A service Triathlon for K-Kids

More than 165 Kiwanis Family members, spent last Saturday doing what Kiwanis prides itself on: community service. Members from every branch of the Kiwanis Family came together in friendly competition to create “boo-boo bunny” ice packs for school nurses to give to injured children, clean-up East Meadow’s bird sanctuary and, make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a soup kitchen in Hempstead

The group included 13 adults with special needs from Aktion Club, 19 elementary school students from the Bowling Green K-Kids, 13 middle schoolers from W T Clarke’s newly organized Builders Club, 73 high schoolers from the Key Clubs from Divisions 6 & 7, 36 Circle K-ers from universities from Stony Brook to Albany and 15 Kiwanians from East Meadow, Levittown, Glen Cove, East Rockaway, Brooklyn and West Hempstead

Circle K Lt. Governor Rickie Santer, who is a Levittown resident and a sophomore at Adelphi University, organized the day-long service event. He was pleasantly surprised by the massive turnout. “What we accomplished today is truly amazing,”he told the group at the closing awards session. “We made 500 boo-boo bunnies, removed 80 bags of trash from the bird sanctuary and made 318 peanut butter & jelly sandwiches to feed the hungry,” he exclaimed. “In total, we completed over 1200 hours of service today. Wow!” he said proudly.

In addition to the service rendered today, LISC Kiwanis Service Leadership Chair Rich Santer also commented on the great interaction between the elementary school K-Kids and the Circle K-ers.“The positive roles models the Circle K-ers and Key Clubbers provide for the K-Kids and Builders Clubbers is invaluable in cementing the foundation of a life time of service in our youngest Kiwanis Family members,” he said. “This is a big part of what makes the Kiwanis family and events like this so special.”

The group thanked the Levittown Public Library, especially custodian Walter Brown, for providing space for the unexpectedly large group. Gratitude also goes to Napolitano’s Pizza, Domenico’s, Borrellis Restaurant, Little Caesar’s, Viagio’s Pizza and McDonald’s who provided lunch and Fred’s Deli, Newbridge Farms and Walmart who donated peanut butter, jelly and bread. The generosity of these local businesses and a number of the participants allowed the day to be completely focused on service without the need to fundraise for lunch or supplies.