Kiwanis Grand Rapids

05/26/2026

President Brenda Eller talked about our participation in the Comstock Park Mill Creek Days - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083564850866 We plan to have a booth with games for kids and maybe even cookie decorating. We plan to use the time to discuss Kiwanis and maybe pick up a few members.

05/26/2026

05/19/2026

Bruce Oosterhouse just came back from Kansas City where the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) gave him a great honor.

They added his name to the “Hall of Champions”. https://www.fca.org/fca-in-action/2025/12/11/fca-hall-of-champions-2025-inductees

Bruce started with FCA in 1964 and worked with students and coaches during his 60+ years with the organization.

05/19/2026

Mike Martin and three other members from the Golden K joined us for our meeting. Mike gave a talk titled “Why I No Longer Hate Poetry”. He explained how poetry can express feelings and emotions in just a few words. Poems can help with loss of a loved one and even make you laugh.

05/15/2026

Lindsey VanDyke and Ashley Sturgis from Early On https://www.kentisd.org/early-childhood/early-on/ with Kent ISD spoke about the program. They help families find the social, health, and educational services that will promote the development of their infant or toddler (birth to 36 months) with a developmental delay, disability, or established medical condition. Their collaborative approach partners parents and caregivers with trained early interventionists. They receive 250-350 referrals per month and have roughly 1,200 children enrolled.

05/06/2026

We are thrilled to partner with Noorthoek Academy and their pop-can tabs. Our Aktion Club advisor, Pat Newcombe, is an amazing person to mentor this club.

Thanks to all who turned in pop-can tabs for our Noorthoek Kiwanis Grand Rapids Aktion Club!

05/06/2026

At the 2024 Kiwanis International convention Diana Nyad spoke about her courageous swim from Cuba to Key West in 2013. At the age of 64 she became the first person to complete a swim from Cuba to Florida without the protection of a shark cage. You can see her TED talk here:

In the pitch-black night, stung by jellyfish, choking on salt water, singing to herself, hallucinating … Diana Nyad just kept on swimming. And that's how she finally achieved her lifetime goal as an athlete: an extreme 100-mile swim from Cuba to Florida -- at age 64. Hear her story.

04/21/2026

Here is our March Newsletter highlighting our speakers, events.