To improve the Circle K International club at El Camino College, Hermosa Beach Kiwanis Club is providing funding of around $3000 every year.

Circle K International (CKI) is a student-led community service club at El Camino College that is sponsored by Kiwanis International.

Kiwanis Club is an international community service social club, a small part of which is in ECC. Last year the CKI had 3 members but late grew to 27 members.

According to Mathew Ujemov, a 19-year-old Business major at El Camino College and the Metro Lieutenant Governor of CKI, last year the funds went towards scholarships for students that worked hard in the club, along with two big annual district retreats called The Fall Training Conference and District Convention. The rest of the money goes towards the club rush.

“The purpose of the funds was for scholarships and to help drive membership in the club,” Ujemov said. “ We used the money to help people go to the large scale conventions and we also used the money to create a visually pleasing club rush booth.”

According to Cedric Marae, ECC Representative at Hermosa Beach Kiwanis Club, the purpose behind funding the club is to provide service assistance programs to the community as well as El Camino College.

Marae said its been a while since Hermosa Beach Kiwanis Club has funded the Circle K club, but they will be helping them in the future too. The goal is to expand the group as Hermosa Beach Kiwanis Clubs’ main purpose is to help people in need.

Funds are given based on requests from the CKI at ECC. Exact dates and months are predetermined by schedules from Kiwanis International California-Nevada-Hawaii organizations.

“I can request further assistance from the Hermosa Beach Kiwanis Club if I can identify a specific need,” Marae said. “I would like to expand to encourage more student involvement.”

While talking to The Union, Ujemov explained community service events they are planning include dog toy making, Pediatric Trauma Dolls, research surveys, fundraising for preferred charities, transcribing historical documents, freerice.com, (Freerice is a website and a mobile application game, where players answer a multiple-choice question. For every question player answers correctly, 5 grains of rice are donated via the United Nation’s World Food Programme.)

The club is part of the Metro Division, which includes colleges: CSU Dominguez Hills, CSU Long Beach, El Camino College, UC Los Angeles and more. The money helps the Circle K Club help them to go to conventions on a larger scale.

The current CKI President Alexander Caceros joined the club in Spring 2020. According to Caceros a lot has changed since the spring semester, the board members are prioritizing the club by promoting via Instagram.

“CKI has become a big part of my life because it prioritizes socializing,” Caceros said. “The club has a lot of opportunities to help the community.”

The main focus of the funding is to help the club reach recognition, the club has future planning such as fundraising for Black Lives Matter Movement and more but they are not sure because of COVID-19.

“We have some events planned for October because Halloween,” Caceros said. “This week we also have game nights with other schools too.”

“We may also use some of the money to help in regards to future fundraising or potentially for club t-shirts maybe,’ Ujemov said. “ Depends on what the rest of this year looks like because of COVID-19.”

Editors Note: An additional source has been added to the story on Sep. 9