Since I’ve been writing this column some 11 years now I’ve met some very interesting people along the way. There are so many things I’ve discovered that go on behind the scenes in this great city by many faceless and nameless people. So many people volunteer their time, it’s hard to keep track.
The Portage Kiwanis Club is just full of people that you see at so many other events as well. This club is committed to helping children; children in families that otherwise would normally have to just get by or do without. “We’re all about the kids.”
The Kiwanis Club of Portage was formed in 1997 and meets at 7:30 a.m. every Tuesday at the Porter Hospital, Portage Campus Cafe. They always welcome new members over the age of 18. Many great events have grown from the Kiwanis Club including the Relay for Life and Portage Rebuilding Together. They help sponsor the Annual Portage Safety Day and Bike Rodeo which teaches kids and parents all kinds of safety procedures, provides bike helmets and smoke detectors. Their Third Grade Dictionary Project puts a free personalized dictionary into every Portage Township Schools third grader’s hands at an integral time in their reading lives. What a joy to see them get so excited over a simple Webster’s dictionary; it’s like you have given most of them a small fortune.
There are more than 200 Kiwanis Clubs in Indiana and the Kiwanis are in more than 80 countries helping children throughout the world. All the money that the Kiwanians raise stays in the community that it serves.
This is the 8th year the Kiwanis Club is holding an all-you-can-eat Breakfast with the Easter Bunny in conjunction with the Portage Park Department and Real Life Church’s Annual Easter Egg Hunt. The breakfast features AYCE pancakes, sausage, sponsored by Schoop’s of Portage. It's 8 to 11 a.m. in the Oakwood Hall of Woodland Park. Tickets are available at the door for $5 for adults and $3 for children 10 and under. Pictures with the Easter Bunny will also be available for free courtesy of Walgreen’s All proceeds will be used to give out 4 scholarships in Myron Fessler’s name to graduating Portage Township seniors. Fessler was a beloved Willowcreek Middle School teacher and coach that succumbed to cancer some years ago.
At 10 a.m., kids can look forward to the rousing, old-fashioned Easter Egg Hunt put on by the Real Life Community Church. I miss the boys being small and searching all over for those brightly colored eggs filled with surprises. Now I’m waiting for grandchildren.
What a morning it will be for everyone. Come on out and help the Kiwanians help our kids, get some pancakes, have a great morning with the bunny and hunt down those eggs.
Kiwanis rocks and I have a shirt to prove it.
This column solely represents the writer's opinion.
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