Kiwanis Club held their pancake breakfast during the Bois D’Arc Bash on Saturday, Sept. 26 to raise money for less fortunate children during the Christmas season, both locally and abroad.
“Last year alone we were able to provide 458 Christmas packages to local kids,” Kiwanis Club member Charlie Smith said. “They’ve been hosting it for as long as the Bois D’Arc Bash has been going on.”
Smith has been a member of the local Kiwanis club for 18 years. He organizes the pancake breakfast each year and supervises its proceedings.
“We get about $1,200 in charity for the pancake breakfast,” Smith said. “We also get about $1,500 from the hamburgers.”
The Kiwanis Club switched to selling hamburgers shortly after the parade ended around 11 a.m., and they were sold throughout the rest of the day.
The hamburgers are a recent addition to the pancake breakfast, added only five years ago, Smith said. They get help from the local Sonic Drive-In, which makes selling the burgers possible. The proceeds from the hamburger sales go to the local Commerce Little Angels program, which was adopted by the Kiwanis Club in the late ’90s.
There are other programs the Commerce Kiwanis Club participates in all year round. They work actively with Commerce I.S.D. and the superintendent, Blake Cooper, to promote programs helping students attend Commerce Elementary, Middle School or High School.
“Anything we can do to work with service organizations we want to try to do,” Cooper said. “We’re in the kid business so we want to try and do everything we can to help them in those regards.”
One such program mentioned on their website, commercekiwanisclub.com, benefits the high school seniors about to graduate with intent to attend college by granting one man and one woman a $500 scholarship. Another program currently in development will offer an award to elementary students who set and meet the academic goals they set for themselves.
“We also help fund the incentive programs, which are various programs like pizza lunches or prizes for kids who make good grades,” Smith said.
The Commerce Kiwanis club has also been heavily involved in the Children’s Museum located in Commerce. They also support the literacy program at the library.
“We also help TX D.O.T. by picking up trash between Highway 50 and 225,” Smith said.
The turn out for the group has been great thus far according to Smith.
“We’re always looking for new members,” Smith said. “We currently have 25 members, which is more than I’ve seen in 18 years since I joined. All it takes is willing hands and a heart and $35.”
To get involved call 903-886-4733 or email them at: commercekiwanisclub@yahoo.com.