A mission to bring Kiwanis back to Lewiston

Lewiston has the odd distinction of having a public park named after a service club that is no longer active in the community.

Rick Cook and a core group of volunteers are working to change that.

Cook, a retired minister who lives in Clarkston, was a member of Lewiston’s Kiwanis club before it “aged out” about three years ago. He continued to serve with the Pullman chapter of Kiwanis and is part of a growing number of valley residents who have signed on to form a new Lewiston-based chapter. Twelve people had signed up to join the club prior to a Wednesday organizational meeting in Lewiston. For the international organization to accept a new chapter, the local organizing group must receive commitments to join and serve from 15 people. This week’s gathering helped the Lewiston group reach that mark.

Craig Clohessy: When did you join Kiwanis and what got you interested in the first place?

Rick Cook: As a young pastor, I really felt the need to tie into a service club in my community, both for networking, as well as for being of service beyond what I was doing in the church. I found that Kiwanis really met those needs. (As a pastor) I moved from community to community, and sometimes there wasn’t a Kiwanis club, so I became a Rotarian — and once I became a Lion. ... The key is being in service. ... I always felt the common purpose of Kiwanis was to serve the children and youth of the world and our own community. And that’s always been a highlight in my life, ... not only with my own kids growing up but with others in the community. ... I moved back here nine years ago, primarily because I believed this community was really good at taking care of people, and I had served the church here back in the late 1970s and early ‘80s. I had a son still living here, and his family. I was single at the time and decided when I retired, and at the request of my son, to move here and get back involved with the Lewiston-Clarkston community.

CC: What different roles have you served with Kiwanis in the past?

RC: I’ve been the lieutenant governor for Kiwanis; I’ve been a president of Kiwanis. I’ve held some other offices. In the district recently I was their spiritual affairs and aims chairperson. Presently, I serve on the board of directors of the Kiwanis foundation, which serves the Kiwanis community by providing funds for scholarships for students going on to further their education, and it does fund small grants to go alongside some of the projects.

CC: What is the mission of Kiwanis?

RC: To put it in a nutshell, it’s really to serve the children of the world. ... Kiwanis is a family-oriented service club that builds on the family from birth to older adulthood. Kiwanis clubs sponsor different programs for different levels in schools that help kids to see how important service is and to make their own choices in terms of where they want to be in service and how they want to do that.

CC: Do you know when the old Kiwanis club originally formed in Lewiston?

RC: I believe it was in the 1920s. Early on ... there were three Kiwanis clubs in the valley: Lewiston Orchards, Lewiston Downtown and what they called the Banana Belt Club that met for breakfast.

CC: What has changed in the last three years that makes you and other organizers believe it’s the right time to bring Kiwanis back?

RC: I think we’re taking a whole different approach to service club work. We’re trying to let the community decide some of the priorities, let the members decide how they’re going to face these priorities and also how they’re going to meet. Are they going to meet every week for maybe lunch? Are they going to just meet once or twice a month and do service projects in between? There are a lot of different options that Kiwanis has made available to the communities where Kiwanis is serving. We’re finding that more and more younger people prefer not to have ... a bland program meeting once a week and then go home and maybe have a project or two. ... Time is valuable to the working man or woman. And I might say it was 30 (-plus) years ago now ... that Kiwanis (moved) to admit women to full membership. Women are now a good half of our membership.

CC: For those who weren’t able to make the Wednesday gathering, how do they find out more about the organization and what all is involved with being a member of Kiwanis?

RC: I would be happy to have my phone number [(509) 552-0406] be available for anybody that has any interest. (I can) sit down with them and talk about how I believe Kiwanis to be a program of the future that is really serving our communities.

CC: Anything else you’d like to add?

RC: As my wife says, I have a passion for Kiwanis. I’m excited to see it coming back into the valley. I have traveled up to Pullman and enjoyed the company of that club, but I want to be back involved in my community, and so I’m excited about the prospects of the new Lewiston club.

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Clohessy is managing editor of the Lewiston Tribune. He may be contacted at cclohessy@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2251.