Journal & Topics Media Group

Kiwanis President: Caring For Kids Is Club’s Mission


Installed as the 2019-20 officers of the morning Kiwanis are: Secretary Anthony Tripp, Vice President (immediate past president) Scott Grau, Assistant Secretary-Treasurer William Scharringhausen, President Kris Cichowski, and Treasurer Mark Lundberg.

The Park Ridge Morning Kiwanis Club marked a milestone on Wednesday, Oct. 2 when Kristine Cichowski was sworn in as the club’s first woman president.

Performing the honors was Steve Judge, a member of the Park Ridge Noon Kiwanis Club, whose term as district lieutenant governor, started this month. It was, he said, the second of many ceremonies he will perform during the coming year.

To help celebrate, the club wanted to recognize its first female member, Sara Gortner, who was represented by her daughter, Ann Boyd.

When Kiwanis, an originally all-male service organization, allowed women to join in the early 1990s, there had generally been some hesitation in both local clubs, older members admit, but they soon recognized the value of the contributions the women have made since then.

The club also welcomed a new member, Eric Olson, who is the new superintendent of Park Ridge-Niles School Dist. 64. Larry Ryles, who recruited Olson for the club, explained, “Kiwanis is all about heart. Kiwanis is the heart of Park Ridge.”

Scott Grau, outgoing president, agreed that Kiwanis has meant a great deal to him.

Kiwanis focuses on helping children with the funds the clubs raise, he said: kids in the community, kids in the world, the community and the world.

One of the local clubs’ projects is working with Dist. 64 to provide holiday food baskets. The district identifies the number of families based on financial need, and the Kiwanis raises funds. Initially they were able to help 50 to 60 families, but hope to help 130 this year, Grau said.

Cichowski said she first became aware of the club about 15 years ago, when she was invited as a speaker.

She was developing an education center for the Rehabilitation Institute, but in between had family obligations and started her own consulting company.

She said Gail Haller from the Park Ridge Chamber had suggested she talk to the Kiwanis.

“You care about people. You really care,” she told the club. Some groups pay lip service, but this group rolls up its sleeves, she added.

“I fell in love with Kiwanis. What’s not to love about this group? You care about people…you roll up your sleeves. You know each other.”

In addition to Judge, the PM Kiwanis was represented by Frank Kaminski and Dave Donovan.

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