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.

During December, members collected toys from over 30 Winter Haven/Eagle Lake community locations. In total, the Polk Warehouse collected over 52,000 toys and 400 bikes. We were honored to be part of this collection, as the toys are provided to low-income families in the area.

On December 7th, our club hosted our first Open House for the 2023-2024 Kiwanis Year. The theme was tacky holiday wear, and we invited club members and anyone from the community to attend. We collected toys for the Toys for Tots program. We thank SoCe Market for allowing us to have the event there.

On December 2nd, we sponsored the Salvation Army Bell Ringing from 10 am – 4 pm at the Southeast Plaza Publix. We were joined by the Winter Haven High School Key Club.

In the spirit of giving, the Kiwanis Club of Winter Haven prepared 100 bagged food items (stuffing, rice, instant potatoes, canned vegetables) to be distributed to families during Polk Sheriff’s Charities Inc annual Turkey Giveaway on November 17, 2023.

Thank you to Polk County Sheriff’s Office deputies who distributed the bagged food items for the Kiwanis Club.

Thank you to the WAWA foundation for providing funding to the Kiwanis Club of Winter Haven to purchase the bagged food items.

On November 18th, our club had a table at the WH Farmer’s Market. We provided the kids who were there the chance to make a turkey gram or a newspaper hat. We enjoyed having the WHHS Key Club there to help with this awesome activity.

Our club attended the first DCM of the 2023-2024 Kiwanis year on October 24th. The DCM was hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Wachula and their historical Train Depot. We heard from current Kiwanis International Trustee, Matthew Cantrall, on updates from Kiwanis International. We also heard from the current Florida District Governor, Priary Riehel, on her goals for the District. There was even a special presentation by Florida Kiwanis Foundation Division 15 Trustee, Nan Clark, for the recognition of Kelly Casey’s generous donation to the Will and Rachel Blechman Fund.

We enjoyed having the WHHS Key Club there to update us on their club and success this school year. Cauney Bamberg, CEO of Roar Florida, will speak with us at our December 12th meeting.

• November 18th – Kiwanis table at the local Farmers Market (old BB&T bank) from 8 am – 1 pm. We will have games and crafts for the kids visiting and promoting our Pancake Festival.
• December 2nd – Salvation Army Bell Ringing from 10 am – 4 pm (2-hour shifts) at the Publix next to TJ Maxx
• December 7th – Open House at SoCe Market from 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm. The theme is tackey holiday wear, and we ask members to bring friends and a toy to be donated to Toys for Tots. 
• December 16th – Salvation Army Bell Ringing from 10 am – 4 pm (2-hour shifts) at the Publix next to TJ Maxx
• Read Around the World – if you prefer certain schools, please contact Missy Joyce.