THE KIWANIS STORY
Kiwanis International is composed of over 8400 clubs in 80 countries with a membership in excess of 280,000. International Headquarters are in Indianapolis, IN.
Kiwanis is broken down into Districts. We are in the California-Nevada-Hawaii District, more commonly called CAL-NEV-HA. We are the largest, by numbers. of all the Districts with over 16,000
members. The Districts are then broken down into Divisions and we are in Division 37, which has 19
clubs in the North County.
The Kiwanis Club of Sunrise Vista was chartered on May 9, 1973 with 23 members. Sunrise Vista was sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Vista. The charter president was Raub Mathias. Officers were Edwin Estes, president-elect and Joe LaMattino, secretary-treasurer.
Early on, Sunrise Vista developed the reputation of providing hands-on service projects in the community. The club actively supported the Vista Community Clinic with construction repairs and painting projects. A food trailer purchased from another club became a fixture at festivals, sporting events and other community events. In the early 1980s, the club volunteered at local Special Olympics competitions and numerous Christmas parties for local children at Green Oak Ranch. Club-sponsored “Send a Student to Camp” pancake breakfasts were at Sierra Vista High School. The club’s first decade also featured a donation of car seats and the fingerprinting of children.
Women were allowed to join Kiwanis International in 1987. Not long afterwards, Vista newspaper society columnist Bee Meyer joined Sunrise Vista. For the November 1991 general election members distributed get-out-the-vote posters to businesses and offered transportation to the polls.
The first female club president was Mary Megorden-Regan, who served in 1992-93. She served a second term as president in 2016-17. Other club presidents who served two separate terms are Carol Brady, Linda Rhodes, Brad Wiscons and Carl Ames.
The club has a long history of maintaining close ties with Vista schools and began a Student of the Month recognition program in the early 1990s and in 1992 chartered an Aktion Club at Sierra Vista High School for developmentally disabled adults. Sunrise Vista went on to sponsor several high school Key Clubs and a Builders Club for middle school students. The club foundation has awarded over $200,000 in scholarships for high school seniors.
The popular “Grape Gatsby Affair” fundraiser started in 2007 and raised thousands of dollars for the club’s non-profit foundation.
Sunrise Vista was one of several organizations participating in “Vistans Rock” between 2001 and 2003. Volunteers did gardening, painting and minor repairs in an effort to spruce up homes where owners were not able to do the work themselves. The club hosted San Diego Symphony Summer Pops Concerts at the Moonlight Amphitheater in 2003-04.
Other club projects include preparing bags of produce for hungry families, taking adults with Downs syndrome holiday shopping and handing out free books to hundreds of children lining the streets during the annual Vista Christmas Parade.
Like clubs everywhere, the worldwide coronavirus pandemic of 2020-2022 resulted in the cancelling of in-person club meetings and service projects. However, Sunrise Vista members stayed connected though Zoom meetings and a small support group regularly gathered in the front yards of quarantined members in order to say in touch.
The year 2022 saw the passing of the clubs two remaining – and dearly loved – charter members, Raub Mathias and Tommy Thomson.
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