Seaford Kiwanis is back

The Seaford Kiwanis Club is back, and its new leaders say it’s here to stay.

After a five-year hiatus, the organization was recently re-chartered, and already has 16 members who are looking to make a difference in Seaford. The club is planning projects to benefit children in the community.

Steven Katz, a financial adviser with Edward Jones, on Merrick Road, is the president. Katz came to town in February 2012 and immediately joined the Lions Club and the Chamber of Commerce. “The thing that Seaford was missing was the Kiwanis Club,” he said.

Kiwanis International was founded in 1915 in Detroit, and evolved from a trade to a service organization, developing a focus on helping children. As one of its first initiatives, Seaford Kiwanis is hosting a back-to-school supply drive.

Its members have also answered a wish list for the Ronald McDonald House, which offers comfort to families of children who are undergoing medical treatment. The Ronald McDonald Family Room at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital was in need of many kitchen pantry items, including nonperishable food, cleaning supplies, toiletries and gift cards, so the Seaford Kiwanians stepped up and filled requests.

“They jumped on it,” said Ann Torcivia, the lieutenant governor of the organization’s Long Island South Central Division. “We are going to be giving them the pantry of their dreams.”

Katz’s Seaford Santa initiative, which helps needy children, including those impacted by Hurricane Sandy, could also be expanded to become a Kiwanis program. Last year, he said, all of the letters that children wrote were answered.

Katz, who said he has fallen in love with Seaford during his two years in the community, joined Wantagh Kiwanis with the hope of bringing back the Seaford club. That dream finally became a reality.

The Seaford Kiwanis was sponsored by the Wantagh and Nassau University Medical Center chapters. Torcivia said it is always good when a community can support its own club.

Once enough members were recruited, she said, the decision was made to bring the club back. “We put everybody together and made this club,” she said. “I know it’s going to be a great club.”

In an era when many organizations are dealing with declining memberships or having to shut down altogether, Torcivia said she expects Seaford Kiwanis to defy that trend and thrive. It’s all about having the right members, she said, and the 16 people already on board are dedicated.

Those members, she explained, will bring in others who are passionate and want the club to succeed. There is no place in the organization, Torcivia said, for people who are apathetic or have their own agendas.

High school Key Club chapters are student service organizations affiliated with Kiwanis. When the previous Seaford Kiwanis Club dissolved, the local Key Club was taken over by Massapequa Kiwanis. One of Katz’s goals is to bring Seaford Kiwanis and the Seaford High School Key Club back together.

Long-term, he said, he is also looking to start a K Kids chapter at the elementary schools and a Builders Club at the middle schools. These Kiwanis-affiliated youth organizations teach children and teens leadership skills and the value of community service.

Peter Wass, a retired teacher who is new to Seaford Kiwanis, said he is excited about the opportunity to re-establish a connection with the Key Club. Wass was brought into the chapter by another member, Nassau County Legislator Michael Venditto. Legislator David Denenberg has also joined. The pair will be running against each other to fill the vacant 8th District State Senate seat in November.

The club will hold its charter dinner on Sept. 13 at Singleton’s in Bethpage. There will be awards as well as the presentation of a banner, gavel and gong to the president. Katz said he is hoping the membership will reach 25 by then.

“We’re hitting the ground running,” he said. “We’re going to do it bigger and better than it was ever done before. Failure, as the cliché goes, is not an option, not with the passionate people we have.”