Volunteer Opportunity of the Week: Circle K International (and the rest of the Kiwanis family).

Today I present to you my first Volunteer Opportunity of the Week blog post. This (hopefully) weekly feature will give details about one particular non-profit/community service organization that I have either personally worked with, or researched a great deal. Since I have mentioned Circle K a few times in my previous mosts, I thought that there's no better way to start off this feature than to give some information I talk about so much.

So, what is Circle K? Circle K is the world's largest collegiate service organization! Its 12,000+ members dedicate themselves to the tenants of service, fellowship, and leadership. Let's take a quick look at each:

Service

Service is certainly at the heart of what Circle K does. Whether it's tutoring a child, packaging meals for elderly citizens who are homebound, cleaning a park, or helping to raise money for any number of worthy causes, Circle K members love to help others! Since CKI does not focus on one particular non-profit, it's a good way for college students to explore what volunteer opportunities exist, and to see what they enjoy the most.

Leadership

Opportunities for leadership development occur often in CKI. Members can become officers at the club, district, or international levels. They can also serve as a committee chair or a committee member at any one of these levels as well. Many CKI clubs are small to medium sized, which gives new members plenty of opportunities to play an important role in the organization, and to have their voices heard. Moreover, leadership conferences and workshops at other conventions also help members to achieve their full leadership potential.

Fellowship

College students like to have fun, and CKI members are no exception! Clubs, districts and subregions often plan social events, where members spend time getting to know one another. Some examples include going on ski trips, tailgaiting at a football game, or going bowling. In addition, clubs hold district-wide events, where the first part of the day consists of service, and the second part consists of a social. This enables members to meet other people from CKI clubs throughout their state, or grouping of states. At the conventions, socializing, service, leadership training, business matters, and celebration of accomplishments are all combined into one awesome and jam packed weekend. All districts hold a convention (usually in March), and it is a great experience. Even more amazing though is the International Convention (ICON), where you can meet Circle K members from all over the country, and possibly from some other countries as well!

Another great thing about the Kiwanis family (all of the related clubs under the Kiwanis umbrella, of which Circle K is just one) is that anyone can get involved at any age! The different groups are:

K Kids- elementary school group
Builder's Club-the middle school group
Key Club- the high school group
Circle K- the college group
Kiwanis- the "adult" (aka working professionals) group.
Golden K- geared towards older adults.
Aktion Club- geared towards people with disabilities.

These groups may all have different names, but they all share the same purpose of serving others, especially the children of the world.

This post hasn't even begun to scratch the surface of what Circle K and the Kiwanis family are about, but it would be impossible to tell you everything in just one post. So for more information, check out www.circlek.org and www.kiwanis.org.

As a sidenote: CKI works with several service partners. Thus, my next few "Volunteer Opportunity of the Week" postings will be about these four organizations: Better World Books, UNICEF (and specifically the Six Cents Initiative), STUFH, and March of Dimes.