The Parkland-Spanaway Kiwanis, “serving a the children of the world, one community and child at a time.”  The Kiwanis is a group of individuals who come together to help better the lives of young people, by giving scholarships to those in need, amongst other worthy causes.

The Kiwanis have been responsible for raising money for a number of causes, such as making programs for giving recognition to kids in school, working with Eliminate to eradicate prenatal tetanus, helping to get rid of SIDS by giving cribs to single mothers and most recently raising money to give scholarships to children who need it.  “We do a hell of a lot for a small group,” said David Corner, president of the Parkland-Spanaway Kiwanis for the past two years.

The Kiwanis raised enough money to give $15,000-16,000 in scholarships to those in need last year.  This year Corner says they are hoping to raise enough to give $20,000.  The Kiwanis are able to raise the money, mainly, through their annual auction where they generally get about 150 attendees.  Their next auction will take place on October 18, 2014 at Marymount. “This year we’re hoping to get, at Marymount, more,” Corner said of the amount of attendees.

The concern for others is palpable in the Kiwanis’ meetings; they start with a salute to the flag, followed by a prayer.   When it comes to asking for volunteers to help with the scholarship committee, the volunteers come easily.  “It’s a lot of work, but it is all worth it when you get to hand the scholarship to the child at the end,” said one man who volunteered to be on the committee.

The Kiwanis hope to be able to help as many children as possible this year.  “There’s a lot of love and affection that goes into these scholarships,” Corner said.