For those of you I have not yet met in person, I am Bill Flinta, a past Ohio District Kiwanis Governor, and I currently serve on a committee that is helping to implement an Ohio District Division re-alignment further described below.  I believe most of you are aware of this plan either from a Division 16 council meeting or a personal or phone discussion with me.  There are just a couple of you I have not connected with yet but wanted to get this email out before we get too far into the holiday season.  I am personally a member of the Kiwanis Club of Stow Munroe Falls and as a result will be a member of this new Division with you.  This re-alignment will have no impact on how your club functions on a day-to-day basis, it is to more equitably re-balance the clubs for governance purposes and hopefully allow clubs to have more interaction with regional clubs in their area.

First a quick history, Ohio Kiwanis has not done a full Division re-alignment since 1998 when we had more than double the number of members we currently have, and about a third more clubs.  At that time we went from 32 to 26 Divisions.  In 2017 there was a further smaller consolidation to adjust to the 24 Divisions that we currently have.  So, two years ago a committee was formed to study this and to rebalance our Division sizes and the current re-alignment to 19 Divisions was the result of their work and has been approved by the District Board.  We are now in the implementation phase for this to take effect on October 1, 2025.  Our newly aligned Division will include the Kiwanis Clubs in Eastern Summit County and all of Stark County plus the Ravenna and Dover-New Philadelphia clubs.

We would like to have a meeting of all the clubs in the new Division on February 5 for us all to meet each other and to begin to plan what the operational structure of our new Division will look like.  We will also need to elect a 2025-2026 Lt. Governor to represent our Division on the District Board so please be thinking if you or someone from your club would have an interest in taking on this important leadership opportunity.  It is hoped that each club will send at least a couple of their officers and/or members to this important organizational meeting.  The meeting is open to all who would like to attend and additional attendees are encouraged.

The meeting will be held at the Portage Lakes Kiwanis Civic Center, 725 Portage Lakes Drive, Akron, Ohio 44319 on Wednesday February 5 beginning at 6pm.  Portage Lakes Kiwanis will provide a meal at a cost of somewhere between $10.00 and $12.00 per person, to be paid individually at the meeting.  Thank you Portage Lakes Kiwanis for hosting this meeting.     

Please RSVP by January 29 to myself, Bill Flinta at [email protected] AND Al Gzeschik of Portage Lakes Kiwanis at [email protected] with how many people from your club will attend this important meeting and if they would like a meal.  If there are any dietary restrictions please also let us know.  

Thank you each for your service to Kiwanis.  I hope to see you at the meeting on February 5.  If anyone has any questions in the meantime please feel free to reach out to me via return email or at 330-801-6225.

Bill Flinta
Ohio Kiwanis Past Governor

Jim Myers, Chair

Jim Myers, Chair

Jim Myers, Chair

Jim Myers, Chair

Jim Myers, Chair

Jim Myers, Chair

Jim Myers, Chair

Jim Myers, Chair

Jim Myers, Chair

Jim Myers, Chair

Jim Myers, Chair

Jim Myers, Chair