Click on the graphic above to see a video from our 2025 Cool Kids Read campaign.
Thank you to Frosty and Christina Burns of the Schmidt Family Restaurant Group for helping us distribute free books during this year’s Cool Kids Read campaign!
The Kiwanis Club of Portsmouth hosts its annual Cool Kids Read service project in partnership with Shawnee State University. Cool Kids Read, first launched In the fall of 2021, was developed and implemented to promote literacy to second graders in Scioto County and encourage them to get excited about reading. We currently serve eight schools in seven districts.
The participants are members of the Kiwanis Key Clubs at Clay, Portsmouth, East, Wheelersburg, West, Green, and Notre Dame high schools as well as Builders Club members from Notre Dame and Circle K Club members from Shawnee State University. These are all service clubs sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Portsmouth.
Our most recent campaign in the spring of 2025 provided free books to more than 500 second-grade students at eight elementary schools. Kids who attend our Kids Day event on September 20, 2025, will also receive free books.
On April 26, 2023, the Kiwanis Club of Portsmouth received an award fromServeOhio through the Ohio Commission on Service and Volunteerism for our Cool Kids Read program. The award came with a $1,000 grant to support the continuation of the program.
The ServeOhio Awards, made possible through support from the American Electric Power Foundation, recognize outstanding people, groups, and initiatives in each region of Ohio who make great contributions to their communities through service and volunteerism.
Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated
to changing the world one child and one community
at a time. We meet every Wednesday from noon to 1:00 p.m.
at Shawnee State University's Morris University Center.
On June 10, our club hosted a surprise farewell for Past President Misty Simco. She and her husband, Dan, have faithfully served our local Salvation Army for several years, and they will be transferring to Newark at the end of June. They are pictured below with Kiwanis President Kara Tieman.
We greatly appreciate Misty and Dan's leadership and outreach to our community. They have led a very successful Red Kettle Bell project for several years during the holiday season. Misty also redesigned the Salvation Army's Angel Tree program by setting up a store where parents could shop for gifts for their children.
Misty has also served on our Board of Directors, and she is our club's Advisor to the Key Club at Sciotoville Community (East). As chairman of our Playground committee, Misty was instrumental in helping to add ADA-compatible swings to our Kiwanis Playground in 2024 so disabled children could also enjoy going to Tracy Park. She worked to secure a grant from the Kiwanis Children's Fund to sponsor this project and raised matching funds from the local community.
Misty has drafted our members to serve meals, sort donations at the family store, and ring bells at Kroger. She and the Salvation Army Band even once entertained at our Kiwanis Christmas Party!
Thank you to Misty and Dan for all you have done to serve the families and children of our local community. We will miss you, and we are very happy to know of your plans to someday return to the area. Until then, God bless you, and we wish you great success in Newark! ... See MoreSee Less
We want to extend a big Kiwanis welcome to our new member Rachael Montavon who was inducted into our club this week. Rachael serves as the Customer Relationship Manager for Kentucky Farmers Bank at the Wheelersburg office. Rachael is pictured with her sponsor, Wayne Kempf, and Kiwanis Membership Chair Jay Hash. Thank you for joining us to serve the youth of our community! #KidsNeedKiwanis#KiwanisNeedsYou... See MoreSee Less
Cool Kids Read
Click on the graphic above to see a video from our 2025 Cool Kids Read campaign.
Thank you to Frosty and Christina Burns of the Schmidt Family Restaurant Group for helping us distribute free books during this year’s Cool Kids Read campaign!
The Kiwanis Club of Portsmouth hosts its annual Cool Kids Read service project in partnership with Shawnee State University. Cool Kids Read, first launched In the fall of 2021, was developed and implemented to promote literacy to second graders in Scioto County and encourage them to get excited about reading. We currently serve eight schools in seven districts.
The participants are members of the Kiwanis Key Clubs at Clay, Portsmouth, East, Wheelersburg, West, Green, and Notre Dame high schools as well as Builders Club members from Notre Dame and Circle K Club members from Shawnee State University. These are all service clubs sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Portsmouth.
Our most recent campaign in the spring of 2025 provided free books to more than 500 second-grade students at eight elementary schools. Kids who attend our Kids Day event on September 20, 2025, will also receive free books.
On April 26, 2023, the Kiwanis Club of Portsmouth received an award from ServeOhio through the Ohio Commission on Service and Volunteerism for our Cool Kids Read program. The award came with a $1,000 grant to support the continuation of the program.
The ServeOhio Awards, made possible through support from the American Electric Power Foundation, recognize outstanding people, groups, and initiatives in each region of Ohio who make great contributions to their communities through service and volunteerism.
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Kiwanis Club of Portsmouth
Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated
to changing the world one child and one community
at a time. We meet every Wednesday from noon to 1:00 p.m.
at Shawnee State University's Morris University Center.
On June 10, our club hosted a surprise farewell for Past President Misty Simco. She and her husband, Dan, have faithfully served our local Salvation Army for several years, and they will be transferring to Newark at the end of June. They are pictured below with Kiwanis President Kara Tieman.
We greatly appreciate Misty and Dan's leadership and outreach to our community. They have led a very successful Red Kettle Bell project for several years during the holiday season. Misty also redesigned the Salvation Army's Angel Tree program by setting up a store where parents could shop for gifts for their children.
Misty has also served on our Board of Directors, and she is our club's Advisor to the Key Club at Sciotoville Community (East). As chairman of our Playground committee, Misty was instrumental in helping to add ADA-compatible swings to our Kiwanis Playground in 2024 so disabled children could also enjoy going to Tracy Park. She worked to secure a grant from the Kiwanis Children's Fund to sponsor this project and raised matching funds from the local community.
Misty has drafted our members to serve meals, sort donations at the family store, and ring bells at Kroger. She and the Salvation Army Band even once entertained at our Kiwanis Christmas Party!
Thank you to Misty and Dan for all you have done to serve the families and children of our local community. We will miss you, and we are very happy to know of your plans to someday return to the area. Until then, God bless you, and we wish you great success in Newark! ... See MoreSee Less
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We want to extend a big Kiwanis welcome to our new member Rachael Montavon who was inducted into our club this week. Rachael serves as the Customer Relationship Manager for Kentucky Farmers Bank at the Wheelersburg office. Rachael is pictured with her sponsor, Wayne Kempf, and Kiwanis Membership Chair Jay Hash. Thank you for joining us to serve the youth of our community! #KidsNeedKiwanis #KiwanisNeedsYou ... See MoreSee Less
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