By William Tauro
This past Saturday evening, the Somerville Kiwanis Club celebrated ninty years of service as a club in the City of Somerville.
There were over two hundred Kiwanis members, friends, elected officials and other service club members as invited guest at the Somerville Holiday Inn’s main ballroom.
After the invocation by Past Kiwanis President Dave O’Brien, The gala began and included cocktails, a sitdown dinner fit for a king, raffles, presentations, a great Somerville Kiwanis video and a wonderful informational performance skit but yet very comical by Masters of Ceremony Sal Bertolami and Frank Bellistri who are also members of the Kiwanis club.
Special Guests included Somerville Mayor the Honorable Joseph Curtatone, Massachusetts State Senator Patricia Jehlen, Kiwanis Immediate Past Governor NE District George Delisle and his wife Geanna and Kiwanis NE District Division 14 Lutenent Governor Matthew Laidlaw, President of the Somerville Board of Alderman William White, Alderman Mary-Jo Rossetti and Somerville Kiwanis President Anthony Ciccariello and his wife Janet who were all in attendance at the event.
Mayor Curtatone, a Kiwanian himself spoke at the event and gave praise to the club for it’s accomplishments and thanked them for their continuous years of dedicated service to the community.
Club president Anthony Ciccariello said in his Presdent’s Message that the Club’s history is truly one of men and women who give their time talent and resources to serving the children of the world as importantly, the clubs legacy is also one of helping children and residents in the Somerville community. Somerville Kiwanians have, through the past nine decades and generations of members, been bound by a common thread. It is a bond which begins with a love of our city and a belief in the potential and prosperity of every man, woman and child in it.”
The event’s chairpersons were Former Somerville Mayor Eugene Brune, Susan Callahan and Elaine McMichael.
Since their formation in 1925 as a service club in Somerville, the Somerville Kiwanis Club, has been a helping hand to assist many people in need especially to the children from local families and beyond Somerville.
They’ve been a major partner with the city in helping charitable organizations and organizing events and dinners for the elderly.
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.
