Wilmington Club to Celebrate 90 Years of Service
by Dick Holmes

The Wilmington, De Kiwanis club on January 7,2009, will gather to celebrate their 90th anniversary. Rev. Donald Hamilton (right), a past-president of the club, was chosen to chair the gala to be held in the Gold Ballroom of the Hotel DuPont. Expected to attend are Wilmington, New Castle County and Delaware elected officials, past Kiwanis presidents and officers as well as other state and regional members. A highlight of the evening will be the announcement of the winners of two prestigious awards: Wilmington's Police Officer and Firefighter of the year, chosen by their respective departments from quarterly honorees during 2008. The featured speaker at the affair will be Tom Ganse, Kiwanis Governor of the Capitol District.

The Kiwanis motto "Serving The Children of the World" has made for a busy year for the club, sponsoring "Give Kids a Reading Start" distributing thousands of books to students in every Head Start classroom in the city - in partnership with Read Aloud Delaware, an effort to foster a love of reading at an early age; mentoring young people at the Fraims Boys and Girls Club, raising funds for Summer Fun Scholarships at another B/G club, manning red kettles for the Salvation Army - which buys and distributes thousands of toys to city children, weekly service to Meals on Wheels, and helping to organize Key Clubs in three local High Schools And 2008 also saw a very successful Armed Forces Day Program, saluting the men and women of the Army, Navy, Marines and the Delaware National Guard - thanking them for exemplary service in Iraq and Afghanistan.