Immediate Past President Robert attended the Florida Kiwanis Southwest Mid-Year Conference on March 1st. During the conference, he participated in valuable workshops, heard from Florida Kiwanis Governor Jeremy, and strengthened his commitment to serving the community. The event provided an excellent opportunity for networking, collaboration, and learning from fellow Kiwanians across the region. Our club was also awarded Distinguished Silver Status for the 2023-2024 Kiwanis Year.

Our club attended the Divisional Council Meeting on February 27th, featuring a special guest appearance by Sheriff Grady Judd. During the meeting, the Florida Kiwanis Foundation made a heartfelt presentation in honor of Joe Schroeder, a Winter Haven Kiwanian who passed away last year. President Gonzalo was presented with a Ruby K Award for his outstanding efforts in recruiting new Kiwanians, and our club was also recognized for chartering a K-Kids club.

Our club participated in the 2025 Community Fest held on March 1st in downtown Winter Haven. This annual event, organized by the Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce, offers a day of free family fun, including games, entertainment, food, and more. For the fourth consecutive year, the our club provided community children with engaging games and educational books, enhancing the festival’s offerings.

We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us for our 64th annual Pancake Bash this past Saturday! We had an amazing turnout and raised over $5,000 to support the Winter Haven community.

A special thanks to the Junior League of Greater Winter Haven and The Humane Society of Polk County, Inc. for providing delicious pancake toppings. Huge shoutout to Juli Jackson for her incredible live music performance – she was a real crowd favorite!

We also want to express our gratitude to our “Polk Celebrity Guests” (State Attorney’s Office, 10th Judicial Circuit Brian Haas, Polk State College Vice President Steve Warner, United Way of Central Florida Director of Success by 6 Gretchan Ceranic, City of Winter Haven, FL Mayor Pro Tem Brian Yates and Commissioner Tracy Mercer) for showing their support, and of course, to the volunteers from Key Club of Winter Haven High School, Chain of Lakes Key Club, and Jewett Academy Builders Club, as well as our members who attended.

Lastly, to all the sponsors (Tekke Painting, Quality Uniform Solutions, Forgotten Finery, Melanie’s Cutting Edge, Mike Dean Pools Inc., PrivaNet, Taqueria Don Gonzalo, Move My Junk, LLC, Straughn & Turner, P.A., RK Roofing & Sheetmetal, LLC, Ovidio Sardinas-Nexa Mortgage, Matt Hazlett Realtor, Thompson Speed Printing, Economy Glass Tinting, Golden Petal Designs, Citizens Bank & Trust, LEGOLAND Florida, Bok Tower Gardens, American Liberty Mortgage – Polk County -Winter Haven, FL) and vendors (1st Class Roofing, Inc., The Tessier Law Firm, P.A., Relay for Life: Polk County, FL, and AR Workshop Winter Haven.) that contributed to this event. Your contributions made this event a huge success!

#KidsNeedKiwanis#pancakebash

Our club has been ringing bells for the Salvation Army annually for quite some many years. This was a project headed by one of our members, Bob Conley, who unfortunately passed away. In his honor, we rang our bells for him.

On the 3rd Saturday of every month, members along with our SLPs help keep our park clean. This month we had three Key Club members from Winter Haven High School join us.

The Winter Haven H.S. Key Club hosted its first Winter Treat Trail. This event was designed to be similar to a Trunk-or-Treat. Local businesses, the Junior League, our club, and other school clubs participated by providing activities for the kids and some type of treat. There was also a special visit from Santa to take pictures with the kids.

The City of Winter Haven’s Park and Recreation department put on their annual Winter Wonderland event. Our club partnered with the Junior League of Winter Haven to pass out books for kids attending. We passed out over 300 books to kids of all ages.

Our president, Gonzalo, helped in the delivery of toys being collected by local businesses through the Toys of Tots program.

The first Saturday of the month is when we set up a booth filled with children’s activities at our local Farmer’s Market. We allow the kids to play the games for free and in return they receive candy and a book. The Winter Haven H.S. and Chain of Lakes Collegiate H.S. Key Club members were volunteering at our table.