Valparaiso Magazine Fall 2021

THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS & SUNRISE KIWANIS
>> “A lot of behind-the-scenes stuff” doesn’t earn the club accolades
but is part of the Odd Fellows mission, Simms explained.
At least twice a year, the group also cleans up litter along Sturdy
Road. They go out in the morning with gloves and bags, gather the
trash, then have breakfast or an early lunch afterward to enjoy each
other’s company.
“It’s networking, but it’s always doing what’s right,” Simms said.
“You’re with good people who want to make a difference.”
Simms was a member in the early 1990s. “They didn’t do much,” he said,
so he got frustrated and joined some other organizations but didn’t
find what he was looking for. Then he got a call from the Odd Fellows
secretary saying, “Hey, I found your name on one of the old scrolls.”
Simms went back, became more active, and moved up through the
ranks. “We’re one of the more active chapters now,” he said.
The Valparaiso chapter draws from as far as Wheatfield and nearby
towns in LaPorte County. He hopes to draw more members. “We want
to be more visible in the community, so people will say, ‘What’s an Odd
Fellow?’ and learn about us,” Simms said. “There’s nothing odd about
helping people.”
“You want to do some things? Come on down,” he urged.
The club meets twice a month, on the second and fourth Mondays,
to socialize and plan their next odd jobs on behalf of the community.
Despite the “fellows” part of the name, men and women alike are
welcome to join.
WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR
WHAT WE HAVE AND ARE
WILLING TO SHARE WITH
THOSE WHO DON’T.
— Mary Ann Claesgens, Charter member
The Sunrise Kiwanis Club is a spinoff of the
Valparaiso Noon Kiwanis Club. It caters to
early risers who want to start their Tuesday
with networking, a speaker and a chance to
share joys.
Mary Ann Claesgens is a charter member,
with perfect attendance since 1988, when
members of the Noon Kiwanis Club
showed them how to set up the club and
run meetings.
The club meets at 7 a.m. Tuesdays at the
Viking Chili Bowl. Many of the club’s 50
members are retired or current educators.
They wanted a breakfast club so they could
be on the school campus at lunchtime.
Brett Furuness, who becomes club
president on Oct. 1, works in Merrillville but
lives in Valparaiso, so he starts his Tuesdays
with Kiwanis before he heads to work.
“I wanted to be involved in the
community. I wanted to make a
difference in my community,” he
said. Kiwanians enjoy helping
others. “It’s fulfilling to know you
made a difference,” Furuness
said.
When he helped with the Porter
County Spelling Bee for elementary
school students, a principal told him,
“Boy, what a special evening this was.”
One of the winners was a child who
wasn’t normally in the limelight. “We
made a difference in that boy’s life,”
Furuness said.
Among the other activities this summer
was collecting pop tabs for Ronald
McDonald House.
It takes 1,400 to 1,700 pop tabs to make a
pound, and they get 40 cents a pound.
While not a big fundraiser, it’s an activity
that brings people together. Other Kiwanis
Clubs collected them, too. “It creates those
bonds across these clubs,” Furuness said.
Among the Sunrise Kiwanis Club’s other
projects was to install musical instruments
for kids to play with at Butterfly Pavilion,
part of Foundation Meadows. Kiwanian
Phil Hahn was eager to do so as a tribute
to his late wife, Laurel Hahn, who was a
percussionist as well as pianist for First
Christian Church. The club is raising money
to put in another instrument there.
16 VALPARAISO MAGAZINE | FALL 2021