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.

We packed over 100 bags filled with green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, and stuffing to be given out with the Polk Sheriff’s Turkey Drive.

On November 19th, our club hosted the first DCM for Division 15 for the 2024-2025 Kiwanis Year. DCMs are a great way to bring together our division’s clubs and hear from various speakers. We had the Florida District of Key Club Lieutenant Governor for Division 15A speak about the Service Leadership Programs (SLPs), the Florida District of Kiwanis Lieutenant Governor for Division 15 talk about legacy, and the Florida Kiwanis Foundation Trustee for Division 15 speak about ways clubs can donate to the foundation. We thank all who spoke and the Winter Haven Chamber for allowing us to use their auditorium. Also, thank the Key Clubbers from Winter Haven High School, Chain of Lakes Collegiate High School, and Discovery High School for attending.

On November 16th, we participated in ROAR’s first 5K Color Run. We had a blast with the participants who stopped by to interact with our booth. We are honored to have been a part of this event and cannot wait for next year.

Our club participated in PSC Fall Fest today. We provided the kids attending with free books and candy. They also had the opportunity to decorate their paper hat. We coordinated with Winter Haven High School’s Key Club, one of our sponsored Key Clubs, to create the hats for the kids.

On August 1st, the last Divisional Council Meeting under Lieutenant Governor Jackye was held at the Children’s Museum at Bonnet Springs Park. We had a fabulous time mingling with Kiwanians from our division and learning more about the Children’s Museum.

Kiwanis is a global organization that serves the community one child at a time. The organization itself is broken into Districts, with each district being broken down in to Divisions. Our club currently is within Division 15 of the Florida District. Our division is comprised of Kiwanis clubs from Polk, Highlands, Hardee, Desoto and Glades county. Our District is comprised of clubs in the State of Florida, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos.

There are many opportunities to interact with clubs from across our entire organization through conferences, service projects, fundraisers, or interclubs. Interclubs are when multiple members of one Kiwanis club participates in an event or meeting with multiple members of another Kiwanis club. Over the past two months our club has conducted three interclubs with the Kiwanis Clubs of Bartow, Lakeland, and Citrus Center.