The Kiwanis Club of Ottawa West is one of over 8000 clubs in 70 nations with membership in excess of a quarter of a million people working to serve the children of the world. Twenty seven people crowded into the Barrhaven Restaurant with a view to becoming members of this unique Kiwanis Club. The Kiwanis Club of Manotick had recognized the potential for another Kiwanis Club in the growing west end of Ottawa. As soon as Kiwanis International removed the gender restriction, (can you believe, men only), they sponsored the first Ottawa Kiwanis breakfast club. It was also the first mixed gender club and the first group to have a woman as a President. Later, this same club would have one of its members become the first women Governor for Eastern Canada and the Caribbean. The name of the club was the Kiwanis Club of Carleton when it was chartered; however, it was changed in 2003 to the Kiwanis Club of Ottawa West to better reflect the area of the city where the club was concentrating its activities. It has always been a less formal, practical and innovative club with an emphasis on its members having a good time while doing good works. During the twenty years of its existence, many hundreds of thousands of dollars have been raised to improve the local communities, as well as help eradicate Iodine Deficiency Disorder on a global scale. Some, but certainly not all of the club’s projects and support over this time has been; The Youville Center, The Salvation Army, CHEO, The Kiwanis Music Festival, The Carlington Community and Health Center, Dovercourt Community Center, The Ambassadors Hockey League, The Palliative Care Outreach Program, Annavale Nursery School, local schools and literacy programs as well as sponsoring a Key Club at Bell High school and an Aktion club (Kiwanis for challenged individuals). The main fundraiser for the club has been its annual “Lobsterfest”. One of the last Fridays in May is set aside when the whole club works very hard to serve four hundred to seven hundred people to a delicious meal of three lobsters, salads, and desserts. Silent auction, art auction as well as dancing to a band rounds out the evening. The size of the club has never varied greatly – anywhere from twenty-six to forty members. However, the influence and the community service provided by the club have far outstripped the size of its membership.
