Area organizations offer various community programs throughout the year

If you drive along East 23rd Street in Fremont or visit the Fremont Mall, you may notice something. The lights and sounds would give it away.

The annual D.C. Lynch Shows carnival to kick off summer is set up in the southeast corner of the Fremont Mall parking lot. The carnival is sponsored by the Fremont Jaycees and is one of the dozens of events and activities sponsored by local service organizations.

Organizations like the Jaycees, Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions, Cosmopolitan and Optimist clubs fill local community calendars each year.

Emily Wageman, past president of both the Fremont Jaycees and the Fremont Kiwanis Club, outlined the activities that those organizations produce every year.

One of the biggest activities produced by any local organization is the youth football program the Jaycees have organized for at least 40 years.

The program, which has grown to about 250 boys from 8 to 14 years old participating, runs from July registration into November, ending with a banquet the week after the league championship game.

But as massive an undertaking the youth football program is each year, it isn’t the only community program sponsored by the group.

Members also produce local youth football, baseball and basketball skills competitions with winners advancing to state competitions. The Jaycees also is a business partner for Linden Elementary School and participate in other community events like the upcoming American Cancer Society Relay for Life and John C. Fremont Days along with supporting local assistance organizations like Care Corps, the Salvation Army and the Jefferson House, Wageman said. The group also is part of the Nebraska Highway Cleanup program and annually sponsors an Outstanding Young Farmer as part of the U.S. Jaycees program.

Last year, the football skills competition was partnered with the Fremont Noon Optimist Club, which had organized its own separate Punt, Pass and Kick event.

But along with the Punt, Pass and Kick competition, the Optimist Club also holds the annual Dodge County Spelling Bee, Youth Appreciation Awards, fishing derby and youth golf tournament.

President Vicki Haecke said the organization’s main objective is to produce activities that focus on youth.

The Fremont Kiwanis Club is one of two groups that sponsor parks in Fremont. Kiwanis Park is located on Union Street between 10th and 11th streets.

“When Midland (Lutheran College) took over the old Clarkson School building around 2007, they surveyed the neighbors who wanted to keep the park behind the building,” Wageman said. “ADM bought new playground equipment, and the Kiwanis Club maintains the park. Kiwanis Clubs in other communities sponsor parks, so we thought it would be for us to do. We got a grant from the International Kiwanis Foundation. That sealed the deal for us.”

Wageman pointed out some of the Fremont Kiwanis Club’s other activities, including fundraisers to support the Fremont Family YMCA, Care Corps, Boy Scouts Mid-America Council, Habitat For Humanity and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Fremont along with participating in the annual bell ringing campaign for the Salvation Army and in John C. Fremont Days.

“I believe that being involved in a service club enhances the opportunity to be more involved in the Fremont community,” Wageman said. “We can impact the community much better in groups than by one person alone. Being able to impact the community and make a difference gives me a great sense of well-being, and I want to continue to find ways to make the community I live in better.”

The Fremont Rotary Club’s park covers a city block between Fifth and Sixth streets and K and L streets. The group also sponsors an annual track meet with the YMCA. It’s annual fly-in breakfast at the Fremont Municipal Airport draws dozens of pilots from around the region.

Activities that group supports and the 90-year history of that support was outlined recently in a booklet printed for the group’s annual banquet in April.

Fremont Rotary Club fundraisers also support Relay For Life, Splash Station, Habitat For Humanity, Care Corps, the Salvation Army, Boy Scouts Friends of Scouting, Special Olympics, TeamMates and the Fremont Area United Way.

The group also helped fund the downtown clock tower at Broad and Sixth streets and improvements at the downtown Ilgenfritz Parking Lot.

Matt Kransz, president of the Fremont Rotary Club until the June 30 end of its fiscal year, said service club activities are a sign of community spirit.

“For me, it’s showing pride in the community and benefiting all of Fremont,” Kransz said. “Rotary has always shown a lot of pride in Fremont. We want to improve it.

“Service clubs have the ability to do some of these projects more so than just one person, but that’s not just Rotary. That’s all of the service clubs.”