Are you wondering what services the Kiwanis Club of Riverside has been able to provide our local community?  We're glad you asked!

Here's just a few of the things we have accomplished:

• Shot clinics for disadvantaged youth in partnership with Riverside Community Hospital.
• Annual support for the Special Olympics held at The California School for the Deaf in the form of providing lunches for the participating athletes and volunteers.
• Annual support of the local March of Dimes Walk-a-Thon, in the form of manpower to register participants.
• We man Booths at the yearly Orange Blossom Festival in Riverside.
• We have sponsored Boy Scout Troop 9 since it's inception in 1942, and provide the Texas Avenue Youth Center as the troops home and meeting place.
• We support the Girl Scouts with camperships and the Texas Avenue Youth Center as the troops home and meeting place.
• We provide parking assistance at the Municipal Airport open house.
• We sponsor the Annual Lester Oaks Memorial Band Review for local middle and high school bands.
• We sponsor an annual high school basketball tournament at Poly and Arlington High Schools.
• There are three Kiwanis youth groups, Circle K (for college students), Key Club (for high school students) and Builders Club (for middle school students). Our club provided leadership and financial support to 95 Circle K Club member's at the University of California, Riverside, 100 Key Club members at Riverside Poly High School and 45 Builders Club members at Gage Middle School. These youth clubs, in turn, provide community service, at yet another level throughout the Riverside area.

Longfellow Elementary School

The Club has adopted Longfellow Elementary School on Riverside's east side. This involvement has included the following projects:

• Dental Screening - Dentists who are members of the Club provide a free exam on approximately 900 students and provide them with tooth brushes and miscellaneous dental supplies.
• Food Drives - Each Thanksgiving and Christmas the club collects and distributes food baskets to 200 families. Last year that amounted to 8 tons of food. Plus we maintain a food cupboard at the school throughout the year to assure our students do not experience hunger during the year.
• We collect and distribute over 1,000 Gifts to needy students at Christmas.
• We have painted a map of the United States on the playground to help with geography lessons.
• We provided musical instruments so a music class could be started and supplement the purchase of additional instruments. The School now has an active band capable of playing at special events.
  We helped start a Cub Scout and Brownie Troop at the school and make uniforms available to those children that can't afford one.
• Club members read to the youngest students on a weekly basis.
• We have installed new playground equipment.
• We have provide and continue to provide sports equipment and playground aids.
• We provide school uniforms for families who cannot afford them.
• We established and funded an innovative pre-school program which has become a State funded, district wide success.

Assistance to other Organizations

Throughout the years our members have provided assistance to other organizations in our community. Some of the projects have included:

• Built a patio arbor at Plymouth Towers so the senior citizens living there could get outside and enjoy patio activities.
• Remodeled the kitchen of a domestic violence shelter.
• Provided financial help to the Riverside YMCA to replace the heating system for their day care center.
• Provide athletic scholarships to the University of California, Riverside student athletes.
• For over 20 years we have provided scholarships to college bound graduates of all Riverside High Schools. This year we will grant over $13,000 in scholarships.