The Kiwanis Club of Fort Frances is celebrating 100 years of existence in town, and two longtime members are reflecting on being part of the club, as well as what it means to serve.
For Dana-Lynn Begin and Robin Wright, volunteerism has long been a part of their lives. Begin, currently serving as the Lt. Governor for Division 1 of the Kiwanis Club of Western Canada, said that she remembers her uncle Gordon McTaggart attending meetings when she was younger. Once McTaggart got her father, Robert Tester, to join the club, she began to see more and more of the operations of the Kiwanis and what they did.
“Back then it was just men, women weren’t introduced until 1987, so I remember going to lunch meetings with my dad and my uncle,” she said.
“I would have been in elementary school. I’ve grown up with Kiwanis basically my whole life living in Fort Frances. We were always part of their activities, whether it was the TV auction and then the steak fry, I remember doing dishes in the kitchen at Sunny Cove. That was just a given.”
Wright has also spent the majority of his life volunteering. Beginning at the age of 10 or 11, he explained that he has been part of many different service clubs throughout his life, and it was the fact the Kiwanis’ mission was so youth-focused that caught his eye.
“That grabbed my eye in terms of wanting to give back in another way, different from what I’ve done before,” he said.
“Every club is good, the Lions Club, they’re all good and they all have their own focus. It was just more what Kiwanis was doing and represented that piqued my interest in terms of trying to get involved.”
The Kiwanis Club of Fort Frances was established in 1924, and among those founding members were names that many in Fort Frances are likely familiar with, names that have graced businesses, buildings and streets in town and beyond; F.H. Huffman, J.A. Mathieu, W.T. Russell, Roy McTaggart, J.P. Wright, Dr. D.C. McKenzie and more. The club numbered 43 at its inception, and 31 members at its 70th anniversary in 1994. Begin said one of her goals for the club over the next year is to grow its membership numbers and beat that original count. As of right now, the club is sitting at 37 members
Growing a club like Kiwanis in 2024 might sound like a tall task, but the club has recently enjoyed a resurgence in members thanks to an influx of younger members, including Begin’s daughter McKenna, who has served as president of the local club and is currently Governor-Elect for the Western Canada region of the Kiwanis Club of Canada. Wright and Begin also commented that the growth of members can also be attributed to the different ways the club has begun to accommodate more people and the reality that daily life feels much busier than it ever has.
“Some things have changed,” Wright admitted.
“When I joined in 1996, if you missed three meetings, you were out, unless you had a good reason. You couldn’t be there because you’re not committed to the organization to try and volunteer. But over time, everything evolves. Are we busier than we were back in 1996? In some respects, we are, but at the same time, to become more open and welcoming to individuals, our club is trying to accommodate them in order to get them to come and assist us in many ways.”
Wright gave an example where someone might not want to, or be unable to, commit to monthly meetings, but is passionate about organizing events. Therefore, they may miss the majority of formal meetings, but remain a member who turns out to every volunteer or fundraiser event the club holds.
“I think in this day and age, with busy lives and careers, you have to be flexible and accommodating,” Begin said.
“We want to provide something for everyone that’s coming out. If you don’t want to come and sit at an hour meeting, it’s not your thing, that’s ok. We’ll work with you and make it work, both sides.”
That accommodation and goal to grow the club are at the heart of what keeps the Kiwanis Club of Fort Frances going after 100 years, and serves as a reminder that in 2024, community and volunteerism are still important parts of everyday life for both its members and the members of other service clubs in town. In fact, for many people who have made volunteerism a part of their lives, it’s not even a question.
“It’s what Bob Lidkea [himself a long-serving member of the Kiwanis Club] said in his acceptance speech when he was Citizen of the Year,” Wright said.
“It’s the rent you pay to live in a good community. It’s not so much that we’re paying rent, but our rent is our volunteerism, our being out there. And if you’re a true volunteer, you don’t even think about it. You don’t think of what the cost might be that you’re missing something. You want to do it, you want to give back to the community in some fashion. I don’t even really think about it. For Kiwanis, it’s giving back to the community in any way we can, helping the kids, trying to help the community not be better, because it is a good community, but just continue on and maybe build on the good things they’re doing or that the town’s trying to help us, or other organizations are trying, to do.”
Moving forward into the next century, Begin said the club will continue to rely on what’s worked for them in the past, while continuing to open themselves up to new ideas brought in by newer and/or younger members. She points to the popular Music Bingo events that the club has held over the past year as an example of the club embracing a new idea brought up by a newer member that sees everyone join forces to have fun and help raise money for their causes.
“It’s taking that foundation and moving forward,” Begin said.
“It’s continuing to grow the club. You need a diverse age range because you need that wheel to keep moving forward. You want to keep bringing in new members, younger members, just for ideas. We don’t want to run the risk in the next 100 years of the club folding, so we just need to keep the momentum going. I feel we’re setting the foundation for the next 100 years. What can we do to keep evolving in the community and keep servicing the youth and making lives better for everyone? Volunteering. Even for me, I get a warm, fuzzy feeling after I’m at an event and you’re interacting with people and you see smiles on the children’s faces, or you’ve made a difference in their lives. You go home and you think, wow, you know what? I just gave two hours of my time. That’s all. But the impact that those two hours had on someone else in their lives is unbelievable. You get so much more out of it.”
The Kiwanis Club of Fort Frances is always looking for more members to help make its next 100 years a success. If you are interested in joining the Club, or just looking to learn more about what they do, the Kiwanis Club of Fort Frances meets at the Fort Frances Public Library Technology Centre in the Shaw Room on the first Tuesday of every month, beginning at 6:00 p.m.
“Anybody’s welcome to come out, be a guest,” Begin said.
“You can sit through a meeting. Come visit. The more the merrier. And if you just want to come out and help out one of our events, just to see what we’re all about, we’d love to have people come and help volunteer.”
