Ahead of hosting their “Walk to Make Cystic Fibrosis History,” Stacey Berry and the Kinette Club of Lake Cowichan welcomed Kin Canada’s National President Cameron Kemp to the Lake the weekend of April 14, as part of Kemp’s B.C. tour.
“It’s beautiful,” Kemp said. “Absolutely beautiful. All national presidents get two districts and there’s eight across the country,” he added, noting that being from Alberta, he’s glad for a change of scenery. “I just happened to get both coasts, which is a unique thing. I think I got the best two districts, but that’s me.”
There’s a lot to see on a provincial tour, topography aside.
“I get the opportunity to see what they do within their clubs because Kin Canada’s motto is ‘serving our community’s greatest need’ so we allow every community and every club to assess what that is for themselves,” Kemp explained. “It’s always interesting to see what projects clubs run, what volunteer activities and services projects and fundraisers and how they use that money within their community because they determine what their communities need.”
In his role, Kemp is able to bring up to one group what another group has been doing that may be of some use and vice versa.
Lake Cowichan currently has 15 members in its Kinsmen Club and there are eight women in the Kinette Club, both of which, along with Kin Clubs, which are all-inclusive of gender, and Kin Campus Clubs, which have been formed at post-secondary institutions, fall under the Kin Canada umbrella.
(In the last few years, however, all new clubs chartered across Canada Kin Clubs, set aside any gender distinctions.)
“Part of the reason is that in smaller communities, those clubs have found that as their communities are getting smaller, by merging they can keep up the same type of service and they were helping each other anyway,” Kemp said.
In Lake Cowichan, the Kin Club was established back in 1944, Berry noted. The ladies club had been around before, but folded many years ago and was only re-established six years ago.
“We’ve got a great relationship with our Kinsmen and work together on a lot of projects,” she said.
While the Kinnettes are hosting this year’s “Walk to Make Cystic Fibrosis History” the Kinsmen are helping out at the event with the hot dog stand and other tasks.
“The support goes both ways,” Berry said. “They’re a great club.”
The May 28 walk is part of a national campaign by Cystic Fibrosis Canada to raise funds and awareness about Cystic Fibrosis. Kin Canada is a long-time national partner of the organization. The Cystic Fibrosis Canada-Kin Canada partnership began in 1964 and since then Kin Canada has raised more than $50 million for the group.
Kin Canada also aims to support Canadian Blood Services as much as they can but their focus is always home-based.
“We’re always looking for members and members can donate any way that they can through service. It doesn’t have to be physical service. We’re fun. Not only are we serving our community’s greatest needs, we’re serving each other through friendship and kinship.”
Joining service clubs nowadays is more important than ever.
“As service clubs die, so too do the things they give back to the community,” Kemp said. “You wouldn’t get as many parks or free skating and swimming or other projects being run if there wasn’t somebody out there trying to fundraise that money and you and I would much rather donate money to a charity than we would increase our taxes to pay for the same stuff.”
The 1.5 kilometre “Walk to Make Cystic Fibrosis History” event will start at Saywell Park on May 28 and weave through downtown Lake Cowichan before returning to the park for refreshments and snacks at the end.
Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. with the walk commencing at 10 a.m. To register online visit walk.cysticfibrosis.ca