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Dunwoody Kiwanis Club
History
(1949-
The Dunwoody Kiwanis Club is currently in its
58th consecutive year of service to the community.
Organized by Division 14 Lt. Governor Toby
Ellison, the late Mark A. Smith, Jr., and the late Dr. Bill
Hopkins, the club’s original membership of 25 was comprised of
a businessman’s club in the Brookhaven area. In 1979, Mark
would go on to serve as President of Kiwanis International, the
largest community service organization in the world! His son,
Mark III, is currently an International Trustee of the
organization.
The Dunwoody Kiwanis Club, whose membership has
grown considerably since it was chartered, has provided eight
Lt. Governors to the Georgia District in its history.
Membership is comprised of men and women, active as well as
retired, from all walks of community life.
One of the club’s first community service
projects was the building of Murphy Candler Park, thanks to Dick
Fraser, who spearheaded the effort! Thousands of youngsters and
their families participating in Little League have called the
Park their “home base” ever since!
As a result of Mark A. Smith, Jr.’s tenure as
President of Kiwanis International, he brought back to
the Georgia
District the concept of an annual Art and Talent Showcase for
students throughout Georgia. The Showcase awards a total of
$15,000 in scholarships annually (divided equally between art
and talent contestants), provided by the Georgia Memorial
Foundation.
The Dunwoody Kiwanis Club took the concept of an
Art and Talent Showcase Division-wide and the 14th
Division is the only Division in the Georgia District to hold
such an event. Winners of this local event go on to compete in
the District event.
With its emphasis on Young Children and
Sponsored Youth, Kiwanis International encourages its clubs to
identify and meet local community needs that otherwise wouldn’t
be met and the N. DeKalb-Dunwoody club has upheld this
commitment from the beginning.
The Dunwoody Kiwanis Club’s Family Camp Weekend,
an annual respite weekend at Ft. Yargo State Park for families
with disabled children, is now in its 54th year!
Counselors are brought in from area
colleges and each student
is assigned a counselor for the weekend. Club members provide
and serve mid-morning, mid-afternoon and mid-evening snacks
throughout the weekend. Children put on a show each year
according to the theme of the weekend.
Additional activities,
such as a petting zoo, model airplane demonstrations, and the
annual rain gutter regatta give the participants a fun-filled
weekend. Both club members and families alike look
forward to this weekend of fun and activity that allows parents
the chance to relax while their children get to enjoy being at
camp!
The Club also sponsors a
KKids Club at Kingsley Elementary Charter School, a Builders
Club at Peachtree Middle School and a Key Club at Dunwoody High
School – all of which focus their efforts on community service.
It is in the process of building a Circle K at Georgia Perimeter
College.
Going one step further,
the Club is an official Partner in Education at Kingsley,
volunteering their efforts whenever and however needed. They
have served as honorary grandparents for those children whose
own “grands” could not attend the annual Grandparents Day
program, test proctors
and volunteer readers, among their activities at
Kingsley.
Another KKids club in the county as well as a
Girl Scout troop have adopted the Kingsley KKids sock-stuffing
project for the Salvation Army at Christmastime. Plans to take
the project Division-wide are currently underway. KKids and Key
Clubbers have participated in a fundraising efforts for both the
Juvenile Diabetes and American Heart Associations. Builders
Clubbers and Kiwanians have built bookcases for Habitat for
Humanity. Thanks to the efforts of Club member Jim Tysinger,
longtime State Senator, improvements at DHS, most notably the
outdoor lighting, have been realized.
Among (but not all) the Club’s more recent
efforts, members have refurbished enough computers to equip a
Special Ed. classroom at Peachtree and provided refurbished
computers to Kingsley as well, provided and planted trees at
the Dunwoody Nature Center, supplied and served ice cream for
an after-play reception at the Dunwoody Stage Door Players,
donated chenille academic letters to deserving students at
Dunwoody High School to promote academic excellence,
participated in a public television fundraising telethon and
outfitted five kitchens at the Interfaith Outreach Home.
We have conducted the Miss Ashton Woods beauty
pageant, held ice cream socials at Sunrise Assisted Living,
rung the bell for the Salvation Army, sold Entertainer Books
(setting a Division record in the process!), participated in the
annual AMIS reception at the Woodruff Center for International
Students and continue to participate in the Division and
District Art and Talent Showcases. Together with our Key
Clubbers, we have prepared, served and shared dinner with our
local firefighters in a show of appreciation for their efforts.
Many more projects, including e-service, are continual
and the list goes on an on as members are encouraged to bring
new projects to the attention of the club.
The Dunwoody Kiwanis Club
continues to enjoy its living history of service to the Dunwoody
community and looks forward eagerly to another 50+ years.
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