Kiwanis Club of Winchester

By guest con­trib­u­tor Chelsea Reese, active member 

Kiwanis Club of Winchester is a non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tion that pro­motes the wel­fare of chil­dren in our com­mu­ni­ty.  As the old­est meet­ing club in Winchester with over 100 years of ser­vice, we pro­vide Clark County stu­dents with oppor­tu­ni­ties for growth through our BUG (Bringing Up Grades) and men­tor­ship pro­grams. We issue schol­ar­ships to new grad­u­ates, nur­ture com­mu­ni­ty rela­tion­ships through speak­er meet­ings and raise mon­e­tary dona­tions to give direct­ly back into the hands of stu­dents in need.

Kiwanis Club of Winchester’s “Walk With a Child” event is held in September each year.  This is by far our largest impact on the com­mu­ni­ty.  Working hard all year to pre­pare for this event, we gift 150–160 Clark County ele­men­tary school stu­dents with vouch­ers to shop for brand new back to school cloth­ing at Wal-Mart.  These stu­dents are empow­ered to pick out their own cloth­ing, what­ev­er they need which includes coats, boots, socks, under­wear, jeans, and more.  Kiwanis Club of Winchester orga­nizes this annu­al event work­ing close­ly with school resource coör­di­na­tors and vol­un­teers to per­son­al­ly take the stu­dents shop­ping.  Kiwanis Club of Winchester rais­es 100% of the funds need­ed which can total around $16,000 or more a year.

Currently, our two largest fundrais­ers of the year are the Kiwanis Annual Pancake Breakfast held in November and an annu­al Kiwanis Auction held in the ear­ly spring.  We are excit­ed to announce our accep­tance into the 2023 GoodGiving Challenge as a non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tion this year!  The mon­e­tary dona­tions we raise through this fundrais­er will be matched up to $8,500 by the Clark County Community Foundation and will make a direct impact on Clark County chil­dren, pro­vid­ing them with brand new and clean back to school clothing!

The 2023 GoodGiving Challenge begins Tuesday, November 28^th and runs through Friday, December 1^st.  Log onto bggives.org/organization/winchesterkykiwanis to donate dur­ing this time.  You can also go to bggives.org and search for Winchester Kiwanis.  We appre­ci­ate your support!