The community service organization Circle K held their first event since their reformation last semester at the St. James soup kitchen.
Circle K is an international college and university community service organization that promotes leadership, fellowship and service. Circle K is a branch of the Kiwanis club, which is the head-start organization dedicated to promoting community service both locally and internationally.
According to their brochure, the first Circle K was originally formed as a fraternity at Washington State University by the local Kiwanis club. Within the next eight years, 168 Circle K clubs were chartered throughout the United States and Canada. In 1956 a special department was created in the Kiwanis International Office known as the International Headquarters for Circle K. Since then, there are now 550 campuses around the world that participate in the Circle K organization.
Originally, Stony Brook had a Circle K organization on campus, but it eventually “dissolved” because all the members graduated and it was not picked up by younger students, according to Vice President James Ren.
The newly formed club’s e-board is comprised of President Manny Shokralla, Vice President James Ren, Secretary Kelly Lion and newly added Treasurer Matt Marin.
“Our aim is to donate our time for worthwhile causes,” Ren said.
Shokralla and Ren thought of bringing Circle K on campus because of the similar community service organization they were part of when they were in high school. The organization was called Key Club, which is another branch of the Kiwanis Club that operates within high schools.
An old web site run by former members of Circle K is still listed under the campus’ list of clubs and organizations, but the new members have not created a new site yet.
Before officially bringing Circle K onto the campus, the e-board members went through a year and a half long process with the university.
According to Ren, in order to create Circle K on campus the e-board members had to contact the local Kiwanis club, Three Village Kiwanis, for a sponsor. They then had to go through the Undergraduate Student Government to discuss budgets for the club. They also had to attend several meetings with school officials to learn how to advertise on campus, what a club consists of, what they have to do financially and what goes into starting and maintaining a club.
At the first official meeting in December, the e-board discussed their short-term goals for the organization next semester. Shokralla said Circle K would participate in helping “beautify the campus” and may sponsor a section of the Stony Brook campus, maintain it and add shrubbery to the area. The organization is also looking to help surrounding communities such as Smithtown and Port Jefferson.
As for long-term goals, Shokralla said their ultimate goal is to help communities outside of Stony Brook and outside of Long Island.
As of now, the club plans to start off helping out locally within the Stony Brook campus, but they eventually want to expand their services.
“Our ultimate goal is to help out in Africa, and to help out in Asia, to help out in Europe, to help out all over the world, where help is needed,” Shokralla said. It’s a goal the e-board wants accomplished even if they are no longer students at Stony Brook.
Members who attended the first meeting in December were asked to list a preference for organizations for committees. These committees are event planning, fundraiser, public relations and fellowship. Each committee will meet together throughout the organization and will have one person in charge.
Circle K will host a total of seven meetings throughout the rest of the semester which members are expected to attend six of. Each meeting is held bi-weekly on Tuesdays in the Students Activities Center.
Since their first meeting last semester the club has seen an increase in membership and hopes to expand more as they plan further events.
“We want very motivated members,” Shokralla said at the end of the meeting. “We just want people who are willing to do good.”
