From organizing chicken pot pie suppers and pancake breakfasts, to the locally beloved Scarecrow in the Park, the 26 members of the Bernardston Kiwanis Club stay active year-round, dedicated to serving their community.
Come Saturday, June 17, the club will celebrate a milestone: 50 years of giving back to Franklin County.
“We’ve helped a lot of people and enjoyed doing it,” said Charlie Deane, 76, one of four charter members of the Bernardston Kiwanis Club who are still active members.
“(The Bernardston Kiwanis Club) exemplifies the meaning of community, where individuals can directly help out other individuals, especially on such a personal level,” said Tom Mann, 53, a member of the club’s board of directors and co-chairman of Scarecrow in the Park. “That’s such a special thing in this day and age.”
The Bernardston Kiwanis Club was chartered in June 1967, sponsored by the neighboring Northfield Kiwanis Club. With 21 original members under the leadership of President Ralph Arnold, the club “dedicated itself to service in the community,” according to Recorder archives.
“Its function will be to aid boys and girls in youth services and work, agriculture and conservation, public and business affairs and support of churches and international relations,” a 1967 article reads.
The club of 24 men and two women has a six-member board of directors, as well as a president, two vice presidents, a secretary and a treasurer.
The list of community events the club has organized seems almost endless, with activities changing over the years. Some of the club’s earlier activities, to name a few, include “Gasorama Day” where members would gas up cars to raise money for a youth recreation fund, weekly Special Olympics bowling sessions, auctions, horse shows at Stoneleigh-Burnham School, snowmobile races, barn dances, Christmas lighting and decoration contests and caroling in Cushman Park. Between 1972 and 2014, the club also sponsored Old Home Day.
When residents have been in need, the club has stepped up to help. For example, when Clyde and Beverly Beckwith, along with their daughter Wanda, experienced a house fire, the club held a ham and bean dinner and jamboree benefit to support them.
Charlie Deane’s cousin, fellow charter member Russell Deane, remembered another occasion where the club paid for a deaf Pioneer Valley Regional School student to travel to Europe to play basketball.
“If it’s for a good cause and (when) they ask us, we generally try to do something,” Charlie Deane said.
One of the club’s early goals, charter member Byron Beckwith said, was to raise enough money to build a community pool.
“We (were) really gung ho on that for a number of years,” Beckwith, 77, remembered.
However, the dream never came to fruition. Beckwith explained that while the club continued to raise more money, the cost of a pool increased as well.
By the club’s 25th anniversary, it had raised $136,000, given $65,000 to the community, and put aside $75,000 into a pool trust account, according to club records from 1992. Eventually, the Bernardston Kiwanis Club donated its pool savings to the town to be used for recreational purposes.
In 1971, the club purchased the land and building formerly known as the Chase House Pavilion off of Brattleboro Road, a step toward its goal of having recreational facilities for townspeople. Today, it is Kiwanis Park.
Activities have changed with the times. Now, the club regularly holds the pancake breakfasts and four chicken pot pie dinners each year, organizes Scarecrow in the Park, presents three Pioneer Valley Regional School students with $500 scholarships each year, donates to Cushman Library’s summer reading program and oversees a seasonal mailbox through which children can send letters to — and receive responses from — Santa.
“We do a lot at Christmas time,” said Russell Deane, 88, recounting Christmas tree lighting ceremonies, donating to families in need and participating in Adopt-A-Family of Franklin County.
Most recently, club members planted marigolds in Cushman Park, as they do every year, and raised $3,711 for The United Arc through the club’s April chicken pot pie dinner.
In some ways, the Bernardston Kiwanis Club’s community contributions have come full circle. Current club President Brandon Grover was once a recipient of one of club’s annual scholarships, and now works with the group to support others.
“I remember everything these guys did,” said Grover, 49. “Growing up as a kid, I was going to every single one of (the club’s events).”
Grover said it was easy to know he wanted to join one day — 17 years ago now — so he could give back to the community like the members before him had.
“You could do stuff you couldn’t do alone,” Beckwith said of his reason for joining 50 years ago. “If you want to get anything done, you’re going to belong to this club.”
“With the overriding goals in mind, the Kiwanis Club is what you make it,” Mann said, discussing the club’s willingness to innovate through new benefits and activities.
The Bernardston members also work together with other Kiwanis Club chapters, though Beckwith said the Bernardston club strives to offer unique events.
“We try not to tread on each other’s feet,” Beckwith said. “Northfield people come to (our events) and we go to theirs. We usually do projects together for the schools.”
The members share a desire to improve and help the community, using their diverse skill sets to the club’s — and the community’s — benefit, Grover said.
Plus, the Bernardston Kiwanis Club gives local residents plenty of reasons to get excited with events like Scarecrow in the Park, which attracted more than 60 craft vendors and about 2,000 attendees last year.
“It’s a small, rural community,” Grover said. “Not a whole lot to do, but (Kiwanis events) are always the things to look forward to.”
In celebration of the club’s 50th anniversary, members are organizing a catered meal on Saturday, June 17, from 4:30 to 10 p.m. at Kiwanis Park.
The event includes a social hour and review of the Bernardston Kiwanis Club’s history from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., dinner from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., recognition speeches from 6:30 to 7 p.m. and dancing from 7 to 10 p.m.
The dinner menu features ribeye steak or chicken, potato salad, garden salad, vegetables, rolls and dessert. Coffee, lemonade and water is included, and beer, wine and soda will be available for purchase.
Tickets for the event are $20 per person, and the Bernardston Kiwanis Club asks attendees to reserve their place in advance by calling 413-834-5484 by June 9.
Looking back, particularly at the four charter members who have stayed devoted to the club, newer member Mann said their example shows that being a Kiwanian is something special.
“It’s amazing to have 50-year involvement,” Mann said. “To have that continuity says a lot about the organization.”
Though the Bernardston Kiwanis Club has fewer members than at its 36-member peak, Beckwith is proud of the club’s current roster.
“A lot of clubs around go down to almost nothing,” Beckwith said. “We’re doing pretty well.”
Mann noted how the club has evolved, changing its activities to inspire new interest. He hopes the club will continue down that path, while using Kiwanis Park to its full potential and increasing community involvement.
“It’s a great group of guys, and a few women,” Mann said, adding how he’d like to see more women and men join the club. “I’m looking forward to the Kiwanis Club being around for another 50 years.”