Local Club is more than just for breakfast

By: Alex Ayala

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y —Bradley M Provost is a simple, honest, working man.

He works in retail, has a wife and two adopted kids and just moved to Plattsburgh four years ago from Vermont.

"My life revolves around four walls," he said.

Now he's the President of the Kiwanis Breakfast Club in Plattsburgh.

"It's the best thing to ever happen to me," he said.

The Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers who hope to create change to children and communities around the around. The Breakfast club was formed on Oct.1 1990 as part of more than the 7,700 clubs worldwide.

Don't confuse it with the Kiwanis Plattsburgh Club; The Breakfast Club is for those who can't make it to lunch.

The Kiwanis Club has their meetings at 12:15 pm, Thursdays at the Perkins Restaurant on Route 3 and the first Thursday of every month at 5:30 pm.

The Breakfast Club meets at 7:30 am every Tuesday.

The Kiwanis Club was also charted on April 11, 1929.

But though the club is young and small, that hasn't stop the club from donating and volunteering to many organizations in Plattsburgh.

The Breakfast Club, with only 15 members, help out with other community programs like Joint Council for Economic Opportunity in Plattsburgh, Ted K center, Boy Scouts, Head Start and many others.

One event is the JCEO Backpack program where the club help fill children's backpacks with food in the Plattsburgh City School District to help fight child hunger.

According to Feeding America.org, a domestic hunger-relief organization that has more than 200 food banks, more than 15.3 million children lived in food-insecure households in 2014.

Twenty percent or more of the child population in 38 states and D.C. lived in food-insecure households in 2013.

Another event the club does weekly is Head Start reading, where a club member goes to the United Methodist Church on 127 Beekman St and read children books to the kids at the church.  

"We donate to so many different things it great to be involved with a group that is able to donate to so many different programs. It's very amazing," Provost said. "You hear these things and you think they only happen in large cities but it's happening in Plattsburgh."

The biggest fundraiser The Breakfast Club host is Dozerfest, where children get inside Dozers, move around the buckets and pick up dirt and rocks. They basically drive them with an instructor. Last time the even happened, the club raised more than $30,000.

Provost heard about the club because his wife is really involved in the community. His wife was involved with a project with the Kiwanis and when Provost came along to help, well let just say he joined when his wife did.

"I guess when she joined, I joined," Provost laughed.

And ever since then, it has been a life changing experience for Provost.

"It's just for the kids. It's always for the kid," he said "It about bettering out community and kids as a whole."

But beyond the club meetings and the events, nothing makes Provost smile more than seeing the kids have fun and getting excited.

"My favorite part is the smile on kids’ faces. That's my favorite part and knowing that we just made a kids day.”

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