December 11, 2002 – The Chronicle, Montreal’s West Island community newspaper

Giving a way of life for Kiwanis club

BY BARBARA LAVOIE

As familiar as everyone has become with the name Kiwanis over the years, few know it is derived from a Native American phrase meaning, “we build together/we make a noise.”

But ironically the West Island community service group that carries this name, the Kiwanis Club of Lakeshore Montreal Inc., makes very little noise about its extensive year-round commitment to community building.

Okay, maybe you’ve been asked to support the club’s sale of cakes and nuts at Christmastime or you may know a member or two on a personal basis, but in general the club goes about its business of raising about $75,000 each year for local and international community and educational projects without making much of a fuss about itself or its members.

As Ray Felson, one of the eight businessmen who founded the club in 1958 stated, “We’re too busy doing instead of talking about it.” Kiwanis Lakeshore recently entered its 45^th year of service.

The first Kiwanis Club started in Detroit, Michigan in 1915 and a year later, a Canadian group was formed in Hamilton, Ontario. Kiwanis makes its priority children and youth and when the clubs went worldwide in 1962, Kiwanis International adopted the pledge “serving the children of the world.” At least 300,000 members belong to more than 8,200 clubs in 80 countries.

Kiwanis Lakeshore is one of four on the island of Montreal and 26 across the province of Quebec. Always actively seeking new volunteers, the club currently has 41members ranging in age from 17 to 77 years.

Although the membership is largely retired business and professional men and women, the group is by no means tired. At a recent luncheon meeting, members enthusiastically dipped often and dipped deeply into their own pockets as the hat was passed to support several local charities asking for financial assistance.

While the activities of the group are a testament to their name, when a few work together much can be achieved, it is the club’s sustained track record that is most outstanding.

Let’s go back 30 years ago, when drug use among youth was on the rise. Recognizing the problem needed a community solution, Ray Felson, concerned father, professional engineer and business owner became a community activist lobbying for substance abuse treatment services.

With his help, Portage, now a world-class residential drug treatment program, opened its first centre in 1973 in Lake Echo north of Montreal. Before long, services were established in Quebec City and New Brunswick. The model was used to set up centres in Europe, Asia and elsewhere in North America. Last year, a new facility was opened in Beaconsfield to serve Anglophone youth aged 14 to 18 years.

“It (the Portage program) lifts people from the depths of despair and gives them an option,” said Felson. Having served in various capacities on the board, Felson continues as a governor offering his untiring help and rallying the ongoing financial contribution of Kiwanis Lakeshore.

“Ray Felson is a remarkable man,” said Alan Farkus, facility director of the Portage in Beaconsfield. “After 30 years, it’s very rare to still have the principal organizer of a program still so involved. He comes to every open house, every event. He’s always helping out whenever he can.”

Another long-serving project is the KEY (Kiwanis Educates Youth) Club. Since the mid-60s, students at Lakeside Academy have worked together with a Kiwanis member advisor to learn the art of fundraising and community service first hand.

“Students learn how they as a young person can fulfill a need in the community, ” said Joanne Mastro, Kiwanis member, teacher and advisor for the last 23 years. “The students are amazing. We show them how and they do it.”

This past fall the students in the KEY Club organized a skip-a-thon raising $9,000 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, helped out the West Island Special Olympics, seniors’ groups and at most school events. “They do any job that needs to be done,” added Mastro.

For the past six years, Kiwanis Lakeshore has helped finance Project OLO at the CLSC Vieux La Chine. Translated into English, Project Oranges, Milk and Eggs, the initiative helps low-income pregnant moms get the nutrition they need to prevent the birth of low-weight babies who can suffer from multiple health problems later in life.

“They (Kiwanis) have helped us out a lot. We’re very happy to have their help for our young mothers,” said Josee Mallette, director of first line services at the CLSC. Kiwanis has contributed up to $2,000 each year.

Since joining Kiwanis in 1995, Ian Barclay has worked with the recreation staff at St. Anne’s Hospital to supply the entertainment six times a year for veteran social events. When its time to make the donation, he takes the cheque over personally and spends some time chatting with the vets. “I enjoy helping others,” said Barclay. He pointed out that Kiwanis has no administrative costs and that 100% of the money they raise goes directly to their beneficiaries.

Kiwanis Lakeshore also helps the Montreal Association for the Blind, Omega Centre, Cheshire Home, CBS Project, Canada Day celebrations, VON, St. Vincent de Paul, Le Net of Boys and Girls Club, St. Michael’s Mission, Foyer Dorval, Chateau du Lac, AVA-TIL, Maison Kiwanis House, School Bus Program, school breakfast programs and high school bursaries.

Making good on its international commitment to help children, several men in the group sported checkered ties promoting a worldwide project that was started in 1994 by Kiwanis International in partnership with UNICEF to eliminate iodine deficiency disorder. The sale of the ties helped raise more than $75 million that was used to iodize water supplies in several third world countries preventing mental and physical retardation.

A gregarious group, the club is particular proud of its inter-club record. Inter-clubbing, as it is called, is a monthly visit to another Kiwanis club. Topping the record of a US club that boasted 360 consecutive months of inter-clubbing, Lakeshore has not missed one month since they began in 1958. That’s a neat 534 meetings that have taken members clear across Quebec, into other provinces and as far away as Bermuda.

Interested in finding out more about Kiwanis Lakeshore or becoming a member, contact club secretary, Margaret LaCouvee at 364-5867.