Second Harvest Receives Two Tons o' Tuna

Central Florida families will be ringing in the New Year with plenty of tuna salad sandwiches. Due to the overwhelming success of the “Ton o’ Tuna” challenge in 2009, the Kiwanis Club of East Orange County accepted a heftier goal of collecting TWO TONS of tuna by the end of 2010. With the assistance of numerous Key Clubs, Builders Clubs, K-Kids Clubs, Circle K International, other Kiwanis clubs, and numerous other community groups, the Kiwanis organization presented the local food bank with a grand total of over 4,000 pounds of tuna.

Here’s the math: 1 can of tuna is 6 ounces. One ton is 2,000 pounds, or 32,000 ounces. A “ton o’ tuna” is therefore 5,333 cans, and two tons of tuna is 10,666 cans of tuna.

The Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, through its five hundred participating agencies, provides food to about 60,000 people each week. With demand increasing daily, the food bank has never had less food on the shelves. The most pressing need, in short, is for more food. And among the non-perishable food items that Second Harvest distributes, none is more in demand among families in need than canned tuna – versatile, nutritious, and delicious.

Members of the community responded to the need for tuna again in 2010. East Orange County Schools from the Kiwanis club’s sponsored service leadership programs (Key Club, Builders Club, K-Kids, and Circle K) donated about 1,000 pounds collectively. Sunrise Elementary K-Kids and UCF Federal Credit Union topped the charts by each contributing just over 400 pounds of tuna. StarKist, one of the leading distributors of seafood products in the United States, also donated several cases of tuna. Due to a generous monetary contribution from the Kiwanis Club of Orlando of the equivalent of 1,500 pounds of tuna, the two-ton goal was achieved in December 2010.

Thank you to everyone who made a tuna donation!

Please contact our club if you are interested in serving the Central Florida community with us, or if you have suggestions for making next year’s tuna drive even more successful.

13th Annual "Breakfast with Santa" in Photos

Head on over to the EOC Kiwanis Flickr site to view photos from our 13th Annual "Breakfast with Santa" fundraiser and holiday celebration on Saturday, Dec. 4th.

Stay tuned for a blog posting with all of the details on this incredibly fun and successful event!

EOC Kiwanis and UCF CKI Team Up to Fight Hunger

The EOC Kiwanis club teamed up with our UCF CKI brethren to fight hunger at the Second Harvest Food Bank (1918 W. Princeton St, Orlando, FL) on Saturday, November 20th. Second Harvest is a private, nonprofit organization that collects and distributes donated food to more than 600 nonprofit partner agencies in six Central Florida counties. These organizations serve over 700,000 people (20% of the Central Florida population) each year, and Second Harvest relies on donorship from local food retailers and volunteer efforts to accomplish their mission.

The EOC Kiwanians and UCF CKI'ers responded to Second Harvest's call for volunteers on Saturday, November 20th, 2010. After watching a moving video about the children and families who Second Harvest serves, we migrated to the warehouse for a tutorial on how the food is to be sorted. Believe it or not, there are a lot of rules (and exceptions to the rules!) which need to be followed when sorting the food that is donated by local food retailers such as Publix, Winn Dixie, and Walgreens. We then dove into the hundreds of unsorted boxes... Three hours later, over 15 pallets containing 36 boxes each were ready for distribution to the community - not to mention to 95 lbs of tuna which we donated for our "Two Tons o' Tuna" drive!

A big thanks goes to our volunteers for the day: Gene, Yoli, Wanda, Jared, Brent, Jeremy A., Jason, Stephanie, Paige, and four members of UCF CKI! Volunteering at the Second Harvest Food Bank is one of the best and most productive service opportunities in Central Florida. I highly recommend you spend a day with them serving the local community and learning about Second Harvest's operations. It's safe to say that we'll all be a little more thankful this year as we celebrate Thanksgiving!

EOC Kiwanis Turns Students Into Student-Leaders

Developing young leaders is at the core of what we do in Kiwanis.  On Saturday, Nov. 6th, the Kiwanis Club of East Orange County held its annual Service Leadership Club (SLC) Officer Training to do just that.

Many of the Presidents, Vice Presidents, Secretaries, Treasurers, and other Officers representing K-Kids, Builders Clubs, and Key Clubs from across Orange County gathered together to learn what it means to be leaders in their community.  EOC Kiwanis President Prairy Riehl started things off with a fun icebreaker, which involved (believe it or not) a combination of memorization and dance moves.  EOC Kiwanis member Sean Osmond then educated the SLC Officers on "The 11 Principles of Leadership", derived from US Marine Corps Officer Training.  This valuable information laid the foundation for the remainder of the afternoon.

The group was divided into smaller groups by role to discuss their individual responsibilities as Kiwanis SLC Officers.  The student-officers learned how to properly conduct their meetings and the value of having an agenda prepared prior to each meeting.  The small groups were then re-organized groups to discuss things such as committees, fundraising, meeting activities, awards and recognition, and our Kiwanis Worldwide Service Project.  The group learned from each other and shared ideas through lively discussion.  To round out the afternoon, each SLC Officer was given the opportunity to share one thing they learned and one thing that they will take back to their clubs and work on.

Giving back to the East Orange County community is what the EOC Kiwanis club is all about, and SLC Officer training has equipped these bright young minds with the knowledge and ideas needed to take their service to the EOC community to the next level.

Breakfast with Santa

KIWANIS CLUB TO HOST 13th ANNUAL BREAKFAST WITH SANTA

ORLANDO, Fla. – (Nov. 1, 2010) – Children in the East Orange County area can enjoy a special visit with Santa in early December. The Kiwanis Club of East Orange County will host its 13th Annual Breakfast with Santa on Saturday, December 4, 2010 from 7:30-10:30am in the Waterford Lakes Town Center.

In addition to Santa, the event will feature a pancake and sausage breakfast with juice, coffee, and hot chocolate. Students from local schools will provide entertainment. For an additional charge, children can have their photo taken with Santa and create their own plaster masterpiece.

The breakfast is hosted by over 100 student club members and is completely volunteer-driven. All funds raised from this event are returned to the community through the club’s service leadership programs.

Wristbands for Breakfast with Santa are $5 for adults and $3 for children and can be pre-ordered from any Kiwanis member or through any school Kiwanis service leadership club (K-Kids in elementary schools, Builders Club in middle schools, Key Club in high schools, and Circle K Club at UCF). You may also purchase tickets from the Waterford Lakes Town Center office or by calling 321-229-2642 or 321-228-3669.

Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time.