There are many people in Bradford who serve the community behind the scenes — and the Kiwanis Club of Bradford wants to make sure those people feel recognized.
The group will hold a Kiwanis Community Service Breakfast from 7:45 to 9:15 a.m. April 10 at the Bradford Club, and the invitation goes out to anyone who is involved in community service, said Kathy Durner, a Kiwanis member who is helping organize the event. There is a $10 cost to attend.
“The goal was to bring in the service groups and basically just recognize them, to recognize the community service that’s done in Bradford,” she said.
Over the years, Kiwanis has held similar events to this year’s breakfast, including luncheons and other breakfasts, but the event has been adjusted during that time to be more a community-based event.
Durner explained the event was originally a community prayer breakfast, but it was changed to be a community service breakfast.
The event will include an invocation by the Rev. Ray Gramata and a benediction by the Rev. Stacey Fussell, who is also a Kiwanis member.
Dr. M. Javed Akhtar will give a talk about a recent medical humanitarian work he performed in Bangladesh, the location of a refugee camp for Rohingya Muslims from the Rakhine State, Myanmar.
“We thought that Dr. Akhtar would be a great speaker, since he’s doing some wonderful service outside of the community,” said Durner.
Also at the breakfast, Steve Kloss will lead the Pledge of Allegiance, and Dave Geitner will lead the group in the national anthem.
Among the breakfast attendees will be elementary-age children through adults, as K-Kids — the Kiwanis group at School Street Elementary School — will take part. Participants in other Kiwanis-sponsored programs are invited to take part, too.
“I think the community needs to see that it’s not just adults,” said Durner. “The kids are doing good things, too.”
In addition to K-Kids, there is a Builders Club at Floyd C. Fretz Middle School, the Key Club at Beacon Light’s Custer City private school and Bradford Area High School, the Circle K club at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford and the Aktion Club for adults.
The Kiwanis Club of Bradford will take reservations through Wednesday from anyone from a community service group who wants to attend. Durner noted that attendees should be able to get out by 9 a.m. so they can get to work.
Anyone from a local non-profit organization who wants to attend can RSVP to Kathy Durner at 331-2240 or rkdurner@atlanticbb.net. Messages should include the name of the organization attending and number of members attending.
Looking ahead at the rest of April, Kiwanians will be taking students to a Key Leader event the weekend of April 20.
The Kiwanis Club of Bradford will have a station at Kids Fest on April 28 at the YMCA, too.
