The Biscayne Bay Kiwanis (BiscayneBayKiwanis.org), one of South Florida’s most active community service organizations, recently read with second graders at Frederick Douglass Elementary, the organization’s 20th consecutive year of reading with inner-city students.
“Our partnerships with a wide variety of inner-city schools has expanded over the years to encompass many different service projects, but the reading program has always been one of the most impactful,” said Senior Circuit Court Judge Jeff Rosinek, former president of the Biscayne Bay Kiwanis who was one of the founders of the program when it began at Santa Clara Elementary.
“We help these youngsters improve their reading skills — which shows in their scores — and, at the same time, they know that the community cares about them,” Judge Rosinek added.
Rosinek said he received a call more than two decades ago from Santa Clara guidance counselor Gloria Rosen asking if the Kiwanis would like to partner with the school. Initially, members of the club bought school supplies and other needed materials. Rosen then suggested helping the students with their reading skills and the Biscayne Bay Kiwanis reading retention program began.
Today, on the first Wednesday of every month during the school year, members of the club gather at Frederick Douglass Elementary to read to — and with — second graders.
“We are very grateful to the Biscayne Bay Kiwanis for all they do for our students and our school,” said Douglass principal Yolanda Ellis. “Their interaction with our students, field trips and the reading program have all played a key role in our school achieving an ‘A’ ranking during the 2016-17 school year. You can’t have better partners than Kiwanis.”
According to Nellie Hernandez, a local mortgage banker, former Biscayne Bay Kiwanis president and regular reader at Douglass, the reading program benefits the readers as well as the students.
“The kids, of course, get to improve their reading and listening skills, but we get so much out of reading with the kids as well,” said Hernandez, known to the students as “the cookie lady” because she always finishes the reading by bringing cookies for the students.
“Being able to help them grow, learn and become responsible members of society is a great way to give back to our community,” Hernandez said.
The Biscayne Bay Kiwanis Club has a wide variety of successful programs serving youngsters in the inner city in addition to the monthly reading program. They include: providing lessons in etiquette, civics, and life skills; guided tours of the Everglades for children in shelters, public housing, and foster care; feeding the homeless and giving Thanksgiving meals to families; chaperoning field trips to local attractions, museums and sporting events; volunteering with and providing holiday gifts and field trips to disabled adults; giving school uniforms, supplies and backpacks to children in need and awarding of college scholarships to high school seniors. During the past seven years, the organization has awarded more than $200,000 in scholarships throughout Miami-Dade County.
For more information about the Biscayne Bay Kiwanis or to join in one of their community service projects, text or phone the club at 305-814-2225.
