Kiwanis in Chester mark 100 years of service in city
Kiwanis Club is ready to celebrate a century of service
CHESTER >> On Jan. 8, 1919, a group of businessmen and civic leaders met at the historic Washington House in the 400 block of Market Street. With the city population and economic activity surging in the wake of World War I, the group called the luncheon meeting to organize a chapter of a new fraternal businessmen’s organization based out of Detroit, the Kiwanis. Founded in 1914, the group was quickly evolving from promoting good trade relations to promoting civic-mindedness and service among businessmen, a platform it would formally adopt at its 1920 national convention and reflected in the early work of the Chester chapter.
The Kiwanis Club of Chester will now meet on Saturday, Nov.
16, at the Phoenix Ballroom in Upper Chichester to celebrate its
100th anniversary and relaunch its efforts to serve the residents of its city and to give a leadership platform to youth through its high school component, the Chester High School Key Club.
“The 100th anniversary is a time not just to look back and see where we’ve been, but to look forward and see where we’re heading,” said Ann Hubben, wife of chapter President Will Richan, reading on his behalf before Chester City Council at its Oct.
25 meeting. “This event will take place at the Phoenix Ballroom … a place with the name Phoenix is the perfect place to hold this event – in the ancient world they believed the phoenix was a bird that rose out of the ashes, and started a whole new life. That’s what Kiwanis Club of Chester is going to be doing.”
Counting Chester Civic League leader Thomas White and Lisa
Dennis, director of city government’s Office of Community Liaison, among its members, Hubben announced a focus on community relations for the chapter.
“As you know, Chester is a city of neighborhoods, and that’s where Kiwanis is going to focus. We want to work with folks within the neighborhoods on issues they’re dealing with, whether it’s trash littering the area, wanting better relations with police, or housing problems, we’ll be there to help,” Hubben read from the statement.
“At one time there were something like 27 neighborhood organizations, and they would meet at the old YWCA building,” said Richan, during an interview with the Times. “One by one those things have petered out, we’d like to get some of that going,” he said, intending to work one-on-one with neighborhood groups on how to address issues. Richan noted the citywide nature of White’s and Dennis’ efforts, and believes the Kiwanis can fill the role of connecting individual groups with resources.
Richan cited a recent success working with White’s Chester Civic League to connect an apartment complex with city inspectors for numerous safety and quality of life infractions.
“The residents didn’t think they were being listened to … the manager ignored leaks in the basement, mold, rats, you name it,” Richan said. “A team of inspectors from the city visited the manager. Essentially they said you have 30 days to get working on this, or you can pay a $1,000 a day in fines. Money talks,” he said.
The chapter will honor Lisa Gaffney, Caroline Kegler, the Rev. James Ley, Nafis Nichols and Cephus Richardson for their contri
“The 100th anniversary is a time not just to look back and see where we’ve been, but to look forward and see where we’re heading.”
— Ann Hubben, wife of chapter President Will Richan, reading on his behalf before Chester City Council at its Oct. 25 meeting
“If there’s one word I would apply to Chester, it’s resilience. I’ve seen it over and over again.”
— Kiwanis Club President Will Richan
tributions to Kiwanis during the Nov. 16 ceremony, along with posthumous recognition for William Dandridge Jr., Newlin Palmer and Margaret Marrow Ziff.
Richan credited Ziff with continuing the group’s operations and awarding scholarships to Key Club members during a downturn in membership until her death in 2017. The chapter briefly lost recognition from Kiwanis International following her death due to lack and subsequent loss of administrative leadership. The club returned to good standing the following year and now counts 17 members on its roster.
“Even when the Kiwanis club hit a slump, we continued to provide scholarships for Key Club members,” said Richan, noting the club’s importance in the Kiwanis’ mission in the city.
According to Richan, the club’s recent activity includes coat drives; an educational program on energy conservation for families, programs for families who have lost members to violence; a job fair; and a suicide prevention and awareness 5K walk. The group performs ongoing work with CityTeam Ministries and the Salvation Army.
“Cephus (Richardson, current school board member for Chester Upland School District) is very frank about how he began to learn what leadership was in the Key Club, and he has really gone places,” said Richan.
Richan compared the Kiwanis’ reorganization since 2018 to another organization he worked with, the former Chester Eastside Ministries, now Chester Eastside Inc., which successfully reincorporated after losing its position as a mission of the Philadelphia Presbytery.
“We found a way to come back,” he said. “If there’s one word I would apply to Chester, it’s resilience. I’ve seen it over and over again. It may be an individual who was written off or something, and he says ‘I’m not going to do that.’ Families lose a member (to a shooting), those family members are not going to give up. That to me is one of the heartening things.”