Sequim’s Kiwanis Club disbands, joins Port Angeles group

Last grants support local organizations

By Matthew Nash • January 19, 2022 1:30 am
Submitted photo In May 2020, members of the Kiwanis Club of Sequim-Dungeness donated to the Sequim Food Bank at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pictured, from left, are Stephen Rosales with the Food Bank, Wayne and Mary Boden, Philomena Lund, Janice Teeter, Richard Fleck and Ted Lund.
Submitted photo In May 2020, members of the Kiwanis Club of Sequim-Dungeness donated to the Sequim Food Bank at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pictured, from left, are Stephen Rosales with the Food Bank, Wayne and Mary Boden, Philomena Lund, Janice Teeter, Richard Fleck and Ted Lund.

As one of their final acts as a charter organization, members of the Kiwanis of Sequim-Dungeness gave out thousands of dollars in mini-grants to local agencies and businesses helping children.

Philomena Lund, the club’s secretary/treasurer, said last week that the group’s eight members opted to stop and become a satellite club of Kiwanis Club of Port Angeles.

“We finally reached a point in October when there were only a couple who didn’t want to see the club close,” she said.

Two weeks ago, the club sent out $270 each to previous recipients of their mini-grants for supporting local children.

Recipients included: Bibity Bobity; Clallam County Juvenile and Family Services; Clallam Mosaic; Connie’s Kids Preschool and Childcare; Community Quilts through Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Club; Concerned Citizens; Faith Lutheran Preschool; First Step Family Support Center; Five Acre School; Greywolf Elementary’s Parent-Teacher Association (PTA); Olympic Peninsula Healthy Community Coalition; Olympic Unitarian Universalist Fellowship’s Little Free Pantry; Prevention Works; Project Linus; Sequim Little League, and YMCA of Sequim.

Funds were made available through sales of emergency water filters.

The Sequim club reformed in 2015 after the previous Kiwanis Club of Sequim-Dungeness, which had served the community for 40 years, disbanded. The club was re-chartered in 2017.

Lund wrote in the letter to mini-grant recipients that some of the club’s efforts included starting Neighborhood Mapping efforts, supporting the Sequim Little League’s Snack Shack, building bulletin boards for classrooms, refinishing benches for the YMCA, supporting the Sequim Food Bank and much more.

“We are proud to have been a vital part of the community service efforts in Sequim,” Lund wrote.

“Despite valiant efforts to increase our membership, our club has made the decision to become a satellite of Kiwanis of Port Angeles, and close Kiwanis of Sequim-Dungeness. And we’re passing the torch of community service on to you.”

Lund said remaining water fillers will be given to the Kiwanis Club of Port Angeles to sell, and the small amount of money the Sequim club retains will remain in separate savings for the satellite club’s choosing for local efforts.

For more information about the Kiwanis Club of Port Angeles, visit facebook.com/kiwanisportangeles.