Greet­ings Fel­low Tigers,

As you all know, one hun­dred years ago, at the 1919 Kiwa­nis Inter­na­tion­al Con­ven­tion in Birm­ing­ham, Alaba­ma, USA, Kiwa­ni­ans pur­chased the orga­ni­za­tion from founder and orga­niz­er Allen S. Browne. That pur­chase led to a need for a new con­sti­tu­tion and under­ly­ing prin­ci­ples or “objects.” 

More than 800 pages of sug­ges­tions for the new con­sti­tu­tion were sub­mit­ted and con­sid­ered. Includ­ed in those 800 pages were six sug­ges­tions for the objects sub­mit­ted by New York Gov­er­nor Lew Mitchell.  Kiwa­nis mem­bers approved those six state­ments, with minor changes, at the 1924 Kiwa­nis Inter­na­tion­al Con­ven­tion in Den­ver, Colorado.

The six objects have remained unchanged since being approved in 1924. In 1974, Kiwa­nis Mag­a­zine edi­tor David Williams wrote, “Today they remain an inspi­ra­tion and a bea­con for any of us who choose to redis­cov­er them.”

So, we can look to the past to help us lead in the present. We face a glob­al pan­dem­ic, the effects of racism, shaky economies, and many oth­er seri­ous prob­lems. For­tu­nate­ly, the fol­low­ing Objects of Kiwa­nis still pro­vide an inspi­ra­tion and bea­con for our work as Kiwanians.

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

Thank you for being a Kiwan­ian and a mem­ber of the Eye of the Tiger eKi­wa­nis. Thank you for step­ping up to serve the chil­dren of the world and to address the prob­lems that we face. Thank you for uphold­ing the Objects of Kiwa­nis and for con­tin­u­ing to add clubs and mem­bers to main­tain those objects.

Lead on.

Sin­cere­ly,

Pres­i­dent Barb Thompson

Eye of the Tiger eKi­wa­nis Club