Bay Kiwanis Club donates $25,000 to eliminate tetanus

Bay Village Kiwanis Club president Allen Waddle has announced that the service club’s long-term support of The Eliminate Project, a joint effort between UNICEF and Kiwanis International to eliminate worldwide maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT), has passed the $25,000 mark this year with a donation of $6,600 from proceeds from fundraising events including the annual Kiwanis-sponsored Bay Days Car Show.

The Bay Village Kiwanis and its school leadership clubs, the Bay High School Key Club and Bay Middle School Builders Club, have raised and donated funds for the past four years and its total contribution now exceeds $49,000. Kiwanis International has raised over $110 million in cash and pledges for this campaign.

The disease that Kiwanians have tackled, MNT, causes painful sensitivity to light, sound and physical contact ultimately ending with painful death for mother and infant. The disease, which is often contracted through unhygienic childbirth practices, takes the lives of nearly 34,000 infants and their mothers each year. Sixteen countries are still battling the disease, and await the vaccine which can be delivered to them through funding by The Eliminate Project.

Bay Kiwanis supports people in need here in our city, around the world through our funding and actions. If you would like to learn more about The Eliminate Project, or about our club, join us for a meal. Bay Kiwanis meets for dinner on Tuesdays, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., in the basement of Bay United Methodist Church, at the corner of Bassett and Lake roads.