From Circle K International to... Kiwanis International! Hello NYCKI! For those of you who do not know me, my name is Kelly Chan and I am serving as the 2011-2012 Marketing & K-Family Relations committee chair. Throughout the year I have released newsletters regarding NYCKI's status on K-Family hours as well as keeping all of you updated on what we, as a district, have done with our K-Family counterparts. Early in the year, I created a “K-Family counterpart” guide so that you could locate your local counterparts within the Kiwanis family. In addition to those resources, I also created a “from Key Club International to Circle K International” newsletter and now I am releasing my “from Circle K International to Kiwanis International” for those of you who plan on graduating college and leaving Circle K sometime soon. If you did not get a chance to catch any of my previous resources, feel free to contact me. This guide will explain to you what Kiwanis is and how you can make that switch from CKI to Kiwanis so that you can continue to complete the amazing service that you've been doing. You don't have to leave Circle K and the K-Family just because you are leaving college so let this guide help you get your feet wet! (Oh, the picture above is of me and the president of my sponsoring Kiwanis club as well as the president of our local Aktion Club- my counter-presidents!)
Yours in service, leadership and NYCKI love,
Kely Chan
Queens College CKI President NYCKI Marketing & K-Family Relations Chair
Kiwanis 101: What is Kiwanis?: Kiwanis International was founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is a global organization of adults who are dedicated to changing the world, one child and one community at a time. They are the “parent's� of all other branches of the K-Family (Key Club, Circle K, etc.).
Are there a lot of Kiwanis clubs?: Yes! In fact, Kiwanis is in 80 different nations (Circle K has only reached out to 17 countries as of now). You will have no problem locating a great Kiwanis club in your community. Each Kiwanis club is unique because each Kiwanis club serves a different community with different needs.
When and where does Kiwanis meet?: Since every Kiwanis club is unique and structures itself based on what works for that community, I can only give you an idea rather than a concrete answer. From my own experience, I would say that most clubs meet at a local restaurant during a mealtime (either lunch or dinner). These clubs who meet once a week are considered to be traditional. There are other clubs that don't meet at all, and instead hold meetings online and only meet when it's time for service projects or other social activities.
Does it still focus on service, leadership and fellowship?: Absolutely. Kiwanis members (Kiwanians) are dedicated to service. Service involves everything that Circle K members do such as beach clean-ups, going to soup kitchens, reading to children, hosting fundraisers and also sponsoring other branches of the K-Family. Leadership comes in when Kiwanians run for positions such as president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, editor, just like in Circle K. They also serve as leaders to their communities because often times, they work very closely with the city council. Fellowship comes in when they build relationships with the clubs that they sponsor within the K-Family. Kiwanians also become friends just like Circle K-er's in college. They also provide great networking opportunities because each member has their own unique profession, just like each college student has their own major or minor.
Can I join right after college?: YES!
That is the whole idea, to go right from Circle K to Kiwanis so that you don't have to leave the Kiwanis family. You wouldn't say goodbye forever to your parents after you move out of their house would you? So why would you leave the Kiwanis family just because you left college.
Really?
I feel too young to be in my local Kiwanis...
You can bring out the youth in them! Just because they look old, does not mean they act old at all. In fact, I think that they are more lively and young than we are, from experience. Or...you can join Young Professionals which is a group of young adults, typically, those who just graduated from college who are interested in community service and networking. They, just like you, feel too young to join your typical Kiwanis but want to be in the Kiwanis family. A young professional's club can also sponsor the youth branches of the K-Family (K-Kids, Builder's Club, Key Club and Circle K). Just like all Kiwanis clubs, each club is different and caters to the needs of their members. It is not uncommon for a young professional's club to host online meetings because at this walk of life, everyone has their individually unique schedules. Of course, young professional's do not discriminate by age just because they are called young professional's, does not mean you have to be a certain age, so long as you are “young at heart,� you are welcome to join.
What does the structure look in?: It's very similar to Circle K... Kiwanis club's have a president that lead all the meetings and events. Each club also has a vice president, secretary, treasurer and editor, all of which must be elected prior to the start of the service year. The Kiwanis service year runs from October to October, rather than April to April. Overseeing the Kiwanis club is a lieutenant governor (LTG) who oversees his or her's entire division. Overseeing the LTG is a governor of the district. Sounds like Circle K right? Correct.
So what's different? Becoming a board member of club officer takes longer than it may have taken you in Circle K or in other K-Family branches. In Kiwanis, not only do they elect board members for the immediate upcoming year, they elect for member for the year after as well (a president elect is elected as well as a president). This ensures that the board member is properly trained and ready to fulfill the position because they had a whole year to train, knowing that they were the _____ elect. Time is the key word here.
Is there a district board? YES. Each district has a district board, they have board meetings just like in Circle K. They have their own District Convention and even their own International Convention. At these conventions, the district or international board's get elected, inducted and/or retired. If you never got your chance and wanted to be a part of the district board in Circle K, now is your chance.
I want to stay in Circle K! You can work close with a Circle K club... After leaving college and joining Kiwanis, you can become a club advisor to a Circle K club that your Kiwanis sponsors. The Kiwanis advisor to a Circle K club generally goes to the Circle K club's meetings, events and even conventions! Plus, for the 2013 International Convention, Kiwanis and Circle K will be together. Similarly, if you join Kiwanis and work at a college, you can become a faculty advisor to a Circle K club. The faculty advisor also attends the Circle K club's meetings, events and even conventions! Lastly, your Kiwanis club can simply work closely with a Circle K club. Never forget that being a Kiwanian means being part of the Kiwanis Family, meaning, every member, regardless of what branch of Kiwanis they belong to, works together as one.
Reflect... Think about how closely your Kiwanis club worked with you... If you didn't work as closely as you wish you could have, it's never too late. Reach out to them, let them know that you and your club want to build that familial relationship that the K-Family stands for. Remember that the club with the most K-Family events completed from April 2011 to the week right before District Convention (March 13th) will receive a pizza party on behalf of the Marketing & K-Family Relations committee!
Let us end with good news! Because you are a Circle K-er, your dues are cheaper! Any former SLP (service leadership program such as Circle K, Key Club, Builders Club, K-Kids) member that is going into Kiwanis has their Kiwanis International dues and, in in the NY District, district dues waived for their first 2 years in Kiwanis. This is whenever the former SLP member feels ready to go into Kiwanis, it does not have to be right after graduation, it can be years after and you will still have your international and NYD dues waived. However, you will still need to pay for KI insurance, the magazine and other smaller fees.
Was a CKI-er, now a Kiwanian! Jason Steiner, how was your transition?
“Well, it took me almost 16 years to get back into Kiwanis after Circle K, due to many challenges. It was not by choice of course, but that's how it was. After being a Circle K member at NYU for 4 years and at Hofstra for 2 years, I graduated and found a job in western Pennsylvania. I was invited to 3 different Kiwanis clubs in the area and for a variety of reasons, none of them worked. At the time, I was just adjusting to a new place of living and figuring out how to be a college graduate. One club which met right across the street from where I was working but they had 2 hour meetings and I couldn't take a 2 hour lunch break at my first job. My friends and I would have loved to attend their service projects but every time I got excited to go to one, I would find out that I was from 3-6PM or at 12PM when I had to be at work. The other clubs also had conflicting times with my schedule or the had just established themselves and themselves and needed a lot of help. Being in a new town and still adjusting to being out of college, I was not ready to take on all that responsibility. However, I did stay in touch with Circle K because I was good friends with the committee members like John Keegan, Rich Hall and Alison Mandel. I still knew what was going on with the district and I went to their conventions, I was even a keynote speaker one year. Moving 16 years forward, I moved back to NY and started to hang out with some of my old Circle K friends. They invited me to go to a service project and a club social and I enjoyed it. I stuck with that Kiwanis club, became the fundraising chair, followed by vice president, president and I am currently serving as treasurer of the NYC Young Professionals. I have been involved with 6-7 years now and this year, I was invited to be a Kiwanis Committee Representative (KCR) for Key Club divisions 8, 8-A and 11. I am loving the position and would continue to be a KCR for as long as I am invited to be. The NYC Young Professionals is not your traditional club. We do not meet once a week to discuss the upcoming events, past events, etc. Instead, we meet once a month for your traditional meeting at a restaurant. However, we do have standard monthly service projects. We do Meals on Wheels and the Bowery Soup Kitchens which we consider as “meetings.” I do not think that this club will ever be the kind of club that meets weekly or even bi-weekly because of everyone's busy lives or the money to do so. Unlike other Kiwanis clubs with older members, the majority of our members have their own social networks- making club socials the toughest for us. With the older members, weekly meetings are their forms of hanging out, but not us. At the end of the day, I would say that as far as transitioning from Circle K to Kiwanis, it is the same as transitioning from KCI to CKI. You move from a finite environment to a more free environment in college. As you change lifestyles, CKI might not be your 1st opportunity and from CKI to KI, it's the same. Adjusting to a new life is hard as it is, joining Kiwanis may not be on the top of your list. There's no need to rush, graduate college, establish yourself and then you can go from there, Kiwanis will always be here and you won't forget what it's like or miss out.”