Kiwanis Club of the Helderbergs

The Kiwanis Club of the Helderbergs

Club History

Kiwanis International was founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan; today there are over 7300

Kiwanis clubs worldwide. Service to children has always been a primary focus.

The Kiwanis Club of the Helderbergs began in December of 1959 when 13 men (Kiwanis was

opened to women in 1987) signed a petition to form a club for Berne, Knox, and Westerlo,

sponsored by the New Scotland Kiwanis. The group was officially chartered on May 20, 1960,

with W. L. “Bob” Deats as the first president.

Kiwanis clubs decide for themselves what projects to do, based on community need and member interests. An early project was teaching children how to raise poultry. For over 40 years beginning in 1961, we sponsored the Fresh Air Fund, giving NY City children a vacation in the

Hilltowns. In the 1970’s we ran the Skiwanis Ski Club, organized ski trips and built a ski-slope

and rope-tow in Knox. In 1990 we built the Little League ball field in Knox; we’ve always

supported Little League. In 1992 we began working with the Hilltown Community Resource

Center, providing holiday food baskets, sorting donated clothing for seniors and children,

adopting families for Christmas, providing backpacks with school supplies, and donating food and personal care items. From July 2017 to March 2020 when the Covid-19 virus forced us to pause, every Monday we picked up surplus food at Voorheesville Hannaford and transported it to the food pantry in Westerlo. We provide stuffed animals for local Rescue Squads.

Kiwanis encourages leadership and service among youth, and sponsors worldwide about 7,000 youth service clubs: Builders Clubs, Key Clubs, Circle K and more. We formed the Key Club at BKW High School in March, 1966; we assisted them with their projects and involved them in ours for years. We support a middle-school Builders Club. Other projects to benefit the BKW school system include: donating TI84 calculators, supporting construction of the BKW track, providing books for pre-school and third-graders, scholarships to camps and leadership training seminars, awards for graduating seniors and the BKW Marching Band, clothing donations, Coats for Kids, and the BKW Student Support Fund to provide funds to students for field trips, application fees, etc.

We also undertake community projects. In 1961 we began organizing the Hilltown Memorial

Day Parade in Berne; we still do. In 1981 we formally recognized Dr. Margery Smith. In 1991 we began 5 years of Green-Up Day and organized the efforts of many groups with a picnic afterwards. We adopted a section of Route 156, which we continue to maintain. In 1998 the Club became involved with the Albany County Rural Housing Alliance for low-income home repair; we provided both funds and manpower. In 2003 - 2009 we restored Knox School #5 on Ketcham Road, using funds and manpower from the club and community; it is now part of Thacher Park and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. We maintain the flower gardens at the Routes 156/157 intersection and at the Berne Library.

Kiwanis was organized as a men’s service club, but in small clubs, like ours, wives were a major were not part of the club, so “Ladies Night” became “Spouses Night”, but we continue to rely heavily on support from spouses of both sexes, and thank them for their contributions.

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The Kiwanis Club of the Helderbergs holds fundraisers to support its community projects. In 1961 the Club began its annual Pancake Supper (sometimes a breakfast, brunch or lunch), which morphed into the Maple Festival with tours of local maple producers, as well as “pancakes ‘n fixin’s.” In 1993, we began building and selling Bluebird Nesting Boxes; in 2016 we added Carpenter Bee Traps to our inventory. For several years we sponsored a Bowl-a-thon. We sold food: dinners, pies at the Altamont Apple Festival (don’t forget the men’s pie baking contest),

and pig roasts. We gave pony rides at the Cohoes Annual Festival. We sold raffles on cords of wood and even tried contests to guess the number of pieces of wood in a cord or when a barrel would sink through the ice on Warner’s Lake!

Kiwanis clubs in a geographic region may take on a project of shared interest, such as our

regional “Bells of Life” fund-raising project for the Albany Medical Center’s Pediatric Trauma Unit; we have donated to help hospitalized babies and children. About 2002, Kiwanis International initiated a project with UNICEF for the global elimination of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD); clubs and members contributed more than $105 million to this effort. In 2010 Kiwanis International again joined UNICEF to launch a new worldwide health initiative to wipe out Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus (MNT); $110 million has been raised for that.

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Ditto Jill. We have always managed to have fun working together on our projects and fundraisers, but there are times when we just opt for fun. Our Christmas parties always include games and grab bag gifts; our Halloween parties feature

costume contests when some folks go all out; the annual Traveling Supper is a picnic on wheels to destinations unknown; and fiercely-contested Balloon Volleyball games have been known to

go for an hour or more. We’ve also done scavenger hunts and a Backwards Party. The first

meeting of every month usually features a pot luck supper; we have a lot of excellent cooks in

our ranks and others who “purchase well.” There is a meeting every Wednesday; members attend as they wish or are able, to enjoy each other’s company. It exemplifies the last of the Kiwanis International Objectives: “providing through this club a practical means to form enduring friendships, to render altruistic service and to build a better community.”