Service brews at ‘souper’ party

The Kiwanis Club of Wellsburg, West Virginia, and the Circle K club at Bethany College sure know how to throw a party. Earlier this year, the two Kiwanis-family clubs joined in hosting the first “Souper” Kiwanis Family Get-together for K-Kids from Wellsburg Primary and Franklin Elementary schools.

K-Kids make “Linus” blankets for hospitalized children.

Wellsburg Primary students sort through scraps from old blue jeans, which will be used to make dog toys.

At the event, about 30 children—mostly K-Kids and their siblings—dined on pizza and popcorn while working on a variety of service projects. They made greeting cards for shut-ins, active-duty soldiers, and veterans; blankets for hospitalized children, as well as blankets for Project Linus; and dog toys from old blue jeans for the animal shelter. They also collected canned goods (including soup) for the needy and filled gallon jugs with pop tabs to be recycled to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House.

Sound like a full evening? It got fuller as the K-Kids also collected postage stamps for veteran rehabilitation projects and newspapers for the animal shelter and Animal Welfare League. And rounding out the evening, Circle K'ers worked with the K-Kids on a team-building activity.

“This was such an opportunity to teach children of Brooke County the joy and satisfaction that comes from giving back to their community,” says Kiwanis club president Marilyn McGowan. “All in all, it was a service-filled evening and the children had a great time!”