Lakewood Lore

Lakewood organization celebrates 75th anniversary

In what Lakewood organization does one find compassion for the needy and handicapped, aid for the elderly, support of youth, young children priority one, and a determination to make our city the best place in which to live?

The answer is in the Lakewood Kiwanis Club, which is celebrating its 75th birthday this month.

Across the years the membership, now numbering 183, has immersed itself in hundreds of charitable projects, always striving to provide hands-on volunteer help as well as monetary assistance.

Chartered May 17, 1921, the club became Lakewood's first service organization. Its goals to improve quality of life have been sparked all along by the Kiwanis motto: "We build."

The Kiwanis club is part of Kiwanis International, which comprises more than 300,000 members from nearly 8,800 clubs in more than 75 nations.

First in the worldwide organization was the Detroit Club, founded by Allen Simpson Browne, a professional organizer, in early 1915. Later that year, the No. 2 club was formed in Cleveland.

Its president, Harry H. Hoard, got the ball rolling for a Lakewood accession that would become the initial suburban Kiwanis in Greater Cleveland. He invited Dr. Walter F. Keating of Lakewood to round up a core of 84 local businessmen as charter members. Keating was named first president of the Lakewood club.

Current officers are Timothy Friedmann, president; Susan Brooks Dickerson, first vice president; Ernest M. "Tex" Phillips, second vice president; Harold Mathiott, secretary; James Simon, treasurer.

In its fledgling years, Lakewood Kiwanis made numerous contributions, including $5,900 to aid victims of the horrible 1924 Lorain tornado, and $5,000 to build a camp lodge in Rocky River valley to accommodate the Boy Scouts, YMCA and various other youth groups.

During the Great Depression of the 30's, the club held charity drives during which members plied the city streets in their own cars to pick up used clothing and food for distribution to jobless families.

Lakewood Kiwanis has taken particular pride and interest in its Scholarship Foundation. Starting in 1954, it has awarded to date $623,000 in college grants to 170 deserving high school seniors.

Today, the foundation has a net worth in excess of $300,000, with funding coming from endowments, interests on investments, and contributions mostly by Kiwanians at weekly Tuesday luncheon meetings in Lakewood's Masonic Temple on Detroit Road.

In 1971, to commemorate its 50th anniversary, the club was the prime funder of the open picnic pavilion at Lakewood Park, underwriting $20,000 of the $30,000 cost.

In 1985, a check for $100,000 was given to Lakewood High School to build an eight lane, all-weather running track located at the school's athletic field and open to the community. Three years later, a new $22,000 automotive van was donated to the area's Youth Challenge organization to transport handicapped children.

In more recent years, there have been many ongoing beneficial programs, such as:

• Free distribution of vegetable and flower seeds to grade school pupils in the spring for backyard gardens, with prizes awarded to winning student growers at the end of the crop season.
• No-charge, one-on-one tutoring by Kiwanians to pupils needing help in math, social studies and reading . Also, similar participation in a "Grandparents, Read to Me" class for preschoolers who show signs of probable later learning difficulties.
• Annual vocational undertaking wherein Lakewood students, hopeful of pursuing designated careers, can elect to "shadow" for a day Kiwanians who are successful in the particular field the student desires to enter.
• Regular monthly "pass-the-can" donations up to $100 or more at Kiwanis luncheons for the Lakewood Christian Service Center's Hunger Project.

To obtain funds for conducting most of its good-deed works, Lakewood Kiwanis relies to a large extent on two fund-raising programs. It makes and distributes doughnuts, as many as 4,000 dozens a year, and it sells tickets and prints playbills for an annual musical variety show performed by a local amateur cast known as The Group.

Kiwanians also roll up their sleeves for numerous other money-making projects, including hot dog sales at community festivals, spaghetti dinners, and reverse raffles.

Assists in fund-raising endeavors are forthcoming from student affiliates of Lakewood Kiwanis -- the Key Club at Lakewood High School and Builders Clubs chartered at Harding, Horace Mann and Emerson Middle Schools, and Lakewood Lutheran School.

A former auxiliary, one made up of the wives of members and known as the Lakewood Kiwani-Anns, was founded in 1961. It remained active for many years until the advent, within the past decade, of women members in the club's main roster.

This month, as a special gesture to mark its anniversary, Lakewood Kiwanis provided an illuminated sign to be placed in front of the Board of Education Building on Warren Road.

Also on the club agenda is an anniversary banquet for members, families and friends. It is set for Friday evening, May 17, at Wagner's Country Inn in Westlake.

Finally, in case you've wondered, the name "Kiwanis" is from an old American Indian expression. One board interpretation was that it meant, "We have a good time -- we make noise." However, other definitions, now more generally accepted, are "We trade" or "We share our talents."

This article by Dan Chabek appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post May 2, 1996. Reprinted with permission.

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