By William Tauro

Over one hundred attendees attended the Somerville Kiwanis Annual Interclub Saint Patrick’s Event this past Thursday afternoon.

The well attended event was held at the Somerville Holiday Inn where Somerville Kiwanis Club President Tony Ciccariello and Master of Ceremony James A Lynch III greeted the crowd with opening comments as well as an array of Saint Patrick Day humor and a full course traditional corned beef and cabbage Irish dinner.

Included in attendance were other local city and town Kiwanis club members from throughout the Metro Boston area as well as Somerville Rotary and Lions Club Members.

There were sing-a-longs and raffle prizes that guests participated in at the event.

Somerville Alderman/Past Kiwanis President Jack Connolly also introduced this year’s guest speaker, Dawn Morrissey who is the executive director for the “Irish Film Festival, Boston Celebrates 15 Years” that will appear from March 19 through 22 at Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, Somerville.

The Kiwanis were founded in Detroit, Michigan, in 1915. They were initially a business networking organization, but eventually changed their focus to community service.

The organization’s primary mission is molding good kids into exceptional adults. They offer programs that teach leadership skills, the importance of community, and offer services like after-school tutoring programs. Annually, Kiwanis sponsors around 150,000 projects that cover a wide spectrum of services and raise over $100 million for their communities.

Kiwanis is one of the few organizations that offers membership to almost all age groups—from elementary school students to adults. Combined, there are approximately 600,000 members in 8,000 clubs throughout 96 countries.