Club Profile

The Kiwanis Club of Columbia was organized March 30, 1920, with charter granted on August 6, 1920. It is the oldest civic club in Columbia, and the only one to survive the Great Depression. W. S. Beasley served as the first president and the only one to serve two years.

Not only is it the oldest club in Columbia, it is also the largest club in Division 1-West of the Kentucky-Tennessee District. Through the years the club has sponsored several new Kiwanis Clubs, two Key Clubs, a Builders Club and a Circle K Club. The Kiwanis Clubs are still active today in Franklin, 1922; Lewisburg, 1989; Lawrenceburg,1953; Fayetteville, 1957; Giles County,1981; Maury County Golden K,1991and Bedford County Golden K,1992. Also, the Key Club was established at Columbia Central High School in 1942.

Through the years, the club has helped build sidewalks (1933-34); organized the Central High School Band (1938); worked in World War II scrap and bond drives; put a fence around Maury County Football Stadium; conducted horse shows and tractor pulls; and built two large picnic shelters, one in Maury County Park (1964-65), and in Woodland Park (1978-79); furnished and installed lighting for new arena at Maury County Park (1985).

The Club was incorporated in Tennessee, June 6, 1949, and by Kiwanis International in 1955.

2006-2007 Club Officers

Club Events

Mule Day Fundraiser:  First Weekend of April
YMCA/Kiwanis 11th Annual Golf Tournament:  April  2007
Headstart Reading Day:  2nd Tuesday of each month from Sept.-May at 10:30am
Travelogue:  Contact Jeff Jacob for dates and info

Objects of Kiwanis

• To give primacy to the human and spiritual, rather than the material values of life.
• To encourage the daily living of the Golden Rule in all human relationships.
• To promote the adoption and application of higher social, business, and professional standards.
• To develop, by precept and example, a more intelligent, aggressive, and serviceable citizenship.
• To provide, through this club, a practical means to form enduring friendships, to render altruistic service, and to build a better community.
• To cooperate in creating and maintaining that sound public opinion and high idealism which make possible the increase of righteousness, justice, patriotism, and goodwill.

2005 Kiwanis International Convention Report

Bill Clardy represented Kiwanis of Columbia, TN at the 90th Kiwanis International Convention. Below are some of his thoughts and experiences of the convention. The 90th Annual Kiwanis International Convention was held in Honolulu, Hawaii, July 2 - 6, 2005, in a casual and relaxed atmosphere. There was great celebration of the 90 years of Kiwanis. The obvious theme was "Changing the world, one child and one community at a time." The delegate meeting and voting was interesting. There was much discussion regarding the new $50 membership fee for new members. This will not be prorated, but will be a flat one time $50 fee. It was pointed out that KI is now solvent; having paid off its bills. One interesting tidbit was that all speakers and candidates were allowed 3 minutes to speak. They were then cut off immediately after three minutes to the second. KI has a goal of reaching one million members by 2015. Another goal is to have 23% of the membership female. There also was more talk of having more diversity in officers as well as in the regular membership. Most ballot changes or amendments were postponed until 2006 in Montreal because the delegates could not agree and people wanted more time to study the proposals. One proposal would have changed the club to a 501- 3C organization and another proposal called for the KI Treasurer to be a Certified Public Accountant. A lot of the controversy stemmed from whether delegates should set the membership fees or should this be done by KI. Some delegates feel that $50 is too high and will hinder reaching the goal of 1 million. Others feel that the $50 is not too high and if an individual wants to join Kiwanis, he/she will pay the fee. The amendment was adopted to suspend payment for Key Club Members or other students who stay in school until they are 25 and join KI. The liability issue was discussed and the recommendation was made that every club should have a safety coordinator. The safety officer's job would be prevention and being proactive; especially in potentially high risk activities. The number of claims (55 last year) is not the issue. However, the severity of the claims are significant. Sexual harassment, auto accidents, and employment practices have caused problems with very high pay outs. Honolulu, as most people know, is a beautiful city. It also is America's 11th largest city. The average price of a home is $600,000. Attending the 90th annual Kiwanis International Convention was a treat. I very much appreciate the opportunity. Sincerely/Bill

Distinguished Members