A few years ago, a captain of industry, Carlo Tavares, launched such a program at his then company, Peugeot-Citroën. The plan was so successful that this French company has become one of the largest and most profitable in the world, including brands such as Chrysler, Jeep, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Opel, DS and others.

We have the same ambition for Kiwanis Europe! Because, dear friends, Kiwanis Europe has untapped potential! This “Back to the Race” program was adopted by the KI-E Board  on September 3, 2023, with effect from October 1, 2023.

ARE WE DOING ENOUGH FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD?

So many children are victims of lack of water, food, care, education, protection and guidance!

We certainly have a lot of local projects, but do we have enough international projects of the kind we claim to be “Children of the World Service”?

• “Back to the Race” provides the first answer to this question: a shameful and unacceptable war is taking place on our borders. As always, many children are the victims, not only in their flesh, which is horrible, but also in their affection, protection and guidance. Kiwanis Europe, in collaboration with Kiwanis Children Fund in Europe, is therefore offering to help Ukrainian children affected by the war through a joint voluntary project. The aim is to help affected children in Ukraine, in their day-to-day lives, with the help of a reliable organization based there. Isn’t this the perfect place for Kiwanis Europe? This joint social project is called Helping Children in Ukraine, and details will be announced shortly.
• A second proposal from “Back to the Race” will be to draw up a “social balance sheet“. We claim that we help “Children of the World”, but we don’t say how much! How many members we are, how much money we give, how many hours of volunteer work we provide – these are figures that should help us communicate, establish our credibility and open people’s eyes to what we do.
• A third section will focus on growth. Kiwanis enables us, or has enabled us, to make new friendships, new relationships and to help Children of the World – that’s already a great story. But the story would be even more beautiful if we shared it with friends, relations, families and other acquaintances. It would also bring us new arms for our social actions. However, we often restrict ourselves to our existing circle of acquaintances out of habit. “Back to the Race” would like to suggest that you consider opening up your clubs to younger members. A “Neo Club” label will be awarded to any club integrating, during the Kiwanian year 2023-24, two members under the age of 40. In the same spirit, the month of April will be known as “Month of invitees”, with the aim of bringing in new potential members, whether through personal initiative, the “Two for Two” or the “MeetUp” methods.

These, dear friends, are the challenges we face. All these fine projects so far are, of course, no more than rhetorical incantations. Will they succeed in reality? It’s up to each and every one of us to answer that question.

The proposals are there, and it’s up to each of us to evaluate them and act on them.

Optimistically, we hope that in one, two or three years’ time, we’ll be able to see the benefits for ourselves, our clubs and the Children of the World.