HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-10-14, Page 20In 1921, one of the Hamilton Kinsmen
Club members was transferred to Mon-
treal. He missed his Kin association and
got busy to start a new club in that Quebec
City.
Later that same year, the first national
convention - of sorts - was held when the
two clubs met in Hamilton.
By 1924, there were clubs in Vancouver
and Toronto, begun when Kinsmen
members moved across the country. Four
clubs formed in four years. •
When the Winnipeg Kinsmen Club was
formed in 1926, the decision was reached to
hold a national Kin convention in that city.
And that was really the start of Kinsmen
as it is known today, for it was at that Win-
nipeg convention that the Kinsmen voted
to remain a national organization; to adopt
a constitution and bylaws, and to fix the
age for active membership at 40.
From then on, the organization spread
like wildfire across the whole country.
"Like myself, the founders of these new
clubs were seeking friendship and the op-
portunity to take part in worthwhile com-
munity endeavours with other service -
minded young men," Hal Rogers believes.
By 1927 there were 12 clubs. In 1928, four
clubs in Saskatchewan called Eclectic
'Clubs, whose aims and objectives were
similar to the Kinsmen, joined the
association.
By the end of 1928, there were 24 clubs.
In 1929, the clubs were formed into -five
districts under governors and district of-
ficers. The national convention was held in
1934 in Victgoria, B.C. and a fulltime
general secretary was approved.
By 1936, there were seven districts.
In 1939, the focus of the club's communi-
ty work shifted dramactically. The Second
World War broke out and within three
weeks, hundreds of Kinsmen signed up to
fight the Canada's greatest need -
freedom.
Kinsmen at home formed a war service
committee.
The first mobile dental clinic in the
British'army was built and financed by
Kinsmen.
Sixty-five tonsof magazines were ship-
ped to the merchant marine.
Hostess houses were built for wives and
families of troops at Shilo, Manitoba and
Debert, Nova Scotia.
Kinsmen sold war savings stamps at a
peak rate of $225,000 per week at the
height of the war.
A Milk -For -Britain fund raised close to
$3 million, resulting in 50 million quarts of
milk being shipped to the children of Great
Page 4
Rejection led to the birth of Kinsmen Club
' The Kinsmen Club of Canada was born
because Harold Allin Rogers wanted to
have the company of fellows his own age.
Young Hal had just returned to Hamilton
from the First World War in January 1919.
He was 20 years old and used to the com-
panionship of other soldiers serving their
country overseas. He had survived a gas
attack at Paschendale before being wound-
ed at Amiens in the summer of 1918 and
sent to England for a few months prior to
being shipped home.
Hal immediately resumed his sales
career in his father's'plumbing and
heating supply business in The Steel City.
But it was a lonely time for the young
veteran who had lived through such an ex-
citing period in history. He thought joining
a service club might put him in touch with
similar -minded men who would become his
friends.
Hal's father and employer Charles
Frederick Rogers, was a member of the
Rotary Club, so Hal applied there for
membership. He was turned down, not
because he wouldn't have been a welcome
addition to the club but because of
Rotary's policy to have only one member
at a time from one line of business.
Undaunted, Hall invited 11 other foot-
loose fellows to have dinner with him at
the Namking Cafe. On that evening, the
idea of Kinsmen was formed and the first
of 18,000 members in 600 clubs across
Canada were signed on with the founding
Hamilton Kinsmen Club.
From the very beginning, Kinsmen went
to work to serve the community's greatest
need.
"The first club project in Hamilton was
welcoming young men to the city," Rogers
recalls.
Hal Rogers
Kinsmen founder
Kinsmen in Hamilton made contact with
newcomers in Hamilton industries who
were invited to come out to -the next
meeting. Hal Rogers knew from ex-
perience there would be many of those
fellows who would welcome the chance to
meet other guys in a strange city.
He was right. The young men came out
to the meetings, enjoyed the fellowship,
made friends and in some cases, joined the
club.
The Hamilton Kinsmen Club was official-
ly chartered on February 20, 1920.
The
GODERICH LIONS CLUB
recognizes the Kinsmen for
40 years of continued good
service to the community.
"As we celebrate our 65th
Anniversary, we congratulate
the Kinsmen on their
40th Anniversary."
BEST
WISHES
KINSMEN!
A further $106,000 was raised for food
parcels for Britain by Kinsmen in Canada. '
The Kinsmen had come of age. -
Needs everywhere
•
A cancer scholarship fond was set up in
1949.
Then, major donations were made to
flood -ravaged areas: Winnipeg in 1950;
Europe in 1952-53; Hurricane Hazel's path
in Southern Ontario in 1954; Frejus in 1960;
and Hamburg in 1962.
Kinsmen involvement in disaster relief
continues to this day.
In addition, the organization has become•
increasingly involved in. medical research
funds - mental retardation, cystic fibrosis
and others.
On February 20, 1979, the,50th anniver-
sary of the club's founding, the Kinsmen
National Institute on Mental Retardation
was officially opened in Toronto. More
than $400,000 had been raised by members
across the country for the facility.
On February 23, 1980, the association
opened a new national. headquarters, a
three-storey structure visible from.
Highway 401 at Cambridge.
And the work goes on ... and on ... and
on in clubs rights across the nation.
Dispite the complexity of the association
now and the changes the country has seen
over the years, Hal Rogers says the.aims,
the objectives and the spirit of Kinsmen'
has not changed.
"We, as young men, dreamed dreams'
and with our dreaming, we combined ac-
tivity with fellowship to build the organiza-
tion the vision of those years inspired,"
Rogers has said.
"Through all the years that have follow-
ed, Kinsmen have characteristically and
ambitiously anticipated the future and
have interpreted their kinsmenship in a
sharing and long -living fellowship and in a
dedicated, continuing service to their
respective communities, their country, and
through the war years, to the Com-
monwealth and to all free people," Rogers
went on.
"As we have grown from that small
group of orginals to the charter night in
1920, to a nation-wide organization of
young men and young women, so have we
all developed and enlarged our vision, our
activity and our service to others,"- Rogers
claims.
Congratulations to the Goderich
Kinsmen Club, now 40 'years old in service
to the greatest needs of "the prettiest town
Canada"
Britain. in .
Congratulations, Kinsmen
on 40 years of service to our
community!
Maurice GARDINER
REAL ESTATE
Past President - Maurice Gardiner
Kinsmen - GerryPaulin