Kiwanis membership dwindles

The Hot Springs County local chapter of Kiwanis is officially ending its national membership and for the next two years, it will donate its remaining funds to scholarships.

President Frank Toth said that the chapter has struggled for many years to gain new memberships and the group’s ages have increased.  

Toth said, “Like a lot of clubs around Thermopolis, we are aging and having trouble getting young members in. And as a result of aging, we have people wanting to do other things, like travel, and see their grandkids. We’ve gotten a little older and have some other interests in life. We’ve tried to get more people but it didn’t work out.”

Non-profit organization Kiwanis has been in existence since the 1960s and has been a community-focused organization to raise money for Christmas families in need, scholarships, the arts and crafts fair, the music festival and the play park.

There is no official ending date. Toth said, “Everything is up in the air until we run out of money for scholarships. This year we are giving away five $1,000 scholarships.”

Toth added that immediately they are ending their national membership since its fee is over $2,000. The group felt their money would better be used to give away for scholarships instead of the membership fee.

Kiwanis still meets once a month on the second Thursdays of the month at Storyteller at 6:45 am. There are currently 18 members.