Kiwanis Club of Fort Frances

2004 was a very special year for Kiwanis as we celebrated 80 years of service to Fort Frances and the Rainy River District.
On Sept. 25, our club held an anniversary party combined with the installation of officers for the new year. Both Bruce Bervan, the Governor of Western Canada, and Lt. Gov. Don Murphy attended the celebration.
Rob Tovey was installed as past president and Robert Sletmoen was installed as president for 2004-05.
Displays showing our past accomplishments were set up, allowing members and guests to browse through the local history of Kiwanis.
The people of the district have been very generous and our members have worked very hard at raising funds, allowing this club to do a tremendous amount of service work in this area.
Our major project is Sunny Cove Camp, which is situated on 29 acres on the shores of Rainy Lake. There is a small user fee, but the camp is subsidized by our club in the amount of $25,000 per year.
Sunny Cove was used by almost 2,500 people last year.
We are particularly proud of the Builder’s Club at Robert Moore, which is a Kiwanis-sponsored group that does service club work in the school.
The membership has grown to the stage where they now have four teacher advisors, and they are doing an exceptional amount of work for the school and community.
When Kiwanis first started in Rainy River District, the club worked very closely with the farming community and started potato, swine, turkey, and calf clubs.
These later were formed into 4-H clubs, and for 80 years we have continued to support this group. In 2004, the local Kiwanis Club committed time and money to Meals on Wheels, Adopt a Family for Christmas (15 families), supplied transportation and lifeguard funds for trips to Sunny Cove and Pither’s Point Park for the day care centre, reading programs at the Fort Frances Public Library, Good Friday prayer breakfast, Riverside Health Care Facilities, Inc., music festival, three high school bursaries, Girl Guides, Little League baseball, David’s Deli, children’s area at the bass tournament, Li’l Eagles camping trip, Easter Seals Crippled Children, Legion Poppy Fund, Air Cadets, D.A.R.E. programs, supplying and cooking breakfast for the “Relay for Life,” and many more worthy causes.
Kiwanis’ annual project expenses come to around $65,000 each year, so we raised money through the following projects: Kiwanis Trip of the Month draw, TV auction, and our many streak fries.
Again we thank the public for their outstanding support. We couldn’t do Kiwanis work without them.