kiwanis club: Los Gatos, saratoga,monte sereno

​The Kiwanis Club of Los Gatos was formed on December 20, 1923. (Making it the oldest international service club in Los Gatos).  We represent Los Gatos, Saratoga and Monte Sereno.  That's right, you read it correctly: we are celebrating 100 years of community service in Los Gatos!

The very first Kiwanis Club was formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1915. Clubs were originally organized to promote the exchange of business among members. Shortly after its organization it became a service club helping children around the world. Click here for more details on the origins of Kiwanis. 

Today there are nearly 600,000 Kiwanis Club members, including: Key Club (high school) Circle K Club (college), Builders Club (middle school), K’Kids (elementary school) and Aktion Club (for those with disabilities).

The word "Kiwanis" was derived from a Native American phrase meaning "We trade our talents"...and that we do!

About the organization:  Kiwanis Club of Los Gatos is part of Division 12; we are one of 13 clubs in the South Bay that make up our division, which is currently lead by Campbell Kiwanis' Cynthia Cubing (LTG).  Our very own Rosalie Patterson was the Lieutenant Governor over the entire division in 2021.  In 2020, Terry Martin, also from our club, was LTG. We are honored to have numerous past "LTG's" in our club, including Don Wolf and Rex Upp.  We are in the Cal-Nev-Ha district, meaning that all of California, Nevada and Hawaii fall into the same group (with Governor Valarie Brown-Klingelhoefer at the helm) and we have district conferences that are sometimes in Hawaii, YAY!!  When your travels take you around the globe, know that you can always find a friend in a fellow Kiwanian...no matter where you roam!  For more info about the organization, click here.   

Our local club is made up of the following officers and board members for the 2023-2024 fiscal year:: 

Officers: 

Kasey Rice, President 2023-2024

Ernest Patterson, Past President 2022-23

Ernest Patterson, Treasurer

Yancie Richmond, Secretary

Board of Directors:

Barbara Koplos

Nancy Pearson

Joe Pirzynski

Rusty Rinehart

George Sikich

Other:

Nancy Pearson, Immediate Past President, Kiwanis Special Games 2022-2023

KIWANIS CLUB OF LOS GATOS: VOLUNTEERISM WITH A FRESH APPROACH 

Community Service Organizations (Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary, to name a few) have all been around for many decades and all serve the community in slightly different ways. These groups are designed for people who want to get involved - do good things - and give, not just give back, to the communities that they care about. It is volunteerism at its finest and is a vehicle for many people who are looking to do something meaningful in their lives. 

Kiwanis helps kids around the world. Local clubs look out for our communities and the international organization takes on large-scale challenges, such as fighting disease and poverty. Kiwanis Club of Los Gatos has some great plans and ideas for our communities of Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga.  We put on many events, such as the annual Hippity Hop Egg Hunt at Oak Meadow Park, and the Kiwanis Special Games at West Valley College for over 1000 special needs kids. We give school backpacks and supplies to elementary schools in surrounding communities who need our help. We also honor students and educators by awarding scholarships to kids who have overcome huge obstacles and turned their lives around to get good grades and go on to college.  We also hold monthly trail-cleanups on the Los Gatos Creek Trail and open it up to other groups and businesses who may be interested and need their own ‘schedule’. This includes anywhere in Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga that has a need. 

On a last, and fun, note, we have once a month ‘roving socials’ where we do anything from play bocce ball to wine-tasting and everything in between. This includes restaurants, wineries and everything fun in Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga.  To elevate the social event, we make it into a donation drive for a different cause each month.  For example, we have collected new toys for children, donated to Sacred Heart Family Services in San Jose; recently we donated needed supplies for the Kiwanis Family House in Sacramento (part of the UC Davis Med Center - and what the Ronald McDonald House was modeled after).   Oh, and if you have ever been to our annual Art and Wine Festival (Fiesta de Artes), you would have seen - or maybe even drank - some wine that we featured from Los Gatos (Testarossa and Gali Vineyards) and Scotts Valley (Armitage Wines), in addition to sparkling wine from locally owned Enoteca Direct. We support our towns and we support our local businesses…we love our community!.

The Kiwanis Club of Los Gatos is made up of a lot of people who want to make a difference in our communities - and happen to have a lot of fun along the way, which makes it all the better.

If you want some more info, please email Nancy at kiwanislosgatos@gmail.com

Here's a list of some of our more popular community service projects, sponsorships and events:

• Los Gatos & Saratoga High School: 
  • Academic Scholarships
  • Turn-Around Scholarships, for students who have overcome adversities.  The TAS program started over 50 years ago!
  • Los Gatos High School Key Club
• Hippity Hop Egg Hunt with the Easter Bunny, Oak Meadow Park, Saturday before Easter. 
• Los Gatos Art & Wine Festival: Each September we put on this great community event, with live music and fun all weekend long, free to the public. www.losgatosfiesta.com
• Kiwanis Special Games, each May at West Valley College in Saratoga, for extremely challenged special needs kids in Santa Clara County  www.kiwanisspecialgames.org
• We proudly sponsor and advise Student Leadership Programs at the following schools:  K Kids at Blue Hills Elementary, Daves Ave Elementary & Van Meter Elementary; Builders Club at Fisher Middle School; Key Clubs at these fine high schools: Los Gatos, Leigh, Prospect, Stratford Prep, &  Bellarmine!.
• Los Gatos Veterans Memorial, sponsor
• Los Gatos Youth Park, sponsor and Board Member.
• R J Fisher Middle School Awards for Graduating Students
• Kiwanis International Foundation – The Eliminate Project, eliminating maternal & neonatal tetanus
• California-Nevada-Hawaii Kiwanis District Foundation – Prevent Pediatric Trauma
• Trail Cleanups each month, along the Los Gatos Creek Trail system
• Donation Drives for various communities, such as for the CZU Fire Victims in 2020
• We support numerous student groups, including: the LGHS Ironclaw Robotics Team.
• We support numerous community non-profit organizations, including: Second Harvest Silicon Valley; Sunday Friends; The Family Giving Tree, Live Oak Senior Nutrition Center & Sacred Heart Community Services.

We can't do much to support various causes without some money, so fundraising events are critical!  Here are our main fundraisers:

LOS GATOS ART & WINE FESTIVAL, FIESTA DE ARTES

September 16-17, 2023, 10am-6pm, Civic Center Lawn

2023 is the 51st year for this super fun & free festival, with live music all weekend, great local wines and wonderful art. Entirely run by our club, every single cent made goes right back into the community. For more details, visit  www.losgatosfiesta.com.   Note: proceeds from this event fund our Turn-Around Scholarship program, as well as a host of other local programs!

TURN-AROUND SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS LUNCHEON

May 9, 2024, 12noon-2pm, at The Wine Cellar Restaurant in Los Gatos, is MC'd by our very own Mike Wasserman, Former Mayor of Los Gatos and long-time Santa Clara County Supervisor.  Come and hear the stories and future plans of our scholarship awardees from Los Gatos and Saratoga High Schools.  An event not to be missed!

When you work hard, you want to play hard!  We do everything from "Artsy Fridays" to Thursday Promenades and more!  We have roving socials, where we visit a different restaurant, winery or coffee shop in Los Gatos and Saratoga once a month. We want to have fun and spend locally.  It's a win-win!  The extra added bonus is that we tie in our fun with a good cause; thus our "Socials With A Cause"!

The Kiwanis Club of Los Gatos is a community service organization, serving Los Gatos, Saratoga & Monte Sereno. We are non-profit & completely made up of volunteers who simply want to do good in our community. 

To put it simply: We hold fundraisers so that we can continue doing community service projects & providing scholarships for our youth, as well as sponsoring Student Leadership Programs at our local schools.

Think you might be a good fit?  Email us at kiwanislosgatos@gmail.com and we will tell you how to come to our meetings and get a feel for our group.  

Recent articles in the Los Gatan Weekly Newspaper, SJ Mercury News, Los Gatos Patch, Los Gatos Living Magazine and Saratoga Spotlight Magazine:

https://issuu.com/metrosiliconvalley/docs/lgn_2235_e-edition

https://losgatan.com/special-games-draws-hundreds-to-west-valley-college/?fbclid=IwAR3hEqx9e0Utn1KaLDYvC9HnKzAqy7uwZoTfQEUd7vj2bvgzsvuuSzsEiW8

https://losgatan.com/festival-pairs-opportunity-with-wine/

https://patch.com/california/losgatos/los-gatos-fundraiser-benefits-students-who-beat-odds?utm_source=shared-email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/01/31/los-gatos-sends-a-valentine-to-local-heroes/

Los Gatos Living Magazine article,April 2021: email kiwanislosgatos@gmail.com for pdf version.