The Kiwanis Club of Port Townsend was very visible in the community last month – especially with all the hours spent working with the Christmas for Children program and managing the Toys for Tots and Foster Kids Christmas programs.

Many members worked a great deal of hours to help more than 500 local children have a fabulous Christmas. The entire community really stepped up in a huge way this year to fill wishes, buy clothing and make cash donations.

Next up is the club’s Snow Sports Program, which begins six weeks of skiing, snowboarding and winter fun on Jan. 7 at Stevens Pass. The club has sponsored the program for more than 30 years, busing kids to various ski areas in buses rented from the Chimacum and Port Townsend School districts. The bus is full for this year, and all the skiers and snowboarders are excited to get going with so much snow in the mountains already this winter.

Planning is well underway for the club’s annual Kiwanis Stars of Tomorrow show, which this year is to be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 19 at Port Townsend High School. Auditions are set for 3:15 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 19 at Blue Heron Middle School. Applications are available at the schools, at Crossroads Music and online at

starsoftomorrowpt.com. Questions may be directed to the chairperson, Mary Crozier, at 531-0200 or

maryc@ptpc.com.

Also in January, nominations are requested for the annual Thomas J. Majhan Teen Leaders Awards for 2016. The Teen Leaders Awards program, in its 14th year, recognizes and honors teens for their community-service excellence and outstanding leadership. Nomination criteria and information is available by emailing chairperson Melanie Bozak at

mabozak@gmail.com. Nominations are due by Jan. 31 and the awards ceremony takes place in the beginning of March.

Other club projects on the horizon include the club’s golf tournament in March, which benefits Camp Beausite Northwest and other club projects, as well as the club’s Rock ’n’ Roll Party in April. Planning starts soon for the second annual Brats & Beer event during Rhody Festival and for the Classic Car Show in August. There are always fun things going on with Kiwanis Club of Port Townsend.

Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time. Anyone interested in joining or obtaining information about the club may visit the website at ptkiwanis.org or send an email to porttownsendkiwanis@gmail.com.

The club welcomes businesses, organizations and individuals to present a 15- to 20-minute program during the weekly meeting. Contact program chair Marilou Sullivan at 301-1271 or aboutaccommodations@olympus.net to arrange a date.