Kiwanis Club of Gallup
By John Taylor The Kiwanis Club of Gallup is one of the oldest service clubs in New Mexico. The Gallup club was established in 1920, by a group of Gallup businessmen, whose goal was to improve the economic base of the region by encouraging visitors and to improve the quality of life for the citizens of the community. The supreme accomplishment of the early Kiwanians was the support of the Inter-Tribal Ceremonial and the work they did to make sure the event would succeed. In fact, it was Hubert E. Phenecie, a Kiwanian, who gave the Ceremonial its name. The club also encouraged tree plantings and city park development and placed Gallup’s first community Christmas tree near Gallup’s Harvey House-- the El Navajo. All to make Gallup a more inviting place to attract visitors and new residents. In more recent years, the Kiwanis Club has focused on the youth of the community in keeping with the Kiwanis motto of Serving the Children of the World. The club donated Kiwanis Park south of Gallup to 14
March 2022
the Southwest Kiwanis District and in partnership with them established Kamp Kiwanis, a camp for special needs children. The Kiwanis Club works to improve education for the youth of the region. Kiwanis sponsors a Key Club at both Gallup and Miyamura High Schools. Key Clubs are youth groups, sponsored by Kiwanis Clubs, to build leadership skills in adolescents. Focusing on improving instruction, Kiwanis has provided grants to high school teachers to fund innovative instruction. The Kiwanis Dictionary Project has for the past decade provided a dictionary to every third-grade student at every elementary school in McKinley County. Youth fitness is important to Kiwanis and for over forty years, the club has presented a “Run for Fun” event.
