Kiwanis disbanding but will continue events through Community Club
By Jennifer Archibald Staff writer

Flora Kiwanis Club is joining forces with the Flora Community Club.

Janice Johnson, Kiwanis president, said there will no longer be a Flora Kiwanis Club as of Sept. 30. However, she was quick to add that the community events and projects that have been sponsored by Kiwanis will continue through the Community Club.

She explained that Kiwanis and Community Club members have met, and it was a mutual decision that both entities would benefit from such a merger.

She said a core group of the Kiwanis members will become a committee or team under the auspices of the Community Club. This group hopes to enlist extra help from current Community Club members and from the community at large.

Kiwanis-sponsored events have included the Easter Egg Hunt, Moonlight Madness, home tour, garden tour, and Touch A Fleet. Johnson said all of these will continue.

She said several factors have contributed to the dissolving of the Kiwanis Club as such.

"There are so many service clubs in town, and it's hard to get new members," she said. She added that the club is also losing members, attributed in part to the costly club dues, set by Kiwanis International.

Johnson said one of the main reasons for going with the Community Club is that most of the money collected in dues was being sent out of the community - to the International Kiwanis.

"Our focus has always been on the community and the kids of the community," Johnson said. "And so much of our money was going out of the community."

She said Kiwanis dues are $97 per person, and less than $6 stays with the local club.

Flora Kiwanis has been a club for six years. Treasurer Miriam Robeson said, according to her financial records, "We raised a total of $34,000 over the past six years, in dues and project income. Of that amount, more than $12,000 left the community in the form of dues and contributions to the District and International Kiwanis, the Indiana Scholarship Fund (through Kiwanis), and to pay convention fees."

"While we agree that the State and International Kiwanis efforts are very worthy, we feel that a 35 percent 'tithe' is excessive for no more people than we have. We would prefer to benefit our local community with our dollars," she said.

Robeson said the club started with 22 members, at one time had as many as 30, and this year's membership is 23. She added, however, that for most months, the average attending has been about five members.

Theresa Brown, chairman of finance and fundraising for Kiwanis, said the same few people were heading up the events, and burnout was building.

Rather than letting the Kiwanis events die out, the club members looked at ways to bolster the number of people to help with worthwhile community projects. That's when they decided to become an arm of the Community Club.

"At our first 'combined' planning meeting (Kiwanis and Community Club), I was very encouraged by the participation, the ideas exchanged, and the enthusiasm to get organized and get going," Robeson said.

Josh Ayres, vice president of the Community Club, said the union of the Kiwanis Club and Community Club should bring energy and vitality to both entities, and hopefully will encourage more involvement from the community.

"We'll be gaining a small but highly motivated group of people," Ayres said.

Johnson said the Kiwanis group also will help out in other established Community Club events.

The Community Club has agreed to obtain a 501(c) (3) status so the new committee can continue as a local charity, with its own treasury.

In the past, Kiwanis has helped local children with financial needs, given scholarships, and sponsored a K-Kids program at Carroll Elementary School.

Robeson, who has been in charge of the K-Kids program, said it will continue, under the new name of Kids in Action. The program teaches sixth graders about volunteerism, and involves them in volunteer activities.

Johnson, who will be chairman of the new committee, said Kiwanis met twice a month, but the new Community Club committee will just meet once a month.

"If we don't have any pressing business, we'll have a speaker," she said.

Brown invited anyone interested in being involved on this new committee to come to a meeting on Oct. 2 at noon at the fire station.

"We'll choose a name at that time," she said.