Reviewed by: Pat Byington
Kiwanis Club of Birmingham local preschool literacy project wins international award
Reading time: 3 minutes
A preschool literacy project by the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham was named the 2025 Signature Project by Kiwanis International out of 519 service project submissions.
Birmingham is home to the largest Kiwanis club in the world with more than 500 members representing 43 industries and around 350 businesses. It was founded in 1917 with a mission to improve the community. Each year, members of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham—”Kiwanians”—serve hundreds of hours for community service, specifically involving the city’s children.
The Signature Project is “Kiwanis Reads,” a program that promotes preschool literacy by bringing books into the classrooms and homes of thousands of children over the last four years.
It’s an honor to be recognized for our work in Birmingham to help develop and inspire a love for reading. Our Kiwanians bring so much love and energy—dressing up as Santa or a book character, making the books come alive through character voices and hanging out to read more books and answer student questions.
Honora Gathings, executive director of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham
Kiwanis Reads sends members to local preschools to read a book then gives each student that book to begin building their home libraries. Each book contains a QR code that leads to a video of a Kiwanis club member reading the book aloud to help kids who may not have an adult at home to read to them.
This year, the program received a $1,000 grant from the Kiwanis Children’s Fund, enabling them to expand into 10 new schools and bringing the total number of students served to 1,200. The recent award from the international club granted them an additional $2,000.
The Birmingham Kiwanis also restarted another literacy program, which provides officers from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to distribute to children while on patrol.
We cannot wait to use this gift to put more books in the hands of students this fall through Kiwanis Reads and Books Not Bullets. We are eagerly looking forward to getting back into the classroom.
Honora Gathings, executive director of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham
The 519 project entries were selected by Kiwanis districts representing 8,300 clubs worldwide. The Kiwanis Club of Birmingham is a first-time recipient of this award and a Children’s Fund grant.
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