History ABOUT KIWANIS INTERNATIONAL: Founded in 1915, Kiwanis has been a pioneer in empowering community leaders dedicated to local and international community issues. Kiwanis members make their mark by responding to the needs of their communities and pooling their resources to address worldwide issues. Globally, the entire Kiwanis family has focused humanitarian efforts on eliminating iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) through the Worldwide Service Project, a US$75 million campaign in partnership with UNICEF that began in 1994. Through these efforts, Kiwanis International truly is "Serving the Children of the World." A typical Kiwanis club is a snapshot of its community, with members from all walks of life. They are unified in their belief that children and their communities benefit from the efforts of a proficient group of caring and involved volunteers. The Kiwanis International family also includes several service organizations for young people, including Circle K, Key Club, Builders Club, K-Kids, Kiwanis Junior and Aktion Club. For more information about Kiwanis International, please visit www.kiwanis.org.  http://www.kiwanis.org/shapeimage_1_link_0
Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world, one child and one community at a time.
 
ABOUT OUR CLUB: Kiwanis Club of Aurora was the city’s first service club. It was chartered June 5, 1941 and served a community of about 3427 residents (the 2003 census reported 290,418). The Denver Kiwanis Club was the sponsoring club, finding 28 Aurora business and professional leaders who became the Aurora Club’s charter members. Included in that first group were the managers of the local telephone company and gas and electric offices, as well as the superintendent of the Aurora public schools, a physician, and a veterinarian.
 
The club was only eight years old in 1949 when its members took on the task of building a Youth Center for Aurora. With donated materials and with most of the labor provided by Kiwanians, the one-story building was erected in the middle of Aurora’s business district at the time. A roofing contractor donated leftover shingles from dozens of roofing jobs, and the roof looked like a
patchwork quilt. “It was the most colorful roof in Aurora,” according to Dave Heflin, member since 1954. The Youth Center served Aurora well into the 1960’s. In addition to hosting youth dances and parties, it was the meeting place for the Kiwanis Club for a time. The Aurora Jaycees also met in the building.
 
Not much happened in post-WW II Aurora that didn’t find members of the Kiwanis Club playing a leading role. In 1953 Kiwanians helped sell Aurorans on the idea of adopting the city manager form of government. Aurora Kiwanians have supported the building of Presbyterian Hospital, sponsored Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops and Ciivl Air Patrol wings and lent their support to the Aurora Boy’s Club, the American Cancer Society, Gateway Battered Women’s Shelter, Aurora Senior Center, the YMCA, Special Olympics,  Beaver Ranch for Youth, the Easter Seals camp, and Little League Baseball. The list for supporting charitable organizations and causes is almost limitless.
 
Another remarkable undertaking was the creation of a City Park and picnic shelter at Arapahoe Road along Cherry Creek. Again, club members provided the labor, and most of the materials were donated. At the time the park was under-utilized, because it was too far away from the
then-existing City of Aurora. As the city expanded and because a new shopping has been built just to the east of the pavilion, the park has taken on new life. The pavilion is now a stand-alone building next to the newly-established Colorado Storm Soccer fields and the Gates Soccer Complex.
 
Through the years, the Kiwanis Club of Aurora has always found new ways to help make Aurora a better community in which to live and work. On June 5, 2011, the club celebrated our 70th anniversary.
 
[Information for this section was provided by excerpts from Kiwanews, Bulletin of the Kiwanis Club of Aurora (Bob Eide, editor).]
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Objects of Kiwanis


The six permanent Objects of Kiwanis International were approved by Kiwanis club delegates at the 1924 Convention in Denver, Colorado. Through the succeeding decades, they have remained unchanged.
 
    •    To give primacy to the human and spiritual rather than to the material values of life.
    •    To encourage the daily living of the Golden Rule in all human relationships.
    •    To promote the adoption and the application of higher social, business, and professional standards.
    •    To develop, by precept and example, a more intelligent, aggressive, and serviceable citizenship.
    •    To provide, through Kiwanis clubs, a practical means to form enduring friendships, to render altruistic service, and to build better communities.
    •    To cooperate in creating and maintaining that sound public opinion and high idealism which make possible the increase of righteousness, justice, patriotism, and goodwill.