COURTESY KIWANIS CLUB
After an absence of nearly 10 years, a new Kiwanis Club has recently been rechartered in Montclair. The sixteen members of the reborn club reflect the diversity that is Montclair.
Kiwanis is looking for new members of civic-minded citizens who want to make Montclair an even better place in which to live. An individual’s commitment is only two hours a month and the benefit to the community is unlimited and determined by the ambition and imagination of the club’s membership. The next meeting of the new Kiwanis Club of Montclair takes place Wednesday, Aug. 24 at 6:45 p.m. at the Geyer Family Branch of the YMCA.
Membership is comprised of business leaders in banking & real estate, town officials in the fire and police departments, YMCA administrators, educators and concerned citizens of all ages.
One of the club’s first priorities is to mentor and sponsor the140 members of Montclair High School’s Key Club, student volunteers led by Mirta Alsina, who this year committed over 3000 hours of service to the Montclair community. Service projects included collections for Mountainside Children’s Hospital, American Red Cross blood drive, food donations to Toni’s Kitchen and Community Food Bank of NJ, Bullock’s Annual EcoFair, Montclair Film Festival, Montclair Art Museum, Van Dyke Nursing Home, College Women’s Book Club, Edgemont talent show, Nishuane Family Dance, Holiday Bazaar, Edgemont tutoring, Mesh Café, Union Congregational Family Fun Day and more.
Kiwanis is an international organization of volunteers whose goal is to improve the lives of youth as reflected in its motto, “Serving the children of the world.” Began after the disillusionment after WWI, Kiwanis now exists in over 80 countries with over 550,000 members worldwide. In June a team from Kiwanis International “blitzed” Montclair, and within two days gathered enough new members to restart the club, which had folded 10 years ago after a history of serving Montclair for the previous 50 years.
The new Kiwanis Club of Montclair meets for one hour only on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of every month at the Geyer Family Branch of the YMCA, 159 Glenridge Avenue from 6:45 to 7:45 p.m. Already its members are planning its first food drive to benefit Toni’s Kitchen and perhaps a school supply drive in August.