By Robert Barron, Staff Writer
Enid News and Eagle
ENID — Enid’s Kiwanis Club will mark it’s 90th birthday March 30.
The club that operates the rides at Meadowlake Park and has taken thousands of children and adults on train rides around the park will celebrate its Enid birthday March 31 at the clubs regular noon meeting, which will feature birthday cake.
Secretary-Treasurer Casey Felix said the birthday meeting will be an alumni luncheon with former and current members, and they also will invite members of the Builders Club and Key Club at Chisholm Schools, which are sponsored by the club.
“We’re gearing up for train season as usual, and we’re in the midst of a capital campaign and trying to further that along,” Felix said.
The train will be inspected in April, and Memorial Day weekend the train will start running for the summer. The Kiwanis Club has operated the train more than 50 years, including replacing it after a flood in the 1970s. Keeping the train in operation takes everyone in the club, plus other volunteers every summer, Felix said.
The Kiwanis also helps host the Little Olympics of Enid Schools. The school system sponsors the event for Enid children every year, but it was started by the Kiwanis in 1941.
“We still help time some events, run the concession stand and help out,” she said.
The Kiwanis also have sponsored Pointers on Pregnancy for expectant families. It is an annual seminar where families can learn what types of services are available in Enid for infants, from pre-natal care to newborns.
The Kiwanis assist a number of Enid organizations including Salvation Army, Leonardo’s Discovery Warehouse, Chisholm High School Prom, Enid High School Constitution Team, Boys State, Cystic Fibrosis in honor of Carly Potter, Enid Outlaws Baseball Team, Enid Public Schools (summer school class), Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in honor of Maddy Gray,Texas-Oklahoma Kiwanis Foundation, CKI Kiwanis Foundation, Kiwanis International Foundation, YMCA Back-A-Youth Program and OBA sports banquet. They also assist PEGASYS, the Santa Train and sponsor the Police Officer of the Year award.
Felix said Kiwanis is an International organization dedicating to serving the world, one community at a time. Most of their projects are directed toward helping children, she said.
