FREELAND — The Kiwanis have long worked to improve children’s lives.
The international club’s motto, after all, is “Serving the Children of the World.”
For members of Kiwanis of South Whidbey, the motto has taken on a new meaning: Find a cure for cancer.
That was the message delivered by Frank Morehouse to 30 attendees at the group’s meeting Thursday at Trinity Lutheran Church. Morehouse was the previous Kiwanis Pacific Northwest district governor and initiated the Kiwanis Children’s Cancer Program.
“We fell into this one,” he said.
Kiwanis clubs in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia will participate in fundraising for more than happenstance. Morehouse, a retired physician, had a life-changing encounter with a young patient.
He told the story of meeting a girl he called Penny, who had a brain tumor at 10 years old. Penny often stayed at the hospital he worked at, just a few doors from his office.
“During her treatments we became friends,” Morehouse said.
He recalled one of the more memorable moments with Penny at the hospital. He stopped by her room to check in with her when she informed him she realized something that day — that she was going to die.
“She told me, ‘Don’t tell my parents, though. It’ll be our secret,’” Morehouse said.
Through various treatments, Penny survived longer than expected, which was originally only a few months. Morehouse created the Kiwanis Children’s Cancer Program in Penny’s honor to raise $500,000. The money will fund three fellowships for doctors to specialize in pediatric cancer.
“I am so thrilled that this became the governor’s project in 2006, and that it became the district’s project,” Morehouse said. “This project is not going to stop.”
“Whatever you can, put it in your budget,” he told the crowd.
Being the district project requires clubs within the two state and one province area to aid in that goal. One way Kiwanis of South Whidbey has already contributed, though non-monetarily, is the donation of 50 blankets to patients at Seattle Children’s Hospital. The Builders of Langley Middle School and the Key Club at South Whidbey High School donated the blankets. Their club advisors, Debbie Daumen and Jay Freundlich, attended the luncheon and received awards for their participation and leadership.
“To me, there’s nothing bigger than this cancer program,” said Ron Myers, Kiwanis of South Whidbey president.
What role Kiwanis of South Whidbey will have in the children’s cancer program was not known by Myers. The club is scheduled to have a meeting to discuss its budget within the next few weeks, at which point he said the club would estimate its contribution.
