The Kiwanis Club of State College is celebrating a century of service to improve the lives of children and youth in the local community and beyond.
Centre County’s Board of Commissioners on Tuesday issued a proclamation to commemorate the club’s 100th anniversary in April.
“I’ve seen a lot of the good works that you folks do and the fun that you have, so we welcome the opportunity to celebrate you on your hundredth anniversary,” Commissioner Steve Dershem said.
Since its founding on April 8, 1925, the State College Kiwanis Club has donated more than $1 million to local agencies supporting children, youth and families. Its beneficiaries include organizations such as Centre Volunteers in Medicine and its children’s dental program, the Tides grief support program, Jana Marie Foundation and Centre Safe.
“We’ve been pretty active in the community, particularly when it comes to young children,” the club’s Ann Graves said. “Our motto is ‘Young children, priority one’ so that’s where we spend the bulk of our efforts and money.”
One particular focus has been addressing the child care shortage and affordability crisis. While the club has been working to provide assistance to daycares, it has now formed a coalition that aims to get local businesses to join the effort.
“I think you understand these people who work there, the owners can only pay them like $10 an hour and they can go to Target or somewhere like this and make $15 or even better an hour,” Immediate Past President Kathy Mackes said. “And of course they want to send their children to daycare but they can’t afford it. It’s a vicious cycle. So we have picked up that gauntlet, I guess you’d say, to help to alleviate that.’”
Commissioner Amber Concepcion said she appreciates the work the club does to bring issues such as child care to light and to make a difference
“I think the daycare issue in our community has been really a difficult one,” Concepcion said. “We’ve had a number of daycares and preschools close. It’s tough because for a lot of parents the cost is too much, but then we’re not paying our early childhood educators enough either. Coming out of the pandemic that’s one of the services that has been really deeply impacted… High quality child care is incredibly important and not very equally accessible to all families.”
Kiwanis Club of State College also regularly conducts a reading program in which members select books, read them at a preschool and donate them to a library.
Among its fundraising activities, the club is perhaps best known for its annual blueberry sale, which typically begins taking orders in May for pickup in late June. The sale offers 10-pound boxes for about $30.
The money raised is donated to several organizations, including grants for preschools.
“We give grants every year to preschools that apply up to $500 that they can use for materials or whatever it is that they would like or need,” Graves said. “We also sponsor other groups in the community with that money. So it’s been a real gift to us to be able to sell blueberries, and we’re lucky we found a supplier in New Jersey that trucks them up overnight, so they’re very fresh.
“If you haven’t ever had a chance to buy them you should because they’re very fresh and $30 for a 10-pound box is a big deal. They’re always wonderful blueberries. and of course those you can freeze so they’re good for all the year.”
Like other Kiwanis Clubs, the State College organization also sponsors multiple service clubs, including K-Kids for elementary schools, Builders Club for middle schools, Key Club for high schools, Circle K for college students and Aktion Club for adults with disabilities.
Kiwanis Club of State College currently has about 40 members. Graves and Mackes said that lower membership numbers are common among service organization due to a few factors.
“Younger people have a lot of other things, with children and activities, so it’s difficult sometimes for them to think they can slot time in for us, our service,” Mackes said. “But we’ve taken in a few new members just in the last year, so hopefully we can continue that.”
“Like many long-established organizations these days, people are not necessarily joining organizations and if you want to do service there’s lots of ways to do service other than joining a specific club, But we’re still alive and healthy and looking forward to another hundred years.”
With several international service organizations having multiple clubs in the local community, Mackes said she feels that Kiwanis is “a best-kept secret sometimes.”
“People recognize Lions and Rotary and not so much out Kiwanis, but we’re very much a part of the community and we serve the children,” Mackes said. “Our mission is serving the children, not only of this community but of the world because we’re an international organization, just the same as Rotary and Lions.”
To learn more about the State College Kiwanis Club, visit its website and Facebook page.
