Civitan International History
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The following is reprinted from the Civitan International website

Projects have always been a shining monument to the work and concern of Civitan clubs for their communities.  Extraordinary projects were accomplished by ordinary citizens like you and me.  The thought that a project cost too much did not stop them from working hard for the community.  Here are a few projects from the first ten years:

"Umm-mm!  Ain't this great!" was the comment of hundreds of youngsters returning home from Washington D.C.'s Civitan Fresh Air Camp.   Children spent two weeks at the camp, 35 miles from the city, among cool, shady trees.  Over the summer nearly 800 youngsters enjoyed the camp experience, thanks to Washington Civitans.  (August 1922)

Little Rock, Arkansas establishes a park for the city, complete with benches, children's playground and landscaping.  One of the club's fund raising projects on behalf of the park was the sale of fly swatters.  (August 1922)

Charlotte, North Carolina institutes an essay contest for high school and junior high school students on the duties and privileges of citizenship.   (November 1922)

Chattanooga, Tennessee got into the movement to help crippled children, earmarking 60 percent of the revenue from their next Civitan show for this project.  Club president T.C. Thompson discovered an 11-year-old crippled girl living in dire circumstances in the mountains near the city.  She cooked for a family of eight.  Against the opposition of the stepmother, the girl was taken from the family, and given new clothing and medical attention.  (November 1922)

In January 1922, after learning of the plight of tuberculosis patients, Knoxville, Tennessee took on the responsibility of building a hospital for the care of indigent tuberculosis patients.  The Tennessee Tuberculosis Association had purchased a 128-acre farm and had $3,000 cash for the project.  Civitans committed themselves to raising $100,000 and set out to raise the money.  By June 6 they had completed the campaign and were working on plans for the new hospital.  Construction began and the city soon had a new, three-story facility.  (March 1923)

"Save Your Waste Paper and You Save Forests" was the title of a feature story dealing with paper conservation and using paper products again.   Collecting, sorting, bailing and shipping waste papers is a gigantic industry.   Pictures accompanied the article and testified to the mountain of paper.  The article was written by Past International President O.B. Andrews, owner of a paper mill outside Chattanooga.  It was reprinted from Forbes Magazine.  (October 1924)

Atlanta, Georgia presented a 76-acre tract of  land to the Girl Scouts.  Named Camp Civitania, the land is ten miles from Atlanta.  The camp was developed with a swimming pool, sleeping quarters and huts built by Civitans and Kiwanis.  Civitans also held meetings at the camp during the summer.  (October 1924)    

Washington, D.C. financed a Boy's Garden Club for delinquents.   Boys were turned over to W.R. Beattie, an official of the Department of Agriculture with an interest in helping youngsters.  Each boy was assigned a plot of land and tended the garden, from planting seeds to harvest.  It was a successful project that grew annually.  (September 1925)

St. Paul, Minnesota voted to fund completion of one of the children's wards of a new hospital.  (November 1925)

Sacramento, California provided a light spring wagon for odd jobs around the Sacramento orphanage.  (December 1925)

Akron, Ohio joined with Rotary, Kiwanis, Exchange, Lions and Optimist to provide welcome signs at six prominent locations in the city.  (October 1926)

A banner headline proclaimed "Civitan Club Lands $2,000,000 Mill and $175,000 Hotel for Dalton."  The Dalton, Georgia, Club chartered in 1921 and was faced with the lack of a location for a luncheon meeting.  The town was booming and lacked any type of accommodation for travelers.  A hotel committee was formed, went to work raising money, purchased land and built the hotel.   (December 1926)

An auto race was a big project of Wichita, Kansas -- but it was not a typical race.  This one was a race for membership with the Studebaker Big Six against the Chrysler Imperial Eighty.  Points were awarded, in terms of miles, for new members and reinstated members.  Miles were also awarded for team members at meetings, for ball teams present at games, Civitan and wife attending games, and visitors at luncheons.  Penalties were also deducted from points earned for flat tire (member absent), foul spark plug (member late) or out of gas (without name badge).  (January 1927)

Greenville and Greer, South Carolina joined together to sponsor a 100-bed sanitarium to help stamp out tuberculosis.  Clubs pledged to contribute $1.00 a day for each charity patient.  (February 1927)

Children at the Trumbull County Home enjoyed a special evening of entertainment compliments of Warren, Ohio Civitans.  They were treated to sandwiches, soft drinks, ice cream and cake, and then enjoyed the Corlett Orchestra.  Civitans toured the home after the program.  (September 1927)

More than 5,000 toys were distributed to hundreds of underprivileged children by Wichita, Kansas Civitans for Christmas.  They collected new and discarded, but still useable toys the first Monday of December, and encouraged other clubs to adopt similar projects.  (December 1927)

Rogersville, Alabama needed a high school, but cost and location had the local committee deadlocked.  After the Rogersville club chartered, they went to work securing a location, pledged $10,000 and secured another $30,000 in additional funds from the state and other citizens of Lauderdale County to build the school.   (May 1929)

Birmingham, Alabama presented the Founder's Cup to Civitan International to recognize the one club performing the most outstanding service to its community.  (July 1929)

Winston-Salem, North Carolina started libraries in the city's public schools.  (July 1929)

Dallas, Texas provided swimming suits for several hundred undernourished youngsters under the age of  12 who attend the children's rest camp.   (September 1929)

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma took 687 "problem boys" in hand and gave then two glorious weeks at the YMCA camp  (November 1929)
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