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.. STAFF photo by Robert Burke / The Tampa Tribune

Seel Lundy, 68, still has the same car she drove in high school, now considered a classic 1950 MG TD. She is very active with Kiwanis Club volunteering for projects in area schools..

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By ELAINE MARKOWITZ Tribune correspondent

Published: January 16, 2008

APOLLO BEACH - One morning the back of a bus stop bench in Apollo Beach drew Seel Lundy's eye. It gave the phone number of the local chapter of the Kiwanis Club, and she decided to call.

In 2001, newly widowed, Lundy suddenly saw the future with a big question mark. She and husband Jerry had planned to leave Cincinnati and retire to Apollo Beach that year.

She decided to go anyway, taking her son Brett along. A married son, Scott, already lived there with his family.

At loose ends in a new environment, Lundy wondered what her next step would be. The bus stop bench provided an answer.

"I knew I had to start a new life here," she said one recent morning in her bright sunny home in Apollo Beach. "I also knew Kiwanis would be a good community service organization to belong to."

For 39 years Lundy had taught children with learning disabilities in classes in Ohio and elsewhere. Children had long been her focus.

Kiwanis proved to be a natural vehicle for her interest and expertise.

"This is an international service organization," she said, "whose mission is caring for the children of the world."

Kiwanis International has chapters in Europe, Taiwan, the Philippines and the Caribbean.

"They almost single-handedly solved the iodine deficiency in children around the world," Lundy said.

The club had been familiar to Lundy, the current president of the Sun City chapter. Her late husband was president of a Cincinnati Kiwanis club, and she had worked with him there.

"Our main project was working with underprivileged kids in downtown Cincinnati schools," she said.

That club worked closely with school counselors, who informed members of children who needed winter coats or boots.

"We had an open-ended charge account to help those children," she said.

In the Sun City Center chapter the emphasis is on turning out responsible citizens with the Terrific Kid program. This program espouses eight qualities represented by the word "terrific" - thoughtful, enthusiastic, respectful, responsible, influential, friendly, impeccable (meaning clean and neat) and caring.

Kiwanis works through the homerooms in seven elementary schools, awarding monthly certificates and small gifts to terrific kids of the month. Participating schools include Apollo Beach, Ruskin, Wimauma, Cypress Creek, Collins, Corr and Doby.

"We give out about 350 certificates a month," Lundy said.

Restaurants and businesses contribute gift certificates and free meals as well.

Kiwanis members, along with parents, guidance counselors, teachers and principals usually attend the awards ceremony.

Lundy is impressed with the program's effect.

"The kids all seem to want to get it," she said of the award. "They look forward to being a terrific kid if they can."

Four schools - Apollo Beach, Collins, Corr and Wimauma - also participate in a junior Kiwanis program for grades three through five called K-Kids.

"The kids meet once a month and think of community projects," Lundy said.

Contributing to the Metropolitan Ministries, which aids the homeless in the Tampa Bay area with meals, clothing and counseling, is a favorite project of Apollo Beach K-Kids.

"They collect canned goods to donate at Thanksgiving and fill stockings at Christmas for the ministries," Lundy said.

Those students also take part in the Olive Garden restaurant's Pennies for Pasta project, which raises money for cancer research.

Kiwanis nationally sponsors comparable programs in junior high schools, called Builders, and high school, Key Club.

"To date we only have K-Kids," Lundy said, "but the others might come to the South Shore in the future."

Past Kiwanis president and lieutenant governor Sala Helm of Sun City Center remains active in the chapter and said he is proud of another group project - raising scholarship money.

"We offer two $1,000 scholarships a year," he said. "The recipients are chosen by a scholarship committee who accepts applications and chooses the kids."

Winners, he said, receive the money for the first two years of college.

The local chapter is seeking more members. They number 42, about half of which are women.

"Our membership drive just started," Lundy said. "We recently joined the South Shore Business Association to make our work known and maybe get some new members."

Helm waxed enthusiastic about the Sun City Center Kiwanis.

"This is a great group," said Helm of the local chapter and its projects. "As an older group we are still tuned in to the times."

GET TO KNOW

WHO: Seel Lundy

HOME: Apollo Beach

FAMILY: Two sons, Brett and Scott

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: President of the Kiwanis Club's Sun City Center chapter

For information on the South Shore Kiwanis chapter, call (813) 633-3311 or (813) 645-2313 or go to www.kiwanis.org.

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