Circle K International- IVC
Loaves and Fishes Can Food Drive- Jessica Salvador and Devan Davison carrying a box full of canned food to be distributed into bags for the homeless. (Marlene Smith)
Service, fellowship and leadership sit at the foundation of Circle K international, and the branch at Irvine Valley College is no exception.
“We offer community service for members and it’s great for networking,” Club President Marlene Smith, 19, kinesiology said. “They build leadership skills.”
According their webpage, “Circle K is an international community service organization with over 12,000 members worldwide in over 7 countries.”
There are different levels of the organization, including Key Club at the high school level, Circle K at the college level and Kiwanis at the adult level.
IVC Circle K was started by current faculty advisor, Nancy Ikeda in fall 2003, but was officially charted in 2005, according to Smith.
It is part of the Magic Kingdom division, with seven other schools, including: Saddleback College, Orange Coast College, Santa Ana College, University of California Irvine, Chapman College, Whittier College and California State University Fullerton.
Under the sponsorship of Irvine Kiwanis, IVC Circle K helps the campus and the community with fundraising.
The club has attended local activities and helped with many fundraising opportunities in the community, such as picking oranges outside of Ronald McDonald House last weekend, working with Key Clubs and other Circle Ks in the in the area, like Saddleback, and partnering with IVC staff member Robert Flournoy and the Loaves and Fishes organization to provide meals for those less fortunate.
“I love that we’re not just club members, but friends too,” Jessica Salvador, 20, sociology said. “Not only do we participate in fun events and raise money for charities, but we also hang out outside of school and do fun social events like hiking, spirit night and cosmic bowling.”
Smith said they often just recruit members from meeting days, but you also have to fill out an application. The membership fee is $40, but if you bring a friend, then it’s only $30.
The 40-member club meets on Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Their next event will be on Friday from 4:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. in Hollywood.
“We’ll be the live studio audience of a show called “Friends with Better Lives,” Smith said. “We get a certain amount of money for each person we take. These funds help us discount fees for members who want to attend large district events, like the fall training conference.”
“I was looking for friendly camaraderie; a club where I can feel comfortable and make some good, genuine friends and I really feel like I found that in Circle K,” Salvador said.
For their IVC webpage go to:
http://www.ivc.edu/student/clubs/circlek/Pages/default.aspx
For more info on the club internationally go to:
http://www.circlek.org/home.aspx
Saddleback Circle K Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/sccki
Loaves and Fishes Can Food Drive- Jessica Salvador, Tracy Phan and Marlene Smith distributing cans into the bags to be sent to the homeless shelter. (Marlene Smith)
Loaves and Fishes gleaning- Cory Lumsdaine, Ping Chen (in the back), Stephanie Pham and Takumi Kawashita harvesting green beans at the Orange County great Park to be distributed later to those in need of fresh produce. (Marlene Smith)
Holiday Tree Fantasy Event – Tracy Phan, Thien Tran and Jonathan Pacheco distributing gift baskets to be sold in silent auction in Newport for the holidays . (Marlene Smith)