They might seem like a kind of seasonal service club that only pops up on the social landscape every year at this time. That’s just an illusion though. The truth is the St. Albert Kinettes are always there and always working to make life better for as many people in the city as possible.
The Kinettes are the women-only side of the national service organization known as the Kinsmen. They have been in existence nationwide since 1942. Locally, however, we usually only hear about their activities starting around the end of November to the middle of December when they promote their annual Christmas hamper campaign. This hardy group of 10 members doesn’t rest during the other 11 months because this one effort requires that much planning.
Past president and current hamper campaign co-ordinator Karen Mehok likens the Kinettes to a vital component in the glue that holds St. Albert together.
“Right now we’re just really busy with the hampers,” she admitted. “In previous years we’ve helped with the Special Olympics. We do Daisy Days the day before Mother’s Day here in St. Albert at the Superstore. We hand out carnations to all the mothers and get donations for [our charity of choice] cystic fibrosis.”
Apart from the hampers and the above projects, they also put their hearts toward other community causes including St. Albert Stop Abuse In Families (SAIF), St. Albert Youth Explosion, the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the St. Albert Youth Community Centre, Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), Crime Stoppers and St. Albert Kinsmen Community Park. According to their website, that is just the tip of the iceberg as they also support many more youth, social service and minor sports organizations in and around St. Albert and Edmonton.
Lately they have also embarked on a special project just for the kids. In August they announced they had received $100,000 from a provincial grant to replace the playground at the Woodlands Water Play Park site. It’s already in progress and is scheduled to be completed by the time the park opens on the May long weekend in 2011.
“That’s going really well. They already have some of the structures up before we got snowed out of course and the weather took over. They were actually able to get some stuff started. They weren’t able to pour the foundation yet because it got cold.”
The city of St. Albert will also provide $150,000 to help pay for the project. When completed, it will be named after the Kinettes and become a permanent reminder of their hard work and dedication in much the same way that Kinsman Park acknowledges their male counterparts.
Together, there are more than 7,400 members in 529 Kinsmen and Kinette clubs in Canada. If you are interested in learning more about the St. Albert Kinettes, please call 780-418-3930 or visit www.stalbertkinettes.ca.
