By Molly Lovell
Editor
     Scarborough Kiwanians were treated with a special honor at their monthly meeting last Friday, April 20. Kiwanis International Vice President Donald Canaday paid a visit to the club to present several members with awards of recognition. Local Kiwanians say the honor of hosting an international president is very rare.
     Canaday flew to Maine from Indiana to take part in the Portland Kiwanis Club’s 90th anniversary celebration. The Portland club is the oldest Kiwanis chapter in New England.
     Scarborough Kiwanians couldn’t have been more ecstatic to host Canaday at their meeting Friday. “It’s very exciting to have the vice president here and it’s a great honor,” said Carl Loomis, division 5 lieutenant governor.
     Loomis joined the group in 2000 because he saw it as a way to give back to the community and its children. Founded in 1915, Kiwanis International was formed to support children and young adults around the world.
     Locally, The Scarborough Kiwanis Club hosts the Kids Fishin’ Derby and a benefit gala for the Maine Children’s Cancer program.
     The two awards that Scarborough members received on Friday reflected their efforts in improving the quality of life of such young people.
     The first award, the George Hixon medallion, is given to a member who has raised a certain amount of money to help wipe out iodine deficiency disorder, or IDD. It’s the world’s leading preventable cause of mental retardation in children and occurs most frequently in third-world nations. More than 1.5 billion people are at risk of being affected by the disorder because they don’t receive enough iodine in their diets.
     Charter member of the Scarborough Kiwanis Club, Ron Forest said Kiwanis partnered with the United Nations Children’s Fund, or ÜNICEF, in the effort to eliminate IDD. So far, Kiwanis International has raised more than $89 million toward the effort. “It’s amazing, we have almost eradicated this world wide,” Forest said. “It’s a great honor to receive the Hixon medallion and it goes to a great cause,” he said.
     The second award members received Friday was a Red Jacket, which indicates that a member has raised $1,000 to support the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute. Members who received a Red Jacket were Jackie Perry and Mark Poulin. Sharon Binette received a Red Jacket the following day. Key Club Division 6 Governor, and junior at Scarborough High School, Jeff Poulin received a Hixon medallion.
     Key Club, along with Builders and K-Kids Clubs are Kiwanis sponsored clubs. Poulin has been involved with the Key Club since he was a freshman. His father has been involved in Kiwanis since before Poulin was born.
     “It’s been my childhood,” Poulin said about his involvement in the club. The Scarborough High School Key Club has nearly 300 members out of 1,000 students. Poulin said he was surprised and honored to receive the Hixon medallion.
     Canaday presented the awards before speaking to the crowd Friday. Canaday, a retired army general, has been involved with Kiwanis for 38 years and is now a full-time Kiwanian, traveling all over the United States and abroad.
     In his speech, Canaday charged the Scarborough club to double their membership by the time he becomes the next international president of Kiwanis. “I want to come back here and induct your eighty-second member. It’s going to take each current member to recruit one more member,” he said, and added that he would fly to Maine and personally induct that eighty-second member.
     When asked what he would say to encourage someone to join Kiwanis, Canaday gave six reasons to join. The first reason, he said, are the friendships that are formed.
“You find a set of friends that last a lifetime that go beyond the boundaries of Kiwanis,” Canaday said. The second reason is that it’s just plain fun and the third is what he called, “good fellowship.” He said the fourth reason is that Kiwanians are better-informed citizens because of the speakers each club hosts. The fifth reason he gave was that joining Kiwanis fosters better business relationships. “Kiwanians like to do business with other Kiwanians,” he said.
     The sixth and final reason to join is the most important, Canaday said. “You’re going to have the opportunity to put a smile on a child’s face that without you and your Kiwanis group, wouldn’t be there.”