The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Kiwanis Club has high hopes for growth
The recently revitalized Kiwanis Club of Greater Euclid has had a year full of challenges due to the novel coronavirus pandemic preventing them from holding many events.
But club leaders remain optimistic about their plans in 2021.
The Kiwanis’ history in the city goes back more than 70 years, according to club president Ken Ferlito, who said the organization only dropped off in Euclid for about three years before the current club was formed to revive it.
He said his club is still fairly new, having been in operation for only about year and half so far — much of which, of course, was spent in some level of uncertainty amid the pandemic.
Ferlito, who also works for Euclid Schools, said that one of his personal motivations for wanting to grow Kiwanis’ Euclid chapter is the organization’s overall goal to try to better the lives of children in the community.
“That honestly was what interested me about this organization,” he said. “I didn’t really realize that that was a goal of Kiwanis until I initially got involved, but it really is about offering programming and supports to the children of Euclid, really from kindergarten, or even babies, all the way up to high school.”
One of the signature projects Ferlito said they would love to bring back in 2021 is the high school Key Club, which has not been active for a number of years.
“It’s a service organization for the high school kids, that’s basically student run with the supports of adults,” he said. “And so our Kiwanis would be the supporting organization.”
Ferlito said Key Club is a structured program set up through the Kiwanis internationally, and he hopes to be able to start getting it off the ground this spring. Euclid High School students are currently poised to return to some in-person classes on Feb. 1.
“Our goal right now is to try to get a skeleton of an organization going for this spring, and then kick it off big time next fall,” he said.
Greater Euclid Kiwanis secretary Tina Dick said she thinks Key Club is a good program to start because of the skills and connections students stand to gain.
“I think it gives them an opportunity to lead, and also to get involved in the community and get to know the different residents and work with them — kind of a bridge between some of the residents and the youth of the community as they work together on various projects,” Dick said.
Along with Key Club, the Kiwanis are also hoping to hold a clothing and household item drive in the spring. They had success with a similar drive in late fall with donations going to the Savers organization, which compensates non-profits for donations of goods which will then be resold instead of thrown out.
Ferlito said examples of donations they will be looking for include books, small kitchen appliances and gently used clothing.
“The nice part is that it helps us raise funds, but also one of the other goals of Kiwanis is just ecology and supporting and keeping the earth,” Ferlito said.
“So it’s another way of recycling things. Instead of people throwing them away, it’s a way for us to turn products back so other people can use them as well.”