About the District

The Objects of Kiwanis

To give primacy to the human and spiritual rather than to the material values of life. 

To encourage the daily living of the Golden Rule in all human relationships.

To promote the adoption and the application of higher social, business, and professional standards. 

To develop, by precept and example, a more intelligent, aggressive, and serviceable citizenship. 

To provide, through Kiwanis clubs, a practical means to form enduring friendships, to render altruistic service, and to build better communities. 

To cooperate in creating and maintaining that sound public opinion and high idealism which make possible the increase of righteousness, justice, patriotism, and goodwill.

History of the District

Today, the New England District of Kiwanis consists of 21 divisions and 140 Kiwanis Clubs. In 1918 when Kiwanis was just starting in New England, it was a different story. 

The first club in the District was in Boston, MA, organized on March 2, 1916 (the 14th in Kiwanis). Kiwanis Clubs were then charted in Bridgeport, CT; Hartford, CT (July 15, 1916); Worcester, MA (November 11, 1916); and Springfield, MA (January 10, 1917).

The organization of the New England District occurred on November 15, 1918, in Worcester, Massachusetts. There were thirteen clubs in the district at that time. Charles S. Webster of Portland, Maine, was the first governor. He was re-elected the next year at a Springfield MA meeting, and he served until October 8, 1920. At the 1920 convention in Holyoke, MA, Thomas E. Babb, Jr. was elected and he, too, was reelected and served until the end of 1922. 

Kiwanis came to Bermuda with the opening of the Kiwanis Club of Hamilton in 1971-1972.