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ANNIVERSARY It started in 1914 Allen Browne organized Kiwanis years ago My name is Browne Allen Browne says the intense bespectacled man on your doorstep I want to discuss the possibilities of organizing a group of business and professional men into a fra ternal club with a sick benefit feature It s August Detroit is buzzing with the news that war has broken out in Europe It hot and this man is some sort of salesman What do you do with him If you tell him you re not interested you missed the chance of a lifetime the chance to become the first Joseph Prance a 33 year old mer chant tailor was not one to close the door when opportunity came knocking He invited Allen S Browne into the shop to discuss his proposal ALLEN BROWNE the man who cre ated Kiwanis Out of that conversation between a professional organizer and a respected but otherwise unremarkable tailor came one of the great service organizations of the world International It wasn of course quite that easy Browne earned his Irving by organizing lodges for the Order of Moose He looked upon his new organization as a business venture Prance had served for three years as president of a similar group complete with sick benefit feature and was not entirely satisfied with his experience Yet he wanted to try Together they began recruiting new members Browne as the professional would receive the membership fee from each member for his services Prance was the first to sign up But rife was not yet the first Kiwaman for the name that Browne had chosen for the group was truly in the spirit of the times The Supreme Lodge Benevolent Order Brothers The growing member ship soon fixed that As one member re marked Who wants to belong to a club called BOB With a helping hand from a Detroit a phrase from a local Indian language Nun Kee wan is was adapted as a name The phrase translated as We Iraile We get to gethcr or We ruvt a time we make a noise During a club meeting in January 1915 was approved as the new name for the club which had attracted nearly 200 members in only six months A cor charter was issued by the State of Michigan dated January That date has been ihe official birthday of Kiwanis ever since Browne envisioned Kiwanis primary purpose as encouraging business patron age between the members Orrty four men in each business category could be long to the club and Browne recruiting pitch suggested hat joining would result in patronage of the new member s business by his fellow mans With the founding of the Club of Detroit Kiwamans discovered that they were having a good time and that they could indeed make a noise in the world But not by scratching each other backs in business They could do it by rendering important service without thought of personal gam Even before the Detroit club was for mally chartered us members were do THE OBJECTS OF Adopted TO GIVE PRIMACY to the human and spiritual rather than to the material values of life TO ENCOURAGE the daily Irving of the Golden Rule in all human relation ships TO PROMOTE the adoption and the application of higher social business and professional standards TO DEVELOP by precent and example a more intelligent aggressive and serviceable citizenship TO PROVIDE through clubs a practical means to form enduring friendships to render altruistic service and to build better communities TO COOPERATE in Treating and maintaining that sound public opinion and high idealism which make possible the increase of righteousness justice patriotism and good will nating funds to churches for food baskets to aid the needy at Not long after the Detroit legally adopted a five yearold boy from a bro ken home providing for his support and education until his mother remained Meanwhile however trouble loomed The founding club of an organization that today embraces 315 members in 500 clubs in nations faltered and nearly failed only six months after it had so proudly adopted its new name The cause Allen S Browne Or more specifically club members who did not like Browne or the financial arrangement Kiwanis had with him The membership fee collected and kept by Browne was up to by July 1915 And Browne legally owned Ki warns During a club meeting with Joe Prance presiding in the absence of presi dent Don Johnston accusations were made against Browne They wcrcn true but a furor developed that left the first watching helplessly as the first club disintegrated before his eyes Afterward Joe Prance wrote Every one started talking at once all 175 of them The meeting was not only getting out of control it was a stampede When the smoke cleared we had about fifty members left Secretary Ottie Robertson and Allen Browne disgusted left for Cleveland to organize a club there It was a wise move Browne and Robertson started a club ih Cleveland that boasted a membership of 135 in ten weeks The Cleveland Kiwamaas began building other clubs And it was in Cleveland that service and its special concern for took firm root The new dub soon started a nursery school for leged children Meanwhile Detroit president Don Johnston diplomatically pulled his club togethii More important he eagerly supported a membership drive to the club back to full strength hid stumbled during the sum of But it did not fall And now with major clubs in Detroit and Clcvc and with others on the way it is back on us feet stronger than ever Those first Kiwamans sensed the tiny of their small but vigorous Hon And they knew what to dq when a spark ignites a fire They fanned the flames by calling the first con vention in Cleveland for May 18 19 1916 The delegates elected officers adopted a constitution and returned home believing as the first Secretary ben Dodge would declare at the Detroit convention a year later We belong to a wonderful organization The delegates gathered in Detroit in 1917 represented more than clubs and more than 5 Kiwamans in two Two nations That The club that made international Ham ilton Ontario was organized on No 1 1916 So important did the Hamilton Spectator newspaper deem the event that it devoted nearly 14 pages to the new club and to the goals and achievements of Kiwanis At the convention in Providence Rhode Island Secretary Dodge was pleased to report that Kiwanis clubs had been chartered with 10 mem bcrs Kiwanis ignited a burning desire for service and fellowship it was spreading Yet within the organization a fire of a different sort still smoldered When len Browne contract was brought up for discussion in Providence the fire flared CONGRATULATIONS on 75th Anniversary STEVEN FOSTER BALLB Barristers Solicitor 37 Main St South Georgetown 416 COMPLIMENTS OF the DELEGATES to the first Kiwanis convention in 1916 wore paper Indian bonnets during the banquet to represent the derivation of the Kiwanis name from an Amer ican Indian phrase This was one tradition that did not last long Many Kiwamans recognized and orcd Allen Browne great as the founder of Kiwanis Yet others were uneasy even angry that their or nation was owned for an individual s profit Then during the May morning of the convention in Burning ham Alabama the Browne matter was settled for all time A new contract with Allen Browne came up for review Its terms were simple Browne agreed to sell his interest in the organization for 500 if he received payment within 24 hours The delegates were thunderstruck and immensely pleased The Club of Baltimore put up the first 500 The rest was raised in an hour It was an historic moment Kiwanis had bought itself and was free to its own future in and service limited only by the imagination arid energy of Us members During the following year something important crystallized for Kiwanis Something that inspired Roe Fuikerson gifted first editor of Kiwanis Maga to propose two simple words as the motto I have written for you probably 100 words later told a convention every one of which has been forgotten save two God in spired me to wnte those two We Build I am prouder of them than any other complement of my life I believe that those two words perhaps justify my wants activities Roe of course- went on to wnte many more words for his fellow contributing to their magazine until his death in But it was the coining of that motto after five years of painful and exhilarating growth that put Kiwanis into us In their Kiwamans had always known why they were Kiwa mans Roe Fuikerson put it into words That was 1920 Kiwanis numbered clubs and members The immedi ate future held much adoption of the six Objects the founding of the first Key Club for high school students phc growth Yet those two words We Build be came the guiding force and inspiration for the important work of Kiwanis They promised then as they do now that for the best is yet to be What nan acres a window on a new world two barking dogs and a ton of fun Camp the St area camp for underprivileged children is many things to many people Tor the underprivileged children of St Louis it is a place to romp and discover nature Area senior citizens find a golden opportunity in it to enjoy the outdoors And for St Louis area it is a major service project that provides them with a great sense of satisfaction Located in Eureka Missoun and adjacent to more than acres of forest Camp ih a year round outdoor education facility 250 000 people attended the camp in its 84 year history in 1947 local Kiwanis clubs assumed sponsorship of the camp as well as day today management of the facility Kiwanis International a community service organization raised more than million this year for community service projects With more than 320 members in clubs the K Family serves 73 nations and includes two coed youth affiliates A KIWANIS CONCERN HOME NEWSPAPER OF HALTON HILLS ESTABLISHED GEORGETOWN 8772201 CONGRATULATIONS on the 75th Anniversary NORTH HALTON GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB Georgetown Ontario 8775236 I