We celebrated 88 years of serving the kids of the Winter Haven community. We recognized members’ years of service to this organization with our longest-standing member being Kelly Casey with 42 years. We welcomed four new members into our organization and installed our 2023-2024 officers. We also awarded our Kiwanian of the Year to the immediate past treasurer, Mary Venrick.

In May our club was fortunate enough to host the Divisional Council Meeting. This event allows for Kiwanis clubs in our Division to come together in fellowship and service. We heard from Dan Chesnicka, Producing Director of the Theatre Winter Haven, who spoke on the amazing programs and shows put on through the Theatre Winter Haven. We also heard from the current Governor-elect, Prairy Riehl, who shared her goals for the Florida District of Kiwanis which includes sponsoring new Service Leadership Programs (SLPs) and partnering with the Foster Care system. We would like to thank all those who attend and the Ritz of Winter Haven for hosting.

We had the pleasure of hearing from Ashley Page, Outreach Director, from the Breast Cancer Foundation of Central Florida. Breast Cancer Foundation of Central Florida (BCFCF) relies solely on the generous support of local businesses, individuals, and volunteers to provide resources and support to local, Central Florida individuals and families facing a breast cancer diagnosis. https://www.bcfcf.org/

Thank you to our speaker, Petrina McCutchen, Community Outreach Specialist, with Polk County Health and Human Services.

Ms. McCutchen presented an overview of the Polk HealthCare Plan that offers Polk residents access to healthcare.

The Polk Healthcare Plan partners with licensed medical providers in the community to connect Polk residents with the care they need.

On August 6th, our club participated in the Humane Society’s Bowl-a-thon. We were able to bowl for two games and participate in raffle baskets. We love to partner with local organizations to help raise funds for the success of Winter Haven and Polk County communities.

Each year, the Kiwanis Club of Winter Haven in partnership with the City of Winter Haven hosts swim lessons for kids 5 – 12 years old. The program is intended to teach kids to swim safety and water safety. At the end of the six lessons the students “graduate” from the program with a ceremony. The ceremony is meant to show the parents what they have learned from the lessons and to award the students for their hard work. On April 12th, the club was able to graduate 26 students from the program. We look forward to hosting the Fall 2023 class soon.

On April 1st, our club hosted our annual Easter Egg Hunt at Kiwanis Park in Winter Haven. We hid over 2,000 plastic eggs for kids to find, brought out the Easter Bunny for pictures, held games for kids to play to win prizes, and provided holiday-themed coloring pages.

On March 4th, the club participated for the second year in a row in the Community Fest held in downtown Winter Haven. We provided kids in the community with a fun game and educational books.

We raised over $2500 for the Kiwanis Club of Winter Haven’s Foundation. Our foundation provides scholarships to local high school students at Lake Region HS, Winter Haven HS, Chain of Lakes Collegiate, and Discovery HS. The foundation also provides all necessary materials for our various community projects like our annual Easter Egg Hunt, book drives, school supply drives, and much more.

The Kiwanis Club of Winter Haven knew that the school supplies donated at the beginning of the year would be used up by mid-year. We wanted to show our appreciation to the elementary school staff by donating new supplies to help get them through the end of the year. We collected paper, scissors, glue sticks, crayons, pencils, notebooks, folders, binders, etc. These items were donated to three local Winter Haven elementary schools: Snively Elementary, Wahneta Elementary, and Garden Grove Elementary.