DE PERE – Started in October of 1951, De Pere’s local Kiwanis Club has been actively volunteering in the area for 75 years.
Their motto, “Serving the children of the world,” is demonstrated by their many diverse, long-term, community-wide projects for kids of all ages.
Regularly providing communication tools for autistic children through their iPads for Autism program is a crucial and valuable project they take part in for community members.
At one of their recent meetings they did just that, Kiwanis Club Secretary Ted Pagels mentioned, “We had a family that came in with a five year old autistic child and we provided the iPad and a gift certificate for the specialty software that they put into the iPad that allows the child to communicate.”
“We used to get them with the software installed already and they knew how to turn them on and they could start hitting their buttons on there and the iPad would voice out whatever they were typing. And there wasn’t a dry eye in the audience,” He explained. “Now with changes, we give them a certificate to purchase the software because then each school district might be using a different type of software.”
Another one of their larger scale annual projects is giving out scholarships to high school students who are planning to continue their education to help pay for their educational costs.
Pagels said, “We provide scholarships for graduating high school seniors, those that are moving towards a technical college type education...They however must successfully finish a first semester, then they get their scholarship sent to them.”
Newspaper subscriptions, supporting youth sports — including Legion Baseball — sponsoring Kiwanis-based youth groups at De Pere High School and St. Norbert College, Fire and Police Awards Banquet, Park District Summer Carnival and Easter Seals Camp are just some of their other community engagement activities.
When asked why 75 years is an important achievement, Pagels said, “The longevity of a community, a group of volunteers dedicated to making the community a better place.”
Serving the community one child at a time and changing the world through community is another aspect that Pagels mentioned was important to the club.
“I’m amazed at how busy it gets, where people will come and drop off donations of goods, their household goods that they don’t want anymore. Books, tools, clothing, clothing is the big one,” Pagels noted.
If people wanted to get involved, Pagels said that the website and their weekly meetings are the best way to start.
Mondays at Julie’s Cafe in De Pere at 6 p.m. are when they meet for around one to one and a half hours to discuss upcoming events and projects.
Coming up, Saturday, May 2, they will host their Derby Day Meat Raffle at Sidekicks Bar and Grill in De Pere.
To learn more, visit deperekiwanis.org.
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