Hope Civitans celebrate “Civitan Awareness” and 12 years of service

The Hope Civitan Club, along with Civitan clubs around the world, is celebrating April as Civitan Awareness Month. The worldwide mission of Civitan International is to build good citizenship by providing a volunteer organization of clubs dedicated to serving individual and community needs, with an emphasis on helping people with developmental disabilities.

Hope Civitans are celebrating 12 years of serving the community of Hope, having chartered as a club in 2010. They sponsored Business After Hours at the Hope/Hempstead County Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, April 26, from 4:30-6 p.m., as part of their observance of Civitan Awareness Month.

Service, knowledge, and fellowship are the driving forces behind a Civitan Club. Hope Civitans served in the city-wide cleanup Saturday, April 23, by picking up trash along a stretch of Patmos Road. They followed that up with knowledge, as well as fellowship, by attending the James Black’s Bowie Heritage Festival in Washington.

Previous Civitan activities this year included recognition of Special Education personnel in local schools in January, clergy appreciation in February, and St. Patrick’s Day celebrations for each of the five residential facilities of Rainbow of Challenges in March. Upcoming plans for the club are hosting the Farmer’s Market opening day on Tuesday, May 3; a garage sale in June to fund a scholarship for a high school senior; and sponsoring and working the classic car show at the Watermelon Festival in early August. The club has been responsible for the car show since 2010, along with helping to slice watermelons, and began assisting the Chamber by working the back gate in recent years.

The Hope Civitan Club also supports the Civitan International Research Center (CIRC), the flagship program of Civitan International. Located in Birmingham, AL, where Civitan originated, CIRC is deeply rooted in the core mission of Civitan — serving people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities — and conducts cutting-edge research in brain-related issues such as autism, rett syndrome, down syndrome and many others. Funds from coin boxes placed by Hope Civitans in local establishments are partially earmarked for CIRC, along with funds given individually by members.

Hope Civitans placed an accessible swing in Fair Park in 2015 and replaced it recently with a newer version, intended for use by children who are not able to sit upright or maintain their balance on a traditional swing. The club conducts various fundraisers throughout the year to be able to continue their service projects for the community.

The Hope Civitan Club meets twice monthly, on the second and fourth Tuesday, at 6 p.m. at Dos Loco Gringos Restaurant. Anyone interested in gaining knowledge and in joining the service and fellowship of Civitan is invited to attend a meeting of the Hope Civitan Club. Contact any member or just show up at meeting time.

Hope Civitans participate in local city-wide clean-ups and are affiliated with the Keep Arkansas Beautiful Campaign.  Pictured, alongside the several bags of trash they picked up recently on Patmos Road, are foreign exchange student Oumou Nabe, in her second volunteer clean-up with the Civitan Club, and Civitans Debbie Hines, Bonnie Anderson, club President Amber Mackey, and (behind the camera) Twyla Pruden.