Volunteer Activities

Turner Dodge House Festival of Trees 2023

Our Kiwanis themed Christmas room was a success. We featured all the activities we do including providing 300+ books for children to take as a gift from the Capital Literacy Coalition.
We also displayed a suitcase from “There’s Always Room” foster program.
WILX ran a feature story on the festival!
https://www.wilx.com/2023/12/26/turner-dodge-hosts-3rd-annual-holiday-open-house/

Dec 8th, 2023 Salvation Army Bell Ringing

2023 Easter Holiday Candy Hunt

Thanks to everyone who helped set up this year’s Candy Hunt
(special thanks to Barb Hollstein and Dave Bueche).
The weather was beautiful!
Thanks to our partners, Meijer, East Lansing Public Schools, East Lansing Police Department and East Lansing Parks and Recreation for helping add a little joy to many children’s and our weekend.

Lansing Area Kiwanis help build beds

On Saturday, May 21 at Lake Lansing Park South, Marsh Road several local Kiwanis clubs sponsored and helped build beds for local children.
The event was run by the Sleep in Heavenly Peace organization. 
The East Lansing Kiwanis Foundation contributed $500 for building materials.

Meal Packs for Davies Project

In an ongoing project, our club has supplied food packs for the families
taken to medical appointments by the Davies Project.
We purchase, package, and deliver these packs to the Davies Project office every couple of weeks.

Annual Candy Hunt

The Kiwanis Club of East Lansing Candy Hunt was back this past Saturday, April 16 at Patriarche Park.
More than 200 parents and children stopped by to hunt for candy and enjoy the brisk Saturday weather.  Thanks to our volunteers Dick Stilwell, Chet & Fran Lewis, Norbert Kerr, Laura Lockwood, Dave Bueche, John Merton, Ken Dimoff, Dave Regan & Scott Greenlee who braved the Michigan morning. 
Two of East Lansing’s finest police officers joined us to start the hunt!
Many of our participants brought a kids book for our literacy program. 

Inaugural BBQ Football Classic held on October 8, 2021

The Kiwanis Club of East Lansing was excited to partner with
East Lansing Public Schools to present the first annual BBQ Football Classic!
On Friday October 8 folks could enjoy the traditional Kiwanis Chicken Dinner at one of two locations – in a drive thru line at Patriarche Park or at East Lansing High School.   
Then they could attend the game and root on our East Lansing Trojans as they battled Holt.  Proceeds went to support Kiwanis’s work in the community as we work to accomplish the Kiwanis Mission of making the things better for the children of the world.

First round of Dictionaries Delivered (Feb 2021)

Our club gives each 3rd grader a dictionary and each 6th grader a thesaurus during the Fall semester. Because of the pandemic and the closing of local schools, we were unable to do this in the Fall of 2020. However, we have begun delivering dictionaries for all the 3rd graders at
St. Thomas Elementary and Pinecrest Elementary.
We expect to complete this project as soon as the rest of the schools have opened to in-person classes.

Holiday Meals delivered on Christmas (12/25/2020)

Our club partnered with the
Volunteers of America and the St. Luke Lutheran Church of Lansing to bring
Holiday Meals to local families.
The Foundation of the Kiwanis of East Lansing gave a grant of $300 to this program which was used to purchase food.
On Christmas day, club members picked up and delivered the meals to the families.

December 4, 2020. Bell Ringing for the Salvation Army

Every year members of our club volunteer to ring the bell at a Salvation Army donation kettle.
This year our post was at the Meridian Mall in Okemos.

Nov./Dec. 2020. Thanksgiving and Holiday meals

Our club has partnered with the Volunteers of America and the St. Luke Lutheran Church of Lansing to bring holiday meals to local families.
The Foundation of the Kiwanis of East Lansing gave a grant of $1000 to this program.

Fall 2020 & Spring 2021. Delivering food to E. Lansing families

With schools in remote learning mode, many children are not getting the meals at school that they normally get.
During this past summer, boxes of food have been made available to families with students in the East Lansing schools.
Some families cannot come to distribution points to pick up this food,
so local teachers have been doing deliveries to these families.

With the start of school, the teachers are fully occupied with trying to make remote learning work for their students, and cannot continue to make these deliveries.
Our Kiwanis Club is filling the need for delivery drivers by making weekly food deliveries to families that cannot pick them up themselves.

September 2020 Donating hand sanitizers

Our club has purchased several hundred bottles of hand sanitizer to donate to folks in our community–essential workers, volunteers, children, and club members.

August 2020. Delivering snacks to local daycare centers

Normally, our club provides snacks to local elementary schools for students who need them.
During the pandemic, this program has had to be suspended.
In partnership with Kroger, we provided snacks to local day care centers that are open, including the People’s Church Preschool, Bailey Preschool & Childcare, and Eastminster Child Development Center.

July 2020. Service during COVID lockdown.

Packing meals for families making doctor visits with transportation supplied by the Davies Project. Packaging snacks and drinks for essential city workers (police, fire fighters, maintenance workers, etc.)

May-August 2020
Recognizing and thanking essential workers during the Covid Pandemic

Our club is putting signs like this one at several essential workplaces in our community to recognize the vital contributions of all the wonderful people who are continuing to do their essential jobs during the Covid lockdown. Thank you!!!!

2019 Annual Candy Hunt

  On Saturday, April 20^th, 2019, the Kiwanis Club of East Lansing conducted its Annual Candy Hunt at Patriarche Park in East Lansing.  At 10am the police car siren sounded and some 200 children (with assorted parents and grandparents in tow) ducked under the police tape and dashed across the park, scooping up not-terribly-well-hidden bags of candy.

The event was open to any and all children up to the 5^th grade. So that the bigger kids didn’t crowd out the littler ones, there were separate areas for pre-school through kindergarten, 1st-2nd graders & 3rd-5th graders. 

This event is proudly sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of East Lansing, City of East Lansing & East Lansing Public Schools.