Kiwanis Club of Brecksville has been serving children and supporting civic and charitable organizations in and around Brecksville and Broadview Heights for more than 70 years. We sponsor various youth clubs including Key Club, Builders Club, and K-Kids in the Brecksville and Broadview Heights school systems. Some of the more popular community events we organize are Brecksville’s annual Horse Show, Easter Egg Hunt, Santa Delivery, Empty Bowls, Cleveland Youth Orchestra concert, and Trick-or-Trot Halloween 5K. Some of what Brecksville Kiwanis monetarily supports includes Brecksville Pantry, Meals on Wheels, Brecksville/Broadview Heights students with $12,000 in college scholarships, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Kids in Flight, and others as needed including Science Olympiad, Youth in Government, Special Education Departments in four schools. Each year we create 1000+ Easter baskets for northeast Ohio children at or near the poverty line, food to donate to food pantries, gifts for children in the hospital, and much, much more!
Meetings:
Brecksville Kiwanis meets weekly on Thursday evenings, at Chippewa Place on Stadium Drive. Members and guest are welcome to participate in a 6:00pm dinner prior to the 7:00pm start time. Please RSVP by Tuesday at noon to jmcalli876@aol.com if you would like to join us for dinner or a meeting!
Format for our general monthly meetings:
1st Thursday – Board Meeting
2nd Thursday – Speaker / Presentation
3rd Thursday – Speaker/Service/Presentation
4th Thursday – Service Project
Please check our meeting schedule for additional details about this month’s meetings and any changes.
Membership:
Are you looking for a place to volunteer and connect with your community? Is helping children a worthy cause to you? Would you like to be part of an international organization dedicated to changing the world, one child and one community at a time? If so, Brecksville Kiwanis is for you! Our local club is made up of men and women of all ages, mostly residents and/or working professionals of Brecksville, Broadview Heights or a neighboring community. Annual membership dues of $163 give us an administrative budget we can count on each and every year to serve our community. A 50% discount is available for family members living at the same address. Come and get to know us at a meeting or service project! Call us or email us today!
Meetings:
Brecksville Kiwanis meets weekly on Thursday evenings, at Chippewa Place on Stadium Drive. Members and guest are welcome to participate in a 6:00pm dinner prior to the 7:00pm start time. Please RSVP by Tuesday at noon to jmcalli876@aol.com if you would like to join us for dinner or a meeting!
Format for our general monthly meetings:
1st Thursday – Board Meeting
2nd Thursday – Speaker / Presentation
3rd Thursday – Speaker/Service/Presentation
4th Thursday – Service Project
Please check our meeting schedule for additional details about this month’s meetings and any changes.
Membership:
Are you looking for a place to volunteer and connect with your community? Is helping children a worthy cause to you? Would you like to be part of an international organization dedicated to changing the world, one child and one community at a time? If so, Brecksville Kiwanis is for you! Our local club is made up of men and women of all ages, mostly residents and/or working professionals of Brecksville, Broadview Heights or a neighboring community. Annual membership dues of $163 give us an administrative budget we can count on each and every year to serve our community. A 50% discount is available for family members living at the same address. Come and get to know us at a meeting or service project! Call us or email us today!
History:
World War II had just been concluded the preceding year, when the Kiwanis Club of Southeast Cleveland organized Brecksville Kiwanis on November 24, 1946. Brecksville was just a sleepy little town at the time with a population of 2,000. The first Kiwanis fund raiser was an Ox roast and Horse Show on the town square on Labor Day weekend, The rains came. Net for the weekend totaled $158.57! The first Horse Show was held in 1949 at the old athletic field on Stadium Drive. A Decision was made to move the show to the first Sunday in August and remains the major fund raiser for the club ever since.
The club organized Kiwanis Clubs in North Royalton in 1951, Bath-Richfield in 1953, Seven Hills in 1961, Broadview Heights in 1965, Nordonia Hills in 2001and Parma Morning Club in 2005. The Key Club at the high school and the Builders Club at the middle school remain active as part of the Kiwanis family in our city.
Early in the club's history a large parcel of land including a cabin on Parkview Road bordering on the Metropark property. The cabin was used by the Boy Scouts and other community groups for many years. In 1968 the property was sold to the Park District at a substantial profit to the club.
Fund raising by the Kiwanis club over the years has totaled of $800,000. Over all of the years of the club, scholarships to graduating seniors remains our major effort. Other recipients include the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, churches, relief funds in the city, Coats for Kids, Meals on Wheels and a myriad of other groups in the area. In 1976 as our Bicentennial project the club constructed a pavilion in what was then known as Nowaka Park on the site of Kids Place near the community center. The club received a Kiwanis International award for this effort.
