Members from the Kinsmen, Kinettes, Optimist and Rotary service clubs volunteer at the Shoestring Warehouse, part of The Outreach Centre, for the final day of Red Deer Service Clubs Week on Friday. (Supplied)

By Alessia Proietti

5 Clubs, 5 charities, 5 days

Red Deer Service Clubs Week wraps up with hopeful future

Sep 17, 2022 | 11:01 AM

This Friday marked the final day of Red Deer Service Clubs Week and members are hoping the initiative grows with each year.

On Sept. 8, Mayor Ken Johnston proclaimed the week from Sept. 11-17 where five service organizations would join forces to help five local charities across five days.

The first of its kind in recent history, the nine clubs included Rotary (with Rotary East and Sunrise), Kiwanis, Optimist (including Piper Creek), Lions and Kinsmen (with Kinette) Clubs. The five charities included The Mustard Seed, The Golden Circle, Youth HQ, the Red Deer Food Bank, and The Outreach Centre.

The Clubs contributed a combined $2,500 for each charity and members from each club volunteered one day at each charity.

On Sept. 16, members from the service clubs helped at The Outreach Centre with their Tools for School program and organized the Shoestring Warehouse, a program donating used household items to individuals transitioning out of homelessness.

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Among other things, the Kinettes stuffed Tools for School backpacks and helped clean Youth HQ’s Camp Alexo.

“The power of people can really get stuff done,” said Derek Fredeen, Red Deer Kinsmen. “It really helps the organizations speed up their processes to help the community a lot more efficiently.”

Ryan Lund with Piper Creek Optimist Club agrees, saying, “Creating awareness is really important because there’s so many people that want to volunteer, but they don’t know how to go about it or know which clubs and organizations need the help.”

Kiwanis Club of Red Deer President, Milt Williams, said they know the various groups appreciate the extra help.

“Some of them were quite surprised this was happening and that they’d been selected for it,” he said. “It’s nice to help groups that help the community themselves.”

Adds Myles Peake, The Outreach Centre’s Fund Development Director: “With the service clubs in the region coming together and collaborating to really focus on service projects with different organizations, it just speaks to what our community is about and what central Alberta is about. As a non-profit, we couldn’t be any more grateful for their support.”

MORE: Red Deer service clubs join forces in new project for local charities