100 years of service: Oxford Kiwanis celebrates a century of giving back

Oxford Kiwanis has brought community members together through volunteer service, youth programs, fundraising and longtime traditions

This March, the Kiwanis Club of Oxford celebrated 100 years of service. The club’s nearly 100 members have continued their commitment to service and improving the lives of children and community members through financial support, hands-on volunteer service and community programs that benefit people of all ages.

Throughout the group’s hundred years in Oxford, it has helped establish and support various local groups and causes, such as the Talawanda Recreational Improvement Program, the Oxford Aquatic Center, the Citizen of the Year awards, the United Way campaign and others.

Each year, the group provides financial support to several organizations and initiatives, including Talawanda school and youth programs, the Talawanda Oxford Pantry and Social Services (TOPSS), local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, scholarships and youth leadership programs and the annual community food drive, which raises more than $14,000 to help families in need, according to a press release sent to the Oxford Free Press.

Throughout the year, volunteers pile up thousands of hours, whether it be by ringing bells during the holiday season to raise funds for TOPSS, collecting extra food from Kroger and Walmart for food assistance programs, mentoring students in every Talawanda school or supporting numerous community events and service projects.

To celebrate the club’s 100 years of community service, a dinner will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 30 at the Event Center of Middleton, alongside the Middleton and Harrison Kiwanis clubs, which are also celebrating their centennials. Hope Markes, the Kiwanis 2026-27 International President, will speak during the event. 

Also in celebration of the group’s centennial, the club has donated two commemorative benches and four trees to the Oxford Area Trails System, which will serve as a lasting tribute to the service the group has achieved.

Mike Rudolph, the president of the Ohio District Kiwanis Foundation, a group that helps to raise money and give grants to local clubs, first joined Oxford Kiwanis in 1997 to give back to local kids and help the next generation with leadership development.

“Our major focus always is supporting youth in our community,” Rudolph said.

Not only is Rudolph a member of the Kiwanis family, but his two kids have had Kiwanis play a part in their lives. Both of the Rudolph kids were a part of the Builder’s Club at Talawanda Middle School (TMS), which “provides students with opportunities to develop leadership, improve self-esteem, increase civic engagement and learn life skills through service,” according to the Kiwanis website.

In addition to the Builder’s Club at TMS, Kiwanis also sponsors other Service Leadership Programs (SLPs), including the K-Kids at Kramer, Bogan and Marshall Elementary schools, which provide students with opportunities to work together on service projects and the Key Club at Talawanda High School, which is the oldest and largest service organization for teens, according to the Kiwanis website.

“I’m really proud that our club is growing as big as it is,” Rudolph said.

In August, prior to the school year’s start, Kiwanis hosted its annual Back to School Bash, which served between 400-700 families and children by providing free school supplies and food, games and pool access to help students begin the school year with confidence, according to the press release. The event also allows local children to get haircuts and vaccines before the school year.

In addition, the Kiwanis’ Chili Dinner every February continues the work of raising funds for local community service projects. 

Rudolph said his favorite Kiwanis-sponsored event is the annual Pancake Day, which is a long-serving tradition spanning 70 years in Oxford that welcomes locals to a pancake breakfast while raising funds for service projects.

“People love to come out, they love to sit at (the) Talawanda High School (and) have some really great pancakes and sausage and drinks and all that and talk to one another,” Rudolph said. “It really helps cement this idea of volunteerism and this idea of community.”

Rudolph added how special it is that Kiwanis-sponsored youth groups come to Pancake Day to volunteer and help with the event.

In the early 1950s, the original Oxford Press, run by editor Avis Cullen, began the longtime tradition of the Citizen of the Year Awards, which highlight members of the community who give a great deal of volunteer time and energy to the city.

According to Rudolph, Kiwanis decided to join in on these awards decades ago, providing the programs and meals at the awards ceremony and framed prints for recipients.

“We feel that that whole idea of volunteerism needs to be recognized in the community,” Rudolph said.

Bill Snavely, a member since the early 1990s, runs to Kroger and Walmart monthly to pick up food for TOPSS as part of his service with Kiwanis.

For Snavely, Kiwanis means giving back to a community he cares about, having worn multiple hats over his years in town as mayor of Oxford, president of Kiwanis and a dean at Miami University.

Snavely said the community the local group has built over the years is “very tight-knit.”

Paul Allen, who has been a member for 32 years, echoed Snavely’s comments about the community of Oxford’s Kiwanis Club.

“The people we’ve got are willing to be involved, they’re willing to step up and are willing to have fun at the same time,” Allen said. 

Allen joined the club in 1994 when he was the executive officer of the Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps at Miami.

During his time there, he attended a local Kiwanis meeting after being invited by a retired Navy captain. Allen joined the group soon after.

“Because I was new to the community … when I joined,” Allen said, “It was a great opportunity to meet people, and I’ve met and made some very good friends through the club.”

Since then, he’s become the dedicated “pancake flipper” at Pancake Day for several years. Before every Pancake Day, Allen shares with the Kiwanis group and community the best (and correct) way to make a pancake.

“It’s a great group … it’s a really dynamic and fun group, and I’m really proud to be associated with it,” Allen said.