Kay Grossman Celebrates Key Club and the Spirit of Volunteerism

Emilie Gincig,and Ana Ledgerwood enjoy Kay Grossman's Key Club memories as she speaks to the high school service club this week.

Kay Grossman, founder of the Orcas Island Chapter of the International Key Club, returned to Orcas High School this Wednesday, in celebration of Key Club Week, Nov. 2-6.

Kay told the group of some two dozen high-schoolers that Key Club was first established in 1925 in Sacramento by two City Council members who also served on the School Board. They wanted to counter the secret high-school fraternities that were involved in mean-spirited mischief and pranks.  Initially, the service component that has come to characterize Key Clubs was nonexistent, and until 1976, Key Club was only for boys.

On Orcas Island, Grossman was thinking of starting a service club at just the same time that Kiwanis Club members, the parent organization for Key Club, approached her to talk about starting a Key Club at Orcas High School.

Key Club President Lanie Padbury, right, and other members enjoy Kay Grossman's presentation during Key Club Week, Nov. 2-6

That was ten years ago, and Grossman related some of the activities the club has been involved with since then – clothing drives to Bosnia, national and regional conferences, international dinners, and teacher recognition days, among them.

Grossman concluded her remarks by asking the Key Club Members, who meet weekly, to raise their hands if they’ve ever been involved in Little League or Girl Scouts, or if they’ve taken part in Orcas Rec programs. At the near-universal show of hands, Grossman said that they’d all benefited from the spirit of volunteerism in the community, and thanked them for carrying on in that tradition.