Circle K to help children in Panama
(dailyevergreen.com) A group of students will be in Panama this summer, but it will not be a leisurely Central American vacation.
The group is WSU’s Circle K International club and the members will build an elementary school for the country’s youth, said Katherine Barry, junior zoology major and Circle K president.
The group has raised money for building materials by organizing a hula-hoop-a-thon earlier this semester, Barry said. Circle K members are also creating handmade school bags to stuff with supplies and present to the future students of the Panama elementary school.
This trip is part of the club’s mission to serve the community, especially children, at home and internationally.
Circle K is the college component of the larger international community service group Kiwanis. In 1936, Kiwanis built a Circle K House that WSU men could live in, if they agreed to volunteer a certain number of hours, Barry said. This blossomed into Circle K and spread to other college campuses.
In past years, Circle K members went to Kenya to establish programs for high school students on environmental education and the importance of community service. They also went to Jamaica to repaint a school building and donate silverware, which they taught the students how to use, Barry said.
This year, WSU Circle K will participate in trick-or-treating for UNICEF, Relay for Life and Palouse Hunger Walk. The group will make fleece blankets for Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse, work at the Humane Society and Pullman Senior Center, and tutor in partnership with YMCA.
Barry said the main way Circle K fundraises is volunteering to man parking lots during home football and basketball games.
The benefits of Circle K are the opportunities and resources, but also the lack of structure and freedom afforded to members, Barry said. The club does not require community service projects, but members go based on their schedules and interests.
“With Circle K, I knew I would be able to make a difference within an organization but I would maintain my personality,” Barry said.
The group is student-run, which adds to the freedom, said Cameron Frederick, sophomore bioengineering major and Circle K regional lieutenant governor for southeast Washington.
The officers will make any project happen if a member wants it. It also is pretty easy to become an officer, he said.
“There are other ways to do community service, but what I like about Circle K is that it is about leadership,” he said.
Circle K’s community service emphasis on children is important, Barry said. She believes the only way to fix this generation’s mistakes is make the world better for future generations. Plus, she said, children are cute and fun to work with.
“It is so much easier to develop a relationship with a child based on body language and play,” Barry said. “Their youth transcends language barriers. It’s really special.” New students are always welcome, Frederick said, partly because the group is about camaraderie as well as service.
“The bigger the group, the more can be accomplished,” Barry said. “The more people we have, the bigger impact we can have.”
