Kinsmen club members are known for giving back to their communities through volunteer work but, this month, the organization will be taking a little time for itself.
The group is celebrating its 100th birthday, recognizing the contribution the 650 chartered clubs have made in cities across Canada since Hal Rogers launched the organization, which today is known as Kin Canada, in Ontario in 1920.
“We are very focused on what the community needs,” said Philip Jewell, a longtime member of the Coquitlam Kinsmen Club. “We are very engaged directly with what we can do in the community.”
The Kinsmen started in Hamilton after the First World War and quickly spread across the country, growing to 150 clubs in the first 25 years.
Since Coquitlam’s chapter was chartered in 1952, followed by Port Coquitlam’s in 1965, it is rare to see a community event in the Tri-Cities that does not have some Kinsmen involvement.
SEED MONEY
There have been a lot of firsts over the years.
The club paid for the first ambulance in Coquitlam in the 1950s (the vehicle has since been refurbished and now sits at Coquitlam Fire Hall No. 1), the first Jaws of Life for the local fire department and the first night-vision goggles for Coquitlam Search and Rescue.
It was also responsible for organizing the first Terry Fox Run in the Tri-Cities.
Walter Van Drimmelen, a longtime member of the Port Coquitlam Kinsmen, said a friend of Fox was a member and pushed to bring the event to Hyde Creek in 1982.
“That was phenomenal,” Van Drimmelen said during a PoCo council meeting last week, where the Kinsmen were presented with a proclamation commemorating its 100th anniversary. “I don’t think there is anything that has gone the way the Terry Fox Run has gone.”
The Kinsmen have often provided seed money that has helped launch important initiatives, Jewell said. For example, the provincial organization provided funding for a program called Technology for Living, which helped people with disabilities have better accessibility in their homes.
“We put the money in initially,” Jewell said. “We supplied them some equipment and then the government said, ‘Oh yeah, that is a really good program.”
NEW MEMBERS
Like many service organizations, the Kinsmen has been struggling to attract new members, said Jon Kingsbury, a former Coquitlam mayor and another longtime Coquitlam Kinsmen club member.
While the Tri-Cities’ clubs have strong numbers, split evenly between younger and older members, he said more effort is needed to bring in the next generation so clubs can keep doing their important work for another 100 years.
“We are doing pretty good [in the Tri-Cities],” Kingsbury said. “But [the Kinsmen] have been really bad at promoting themselves. We are busy working and doing our projects. They never spent nothing on trying to recruit the next group. That is sort of where we have to get back to now.”
Both Kingsbury and Jewell said they hope that with the attention the organization is receiving around its centennial celebrations, more people may be interested in joining.
Being a member is rewarding, Jewell said, noting that Kinsmen enjoy seeing their project or initiative take root in the community. And there is always more work to be done.
Even the club’s 100th birthday dinner on Saturday will not be a day off for the Kinsmen, who will be collecting food donations in the afternoon before the event takes place.
“Then,” Jewell said, “we will go home, get cleaned up and head out to our dinner.”
PARTY TIME SATURDAY
