Kiwanis youth collect for UNICEF

Kiwanis youth collect for UNICEF

PIQUA - Piqua High School Key Club and Piqua Junior High Builders Club will continue their support of Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 31, during trick-or-treat night in Piqua. The youth groups are sponsored by the local Kiwanis Club of Piqua. Now in its 19th year of partnership, Key Club and Builders Club have raised more than $5 million for UNICEF. For more than 60 years, Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF has served as the Original Kids Helping Kids campaign. In 1950, children across America were inspired to collect coins for UNICEF to aid children abroad enduring the after-effects of World War II. It was not just a charity effort-it was a call to end the needless suffering of their more vulnerable peers around the globe. Since then, for generations of Americans, Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF has been a powerful way to make a different in the lives of the world's children. Both youth groups are student-led service leadership programs of Kiwanis International. Key Club is the oldest and largest service program for high school students. Key Club gives its members opportunities to provide service, build character and develop leadership skills. Since 1925, Key Club International has provided more than 12 million hours of service to homes, schools and communities each year. Builders Club is the junior high introduction into Kiwanis Club and K-Kids are the primary and intermediate clubs sponsored by Kiwanis. This year all monies collected will be used to support the Kiwanis International Eliminate Project. The Eliminate Project has been adopted by Kiwanis and UNICEF to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus (MNT). "MNT kills one baby every nine minutes," said Kelly Meckstroth, local Kiwanis Club chairperson. "The effects of the disease are excruciating-tiny newborns suffer repeated, painful convulsions and extreme sensitivity to light and touch. A significant number of women die from MNT each year too," she said. "It is the goal of our International Kiwanis Club and UNICEF to help eliminate MNT and give the poorest families the chance to lead the healthy lives they deserve," she added. "We are proud to be a part of this project." "The high school and junior high students will be carrying orange UNICEF boxes collecting money to aid those less fortunate throughout the world," said Kim Bean, Key Club adviser at PHS, and Connie Black, Builders Club adviser at PJHS. "We have been doing this for many years and the kids all get excited about doing something to help others," she added. "It's a great way to promote service and give to others. We hope the community will continue their support of this wonderful project," they continued. Kiwanis is a global organization dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time. Kiwanis Club of Piqua meets on Wednesdays at noon at The Learning Place in Piqua. For more information, call Brian Phillips at 778-1586.

Scion Invests in Young Creatives and Entrepreneurs With New Contest

Scion Invests in Young Creatives and Entrepreneurs With New Contest

Recent college graduates are down in the dumps financially, with about half of them unable to find good jobs, and many of them reluctantly moving back in with Mom and Dad -- where at least they can be covered for health insurance until they're 26.

Surveying this scene, Scion has been moving decidedly up-age in in its target market. Introduced as Toyota's "youth brand" nine years ago painting a bull's-eye on newly minted college graduates, Scion brand executives now say that their primary target are still Millennials, but they're moving slightly older, to college grads around age 25 — and they want to help them make their business plan a reality.

"Five years ago, it was the 21-year-old who would have the high propensity to buy a new car, and their parents or other co-signers had a higher propensity to help them out with that purchase" than now, Owen Peacock, national marketing and communications manager for Scion, told brandchannel."Now if you look at a 21- or 22-year-old, their top concerns tend to be debt and student loans and getting a job," he added. "And the first thing when they're done with school isn't going to be buying a new car."

So the brand is shifting focus to the 25-year-old "who is through [college] and starting their first real, career job," Peacock explained.

Expanding on the brand's new "What Moves You" campaign, a related contest targets up and coming creative and digital entrepreneurs with chances to win the services of a "personal business mentor," $10,000 and a Scion vehicle to advance their careers. Applicants between the ages of 18 and 35 — with many expected around the 25-year-old sweet spot — are invited to submit written responses and a 60-second video describing their career passions and spelling out what resources they would need to achieve their goals.

The almost decade-old brand "has found common identity with the arts community and has supported more than 1,700 artists through galleries, music events and other efforts. The “What Moves You” brand campaign presents the passions of Scion’s many creative partners, and how the carmaker’s support has helped them achieve their goals."
“Supporting emerging artists is a Scion cornerstone, and we are featuring their personal stories as key parts of this brand campaign,” stated Peacock. “The recent introductions of the FR-S sports car and the premium micro-subcompact iQ have broadened Scion’s reach to new audiences, but we want our unique passion and business approach to continue to shine through.”
To that end, the 10-year-old brand Scion will select 50 semi-finalists to attend a three-day workshop with industry leaders to learn "essential skills" they can use to improve their businesses. They'll get a chance to revise and incorporate the lessons into their entries before 10 winners are selected.
The program aims "at our target consumer: leaders who will make something happen for themselves," Peacock said, "not people who are sitting on their laurels until the next job comes to town and they can get it."