Service Projects

BICYCLE RODEOS

One of the projects encouraging safe bicycling is the annual Bike Rodeos at several schools. Some of the rodeos are also conducted by the Service Leadership Programs sponsored by the Cornhusker Club.

An “All-City” rodeo is hosted by several Kiwanis clubs in the Lincoln area for the “winners” of the school rodeos. In reality, all participants are “winners” because they all learn some skills and safety rules for bicycling.

READING IS FUNDAMENTAL

One of the signature programs of the Kiwanis club is the Reading Is Fundamental program, encouraging reading at an early age. The club distributes over 800 books a year to pre-school children in the Lincoln Public School system. The books are read to the children in small groups, then the children are given the books to take home.  It is not unusual for the gifted book to be the first the child has to call “his own.”

In some situations, the youth Service Leadership Program within the school is recruited to assist with the reading of the books.

FOODBANK  MARKET AND PANTRY PROGRAMS

 Members assist with the preparation of food “markets” for food distribution by the Lincoln Food Bank. “Markets” are organized weekly throughout the school year for students qualifying for the extra food. The club also assists the Lincoln/Lancaster Health Department with a similar food distribution program during the summer months when school is not in session.

 Another Food Bank program is the “food pantry” which allows individual families in need to have access to a “pantry” enabling them to take stock of food for their homes. Cornhusker Kiwanis provides volunteers to assist the families with their selections.

KIWANIS ONE-DAY

A day in the Kiwanis calendar is designated as “Kiwanis One-Day” when clubs are encouraged to do a special project for children. Cornhusker has devoted time to collecting diapers for infants as a special effort toward our “Young Children, Priority One” efforts.

INTERNATIONAL ELIMINATE PROJECT

A worldwide project of Kiwanis is to eliminate maternal/neonatal tetanus– a deadly disease that steals the lives of nearly 49,000 innocent babies and a significant number of women each year.

Kiwanis International has reached a pledge of $110 million to eradicate this deadly disease. Cornhusker Kiwanis has pledged to be a model club for Kiwanis, assuring the project will receive the equivalent of $750 per member or approximately $48,000. The club has exceeded its pledge by contributing over $54,000.

The World Health Assembly called for the elimination of neonatal tetanus in 1989 when the disease was killing 800,0000 babies every year. In 2019, that number had been reduced to 25,000 — a decline of more than 96%. The work with the assistance of UNICEF continues.