Chapter 5 - DECADE FIVE 1970 - 1979

A membership which varied from 50 to 75 in number reached two peaks in fellowship and togetherness which coincided with hosting of the National Convention in 1973 and the District Convention in 1977. The committee work and related socializing which spread over three years prior to each of these events became a major raison d'etre and Kinship flourished as Kinsmen and Kinettes worked in concert towards two of the most successful events we have ever staged.

The sense of effort was transferred to service activities as major commitments were made in this area. After many years of continuing financial and executive support to the Good Companions Club a pledge of $130,000 to their new building and many hours of committee assistance in the fund-raising drive resulted in the completion of a million dollar facility for senior citizens with which Kinsmen can be proud of their association. A large pledge was also made towards a new Ottawa Boys and Girls Club in the Brittania area as the relationship started in the first years of Ottawa Kin continued. The nearly nation-wide Kinsmen support to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation was joined by the Ottawa Club in 1974 and continues to the present with both local and national aid to the campaign against CF. Contributions of vehicles to schools, hospitals and the Blood Donor service have, in company with the construction of a Participark in 1978, spread the name of Kinsmen about the city.

In 1973 Ottawa Kinsmen became the sole benefactors of the Uplands Harriers Track and Field Club and the name Ottawa Kinsmen Harriers was adopted. It now appears in the press, radio, and TV, nation-wide, as top-level athletes compete in Kinsmen colours. Although of lower visibility, those activities found to be the community's greatest need over the years, direct welfare support, medical assistance, minor sport, the provision of summer camp opportunities, entertainment and outings for the shut-ins and underprivileged continued through the seventies.

Fund-raising developed a new dimension in 1971 with the start of the Skatathon event which, taking place on the Rideau Canal, has raised thousands for Boy Scout, Girl Guide and Kinsmen projects. A Bowlathon identified as KINPINS was undertaken between 1975 and 1978 and rounding out the THONS, an annual Bikathon commenced in 1976. Kinettes were very much in evidence at all of these events as the mainstay for needed project workers. The advent of the Lotteries Act in the early seventies resulted in revisions in format to long standing public fund-raising events such as weekly bingo and Oyster Stag having a, hopefully, temporary effect on income from these major sources.

News Bingo was attempted once more in the early seventies but in competition with the many lotteries appearing the new legislation did not develop as worthwhile and was discontinued as was the Exhibition Booth project after an abortive attempt to popularize real Buffalo Burgers.

The final acts of the fifth decade can in no way be followed. After several years of consideration on the pros and cons concerned with the formation of such an auxiliary organization the die was cast and in 1978 under charter president Lee Hummel, a K-40 was formed. In 1979, to complete the family, the K-Ette Club of Ottawa came into being. Helen Sentance was their charter president.

Presidents decade five

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