District Historian

We begin this new Kiwanis Year in the 20th year of the 21st century, and it will conclude in the month when we commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9-11, the day that changed lives.
Most Kiwanians in this district, with their average age over 60, remember that day all too well. However, we who lived through it may find it hard to believe that our current roster of Key Club and Circle K service partners only know it as one important day in history.
They cannot possibly feel the excruciating pain of losing a son, as did one Long Island North past lieutenant governor; nor the tears that flowed when a Long Island South Central Kiwanian lost his Circle K friend and brother-in-law; nor the shock when this writer learned that the younger brother of his high school Key Club buddy was photographed falling from one of the World Trade Center Tower windows, that photo now immortalized as "Falling Man".
New York Kiwanians, along with other Kiwanians around the world, did feel their pain and shock, and shared tears. But then, in the days that followed 9-11, consolation rose from the depths of desolation, and we did what we have always done, as a family, after encountering disasters. We found the ways to respond.
Here is just one example from Fall 2001:
In early December, a New York Kiwanian received a letter from a boy attending a local school as part of a Kiwanis club's "grant a wish" Christmas project.  The letter was written by Wilson, a 12-year old who lost his father, Manuel, in the World Trade Center attack. Wilson wrote "my holiday wish would be to have my daddy back to be able to converse, hug, and tell him how much I love him".
Wilson's daddy was an immigrant from Ecuador who had been employed as a cook at the Windows on the World Restaurant where he labored with the dream of making enough money to bring his twin boys, Wilson and Ricardo, to join the family in America. Tragically, Manuel's dream came true when the American Red Cross helped the two boys secure the proper documents and paid their airfare to New York.
Initially all the Kiwanis Club wanted to do was to give these boys some holiday joy. And so, with the help of another Kiwanis club, and other Kiwanis clubs as far away as Georgia, Kiwanians collected funds to purchase and deliver toys and gifts to the family residing in living quarters shared with other relatives. Unknowingly and quite miraculously, a gift chosen at random by one Kiwanian was a musical keyboard, the very same item Manuel purchased and sent to his sons. Daddy's gift had to be left behind in Ecuador when the boys boarded their plane bound for New York. Wilson cried when seeing his holiday gift.
After meeting the family and hearing their stories spoken in Spanish, Kiwanians decided to "adopt" this family and focus on the long-term educational needs of Manuel's sons. With the assistance of a NY District Kiwanis Foundation grant, funds were set aside so that ten years later, in September 2011, the family reunited with their Kiwanis benefactors and received a Kiwanis check for $6,000 in memory of their father.  
In 2011, Wilson and his twin Ricardo had then reached the age of 22, and were already settled in their jobs, one training in the NYC police department. Without hesitation, these elder siblings decided to cover the college expenses and tuition anticipated for their younger brothers, Wilmer who was in college and Edwin enrolled at a local Catholic high school. (See the attached reunion photo of Wilmer and Edwin, and their brothers Wilson and Ricardo sitting next to their mother Carmen. Standing tall and proud was their Kiwanis Family who adopted this family in their most difficult time).
Why did I choose this topic and this story to appear in the first "history" column of the new Kiwanis Year?  Was it just for us to "Always Remember 9-11"?  Not really. It was that day, that moment in our history when hate was on full display, and Kiwanis responded with love. It was a time when children lost "daddy", and the Kiwanis Family acted with "great-heartedness".
Over the past six months, we have seen an abundance of hate, devastating natural disasters, and a ruthless pandemic leading to an inordinate number of deaths and illnesses, not to mention many months of uncertainty for school children and struggling families.
Will our Kiwanis Family pull together in these latest times of trouble, and rally more neighbors, colleagues and friends to JOIN US? Will Kiwanis Clubs remain one of the finest "other-directed" service organizations in the world? The deeds performed by this family of service leaders, more than any words, will answer that question in Kiwanis Year 2020-21.

Column Posted on Web Site November 30, 2020