The Impact of Change

Sanjuana Zavala is being honored as a Champion of Change for her Kiwanis International service. 

Since I was little, my parents instilled in me the desire to help others, pursue my passion and have the courage to follow my dreams. My parents, both from Mexico, have no education here in the United States and know very little English. I learned from my mother that love and helping others has no language, racial or social-economic barriers. When I was growing up, my mom would create five to six Thanksgiving baskets with all the ingredients needed to make a Thanksgiving meal. We would then take the baskets to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, a 10-minute drive from our home, and give them to families in need. She saved up money from her paychecks to give back. She had no time to go and volunteer, but she loved Thanksgiving and wanted everyone to have a Thanksgiving meal.

I was raised, educated and still live in the low-income community of Southmost in Brownsville, Texas, but this hasn't limited my ability to serve. It is because of this vibrant, Hispanic-rich community and my supporting family that I devote part of my day to service. My commitment and passion for service has led me to meet extraordinary individuals who I remember every single day as I keep on serving my community. It is nothing but an honor to be a White House Champion of Change.

It was not until I joined Circle K International that my passion for service was lit. Before Kiwanis, I attended city-wide service projects but had no organization to affiliate myself with. I was just a high school student helping out on a Saturday morning. When I met CKI members at my freshmen orientation, I soon felt like I was a part of something. It was not until I became a club officer that I realized just how big the CKI organization and the Kiwanis family are. After attending my first district convention, I felt invincible. I had finally met a group of individuals who felt the same way about service. Those individuals became many of my best friends.

For the past year, in conjunction with Keep Brownsville Beautiful and UT-Brownsville CKI Club, the Crayon Recycling Project has flourished to new heights. More than 100 hours were served by CKI members and fellow high school volunteers for the CRP. These long hours of service created new and ready-to-use crayons that were molded into stars, soccer balls, planets, letters of the alphabet and many more fun shapes! What I loved most about the CRP was seeing the faces of kindergarten children when I told them the impact they made when they donated their old and broken crayons to be recycled. After helping out on this project, these little ones wanted to do more; they wanted to reach out and help. That’s when many of them, for the first time, heard the words community service and serving others. 

That’s what keeps me serving every day, and that’s what energizes me to wake up early Saturday morning for service projects—the impact of change. Nothing transcends faster than one’s passion. I hope by sharing my passion for service with the children and other people I meet, I get to change their perception about community service. I plan to stay in the Kiwanis family after graduation and serve as a Kiwanian. I would like to become an advisor to a CKI Club or even a Key Club. I can’t wait for what the future holds for me!  

Sanjuana Zavala is a first-generation college student at the University of Texas- Brownsville, and supporter of The Eliminate Project, a partnership between Kiwanis International and UNICEF to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus from the face of the Earth

Spreading the Word About Tetanus

John Mayfield is being honored as a Champion of Change for his Kiwanis International service. 

About 25 years ago, my life turned around. I once battled drug and alcohol addiction. I often didn’t take advantage of positive opportunities and suffered consequences for my actions. I knew I needed to change, so I started inviting God into my life and asking his will for me. He gave me the knowledge about how to change. I got sober, and everything just fell into place.

Ever since, I’ve found fulfillment through philanthropy. I live in Ashland City, Tennessee, and I’m proud to support local charities and causes. For instance, I own Mayfield’s Book Store, where all proceeds from the used books go to support the John E. Mayfield Charitable Foundation. Students at Nashville State Community College study and conduct research at the John E. Mayfield Library. For the past decade, graduating 4-H members have been named John E. Mayfield Scholars.

I’m also a member of my local Kiwanis club. My father had been a Kiwanian before me, but I didn’t know much about Kiwanis International as an organization when I joined in 2007. It ended up changing my life. One big reason is the unbelievable people I’ve met. With Kiwanis, a great example of good people working for a good cause is The Eliminate Project, which is raising money for the vaccines, supplies and education that will help eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus among some of the world’s poorest and hardest-to-reach families.

When I gave a donation to the campaign, I was thinking, “How can I change the world?” With just me, it wouldn’t go very far. But with Kiwanis, UNICEF and country governments working together, it can.

Last November, I was honored to be part of a Kiwanis International delegation that traveled to Sierra Leone to witness MNT elimination efforts in hard-to-reach rural villages. In the town of Bo, we visited a pilot program at a local school where adolescent girls received their tetanus vaccinations. I held four girls’ hands while they got their shots. Some were scared and others were brave, but all of them realized the importance of this vaccine. That experience will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Now I’m committed to telling that story. I talk to Kiwanis clubs in communities outside my own, spreading the word about tetanus, how it can be stopped and how The Eliminate Project is a great opportunity for people like us to change the world. I can honestly say that the campaign has been another of those life-changing experiences I’ve been so lucky to have.

I’m thrilled to receive the Champions for Change award. It’s an honor to be recognized.

John Mayfield is the Charter President of the Cheatham County Kiwanis Club and current lieutenant governor for Division 14 of the Kentucky-Tennessee District of Kiwanis International

Making a Dream Reality

Danny and Pam Spitler are being honored as a Champions of Change for their service to the Kiwanis International. 

Pam and I are certainly honored to be recognized as Champions of Change. Our lives are continually blessed and uplifted by the infectious smiles that we see on the faces of hundreds of young children—children who are receiving a primary education in one of the most impoverished countries in the world. 

The Spitler School in Cambodia became a reality, not because of some grand vision or some large program. It started because a young Cambodian tour guide had a dream to help children in his country, and he asked two world travelers if they would help.

In 2005, when Pam and I arrived at the Siem Reap airport for a three-day tour of the temples of Angkor Wat, Chea Sarin introduced himself as our tour guide. Over the next three days, Sarin shared with us both the majesty and the tragedy of Cambodia. Its ancient temples spoke of a grand culture that thrived in the 11^th and 12^th centuries, but the country and its people were struggling to recover from years of war, genocide and crushing poverty.  

Sarin was a small child when the Khmer Rouge ravaged Cambodia, killing millions of people, primarily anyone who was educated or had skills that could build a society. The Khmer Rouge killed Sarin’s father. His older brother and one of his sisters died in a Khmer Rouge labor camp.  His grandmother pled with their captors to spare his life, and his mother led him and his sisters through battlefields to get to a refugee camp in Thailand. Sarin achieved an education with the help of Buddhists monks, worked at different jobs, and eventually was able to learn English and attend a school that trains tour guides.

After those three days together, we continued our friendship with Sarin through e-mail, and we assisted him in his efforts to drill some small water wells in villages where the families had no access to clean water. Then he shared with us his dream of building a small school in a village where no school existed. We agreed to help, and what began as a small wood-and-thatch classroom, designed for 50 students, quickly became a larger project when almost 200 children arrived for class in the fall of 2005.

Over the ensuing seven years, under Sarin’s leadership, the Spitler School has become a special place and a great example of what can be achieved.  With a minimal amount of resources, using local talent and great collaboration, we have built a campus and a staff that provides a primary education to more than 500 beautiful children, most of whom live in abject poverty. By sharing the story, Pam and I have recruited many friends and family who help support this program, but the story has also spread into many corners of the world. We are blessed with volunteers and financial support from many countries, including our local Kiwanis club. 

Danny and Pam Spitler formed the Spitler School Foundation to fund the school, which now provides a primary education to more than 600 children living in abject poverty