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]

On February 10th, our club set up a table at the local farmer’s market. We provide a variety of kid activities where they could win free items like coloring books and toys. We also promoted our annual Pancake Festival which takes place on February 17th. We want to thank our WHHS Key Clubbers for coming out to help with the table and promo of our pancake festival.

On January 23rd, our club attended the quarterly Divisional Council Meeting. The DCM was hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Davenport/Four Corners. We heard from a variety of Kiwanians and Heartland for Children.

On January 13th, our club set up a table at the local Farmer’s Market to provide kids with a free MLK activity and promote our annual Pancake Festival.

At our January lunch meeting, we enjoyed hearing from Florida District of Key Club International’s Division 15A Lieutenant Governor Gavin DeVries. Gavin is a Junior at Discovery High School in Lake Alfred, Florida. He is a Discover High School Key Club member, one of four of our SLPs. He spoke about what it is like to be Lieutenant Governor and gave an update on Discovery High School’s Key Club. We are so proud of what this young man has accomplished and look forward to seeing the impact he will continue to make on his community.

At our monthly December lunch meeting, we enjoyed hearing from Cauney Bamberg, President/CEO of ROAR, https://www.roarflorida.org/.

ROAR FLORIDA was founded to provide meaningful lifestyle options and housing for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. The ROAR FLORIDA community is the culmination of the dreams of the co-founders and the hundreds of volunteers who have helped along the way. There are currently 140+ residents living independently with the help of their fellow residents, families, friends, caregivers, and supporters. Our community is designed to help develop the skills needed for independent living.

ROAR FLORIDA is similar to a retirement community, offering residents, caregivers, and families various social, recreational, educational, and vocational opportunities. Because this is intended to be a lifelong residential community, we strive to support evolving personal care needs as residents age.

We also had the pleasure of providing one of our members, Kelly Casey, with a special recognition of his 42 years in the Kiwanis Club of Winter Haven.