Tom Hayden

Kiwanis, taken from a Native American phrase “Nunc Kee-wanis,” which means “we trade” or “we share our talents.”

Sharing of heart, of mind, of spirit and providing gifts of hope and commitment have built the Kiwanis Club of Cape Coral into one of the community’s top service organizations. And it started on April 16, 1961, when a group of citizens met at the Presbyterian Church Parish House to form Cape Coral’s oldest service club.

It was at that meeting when the organization selected its first officers and they were a “Who’s Who” of leadership, business brilliance and philanthropy. The first president was H.D. “Andy Anderson, with Edwin Rodgers and Hurschel Biggs named to vice president roles. Wayne Bishop was appointed secretary and Lowell Mills, treasurer. Connie Mack Jr. and Clarence “Butch” Duffala, the city’s second resident, were among the directors.

One of the club’s first projects was a baseball park and recreation area, as well as beautification efforts, in the downtown area. The club kept rolling with a Kiwanis Blood Bank, free tree program for residents and scholarships to students. The club followed with a promotion of the Sabin Oral Vaccine Program, with the community’s first doctor, Robert Tate. Shots of this polio vaccine were given free to residents.

Now 60 years old, this group hasn’t stopped contributing, building its membership, volunteering and developing projects that now include two thrift stores, an annual and very popular fishing tournament, a kids festival, as well as its community hallmark: student scholarships.

Over 30 years, the Kiwanis scholarship program has presented over $2 million in academic awards to students, including $252,000 worth of four-year scholarships to 20 seniors in 2020 by the Cape Coral Kiwanis Foundation.

One of its most important projects was completed just two years ago. After two young girls — 8-year-old Layla Aiken and 12-year-old Alana Tamplin — were killed during hit-and-run incidents at bus stops, several organizations pulled together to improve safety for school children. The Rotary Club of Cape Coral and the Kiwanis pooled their resources and commitments from area businesses, the city and the school district to install 200 benches on cement pads in designated “safe zones” throughout the city to give children a safe place to sit while waiting for school buses.

A highly-anticipated event each year is the Kiwanis Club of Cape Coral Fishing Derby for boys and girls, ages 5-15. For the past 32 years, approximately 300 children have received a rod, reel and bait, and enjoy the day fishing with family members. Trophies are awarded for the biggest, smallest and most fish. The children get to keep the rod and reel. The derby was the brainchild of Kiwanis member Wally Laumeyer. He came up with idea after seeing a man on the Cape Coral Yacht Club pier with several fishing poles around him. The man told Laumeyer he brought all the fishing rods in case children came and wanted to fish.

“I picked up maybe 40 or 50 poles (that first year) and decided to put something together for the kids,” Laumeyer once told the Cape Coral Breeze. “After that, the event kept growing.”

The thrift stores remain a great source of pride and revenue for the Kiwanis. The inventory in the two stores is primarily driven through donations and include clothes, furniture, appliances, housewares, books, jewelry, craft supplies, sports equipment and many other items. The prices are low and inventory high. Money raised at the stores help fund many community projects and grants, as well as the scholarships. Not only do Kiwanis members volunteer at the stores, but so do FGCU students who earn credits toward their degrees by working at the locations on Del Prado Boulevard and Southeast 47th Terrace.

Tom Hayden is a Cape Coral Museum of History board member and a Cape Coral City Council member, representing District 3. He writes a column twice a month for the Cape Coral Breeze on the city’s history.