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LETTER: Pandemic puts brakes on Kiwanis Safety Village

Club continues to adapt amid pandemic 'to meet all of our community needs;' Popular fundraising auction will move to a virtual event this year

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The Kiwanis Club of Orillia sends all of you our best wishes for a safe, successful start to the school year.

As a club with a focus on the well-being of children in our community, we share some of the anxieties that all of you are experiencing as you return to classrooms during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Many of our Kiwanis programs focus on and within our school community. Our Terrific Kids program last spring continued in spite of the pandemic. Thank you to all of the teachers in our elementary schools who identify students and were able to get their awards and materials to them.

Sadly, given the lockdown that took place in the spring, the honoring of students in a school assembly was not part of this year’s program. We delivered cheques to each of the high schools for student awards for graduating students, awards which, like the Terrific Kids certificates, were sent to the successful student recipients.

This fall, we have been able to continue our Back to School Backpack program in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters. With the support of our local Staples store, we have been able to assemble over 60 backpacks along with supplies for students returning to school that required some support.

One of our largest and most important school programs is our Kiwanis Children’s Safety Village. Over the school year, the Village tours each of the 16 elementary schools in our area for a week at a time. After consultation with the school boards and our local partners such as the OPP, Hydro, Fire and Simcoe County Paramedics, this program has been put on hold. It is our hope that we will be able to re-start the program in 2021. We know how much the children, teachers and parents value and appreciate this program.

We are excited to share that we have made the decision to move to a “Virtual Auction” which will take place from Nov. 7 until Nov. 12. We are hopeful that many donors are able to continue to support our club.

We hope, too, that community members will become “bidders” to help us raise money for our ongoing programs, some of which are stated above and the additional requests for support that we do our best to meet throughout the year. Watch for updates in our local media and on our Kiwanis website.

Our Kiwanis Executive and Board continue to work to meet all of our community needs.

Have a safe, healthy and fun start to the school year.


Korine Keyzer,
President, Kiwanis Club of Orillia

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