About
Circle K International is a collegiate service organization
with a worldwide
membership that promotes fellowship, leadership, and
service.
Although each Circle K club is sponsored by a Kiwanis
club, college and
university students govern the organization on all
levels. A board of officers
on the district level, and an International Board of
Trustees comprise the
leadership teams.
Mission
Developing college and university students into responsible
citizens and
leaders with a lifelong commitment to serving the
children of the world.
Pledge
I
pledge to uphold the Objects of Circle K International, to foster compassion
and goodwill toward others through service and
leadership, to develop my
abilities and the abilities of all people, and to
dedicate myself to the
realization of mankind’s potential.
History
In
1936, the Kiwanis Club of Pullman, Washington, established “Circle K
House” at Washington State College, which was rented
to young men who
needed assistance to attend college. For ten years the
"Circle K House"
became affiliated with a Greek letter organization,
although it continued to
be sponsored by the Pullman Kiwanis Club.
Eleven years later in 1947, Circle K transitioned from
a fraternity to a
service-oriented organization. That year, during
September, the first Circle K
club similar to our present day organization, was
chartered at Carthage
College in Carthage, Illinois.
In 1949, two more clubs were organized, including one
in Canada, making
Circle K international. There were 147 Circle K clubs
in 1955, when Circle
K was officially recognized as a sponsored
organization of Kiwanis
International.
Membership
Circle
K International is an organization for college and university students
who are responsible citizens and leaders with a
lifelong commitment to
community service. CKI operates on an international,
district, and club level. More than 11,000 members make up about 500 clubs in
30 districts and 17 nations, including the Bahamas, Barbados, Canada, Jamaica,
St. Lucia, Colombia, Philippines, Nigeria, Ecuador, Malaysia, Panama, Dominican
Republic, Taiwan, Antigua, Australia, Suriname, and the United States.
Vision
To be the leading global community-service
organization on college and university campuses that enriches the world one
member, one child and one community at a time.
CKI Service Initiatives
As
a whole, Circle K International promotes four major organizations and hold
events, activities, and fundraising to help support them. The four service partners for CKI are:
March of Dimes: There are many ways for us as Circle K to get
involved with March of Dimes. We are
planning some events for this year to help support. If interested, check out March of Dimes: Team Youth
UNICEF: “Saving Lives: The Six Cents Initiative”
Circle K and UNICEF have joined together to help provide clean water and
sanitation to children all over the world.
Only six cents buys a packet of cleaning minerals which clean a gallon
of water. As a club, we can help raise
money and donate to UNICEF to help save lives, six cents at a time. For more information, visit UNICEF USA.
Better World Books: BWB is an organization
that helps provide books for needy children around the world. Colleges conduct book drives around the
country which divert millions of books from landfills and also raise money for
literacy by selling the used books to others, such as students like us. For more information or to order books, visit
http://www.betterworldbooks.com/.
STUFH:
STUFH – Students Teaming Up to Fight Hunger – is the newest service partner for
CKI. It is a nation-wide food drive
organization which partners colleges and
universities
with their local food bank to help raise food for the hungry in their local
community. By holding a food drive on
campus, we can help feed the hungry in our community. For more information, visit http://www.stufh.org/.