Kiwanis raises funds for its ELIMINATE project

The Kiwanis Club of Jamestown announced this month that its Wine & Cheesecake event featuring Alexis Barnick raised $4,600 for Kiwanis International’s ELIMINATE project.

“American Idol” contestant Alexis Barnick of Jamestown, along with the Kiwanis Club of Jamestown and Kiwanis members across the globe, joined forces to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT), a painful disease that kills one baby every 9 minutes, or 160 newborns each day.

Barnick performed as part of the first Wine & Cheesecake Event April 13 at the Masonic Lodge overlooking Jamestown Reservoir.

Barnick made it to the Hollywood round of the Fox TV show “American Idol.” She’s performed before dignitaries, church events and school performances including a lead role in Jamestown College’s “Off the Map.” At the time, Barnick was only a seventh-grader.

Ticket sales, coupled with silent auction proceeds, totaled about $3,000. Community support, which continued after the event, generated the remaining funds.

Kiwanis eliminating MNT is a global campaign that will save and protect the lives of millions of mothers and their future babies. The disease is typically contracted through unhygienic childbirth practices. The goal of the project is to eliminate this swift, painful and highly preventable disease by vaccinating women of childbearing age, which will not only protect the mothers, but also their future babies.

“The stories of these families break our hearts,” said Tim Burchill, president of the Jamestown Kiwanis Club. “But we know the generous people of the Jamestown region can help. What affects one child affects us all.”

As the world’s largest single donor, Kiwanis International is raising $110 million by 2015 for the project, which will ultimately protect at least 61 million women and their future babies who are at risk of this deadly disease.

“For U.S. $1.80 we can protect a mother and her future babies from this deadly but preventable disease,” said Stan Soderstrom, executive director of Kiwanis International. “We can only do this with the support from our local clubs, and with their participation, we will eliminate MNT.”

For more information about The ELIMINATE Project, visit www.TheEliminateProject.org.

Tags: life, community, clubs