WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Organizers are seeking to reestablish the Upper Valley Kiwanis Club which closed in 2017.

An organizational meeting for a the new club will be held on Sept. 26 at 6 p.m. at the Hartford Parks and Recreation Center located at 171 Bridge St. in White River Junction.

Kiwanis Club is an international network of service clubs that aim to make a difference in children’s lives with a focus on health, nutrition, education, literacy and youth leadership development. Their defining statement is: “Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world, one child and one community at a time.”

Globally, Kiwanis members take part in 1.3 million service projects and raise nearly $390 million every year for their causes, according to their website.

“Kids need good mentorship,” Club Opening Specialist Miranda Burton said. “Kiwanis is one of the service organizations that can help provide that for our future leaders, business owners and citizens.”

With the hope of starting a chapter of Kiwanis in the area, Burton is traveling from her home in Pennsylvania, with George Delisle, of Westfield Mass., membership chairman of the New England & Bermuda Kiwanis district, to Lebanon, Hanover and White River Junction next week.

They, along with a team, have been contacting local businesses and prospective members in advance and will meet with people all week.

“It seems to be very positive,” said Burton when asked how the response from the community has been so far, “they once had a club here so it definitely looks like they’d like to bring it back.”

The previous Upper Valley Kiwanis Club in Lebanon closed around 2017, said Claremont Kiwanis member Jeffrey Coburn, who is lieutenant governor of the Kiwanis district. The Upper Valley club closed due to lack of membership, an issue that service clubs across the country face as they struggle to recruit young members.

Delisle said his approach is to try to build clubs in communities where there previously had been Kiwanis Clubs. He said some clubs can be cliquey and resistant to change. Part of his job is encouraging clubs to recruit and welcome younger members.

“If you’ve got energetic young people joining your club, for the love of God give them the keys to the bus and let them drive,” he said.

Judy DiPadova, president of the Claremont Kiwanis Club, is excited to have a new club in the area but does not yet know if the Claremont Kiwanis will sponsor the club.

“It is a big undertaking that will require the approval of our entire club,” said DiPadova, who has been a Kiwanis for 10 years.

The Claremont club has been around for nearly 75 years, has 57 members and is “very active,” said DiPadova.

“Our members here volunteer a lot of time and are very passionate,” she said, noting that club members log about 100 service hours each month.

In 2023, the club awarded the Claremont Parks and Recreation Department with $50,000 for new playground equipment at Barnes Park. The money for the equipment came from annual fundraisers such as bell ringing in the winter, the BIG Kiwanis Auction in the spring, and the Brewfest & 5K in the fall, which this year will be held on Sept. 21. The 5K kicks off at 11:30 a.m., and the Brewfest starts at 12 p.m. for VIP ticket holders and 1 p.m. for general admission.

Sponsoring a new club is a one-year time commitment at minimum. It would require Claremont members to train officers, plan service projects, and ensure the club maintains 15 members, which is the minimum membership level required by Kiwanis International.

If the new club is established, the members will decide on when, where and how often meetings will happen as well as the types of service projects they will do.

The Claremont members are expected to vote on whether they want to take up the sponsorship during their Oct. 3 meeting.

“If they decide to not be a sponsor club, we will find another sponsor club,” said Delisle. There are clubs outside of the Upper Valley and e-clubs — clubs that meet online — that could sponsor a new club and Delisle is confident that folks from the Claremont club will be willing to help out even if they decide not be formal sponsors.

“I get a lot of personal satisfaction from the work that Kiwanis does and that’s the reason I’m so active in trying to bring other people into the organi zation,” said Delisle.

Emma Roth-Wells can be reached at erothwells@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.