SEARCY — Kiwanis International’s motto is “Serving the children of the world,” and one local club has taken a new step toward helping children in central Arkansas.
The Kiwanis Club of Searcy will host the inaugural Happy Feet Mud Volleyball Tournament on Sept. 20 to support its Shoes for Children campaign. Originally, the tournament was scheduled for Aug. 23 but was postponed because of high temperatures and other conflicts.
Searcy Kiwanis President Matt LaForce said the local club has been looking for a way to make an impact on local children, and last year the group decided to provide tennis shoes for children who needed them for school.
“Locally, our club supports lots of different organizations, and last year we saw the need for shoes,” he said. “We’ve been looking for a while for a cause to take up on our own, and that’s the need that we saw the most of through talking to school counselors. We’re all about children, so we looked for a cause that helped children that wasn’t yet being served.”
The Kiwanis Club of Searcy gives back to the community through the shoe project, scholarships and its annual Christmas party, LaForce said, and fundraising is essential for these tasks.
“We have two big fundraisers a year, and this is one of them,” he said. “We also have Pancake Day in April. The Mud Volleyball Tournament is new. The Red Cross used to do it until their local board was disbanded, but we’re taking it up.”
The club’s efforts are funded solely on membership dues, and fundraisers such as Pancake Day and the Mud Volleyball Tournament, LaForce said.
“We don’t have an international organization that funnels us money,” he said. “We don’t have a state organization that does that. It’s just us.”
While this is the first year for the volleyball tournament, it is the second year for the Kiwanis Club of Searcy to provide shoes for children. LaForce said last year’s Shoes for Children effort was a tremendous success, and he hopes the project continues to grow with the volleyball tournament.
“Last year we funded our project with $3,000,” he said. “This year our goal is $5,000. We were able to give out 343 pair of new shoes to kids, not just in White County. There were kids that came from outside of the county.”
The shoes were handed out at A Day of Caring sponsored by White County Medical Center on Aug. 2, and LaForce said the Kiwanis Club of Searcy also has a shoe closet for needs throughout the year.
“The shoe closet is at the elementary schools where a counselor can assess the need of a child and get a pair of shoes from the closet for free,” he said. “It’s all for free.”
Currently, school counselors can get the shoes directly from the Kiwanis club, but the club’s goal is to eventually have a stock of shoes available in every elementary school.
LaForce said the club estimates a cost of $10 per pair of shoes, and members hope to raise enough money to give out 500 pairs of shoes.
The tournament will be held at the Searcy Sports Complex at 1209 Queensway St. on Sept. 20. Games will start at 3 p.m. The entry fee is $75 per team or a donation of tennis shoes — one pair per person on the team. Entry fees and registration are due Sept. 17.
Teams must have six players with an optional two alternates. First-, second- and third-place winners will receive T-shirts, and the first-place winner will receive a refund on the entry fee.
Teams can register by contacting Searcy Kiwanis Club Vice President Cassandra Feltrop at (501) 388-2645 or cfeltrop@wcmc.org.
Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.