A message to Kiwanis’ leaders: Shape tomorrow’s leaders
By Rob Parker, CEO/Executive Director, Kiwanis International
When my son AJ was in first grade he was very shy and reserved. You can imagine how proud we were when he came home from school with the news that his new teacher had made him the “Playground Monitor.” AJ told us how she gave him a whistle and a clipboard and that he was to blow the whistle when he saw one of his peers misbehaving on the playground. He also was required to write their name on a list that he would turn in at the end of recess. Though this sounded like a lot of responsibility for a first grader, we were pleased to hear his daily reports and secretly were proud of our little “leader-in- training.”
At our first parent-teacher conference that year, my wife, Stephanie, shared with the teacher how pleased we were with AJ’s progress. She thanked her for her confidence in AJ, and let her know how much it meant for him to have a whistle and clipboard and to be able to help. The teacher’s response was a classic: “Mrs. Parker, what teacher in her right mind would ever give a first-grader a whistle and put him in charge of discipline over other students? We do not have a playground monitor program, and whoever told you we did, is seriously out of touch with reality.”
(Read more of Rob’s message—and find out how AJ transformed from an imaginary leader to a true leader.)
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'The One' site is one-stop-shop for tools, resources
Are you the “the one”?
Resource categories at The One:
- Growth tools
- Recruitment tools
- Opening new clubs
- Marketing and PR
- Service in a box
- TAG! You’re it
- Quick ideas for clubs
- Recruiting contest
- Top 10 resources
- Club brochure
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As a leader in Kiwanis, chances are very good the answer is “yes”: You are the one who can make a difference—in your club, in kids’ lives, in the world, and more. And to support your club with the resources it needs to strengthen membership, grow, enhance the club experience, and maximize your service efforts, the Kiwanis? International Office has launched www.kiwanis.org/theone/.
“This is a place members can visit to find ideas, access tools, and request materials and services—most of which are free of charge,” explains Laurie Welch, director of education at the Kiwanis International. “By making these tools easily available, our hope is that, through stronger clubs, it will be possible for every Kiwanis member to be ‘the one’ who can make a difference.”
Questions about the site should be e-mailed to the Kiwanis Help Line.
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Find it at The One: Club Brochures
Need something to hand out to prospective members? Something that provides info about Kiwanis—customized for your club—and carries Kiwanis’ new graphic standards? Visit “The One” one-stop-shop for ideas and tools, and you’ll find “Club Brochure” in the resource index.
The Club Brochure feature offers two ways for you to stock brochures customized for your club:
Download a template to customize and print on your own.
Order customized copies from the International Office (the first 50 copies are free of charge and additional sets of 50 are available for a small cost).
“The International Office exists to support Kiwanis clubs and their members,” says Laurie Welch, director of education at Kiwanis International. “Creating and printing custom brochures for clubs is just one way our staff can provide a service to clubs that saves them time and ultimately frees their resources and time for what they do best: serve their communities.” |
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First phase of kiwanis.org redesign to debut
You’ll find familiar favorites. You’ll find new features. And you’ll find that the International Office staff has been hard at work transforming www.kiwanis.org into an enhanced, user-focused Web site—and Kiwanis’ front line of communication to members, prospective members, and the communities we serve.
“We’ve greatly increased the amount of information users—Kiwanians and prospective members alike—can access from the home page,” says Angela Evans, Web communications manager. “Visitors will find Kiwanis’ story of legacy and tradition at kiwanis.org, but they’ll also find tools to tell their story, showcase their project, share successes, and illustrate the need for more collaborative action.”
Angela Evans will be at the 2007 Kiwanis International Convention in San Antonio to present the new kiwanis.org and will be available to answer questions about the site’s features and functionality.
“When people who aren’t Kiwanians—who should be considered prospective members—visit kiwanis.org, they will get to know Kiwanis even at a glance,” she says. |
When the new kiwanis.org debuts its first phase of an extensive redesign in early July, users can expect to see, among other changes:
- The home page transformed into a centralized communications hub.
- “Find a Club” (formerly Club Locator) using captured club postal codes, allowing users to search for a club within a five-, 10-, or 25-mile radius. Plus, users can click into a Yahoo map for directions and visit direct links to club Web sites.
- Ability to keyword search directly from the home page.
- More timely Kiwanis news presented in a variety of formats, including audio-visual bites, e-zines, and blogs from the International President, all just one click away from the home page Newsroom.
- A “Donate Now” button that links to an online Kiwanis International Foundation contribution form.
- An interactive Kiwanis-family calendar. Events will be clickable for a detailed outline and a search component will allow users to look for events pertaining to specific programs or organizations.
- Homepage presence for all Kiwanis-family organizations: Kiwanis, Circle K, Key Club, Builders Club, K-Kids, Aktion Club, and Kiwanis Junior will all be represented on the landing page, kiwanis.org.
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Help prospects find you, report your postal code
If you want to ensure prospective members, Kiwanis visitors, and other guests can find your club, be sure to report your club’s postal code to the International Office.
Among other features debuting at the new kiwanis.org, “Find a Club” (formerly known as the Club Locator) will use club’s postal codes to create better search options and to allow users to click into a Yahoo map for directions. Users will be able to search for Kiwanis clubs within a five-,10-, or 25-mile radius of a specific area to find club information, including the club’s meeting date, time, and location.
Your club is encouraged to include its postal code on your club election report and any other reporting you send to the International Office.
In addition to enhancing “Find a Club,” postal codes also will allow clubs conducting membership drives and those involved in new-club building to generate better prospective member lists through more accurately tailored Dun & Bradstreet resource lists. (Request a Dun & Bradstreet list from the International office.) |
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4-1-1 on new International Office phone system, help line
Listen carefully, as Kiwanis’ phone menu options have recently changed.
As a Kiwanis leader, you may be comfortable dialing the familiar 800-KIWANIS (317-875-8755 outside the United States) and cruising along to key staff phone extensions. But before you bypass the menu options, be aware: The International Office rolled out a new phone system in late May, and it is advised you take a few seconds to listen to the new menu options to ensure your call finds the right department.
One new key: To access a staff extension, callers must follow instructions to dial “1” and then pause to be prompted to enter the extension. (A staff “names directory” can be accessed by dialing “4,” and callers can reach the operator by dialing “0.”)
To transfer from a person's voicemail while listening you must dial “0” and then the extension number. Previously callers could enter just the extension number during the voicemail greeting.
Also new: Member Services' general “help line” can be reached at extension 4-1-1. |
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Clock ticks toward convention: Prep for schedule, voting
In just a few weeks, Kiwanians will gather for good times in San Antonio during the 92nd Annual Kiwanis International Convention.  If you’re planning to go—and especially if you are representing your club as a voting delegate—you’ll want to check out:
The forum schedule. “Forums with a Focus” include topics to help your club get in gear—or boost its already great efforts. Check out the schedule to plan your convention days. You might want to team up with another Kiwanian to cover simultaneous forum topics.
Proposed Bylaws amendments. See the topics up for discussion and vote during the 2007 House of Delegates, and talk with your club about proposed amendments so you can best represent its vote.
Candidates for International Office. Find out who will be on the ballot to serve in the next class of International leaders. You’ll also find candidate biographical sketches. Again, talk with your club about the candidates so you can best represent its vote. |
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Tap Kiwanis International projects for high-impact service and a wealth of resources
Hospital dolls ease the fears of sick children. Books open kids’ imaginations and futures. Kiwanians ensure kids have what they need, be it a book, a hospital doll, or an encouraging word. And Kiwanis International’s service programs maximize clubs’ impact on children and their communities worldwide, providing continuity of efforts, support, and resources to implement highly effective projects.
| As a reminder, Kiwanis International has discontinued its flu vaccine/education program THRIVE (Tackling the Health Risks of Influenza through Vaccination and Education). |
Kiwanis International’s service programs include:
- Young Children: Priority One is the ongoing service program addressing the needs of children prenatal through age 5. Projects, such as the popular homemade hospital dolls, fall into this service program line. Clubs are encouraged to stage two YCPO projects each year, and ideas and resources are available online. (New: Download a pattern for the Kiwanis hospital doll.)
- Read Around the World is an annual event set each year from February 1 to March 3. Clubs stage an array of events and projects aimed at encouraging children to love literature.
- Kiwanis One Day unites clubs from each branch of the Kiwanis family, all over the world, in a day dedicated to community service. Clubs select a service project—large or small, local or global—amassing a single day of good-deed doings felt the world over. Kiwanis One Day takes place the first Saturday in April.
- The Worldwide Service Project partners Kiwanis International with the United States Fund for UNICEF in an ongoing effort to virtually eliminate iodine deficiency disorders (IDD)—the world’s leading preventable cause of mental retardation.
Learn more about Kiwanis’ service programs, find project support material, and download resources at www.kiwanis.org/service/.
As a reminder, Kiwanis International has discontinued its flu vaccine/education program THRIVE (Tackling the Health Risks of Influenza through Vaccination and Education). |
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Clubs amass service worldwide in first Kiwanis One Day
In Florida, Kiwanians staffed a blood-pressure checkup station. 
In Colombia, they delivered school supplies and hygiene products to elementary school students.
In Mississippi, Key Clubbers joined the act in a workday to clean and repair a community center.
This past April, during the first Kiwanis One Day, Kiwanis-family members put to practice Kiwanis’ pledge to make a difference one child and one community at a time.
“It’s exciting to see the many ways clubs chose to serve their communities during the inaugural Kiwanis One Day event,” says service programs manager Elizabeth Warren. “Not only did clubs make an impact in their communities, but their activities also increased Kiwanis’ visibility as an organization that makes a difference in the world.”
| Report your club’s Kiwanis One Day activities via an online form! Share photos and your club’s story with other Kiwanians at Kiwanis In Action. |
So far, more than 530 clubs have reported their Kiwanis One Day service projects, Elizabeth says, and the International Office receives more reports daily (some clubs, she notes, are reporting their activities through their district governor or lieutenant governor).
See some club’s Kiwanis One Day doings at Kiwanis In Action or by visiting an interactive map at Kiwanis Connected e-zine.
“After a successful first year, our challenge to Kiwanis-family clubs is to increase participation during the 2008 Kiwanis One Day and thus, increase our impact on the world,” Elizabeth says.
Kiwanis One Day takes place the first Saturday of April. The 2008 Kiwanis One Day is set for April 5.
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To do List
June 1: Annual Report of Club Elections form is due to the International Office.
July 3: K University staged on site for the first time during Kiwanis’ International convention.
July 3-7: Plan to attend the 2007 Kiwanis International Convention in San Antonio, Texas.
July 11-15: Support Key Club members and those attending the 64th Annual Key Club International Convention in Orlando, Florida.
August 4-7: Support Circle K members and those attending the 52nd Annual Circle K International Convention in Portland, Oregon.
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A message to Kiwanis’ leaders: Shape tomorrow's leaders
By Rob Parker, CEO/Executive Director,Kiwanis International
When my son AJ was in first grade he was very shy and reserved. You can imagine how proud we were when he came home from school with the news that his new teacher had made him the “Playground Monitor.” AJ told us how she gave him a whistle and a clipboard and that he was to blow the whistle when he saw one of his peers misbehaving on the playground. He also was required to write their name on a list that he would turn in at the end of recess. Though this sounded like a lot of responsibility for a first grader, we were pleased to hear his daily reports and secretly were proud of our little “leader-in- training.”
At our first parent-teacher conference that year, my wife, Stephanie, shared with the teacher how pleased we were with AJ’s progress. She thanked her for her confidence in AJ, and let her know how much it meant for him to have a whistle and clipboard and to be able to help. The teacher’s response was a classic: “Mrs. Parker, what teacher in her right mind would ever give a first-grader a whistle and put him in charge of discipline over other students? We do not have a playground monitor program, and whoever told you we did, is seriously out of touch with reality.”
Imagine our surprise to find out that everything AJ had been telling us for weeks was part of an imaginary game he was playing in his head. Not only was he not the playground monitor, all of this imaginary leadership was taking place while he was sitting on the wall at the edge of the playground, totally out of the action, on the sidelines. AJ was still as shy as ever and had even retreated into his own world at recess time. For the next few years whenever he would share a story with us we would have to ask, “Is this a playground monitor thing, or did this really happen?”
Fortunately, that is not the end of the story. I am happy to report that AJ is now the 26-year-old parent of my two wonderful grandchildren and is leading his family, in his professional life, at his church, and in his community. He has replaced his imaginary leadership role with real-life leadership. Some key things happened over the ensuing years that shaped and molded that shy first-grader into a leader.
In the future, I will share some of the experiences I think every young person should have to help them in this developmental process, but for today I would like to suggest that this is the work we do every day through Kiwanis. Your support of K-Kids, Builders Club, Key Club, Aktion Club, CKI, Key Leader, and Kiwanis Junior are all helping to shape tomorrow’s leaders. Every time you invite a Kiwanis member to chair a committee, or organize an event, or serve as a club officer, you are helping to develop leadership potential in others. As Kiwanis leaders, we should always be on the lookout for potential leaders who we can coach, mentor, and empower to lead. Great leaders multiply their effectiveness by building other leaders. Thank you for your efforts in this important area.
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