Apply now for Elgin Kiwanis grants to help children

The Elgin Noon Kiwanis Club is accepting applications for its Benevolence grants available to organizations that serve children in the Elgin area.

The funds are not for administrative or operating expenses; they are to be used for specific projects addressing children's needs such as food, clothing, medicine, education and shelter. This year's grant program amounts to about $14,000, Benevolence committee chairman Dan Ault said.

"Some years we pick one or two organizations and we give everything to them. Last year, we broke it into several," Ault said.

Among last year's recipients was the Community Crisis Center in Elgin, which received a $1,300 grant to provide milk for children. That was a huge help, said Lisa Winchel, resource development coordinator for the center, which in 2014 sheltered about 200 children along with their mothers.

"We have a volunteer that goes out every week to get fresh milk," she said. "It's essential for us to be able to have that pot of money, that pot of funds, designated for milk. We go through 10 to 12 gallons per week."

The club raises money for the Benevolence program with a variety of initiatives throughout the year, Club President Karen Oswald said.

There's Kiwanis Peanut Day, usually the last Friday in September; a barbecue in August on the grounds of Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin; beer tent sales - formerly a pancake breakfast - at the Elgin Valley Fox Trot in May; and a reverse raffle usually in the spring.

The Elgin club was chartered in 1920, five years after Kiwanis International - which in June elected its first female president - was founded in 1915 in Detroit. Once a men's only club, at least 20 percent of members today are women, Oswald said.

The Elgin club meets at noon Tuesdays at the Grumpy Goat Tavern, in the clubhouse at The Highlands Golf Course, 875 Sports Way. The benefits of membership are twofold, Ault and Oswald said - members contribute to the community while also networking and expanding their ties within the community.

"It's a service organization, but it's also a social and networking opportunity for businesses and members who want to be involved in the community," Oswald said.

Ault agreed. "What's really positive about it is that you meet a lot of people who are the foundation of the community - truly."

For more information about the club or how to apply for its Benevolence grants, visit elgin.kiwanisone.org. The deadline to apply is Dec. 23.