Dexter Kiwanis Club Celebrate 75th Anniversary at July 10 Chicken Broil

Submitted by Joe Medrano

The annual Dexter Kiwanis Club Chicken Broil on July 10 will be a celebration of 75 years of community service in the community. 

Kiwanians from around the county as well as past governors of the Michigan District of Kiwanis will be in attendance to celebrate.

The local Kiwanis Club was founded in June 1937 and has long been responsible for supplying help to make Dexter a better place to be with efforts toward the first football field for the high school, which is now a baseball diamond, as well as the addition of swings, grills and benches behind the Dexter Area Fire Department.

Some of the best-known family names have been on the rolls of the club in past years, as well as now.

The Kiwanis have also aided with "Stuff the Seniors," a Thanksgiving event at the senior center, and the addition of tennis courts, lights and an exercise work-out path through the community, to name a few.

More recently, the local club has provided third-graders with dictionaries each year and assisting the community with trees after the March 15 .

In years past, the Kiwanis Club made flowers available for residents at the bank in town during holidays such as Easter, Mother's Day and Christmas before there were floral shops in Dexter. When floral shops began to crop up in Dexter, the club declined to compete with a local merchant.

As times change, so too, do the projects, and the club still seeks to provide Dexter with service, seeking newer ideas from residents.

Without a building, the club meets at 6:30 p.m. the first and third Monday evening at the Peace Lutheran Church. New project ideas are in the works, looking to serve for another 75 years or more.