Kiwanis Club of Mars plans its final year
MARS — Since 1938 the Kiwanis Club of Mars has been giving back to the community. Its contributions may all come to an end next year as the group is considering closing its doors for good.
John Watson, Kiwanis member and past president of the group, said 2018 would be the 80th anniversary for the group, founded by area business members. It’s a good time to celebrate the anniversary and a good time to close the club that has been struggling with membership.
“It breaks our hearts to close it down, but it’s just too hard,” Watson said.
The club has about 10 members and it has become too difficult for those members to continue with all the meetings, fundraisers and other projects the group has put on for years, Watson said. The club had about 30 active members when he joined in 1993.
“Nowadays, there’s just too much competing with people’s time,” he said. “With Kiwanis we were supposed to meet once a week. That was tough. Sometimes you’re lucky if you can meet once a month. There’s just not enough hours in the day.”
The group will continue its work through 2018 and likely will dissolve sometime at the end of the year. One of its last fundraisers will be to put an electronic sign up in Mars to advertise events and community news, Watson said.
A full story appeared in the Butler Eagle.
