Helping those in need
Kiwanis Golden K helping within community since 1984
Kiwanis Golden K of Cape Breton club received its charter in 1984. We are part of Kiwanis International in its “Bluenose Division” which includes all four Atlantic Provinces. Our Cape Breton club is proudly the largest club in this division.
We have an impressive mix of professions, experiences and personal interests, one of which is definitely our eagerness to help those in need throughout our Cape Breton communities. We have a strong fellowship and kinship. Our weekly meetings adhere to a balance of business and fun with constant respect for each other as members of a team.
Members are encouraged, but not pressured, to get involved in a variety of volunteer opportunities and as well, to take on some club positions and responsibilities via our 23 committees. We are always eager to acknowledge birthdays, anniversaries and to celebrate together with things like weekly bowling, occasional golfing, the annual barbecue, lobster dinner and Christmas party to name a few.
As recently as 2015 Kiwanis International recognized the devotion and commitment of our club by presenting us with the Distinguished Club Award and featuring us in a full-length article in their international magazine.
We have more than 50 men and women in our club at present, ranging in age from 53 to 96; we have one member in his first year and one in his 33rd.
We have someone who has worked with 20th Century Fox and shook hands with Charley Chaplin and Elizabeth Taylor. We have X-ray and lab technologists, war veterans, real estate agents, carpenters, historians, consultants and CEOs.
Our group is a mix of radio, telephone and television industry workers, along with construction workers and people from the oil, steel/rail and coal industries. Some have worked for the municipality. We have former supervisors, teachers and instructors, public speakers and people who were once employed in the areas of purchasing, shipping and receiving, banking, production and management. To cover the entire realm of diversity in our group I’d need a few more articles.
We have a Special Olympian, several people who sing like angels and some who play a variety of instruments. We have sportsmen and sports fanatics, artists, photographers and a priest. The club has truckers, Canada Post and Veterans Affairs workers and a marine safety manager. We are greeters at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital and assist at the weekly “free” blood donor clinics on Thursdays at the Mayflower Mall.
We can be seen in local schools supporting youth leadership and helping with breakfast programs. We are no strangers to Saturday morning coffee clubs, where volunteers sing and share light luncheon weekly at MacGillivray Guest Home, the Cove and Harbourstone Enhanced Care and biweekly at Cedar Court.
We can be seen greeting the thousands of cruise ship visitors at the Historical Museum in Whitney Pier and we deliver Meals on Wheels and meals for V.O.N Day Care.
Though many of our members were once strangers, as members they have since become and have remained friends while serving together as goodwill ambassadors. With a heart-felt dedication to community, we are all feathers on the same wing now.
Constantly seeking and welcoming new members, we wear our hearts on our sleeve and THAT sleeve is Cape Breton Kiwanis Golden K blue. We truly have a most dynamic group dynamic.