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
