Program: National Guards Role In Homeland Security

The main speaker was Vernon LaVia, President Elect of the Aurora Noon Kiwanis. Mr. LaVia informed us of the history of Kiwanis and of the local club. From it founding in 1915 in Detroit, Kiwanis is now composed of 8,500 clubs in 90 countries with 600,000 adult and children members. The Aurora club was founded in 1916 and was the first club in Illinois and the 21st chartered in the world. The Kiwanis Club President Ed Finch was also the lead in the membership drive for the first Aurora Chamber of Commerce and was the Chambers first President in 1921. Along with Past President Joe Lies interpretation of the meaning of Kiwanis, we were informed the Detroit American Indian meaning of "we trade" or "we share talents". Similar to Rotary, Kiwanis is centered around service. Their motto is "One can make a difference" with their new motto being "Serving children all over the world". President Elect LaVia informed us of the global service organization of Kiwanis. In 2004, Kiwanis sponsored over 150,000 service projects with 6 million volunteers hours and raised over $107 million. Kiwanis global service in 1990 was to eradicate mental disabilities caused from the lack of Iodine called Iodine Deficiency Disorder. 1.5 billion people were at risk with only 20% of the world's population consuming iodized salt. By 2002 the percentage of the population consuming iodized salt was 70%. Kiwanis has impacted the local population. The local chapter of 72 members sponsor Kiwanis clubs at elementary, middle, and high schools as well as colleges. The Aurora Kiwanis provides ten $1,000 scholarships annually. The club has had 56 consecutive Pancake Day breakfasts. This fund raiser along with the Annual Peanut Days provides funding for several service projects. One of these is the President's Project which is named by a sitting president or a combination of several presidents. President projects have included a safe room at the Salvation Army, with President LaVia's project being a $7,000 action room for children at the Vaughn Center.