PARSIPPANY — The Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany recently installed its officers for 2016-2017 at an event held at Empire Diner, 1315 Route 46.
The new officers are President Greg Elbin; President-Elect Frank Cahill; Vice President Karen DeChristopher; Secretary Karen Gajewski; Co-Treasurer Steve Dickens and Barbara Lysenko and Immediate Past President/Foundation President Connie Keller.
The board of directors are Club Administration: Bob Keller, Community: Carol Tiesi, CYPO co-directors: Karen DeChristopher and Nick Limanov, Sponsored Youth: Ron Orthwein and Human and Spiritual: Dr. Susan Elbin.
Kiwanis International is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time.
The New Jersey District of Kiwanis was established in 1918. Now over 99 years later, the New Jersey District remains active with ten divisions and 80 clubs. The New Jersey Kiwanis Family, including Aktion Club, Circle K, Key Club, Builder’s Club and K-Kids Club members, is over 17,000 people strong who share the common bond of serving our local and global communities.
Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany was formed on December 5, 1991 with a roster of 46 original charter members. The club was chartered in February 1992. Charter members included Jayne Beline, Frank Cahill, Margaret Cerbo, Nicolas Cerbo, Karen Gajewski, Harold Gantert, Barbara Ievoli, Ronda Kron, Michael Luther, James Mechtel, Jeanne O’Donnell, Frank Priore, Philip Santiago, Dr. Joseph Weisberg among others.
The first meeting was held at Concord Place (now Fairfield Inn & Suites Parsippany) and two years later the meetings were changed to Empire Diner.
The original board consisted of F. Houston Taylor, President; James Mechtel, President elect; Ronda Kron, Vice-President; Karen Gajewski, Secretary; Mark Wiener, Treasurer; and Directors Dr. Joseph Weisberg, Joe Linfante, James Carabello, Mary Lynn Kaprel, Kelly Stratmore, Marion Clark and Richard Epstein.
Other Presidents included Ronda Kron (1994-1995), Dr. Joseph Weisberg (1995-1996 and 2004-2005), Karen Gajewski (1997-1998), Jayne Beline (1999-2000), Michael Mulhaul (2002-2003), Robbie Furman (2003-2004), Doreen Breenan (2005-2006), Joyce Garrow (2006-2007), Gordon Meth (2008-2009), Joseph O’Neill (2009-2010), Paul Philipps (2010-2011), Robert Keller (2011-2012), Davey Willans (2012-2013), Carol Tiesi (2013-2014) Mimi Letts (2014-2015) and more recently Connie Keller (2015-2016).
Some of the past and present programs and projects of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany are:
- Sponsor the Parsippany Hills High School, Parsippany High School and Whippany Park High School Key Clubs.
- Sponsor the Brooklawn Middle School and Central Middle School Builders Clubs.
- Sponsor nine K-Kids Clubs in the Grammar Schools in Parsippany.
- Co-sponsor a Division Aktion Club.
- Donate to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of Parsippany.
- Donate to Project Graduation.
- Donate to the Interfaith Council of Morris County.
- Donate to the Homeless of Morris County.
- Cook for Homeless Solutions once a month.
- Donate to the Parsippany Library Programs.
- Donate to the Parsippany Food Bank.
- Donate to Programs through grants to our Foundation, such as Craftsman Farms.
- Sponsor the Parsippany Street Fair.
- Donate to the Morris County Battered Women.
- Donate to the Parsippany Day Care Center.
- Sponsor Scholarships for Kiwanis Youth Leadership Training, Key leader Training, Hugh O’Brien Camp and Scholarships for further education.
- Donate to Autism, Eliminate and Children’s Specialized Hospital.
- Support Little League in Parsippany.
- Support our local churches through an Ecumenical Breakfast for friendship, fellowship and exchange of ideas.
- Donate to Camp Nejeda.
The Club formed a Foundation, on June 3, 2004, to handle all the Service Funds raised for our programs and projects. It is a 501(C)3 account and only covers the Fundraisers. The Administrative account is still handled by the Club. These two accounts are kept separate by the Laws of Kiwanis International. The Foundation is composed of the same Officers and Directors as the Club but with a change in position and voting power.
For more information on Kiwanis Club of Greater Parsippany, click here, or attend our weekly meeting held at Empire Diner, 1315 Route 46, Parsippany at 7:15 a.m. Thursday.
