Kin Club members
Kin Canada District 6 Governor Dave Tidbury is flanked by Russell Kin Club members at the club’s public information meeting on Mon., Feb. 5 at the Russell Meadows Retirement Community lounge.     Vetter photo

Candice Vetter
Villager Staff
RUSSELL – On the evening of Mon., Feb. 5, the Russell Kin Club held a community open house at Russell Meadows Retirement Community’s lounge to announce the results of the club’s survey about what its next project should be.

The Kin Club recently completed its big Sports Dome project, with the extensive help of the Township of Russell, and has asked the township’s residents to weigh in on what they’d like to see the club do next.

The survey indicated the highest ranked category of projects were infrastructure projects, and more specifically, what was wanted by 95 per cent of respondents in that category was an indoor pool.

Kin member and former president Doug Anthony said he was surprised by those results, but attendees at the meeting guessed the result when he asked what they thought. He had expected it to be an arena, but realistically Russell and Embrun have arenas but there is nowhere nearer than Ottawa to swim indoors. How that goal is to be achieved is unclear now, but figuring that out will be the club’s next task.

Anthony was also pleasantly surprised by the positive responses to volunteering. He said 14 per cent of the 172 respondents were interested in learning more about Kin, seven per cent in helping with a project or donating to it, five per cent own a business and would be willing to be a corporate sponsor on a project that appealed to them, and a whopping 88 per cent said they would be willing to volunteer on specific appealing projects.

Cindy Robertson then took the stage and outlined some of the projects the Kin Club is involved in, including the ‘50s and ‘60s dance, the work with Cystic Fibrosis Canada (including Kaiden’s Care Kits, an initiative started here that has now become Canada-wide), the annual golf tournament, helping with trivia nights for different area causes, and of course the Russell Township Sports Dome, among dozens of other projects and events. The list of donations the club has raised and distributed was too long to cover. The club is also willing to partially help groups or people with events or fundraisers by taking on a specific task or loaning materials.

Other Kin members also spoke briefly. Past national president and current Governor Dave Tidbury, of Brockville, gave a little bit of information about how Kin started, along with many other service organizations, after the First World War.

There are currently four ways to join Kin, as a service member which is free and involves just helping with projects as wanted; social members who pay $25 and are also invited to the many socials and parties; a full member which is $60 for first year and $100 per year following and which includes voting privileges and invitations to conferences, and allows the member to help in determining what projects the club will undertake; and corporate members which pay a $200 annual fee.

The group’s next meeting is Feb. 20 at the Russell Meadows Retirement Community lounge at 7 p.m.