Builders Club

The school year is progressing faster than most people think! Spring or Easter Break is here and the rest of the school year will be history, very soon! How is your Builders Club doing? If you don't have one yet, there is still time during this school year, but don't delay. You'll want your Builders Club starting off next year, right from the very start of school.

I've told you from the very start that Builders Clubs are (in my mind at the very least) the very "Best Bang for your Buck" that there is. The kids are amazing and when given the opportunity to come up with projects and really get involved, they will outshine most of our Kiwanis efforts!

Sometimes, we do not give the kids an opportunity to work on Kiwanis projects for themselves. For example, does your Builders Club know about the EliMiNaTe Project? From now until the end of the EliMiNaTe Project, whenever a Builders Club chooses to "Trick or Treat for UNICEF" as long as UNICEF knows it is a Builders Club doing it, the money collected will go towards the EliMiNaTe Project!

And, did you know that the "Builders Club Project" is selling Mother's Day Cards to Benefit the EliMiNaTe Project? At the SLP Administrators Conference this last January, the Kiwanis International Builders Club Committee chose to make the EliMiNaTe Project "our project" by buying and selling Mother's Day Cards to honor our mothers and at the same time save mothers and babies lives in those countries where Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus is still a major problem today! From now until the end of April, Kiwanians and Builders Club Members can go into the Kiwanis Store and buy a package of 10 Mother's Day cards for $2.10 (Plus 9.25 shipping and handling) which means each card costs only $1.14. Then they can resell that card for $3.25 (comparable to any card store Mother's Day card) and contribute the extra $2.21 to the EliMiNaTe Project! For every card sold at $3.25 one mother or baby can be inoculated against Tetanus! Isn't that a terrific way to honor a mother here? We had also planned on having a template online where the card could be downloaded and printed on their computers, and then sold, but I'm not sure that component of the project ever got off the ground; however, I just ordered 10 cards from the Kiwanis Store (you will find them under "gifts") for women I want to honor this Mother's Day. How's that for a project?

We're hoping to allow the Builders to work on the design of the card themselves during the coming year and come up with even better ones for next year! This year because of time constraints, we chose a card that had been submitted in an earlier contest!

Check with your Builders Club and see if they're doing the Mother's Day cards. It's a great idea and one whose effects can change to world, literally.

Column Posted on Web Site April 22, 2012