Kiwanis celebrate 40th anniversary

The following is a June 9 release from the Kiwanis Club of Greater Ocean Pines-Ocean City:

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, time continues to move on. Our birthdays and anniversaries still happen, maybe without all the usual fanfare and celebrating, but just as important as ever.  

The Kiwanis Club of Berlin-Ocean Pines, Maryland held its first formal meeting on Feb. 20, 1980, and elections were held. James Grimm, who initiated the forming of the club based on his former membership in the Kiwanis Club in Baltimore, became president, along with the elections of Vice President Jerry Henderson, Secretary Glenn Fickel and Treasurer Wilbur Rehkemper.  

The club was formally chartered on April 12, 1980, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Delmar, Delaware. The club's name had two changes, first becoming the Kiwanis Club of Ocean Pines and later, in 2004, the Kiwanis Club of Greater Ocean Pines-Ocean City, as it remains today.

The purpose of the club was to support the local community. Many of the projects of the early years are still being done today to raise funds in support of other community organizations and service projects, like clothing and food drives, providing bingo for the residents of the Berlin Nursing Home, affiliation with local schools by judging academic events like Showell Elementary School's Science Fair, and sponsoring Kiwanis Student Leadership Clubs in local schools.

The first was the Stephen Decatur High School Key Club in 1986, followed later by the K-Kids Clubs in Showell Elementary and Buckingham Elementary, the Builders Clubs in Berlin Intermediate School and Stephen Decatur Middle School, and an AKTION Club for adults with disabilities at the Worcester County Developmental Center in Newark, Maryland.

In 1987, the Kiwanis Club initiated a building project for a pavilion in White Horse Park in Ocean Pines and actively raised funds for its completion. The handsome pavilion in the park, still used for many events, stands as a fitting memorial to the efforts of the Kiwanis Club.

In 1999, the Kiwanis Club formed a local Kiwanis Foundation to enable development of a permanent endowment, for the purpose of supporting charitable activities and issuing regular scholarships for deserving youth of our community, still a big project for the club through its fundraising events.

So, while there was no formal 40th-year celebration, the fact remains that the Kiwanis Club is privileged to celebrate being of service to the community through the continuing dedicated commitment of the club's members and the support of the public.  

Kiwanis: "Serving the Children of the World."

Follow the club on its website at www.kiwanisofopoc.org and on Facebook as Kiwanis Club of Ocean Pines/Ocean City.