Service Clubs, Organizations, & Youth Groups Making Kitimat a Better Place to Live!
"Being new, Kitimat had no traditions to live up to, and no reputation to live down, so it was up to the residents to build a community of which everyone could be proud." Kitimat-Kemano: Five Years of Operation, 1954-1959, Aluminum Company of Canada
Kitimat service clubs such as the Kinsmen, Rotary, Elks, Lions, Gyros, and Kiwanis formed. Many new residents became members of the Royal Canadian Legion and the Nechako Toastmasters. The Order of the Royal Purple (OORP), Women's Auxiliary of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, organized in the fall of 1955. Youth groups included the Army Cadets, the Boy Scouts with an early start in 1953, and the Girl Guides.
The Company publication, “Kitimat - Kemano: Five Years of Operation, 1954-1959” reported "...community organizations began to increase rapidly to meet the needs of the growing population." The number of organizations increased from 35 in 1955 to 150 in 1959.
Fundraising Events Fill Kitimat's Social Calendar
The OORP raised funds for the Canadian Arthritis and Rheumatism Society and was just one of the many organizations fundraising in Kitimat for healthcare. Many groups gave equipment donations to the Kitimat General Hospital over the years and proclamations made by the Mayor of Kitimat for health and public safety continue to this day! With all the fundraising events needed for the many local capital projects and health and welfare concerns here and abroad, Kitimat was a hopping place!
Jaycee tree at hospital, 1967
Mayor George Thom signs a proclamation with Elks Norm Coulter (centre) and Tec Metz, May 1, 1973.
Presentation of the Charter of Queen's Scout to Scout Doug Blacklock of the First Kitimat Troop by Mr. J. T. Madill, September 23, 1953.
Order of the Royal Purple, Kitimat Chapter, held its annual fashion show at the Legion. As well as Italian knit imports the show also featured after-five and evening fashions with furs and accessories, November 26, 1964. Photograph by W. W. Morrow.
[Kitimat women] “had a decided weakness for tea parties and the usual uniform for these affairs was an elegant suit topped by a fashionable hat and complemented with a shiny pair of rubber boots.” The mud in early construction days was extreme. Northern Sentinel interview with Ada Hayes, May 28, 1969.
Jaycees' Phil Spencer, Jim Williams, Ron Lemke, and Nat Zasso size up the Haisla Bridge for the group's 3rd annual auction sales at the YMCA. Funds were raised for the Junior Chamber of Commerce with bargains in new and used merchandise.
Jaycees hosted a "Road-e-o", an annual national project conducted by the Junior Chamber of Commerce for teen-age safe driving. In Kitimat, Niels Pedersen (centre) won the competition in 1963, with Archie Cymbaluk (left) placing second, and Jan Ehlers (right) placing third. Bob Parker Ltd., Atom Motors, and the Avenue Body Shop, all of Kitimat, supplied cars for the event.
Donations from the Poppy Fund, Remembrance Day, Canadian Legion Branch 250 Kitimat, 1957 - four hours to count! From left are Legionnaires Bill Patton, Art Fischer, Pat Wright, and Tom Gibson.
The Lions Club of Kitimat constructing the concrete forms for the wading pool in the Kildala playground, June 1959.
Bill Martinuk goes on the scale as George Birch and John Grey "Guess Yor Wate" at the Elks' Frontier Day, Smeltersite, August 1954.
Kiwanis holds ceremony for the unveiling of the Kiwanis clock, City Centre, June 3, 1967, a Centennial year celebratory project.
Kinsmen sponsored the polio vaccine clinic - this one in 1962 - for elementary school students.
Adding the Toastmasters sign to the post, April 1964
Blood donor campaign sign mounted on the corner of Haisla and Enterprise for the Canadian Red Cross Society drive, March 8, 1957.