Kiwanis helps community groups
Te Awamutu Kiwanis Club is finishing the year on a high and has a lot to look back on as it celebrates another year of supporting Te Awamutu children and youth.
The community service club, open to men and women, aims to make Te Awamutu a better place live.
President Ben Williams says the club helps projects and activities which benefit families and young children in Te Awamutu and surrounding areas.
“We tend to be doers, rather than writers of cheques,” Ben says.
The club relies on its own firewood sales to raise money to help local groups.
Ben says a highlight of the year was presenting a Legion of Honour award to Richard Pickering and Grant Gardiner, two of the group’s longest serving members.
Richard and Grant have each given 35 years of service to Kiwanis and the Te Awamutu community.
The Kiwanis Club of Te Awamutu has supported many local groups and projects throughout the year.
It purchased a trailer for the Pirongia Cub & Scouts group to use at its firewood fundraising working bees and camp trips.
The club bought a shed for Riding for the Disabled and helped fund an assistance dog for a local autistic child.
The Kiwanis Club of Te Awamutu sponsored the speech and drama section prize at Te Awamutu Festival of Performing Arts and provided bar and wait staff at the Cornerstone Trust fundraising luncheon.
It helped with a barbecue at the Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter Open Day, sponsored children attending the Kainga Aroha Christmas camp and helped with maintenance work at Mahuika Community House.
The Te Awamutu club supports an ongoing project in Vanuatu which sends two or three shipping containers a year to the South Pacific Ocean nation filled with educational items such as books, desks and computers.
Kiwanis clubs in Vanuatu help distribute items directly to the schools in need.
The 12th annual Kiwanis Charity Golf Tournament in March, organised by the five Kiwanis Clubs in the Waikato/ Bay of Plenty area, raised over $10,000 for diabetic children.
Next year’s main recipient is the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust, which provides support groups throughout New Zealand, including in Te Awamutu, for seniors tasked with raising their grandchildren.
The Kiwanis Club of Te Awamutu meets on the second and fourth Monday of the month.
Meetings usually include a guest speaker and meal.
All welcome to attend.
For more information about Kiwanis contact Kevin on 871 4355 or visit www.kiwanis.org.nz