Service Leadership Programs

The Sun City West Kiwanis Club currently sponsors two service leadership programs (SLP) in charter schools in Surprise, AZ.  All service leadership programs are approved by the school’s principal and have a teacher as a faculty advisor.  A Sun City West Kiwanian serves as a liaison to each Club and attends their meetings and events. Prior to the school’s turning to virtual learning in March 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns, the Club sponsored a Builders Club and a K-Kids Club at the Desert Oasis Elementary School.

BUILDERS CLUB

The Sun City West Kiwanis Club sponsors a Builders Club in two charter schools in Surprise, AZ (Imagine Prep @ Surprise and Paradise Honors Middle School).  Members of these clubs learn to work together and develop leadership skills as they serve their schools and communities.  Builders Clubs work in partnership with UNICEF and the March of Dimes.  They operate under school regulations and draws their members from their respective student bodies.  The Sun City West Kiwanis Club supports them financially, while Kiwanis International provides guidelines, programs, education resources and club recognition opportunities.  Builders Club is the largest service organization for middle school and junior high students, with more than 45,000 members worldwide.  (www.buildersclub.org)

Paradise Honors Middle School Builders Club members volunteered at the A Mighty Change of Heart’s warehouse, filling personalized duffle bags with new clothes and other basic necessities.
Members of the Paradise Honors Middle School Builders Club shopped at Target, with money raised from their “Penny Wars” event, for clothing, toiletries, books and diapers to donate to A Mighty Change of Heart for foster kids.
Paradise Honors Middle School Builders Club members volunteered at the A Mighty Change of Heart’s warehouse, filing personalized duffle bags with new clothes and other basic necessities.

Members of the Imagine Prep @ Surprise Builders Club, along with their faculty advisor, participated in the Out of Darkness Community Walk in Scottsdale for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The Club donated $1,700 that they raised via an online fundraiser.

KEY CLUB

The Sun City West Kiwanis Club sponsors two high school Key Clubs at charter schools – Paradise Honors High School and Imagine Prep @ Surprise.  Key Club is an international, student-led organization that provides its members with opportunities to provide service, build character and develop leadership skills.  Key Club members perform acts of service in their communities, such as cleaning up parks, collecting clothing and organizing food drives.  They learn leadership skills by running meetings, planning projects and holding elected leadership positions at the club, district and international levels.  Key Club is a growing organization with global reach, with thousands of clubs in more than 38 countries.  Key Club aims to cooperate with school principals and teachers to provide high school students with invaluable experience in living and working together and to prepare them for useful citizenship.  (www.keyclub.org)

Members of the Imagine Prep @ Surprise Builders Club, alone with Kiwanis Advisor Carole Bakken (3rd from right) and Faculty Advisor River Hardy (far right) gather out front of the Valley View Community Food Bank before they started sorting cases of chips, bananas and other food items. The Food Bank is located in Sun City near Peoria and 107th Avenue.
Members of the Imagine Prep @ Surprise Builders Club help sort ripe bananas when they worked at the Valley View Community Food Bank on a Saturday in February 2022.
In addition to sorting bananas, the members of the Imagine Prep @ Surprise Builders Club also unpacked cases of chips