Kiwanis Club returns to in-person meetings

The Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key is officially back in business. 

The club held its first meeting since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic on June 4, with over 15 members and guests in attendance at the club’s usual meeting place, the Lazy Lobster. Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport CEO Rick Piccolo spoke to the assembled crowd, noting that it was his first presentation since the pandemic. 

“I was a little bit nervous about it,” president Lynn Larson said. “This was our first meeting back … but it went very well. I was very pleased, and nobody ran up and hugged each other. We kept our distance. And meeting at a professional restaurant like that, I think is very good because they know the rules, and they know how to keep you safe.”

Even the club’s normal name tags were kept tucked away to reduce the amount of touch points at the meeting. During the pandemic, Kiwanians kept in touch largely through periodic emails, and club activity was difficult to keep up, as Zoom wasn’t a viable option. 

“I don’t think some of our people really wanted to navigate it,” Larson said. “What we did was just check our emails, make sure everybody's OK … I think everybody was just hunkered down.”

Larson and a couple other Kiwanians did stay in touch throughout the pandemic, and joined a few members of the Rotary Club of Longboat Key in making reusable masks for the Longboat Key first responders. They worked with Fire Chief Paul Dezzi to come up with a design that would most benefit the first responders. 

“That’s what kept me busy and kept me going in the right direction,” Larson said. “It kept me away from TV watching the virus numbers, so I did think it was good.”

The club missed two fundraising events during the strictest era of the coronavirus shutdown, and there are no plans to reschedule them. After the meeting on June 4, the club foundation stayed for a meeting to discuss their plans going forward. 

“It was a good foundation meeting, a strategy session (for) going forward,” member Bob Gault said. “We basically have a consensus that we want to continue with scholarship awards but we’re going to focus on trade school scholarships, because we feel it’s important that young people have a chance to learn a trade and (we can) help them along.”

The club is looking at when they can hold their next big fundraiser, which has annually been the Lawn Party. In 2019, it was held in December and benefitted the All-Star Children’s Foundation. Gault hopes to continue working with organizations like All-Star that help foster children and make those partnerships a focus in the future along with scholarships. 

“We’re trying to decide whether to move ahead with another Lawn Party in December,” Gault said. “We’re looking at options, whether we can do it alone or partner with another non-profit organization, but that’s not been resolved.”

The club’s meetings will help them decide how to go forward with fundraising and where they want the money to go, as the July meeting will feature a speaker from Children’s Guardian Fund, an organization that provides resources to foster children and those in state care. Gault hopes to partner with the organization in the future. 

Overall, Larson and Gault both hope to grow the club and hone in on partnerships that will help them help children in the area. Larson is considering reaching out to other Kiwanis clubs in the area for partnership, so they can learn and work together. 

“(I’m thinking about) partnering with some of the other Kiwanis groups to see if we can revitalize and compound our effort so we can get to raising money so we can give it away,” Larson said.