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Interclub Committee
The Chairperson of the Interclub Committee makes the arrangements for a visit to a neighboring club and solicits enough members who will make up the delegation to attend the other club’s meeting. The aim outlined by Kiwanis International is to visit another club on the average of once per month. Various neighboring clubs meet for breakfast, lunch or dinner Monday through Saturday. Through interclubs, a visiting Club can discover ideas for activities that the other club is engaged in that can be brought back and adapted for/or incorporated into the visiting club’s activities. The goal of the interclub committee is to have at least 4 members of our club visit neighboring clubs on the average of one per month and get as many of our club members as possible to visit another club at least once during the administrative year.
Scholarship Committee
Each spring a committee is appointed to contact the local high school(s) and solicit scholarship applications. The committee then reviews the applications and reads the essays that are submitted to award scholarships at the school's annual Award Night ceremony.
In the past, the Club has been proud to offer as many as three $500 scholarships to graduating seniors. The Club's financial picture dictates the number of scholarships that can be offered annually.
A roster of members is produced annually and distributed to all members. The club secretary provides updated data for all active members (i.e. address changes, new members and/or deletions since the last publication). An updated directory is published and distributed as soon as possible after the beginning of a new administrative year.
The club publishes weekly "minutes" recapping the events of the weekly meeting and announcing upcoming Kiwanis projects and speaker topics. The minutes are distributed to members attending the meeting the following week. Recently, the meeting "minutes" have also been e-mailed to all members who have e-mail addresses. The goal of this project is to continue to keep members informed of all club activities. Communication of this type is one of the vital efforts in a successful Club. It should reflect the events of the Club in such a way as to encourage cohesiveness and camaraderie.
The editors of area newspapers, editors of subdivision/neighborhood newsletters, and businesses throughout the community can be strong resources for publicizing Kiwanis activities. We feel it is very important that our activities are made known to the public, including friends, neighbors and family, in order to keep a positive image of a desirable service club in the community.
Publicity works to make the club members more aware of what we are doing as Kiwanians and to make the most of every opportunity to let the community know of our programs and projects.
Every club member is asked to be alert for publicity of the club and/or individual members that would contribute to the historical collection of club information. Anyone who participates in any activity or who notices a newspaper article about a member or a Club activity is welcome and encouraged to take a picture or clip the article and give it to the scrapbook keeper. The scrapbook keeper attends meetings and activities of the club, taking notes and photographs that can be integrated into a booklet that concisely and accurately reflects the activities of the Club.
Kiwanis members encourage religious activity in our community and encourage each other to live by the first and second Objectives of Kiwanis: “To give primacy to the human and spiritual rather than to the material values of life” and “To encourage the daily living of the Golden Rule in all human relationships.” The Club President or a designated assignee is responsible for opening weekly meetings with an appropriate devotional message.
The Club is responsible for collecting all non-natural trash along a
stretch of road along Lockport Street/IL State Route 126. The village then collects the bags and
disposes of them appropriately.
The Adopt-A-Road chairperson is responsible for selecting the date, notifying the city,
providing the supplies and equipment and organizing the
pick-up teams. The annual goal is to have
four successful Adopt-a-Road pick-up days each year.
Spouses and members attend a nice dinner and enjoy a broader spectrum of fellowship and friendship.
Our club helped to provide funds to Kiwanis International and UNICEF to carry out their goal to wipe out iodine deficiency throughout the entire world. The Plainfield Kiwanis Club supported this project in past years, and we are proud of the part that we played in helping out truly needy human beings! International has been blessed with significant donations from Kiwanis clubs, UNICEF (who pledged to raise several million dollars for Kiwanis), and a Foundation established by Bill Gates and his wife which made a very significant several million dollar gift for a project in which they believe. The formal phase of the project is has ended.
We support the Interfaith Food Pantry in a number of ways. First of all, one of our members, Mary Dickerson, heads up the pantry project and distribution of food items on a regular basis. Other members are encouraged to assist if they are interested.
As IDD had been the Foundation project of Kiwanis International, Spastic Paralysis is the Foundation Project of our Illinois-Eastern Iowa Division. The project was started at the Chicago Children’s Hospital under the direction of Dr. Amador. Spastic Paralysis is a condition that affects the central system. It occurs when there is damage to the system (nerves, brain, or spinal cord). This leads to little or no control over the muscles of the body. The Foundation not only raises funds for Spastic Paralysis research but all the disorders that are related to the central system. These include Cerebral Palsy, Multiple Sclerosis and Spina Bifida. Dr. Amador has moved on to UCLA to study brain functions. Chicago Children’s Hospital is currently researching Spina Bifida. The work is now carried out at about a dozen universities throughout the US. Lately, our club has donated to this effort. These funds are given in a grand parade at our annual Division Convention.
For Mother's Day, Father's Day, and other times during the year, Club members visit residents of the Lakewood Center Nursing Home in Plainfield. Small gifts or flowers are presented to the residents.
For years the Plainfield Kiwanis Club has sponsored the Plainfield High School Key Club. With the addition of Plainfield South High Schools, a Key Club was started on campus by one of the teachers. Work is still being done to charter the Key Club at the second high school and make it an integral part of Plainfield Kiwanis family. As with any sponsored youth club, all members of Plainfield Kiwanis are encouraged to actively support and provide guidance as needed. We realize that a Club’s involvement with a Key Club ideally works two ways: the Kiwanis Club members often assist the Key Club with their activities and fund-raisers, and the Key Club can help to provide manpower to assist the sponsoring Kiwanis Club with their community activities. Kiwanians are encouraged to attend Key Club meetings, meet the officers and members, and encourage a strong Kiwanis-Key Club relationship. We also encourage Key Club members to attend Kiwanis Club meetings to keep the sponsoring club up-to-date on the high schoolers plans and activities.
The Peanut Day(s) promotion is one of the few activities used by the Plainfield Kiwanis Club to raise funds that are then used by our local chapter to spend on the organizations, charities, etc. that we wish to support. There is a need for a strong chairperson to run the promotion as follows: fund-raising programs, business solicitation, ordering and distribution of peanuts, publicity, and people power. In the past years, our fund-raising activities have been conducted at various banks and grocery stores on a specified Friday and Saturday in September.
The Plainfield Main Street organization has sponsored a Farmers Market on Wednesday morning for the past two years, and in 2003, they have opted NOT to continue their sponsorship. Regarding it as a viable money-making project, the Kiwanis Club looks forward to sponsoring the Kiwanis Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings beginning in mid-July. A local "farmer" (Wagner Farms) has been secured and other potential vendors will be contacted for participation.
The Club has participated in the community's annual Homecoming Parade. The visibility has been good for the Club. Using a borrowed convertible, members have walked or ridden along the parade route wearing Kiwanis attire, sometimes handing out peanuts.
Created April 2003. Last updated Saturday, April 19, 2003