You’ve heard about it, read about it, and understand it, “Wearing face masks is necessary to reduce the spread of COVID-19.” BUT, are you familiar with the potential harm to young children in early learning environments all day when the adults that interact with them, teach them, and nurture them have their faces covered with face masks?

How can you help? Educate your club on the benefits and necessity of clear masks and assist your club with taking on this project for your community. Through minimal financial contributions the child care professionals in your community can receive a ClearMask and the long term benefits for the children in their care support the mission and vision of Kiwanis.

The pandemic has greatly affected us all - Kiwanis International, Kiwanis Districts, Divisions, Clubs and Service Leadership Programs. However, this is not the time to discontinue our service to the children in our communities. Our inability to meet in person, share ideas, raise funds, perform our regular service projects and enjoy the comradery of each other has not diminished our Kiwanis mission. Our children, schools, and the community need us now, more than ever. I implore all Kiwanians to stay connected with their respective clubs.

Each year, several clubs fold or disband for one reason or another. This creates a void for the children the club served and takes away opportunities for the remaining members to give back to their community. Those members are valuable resources and should be recruited to merge as a group with another club or be invited to individually join other clubs in the Division. By doing so, we continue to meet our mission to serve the most vulnerable in our communities and we get the added benefit of keeping members with a passion for service.

The Florida Kiwanis District staff are available to help employs many strategies, technologies and tools to promote club and division sustainability and growth. The staff in the District and at International are willing to share their expertise, strategies, technologies and tools and are available to provide to offer assistance, advice and training to ensure our clubs succeed. Do not hesitate to reach out to them and take advantage of their expertise so our clubs can remain strong and vibrant in our service to the children of our great District.

Let’s remain passionate about serving the children of this State, but let us be just as passionate about bringing in new members and starting new clubs to ensure the future success of our clubs, divisions and the District. For many years, Kiwanis has been known as one of the greatest service organizations in the world and we have weathered many challenges. The challenges we have faced this year have created opportunities to “think outside the box” so we can become better servants. So, even in this pandemic, let us be determined to go through it and come out of it stronger, more focused and greater servants. Remember, membership is the driving force for Kiwanis Service.

Bring Up Grades (BUG) is a Kiwanis-branded program for elementary students that empowers them in their academic success by recognizing students who raise their grades from one grading period to the next, which helps them set goals and participate in peer mentoring.

Consider asking school principal to start a BUG program this school year and participate in their regular awards assemblies throughout the school term.

The Daytona Beach Kiwanis club helped children of needy families go shopping for back to school clothing. The club has partnered with JC Penney for over 70 years to help needy families shop for new clothing to start the school year. Daytona Beach Kiwanis will be celebrating 100 years of service to the community next May! Congratulations!

Once the pandemic arrived the Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe no longer could help children in school. Many other projects and fundraisers also had to be cancelled. But that didn’t stop the club from pursuing its primary focus: young children. It has been proven that young children learn better when they can see their teacher’s mouth as he/she speaks. The ability to see them speak helps the children with making the correct letter and word sounds and to understand what is said to them. With teachers (and others) required to wear a mask, this was a serious problem for those younger children.

Since the club had to cancel its primary fundraiser (a Murder Mystery dinner) due to the pandemic, they were short of funds for what they wanted to do. The club was awarded a mini grant from the Florida Kiwanis Foundation to be able to purchase the masks. They ordered clear masks for each of the educators of Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd graders in Irby and High Springs Community Schools. Those masks were delivered to the schools in September, and the teachers and principals were so excited to receive them. By providing clear masks to these educators, one such need of the children has been met.

Remember to check out the Kiwanis One Day Toolkit online.