To every Kiwanis member who is taking the time to visit this website. Thank you for your interest and for being a Kiwanian.  I know that YOU are the one, and if I am elected Kiwanis International Vice President, together, WE WILL continue to make a difference!


Serving the Children of the World®

 

Barb Thompson for

Kiwanis International Vice President

​

Candidate for Kiwanis International Vice President

​​​​

​       MISSION          

      Both in my career and in Kiwanis, I have a passion for helping children to live their best lives and for working with adults to improve the world one child and one community at a time. We have many challenges facing us:  a global pandemic, loss of membership, and an increasing number of communities and children who desperately need our help. I have ideas for meeting those challenges and want to hear your ideas. I humbly ask for the opportunity to serve as Kiwanis International Vice President so that together we can turn those ideas into realities.




​






Kiwanis MemBership:  "we Build"

          Picture a small group of men joining together a hundred years ago in the midst of a world war to form a fraternal group and promote their businesses.  The group quickly morphed into an organization with the goal of community service, and Kiwanis was chartered by the state of Michigan in 1915. They faced the challenge of building an organization from the ground up during dark times.  They met that challenge.

          A century later, our children and communities still need our help. We must reverse our membership losses and continue to build the Kiwanis organization to meet their needs, with new clubs and with growth of existing clubs.  As a club builder, I know that club building requires commitment, organization, and effort. As a club member, I know it is challenging to keep the roster at +1.  We must do both:  build and maintain more diverse clubs that reflect and serve our communities. We must remain relevant in our meetings and in our service to retain our  members.  If I am elected Kiwanis International Vice President, I will work with you to meet those challenges.

      Through growth, we will increase our capacity for service and will continue our strong legacy of  “Serving the Children of the World.”


​

​









​​Service Leadership Programs:  "We Build Leaders"   


          In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,“Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve.” Through Kiwanis Service Leadership Programs, we build leaders who serve.  We empower youth, young adults in college, and adults living with disabilities to become competent, capable, and compassionate leaders.  Kiwanis members have the privilege of serving and guiding these young leaders and giving them the opportunity to learn to help others.

       Building our Kiwanis membership will enable us to stay strong to serve the Service Leadership Programs that we have and to build more in our schools and communities.  It strengthens the present and secures the future so that “Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world, one child and one community at a time.”​

​

​​




​​





​​THE ELIMINATE PROJECT:  WE BUILD A HEALTHY WORLD​ 

​     Through The Eliminate Project, the Kiwanis family builds a healthy world by  protecting more than 61 million mothers and their future babies from maternal and neonatal tetanus. It also helps us to build Kiwanis, as potential members are attracted by the project, and it has provided a model of a grassroots-led campaign that we are using to help us grow.  Both Charlie and I are members of model clubs and Walter Zeller fellows, and I was honored to serve as a Multi-Division Coordinator in the Missouri-Arkansas District and as a member of the Speakers Bureau.  The Eliminate Project provides a great example of how Kiwanis is  "An international organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time."

​