Past Service Projects

In 2013, Members of the Club served as judges for the Science Fair at Cherry Tree Elementary School. We also served in this role for several subsequent science fairs at the school.

Our current reading program at College Park Elementary School is not our first foray into increasing literacy. Our Club has a long history of direct involvement with helping kids improve their reading skills. Nearly a quarter century ago, we purchased books for donation to Reading is Fundamental, a program of Head Start, then after reading the books to the kids, the youngsters got to their the books home with them.
At right is Mason Bell with his reading partner.

For several years, we volunteered with the Indiana Area 8 Special Olympics Field Games. Our duties focused on preparing and presenting the awards to the winners of various events. Regular assistants were members of the Pike High School Key Club. Our members celebrated the joy these athletes displayed as the stood on the winners stand to music and pageantry, finally hearing their name announced over the public address system.

Because of one of our Community Needs assessment surveys, our Club assisted with an outdoor clean up and beautification project for College Park Elementary during spring 2012. We cleaned up the plant beds and spread mulch for our neighbor.

The Southeast Neighborhood Development (SEND) is a low-income housing program focusing primarily in the Fountain Square area of Indianapolis, Indiana. One of the ways SEND helps is through the renovation and sale of older homes to low income families. As part of the way prospective homeowners obtained these homes was through “sweat-equity” in their renovation. For several years, our Club members assisted with demolition Saturdays, helping remove the portions of the houses slated for renewal, as well as other tasks in this process.

In the early 2000’s, we volunteered in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Riley Hospital for Children. After receiving training, our members would hold and rock the littlest patients at Riley. This care provided the babies with human contact, while at the same time giving the staff a break.

Also in the early 2000’s, we were involved in getting a tool to educators called a Phonics Phone. These simple devices, made from three pieces of 2” PVC pipe, two 90° elbows connected by a short straight piece, help children with their pronunciation by allowing the student to speak quietly in one end and hear their own voice through the other. Students use the ‘phone’ to listen to their own voice as they practice reading. This device allows students to better ‘hear’ themselves when they speak quietly. Our Club helped procure and deliver these to students learning to read.