READ AROUND THE WORLD Kiwanis’s Read Around the World program is an international service project run by Kiwanis International and sponsored by Scholastic. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closing of schools for over a year and a half, members of the Kiwanis Club of Sun City West helped students once a week with reading deficiencies to improve their reading skills and increase their level of comprehension. The state of Arizona requires students to be able to read at a third grade level before advancing to the fourth grade. As Kiwanians, we work with designated students to give them the extra support and confidence to improve their reading skills.
B.U.G. (Bring Up Grades) Bring Up Grades or BUG is a program designed to provide recognition to students who raise their grades into an acceptable range and maintain or continue to raise them from one grading period to the next. The Kiwanis Club of Sun City West provides the monthly B.U.G. program in 2 schools in the Nadaburg Unified School District (Desert Oasis Elementary and Nadaburg Elementary). The program is designed for teachers to use in middle schools. Recognition includes receiving a B.U.G. certificate, pencil and other theme giveaways. A picture of each student is taken with their certificate to take home. At the end of school year, an assembly is held where our Club honors one boy and one girl per grade who teachers select as the most academically improved. Each is presented with a trophy and a certificate. (www.kiwaniskids.org/bring-up-grades)
READING IS FUNDAMENTAL (RIF) is the nation’s largest children’s literacy non-profit. RIF believes every child deserves an opportunity to own books, learn how to read, and obtain the fundamental building blocks to achieve their highest potential. Literacy opens doors and enables every child the chance to live their own journey. The Kiwanis Club of Sun City West supports RIF by reading once a month to all 1st through 3rd grade classes at two elementary schools in the Nadaburg Unified School District. Kiwanis members and spouses schedule their reading with individual teachers during the months of January, February and March. The Club purchases books through a partnership with Scholastic Books so that each child in each classroom every month receives a book to take home. (https://www.rif.org
TERRIFIC KIDS is a student-recognition program that promotes character development, self-esteem and perseverance. “Terrific” is an acronym for Thoughtful, Enthusiastic, Respectful, Responsible, Inclusive, Friendly, Inquisitive and Capable. Students work with their classroom teacher to establish goals to improve behavior, peer relationships, attendance or school work. The Kiwanis Club of Sun City West provides the Terrific Kids program in 3 schools – Desert Oasis, Nadaburg and Morristown. The program is designed for teachers to recognized monthly one boy and one girl in grades K-4th who best exemplify that month’s character trait. Recognition includes receiving a Terrific Kid sticker, certificate, pencil and other Kiwanis related giveaways plus a picture of them holding their certificate to take home. At the end of the school year, an assembly is held where our Club honors one boy and one girl per grade who best exemplify all the Terrific Kids character traits. Each is presented with a trophy and a certificate. (www.kiwaniskids.org/terrific-kids)
YOUNG CHILDREN PRIORITY ONE (YCPO) is an ongoing community service program of Kiwanis International that addresses the needs of children age 0–5. The program has a focus on maternal and child health, child care and development, parent education and support plus safety and pediatric trauma. The Kiwanis Club of Sun City West partners with Banner Del Webb Hospital’s Pediatric Emergency Department to supply them with a mix of story and activity books. All activity books are accompanied by a small box of crayons. All books are available to both the patient and the patient’s siblings and are theirs to keep. Since the first delivery of books in 2017, the club has donated over 3,000 books prior to the hospital stopping all visitations (including book donations) in March 2020 due to COVID-19. The program was restarted in July 2021 with the delivery of 150 activity books. Banner Del Webb’s Pediatric Emergency Department sees, on average, 450 patients per month.
