KIWANIS CLUB OF ST. BERNARD – HISTORY

The Kiwanis Club of St. Bernard was chartered on April 15, 1957. The chartering ceremony took place on May 29, 1957 at Lenfant’s Boulevard Room in New Orleans. There were 39 original chartering members. Dr. Ralph Dauterive is the last of the chartering members still active in the club. Our club was sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Third District. Jim Ryan was the club’s first President.

The first meeting place of the club was at Maumus Gym followed by Louque’s Restaurant and finally a permanent home at Bud’s Florist that served as the meeting place for many years to follow.

One of the first projects was the establishment of the Key Club at Chalmette High School. To this day, we continue to sponsor the Chalmette Key Club along with three Builders Club and five K-Kids.

In 1960 the scholarship program was established. This continues to be one of our finest programs which is a $4,000 scholarship awarded to a Key Club member. We have recently expanded our Scholarship Program to award a second $4,000 scholarship award for a qualifying St. Bernard graduating resident.

Other early projects included United Way, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Junior Achievement, Red Cross, Council on Aging, Boys & Girls Group Homes and Red Cross.

In 1979, our club constructed a playground at Parc Chenier (now Torres Park). Other playground projects included playground equipment for special education children at St. Claude Heights School and a second playground equipment construction at Torres Park.

In 1981, our club erected a Flag Pole at the Red Cross Chapter House followed by construction of a Flag Pole in 1983 which stands 66 feet and sits at the entrance to St. Bernard on St. Claude Ave. To this day, our Kiwanis Club maintains this flag pole regularly replacing the flag. Shortly afterwards, a memorial monument was constructed to recognize the service of our club’s deceased members.

In the 1990’s our club created programs such as Terrific Kids/Terrific Teens, Coats for Kids, Reading is Fundamental, Life Saver Award and Invention Convention.. Our newest program is the Read to Ride Program. In 1997, our club created the St. Bernard Kiwanis Foundation which has raised over $500,000 to fund the Kiwanis Service Projects as well as programs benefiting the St. Bernard Community.

The Kiwanis Club of St. Bernard has been an active service club in St. Bernard Parish for over 54 years and with 62 members strong and great leadership, the Kiwanis Club is looking forward to many more years of serving our community.