On 5/11, we participated in Winter Haven’s Saturday Market, which takes place in the parking lot across from Grove Roots. We provide a children’s activity for all the kids in attendance. As part of the activity, we gave the kids candy and books.

May the 4th be with you! Yesterday, in honor of the Kentucky Derby and Star Wars Day, we combined two opposite themes to bring one fantastic event. We held an open house at Grove Roots Brewing Company to showcase what the Kiwanis Club of Winter Haven is all about. We want to thank everyone who stopped by and spoke about their lives and Kiwanis. We hope you decide to impact our community by joining our club.

On May 4th, we attended the grand opening of AR Workshop. This local business will provide various craft projects for your group. They have a wide variety of projects planned for May, so make sure to check them out.

On April 26th, our spring Drowning Prevention Program concluded with 18 kids learning to swim. We thank the City of Winter Haven’s park and recreation department for partnering with us to provide these lessons. They are provided to kids ages 3 to 10 at no cost to the parent. We hold lessons twice a year with the City, so look out for our next session in the fall.

On April 23rd, three club members attended the quarterly Divisional Council Meeting. The Kiwanis Club of Greater Sebring hosted this meeting. These meetings consist of Kiwanis members from Division 15 of the Florida District of Kiwanis. We heard from candidates seeking the office of Vice Governor, updates from our Lieutenant Governor about our division, Kiwanis updates from Kiwanis International Trustee Matthew Cantrall, award presentations, grant presentations, and elections of our division’s next Lieutenant Governor and Lieutenant Governor-elect. We want to congratulate our current club President, Robert Brown, for his election to the officer of Lieutenant Governor-elect. He will serve during the 2025-2026 Kiwanis year.

Today, March 30th, our club hosted our Annual Easter Egg Hunt at Kiwanis Park. We had two hunts for all ages and many activities for the kids. We want to thank the Junior League of Winter Haven and Keep Winter Haven Clean and Beautiful for coming out and providing a healthy treat and activity for the kids. We hid over 3,000 eggs and other prizes for the kids of our community. We cannot wait to host next year’s hunt.

Today, we participated in Winter Haven’s Farmer Market, where we provided fun activities for the kids and an opportunity to take pictures with the Easter Bunny.

On March 2nd, the Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce held its annual Community Fest sponsored by Citizen’s Bank and Trust. This has now been our third year participating and we have enjoyed doing so each time. We provide free games for kids which allows them to win a prize. The prize is usually toys that are donated from the community, educational books, or coloring books. We love seeing the smile on the kids’ faces when they “catch” their prize.

Our members have been hard at work the past two months reading to various Head Start programs in the local Winter Haven, Auburndale, and Eagle Lake communities. We are currently scheduled to read four times to each of these schools. In total we will read four books to 235 kids and at the end each student will keep the four books read for their own “mini-library.” We plan to give out 940 books this semester and are looking at expanding for next school year.

Help in Your Polk County HUB a local organization that is part of Relay for Life in spreading awareness about the fight against cancer. They are forming a “human ribbon” on March 15th and need your help. You can participate by buying one of our shirts for only $20. We have sizes from Small to XXL. If you would like to purchase one then email us at [email protected]