Beach Kiwanian awarded President’s Challenge
Robert Jarrett, a long-time volunteer member of the Kiwanis Club of Fort Myers Beach, was honored with a prestigious achievement at the local organization’s Installation Banquet Thursday evening at Charley’s Boat House Grill.
Jarrett received a crystal award for meeting the 2012-2013 Kiwanis International Foundation President’s Challenge. The distinction was recognized at the 97th annual Florida District Kiwanis Convention in Boca Raton in late August. Unfortunately, Jarrett was unable to attend the convention so Donna Williamson, the Florida Kiwanis Lt. Governor of Division 19, presented him the award at the function last week.
Jarrett, who has been a Kiwanian for roughly 40 years, found out about the award only a couple of days prior to the installation. The southern Illinois native has been president of several Kiwani clubs and Lieutenant Governor for clubs in Nebraska and in Florida.
“I had no idea of the award,” he said when notified by phone. “I’m surprised to hear about it.”
According to the organization website, the President’s Challenge is issued annually by the Kiwanis International Foundation’s president to lieutenant governors, governors and foundation district chairs. The challenge encourages Kiwanis leaders to support the Kiwanis International Foundation by promoting and supporting the annual fund within each club, division and district. When a challenge and goal is achieved, there is recognition for the job well done. Previous challenges have included recognition for district and division leaders, grants to districts for recognition activities and district matching scholarships. The current challenge helps in focusing financial resources where the impact is greatest -helping more children than ever before.
At the Installation, the Beach Kiwanis elected the 2014 – 2015 Officers and Directors. The officials and photo will be in the Oct. 15 issue.
The Florida District of Kiwanis, which covers the entire State of Florida and the Cayman Islands, is composed of 9,000 members in 270 active clubs.
Williamson, a member of the Cape Coral Harney Point Kiwanis Club, was installed to serve as the 2014-2015 Division 19 Lt. Governor on the statewide board of the Florida District of Kiwanis at the August convention. She serves as the liaison between the 13 Kiwanis clubs of Division 19 which covers Lee County and Labelle and will serve on the 34 member governing Board of Kiwanis which oversees all branches of the Kiwanis family. There are 27 Lt. Governors which represent the different divisions of Kiwanis throughout the state of Florida and Cayman Islands.
Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time. Founded in 1915, Kiwanis and its sponsored service organizations -including CKI at the college level, Key Club at the high school level, Builders Club at the middle school level, K-Kids at the elementary school level and Aktion Club for adults with disabilities- dedicate more than six million volunteer hours annually to strengthen communities and provide service to children.