Rewind back to October 31, 1923.  Kiwanis Club of Sanford was formed with a group of 50 likeminded businessmen wanting to support their community, just 8 years after Kiwanis International was organized in 1915.  It wasn't until 1987 that Kiwanis International voted to allow women into the club.  In 1996, the Kiwanis Club of Sanford had its first female President, Betty Olson, paving the way for future leadership roles by women.  Since then, the club has been fortunate to have a wonderful mix of club members both young, and those that are young at heart, serving the Sanford-Springvale communities and beyond.  While Sanford still has one of the largest clubs in the New England District hovering around 60 members, it's peak membership was once well over 100 members.  We have also facilitated a successful Key Club program through Sanford High School for many years and enjoy spending time with the young adults in the club while instilling the importance of community, volunteerism and giving back to those in need.

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While we don't have many details of earlier years in the Club, we do know that there was once a Perfect Attendance Prize given in 1925 - it was a live rooster!  That tradition did not last for long thankfully.  A few other events earlier on in the Club's history was a Jollification Meeting for members and their families, as well as an Annual Charity Ball to raise funds to support their efforts.  At the time, tickets were a whopping 75 cents.

 

In the more recent years, there have been many great projects the Club has been involved with.  While we are bound to miss a few, the following are some of the more well known projects:

 

-Building a helipad for Goodall Hospital

-Bone marrow donor drive resulting in nearly 400 donors

-Terrific Kids Program in the three community elementary schools

-Bicycle Safety Awareness and helmet giveaways

-Creating the Mousam Way Trail system 

-Blouin Field dugouts

-Sanford/Springvale YMCA projects

-7 Scholarships available to Sanford, Massabesic and Noble seniors

-Kids Christmas Party that provides children in need with warm clothing and snow gear

-Cobb Stadium revitalization and clean up days

-Camp Nutter projects

-Sanford Mainers baseball concession volunteering

-Community clean up days

-Kiwanis and Gateway Parks

-Local sports sponsorships

-Clothing and food drives supporting local families in need

-Salvation Army bell ringing

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We have enjoyed partnering with other local organizations over the years to support our community.   In no particular order, we would like to recognize a few of them that are doing great things in the Sanford and Springvale area and beyond:

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-Sanford Backpack Program

-Sanford Food Pantry

-Grahamtastic Connection

-Sanford School Department & Sanford Regional Technical Center

-Waypoint (formerly known as Waban)

-Sanford/Springvale Rotary Club

-YMCA

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