Letters to the Editor
Letter to the Editor | Kiwanis Club of Gig Harbor third-quarter accomplishments
While the Kiwanis Club of Gig Harbor may not be a publicly traded company that is required to report its financial performance to the Securities and Exchange Commission, we feel it’s important to let the community we serve know what we’ve been up to and what we have planned for the future! So, here is a sneak peek at our third quarter report.
Beginning in October 2024, your local Kiwanis club has accomplished the following service projects:
- Provided upwards of $70,000 towards clothes, field trips, and educational enrichment to youth in need in the Peninsula School District through our signature Kiwanis Cares for Kids program (KCK);
- Annual support of $2,000 and docents towards Peninsula Hands on Art for elementary students;
- Coordinated 5 blood drives (next one is August 18);
- Volunteered over 150 hours for PenMet Parks events and programs;
- Scarecrow Festival
- Trunk or Treat
- Cookies with Claus
- Letters from the North Pole
- Spring Egg Hunt
- Rec Center Grand Opening
- Preparing summer lunches for Mobile Rec
- Participated in the coordination of the Veteran’s Day luncheon and volunteered serving about 500;
- Volunteered 63 hours for the Lighted Car Parade;
- Purchased 8 benches for the Doris Heritage Park ($35,000);
- Provided kitchen support for Altrusa’s Empty Bowls event;
- Fed over 800 people breakfast at the Maritime Gig Festival;
- Tended to the Skansie House flowers an average of 7 hours per month;
- Weekly readers volunteer for ECEAP (Early Childhood Education and Assistance Programs) at Artondale, Evergreen, and Vaughn Elementary Schools totaling almost 100 hours; and
- Hosted a holiday toy drive and a spring diaper drive for KidVantage to help hundreds of struggling families in the south sound.
After all that, you would think our members would be tired, but there’s actually quite a bit more going on here. Service Leadership Programs (SLPs) are groups of individuals, supported by Kiwanis members who also perform service to the community, while learning valuable skills. There are two Key Clubs, one at Peninsula High School and the other at Gig Harbor High School who have been quite busy this academic year. Peninsula High School hosted a book drive benefitting Purdy Elementary and Gig Harbor (What did GHHS do?). These two clubs really represented at the District Convention with 13 members attending, honing their leadership skills. The newly formed AKtion Club for adults with disabilities were also quite helpful this year. Those members teamed up and helped the Veteran’s Day Committee with their challenge coin gifts, donation sorting for KidVantage, and egg stuffing for the egg hunt, just to name a few.
We couldn’t make this big of an impact if it weren’t for our fundraising events and sponsors. The holiday season provides a time for us to enjoy the finer things in life, like wine. In December, we host our annual Wine Tasting and Auction at the Gig Harbor Yacht Club and this year we raised $21,000 with the help of just over 100 of our closest friends. All proceeds support the Kiwanis Cares for Kids program. Keep your eyes peeled for this year’s event December 5, 2025. And most recently, the Gig Harbor Beer Festival! This event is so fun and involves almost 1,000 people from all over our region, yielding about $15,000 for the club’s service projects.
A huge thank you to our sponsors!
- Virginia Mason Franciscan Health
- PenMet Parks
- Gig Harbor Film Festival
- PenLight Co.
- BBQ2U
- LRI Landfilling and Recycling
- Gig Harbor Tree Service
- Hutchins Home Group
- Paige Shulte Neighborhood Experts
- Kohler Heating and Air Conditioning
- Kimball Coffeehouse
- Sport Clips
- YMCA
- Blazing Onion
- Blue Agave
- Rush Construction
- Cedarbrook Dental
- Postal Annex
What’s coming in the fourth quarter? We are so glad you asked!
Hot Dog slinging at National Night Out, August 5
Blood Drive, August 18
Mini Golf FUNdraiser, August 30
Veteran’s Day Banners (sales are ongoing)
Gig Harbor Film Festival, September 25-28
We hope you’ll join us for some of our upcoming events! If you can’t make it, we encourage you to follow us on social media, sharing events and news with your networks and we happily accept donations through our website, where you can also find ways to get involved. Meetings are Wednesday mornings at 7:30AM at Harbor Place and guests are always welcome!
Sincerely,
Zem Wainhouse
Immediate Past President
Kiwanis Club of Gig Harbor