bowl and several awards are given afterward. Small prizes are also awarded to all the children so no child goes home empty handed.
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