BAY RIDGE — Elvis has (not) left the building! The King of Rock and Roll, or Elvis impersonator Lamar Peters, was the musical backdrop for a recent Dyker Heights/Borough Park Kiwanis Club event held at the Greenhouse Café.

Several Kiwanians and community members gathered to pay tribute to Executive Board Member Sandy Irrera and celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Dyker Heights/Borough Park Kiwanis Club — the second largest club in the Brooklyn division, following Ben Bay. 

Irrera has been a Kiwanis member for decades, and was honored for her extensive community service, volunteering at a domestic violence shelter for more than 25 years and positively impacting countless lives. 

“I’m very humbled and honored to be recognized,” Irrera said. “It’s a wonderful feeling.”  

Lt. Governor of Kiwanis’ Brooklyn Division Penny Santo referred to Irrera as “a saint,” and one of her best friends.

“Whatever she does comes from the bottom of her heart,” Santo explained. “There isn’t a single event in our community where Sandy has not made her presence felt by donating, showing up or caring.”

Joseph Miraglia, Kiwanis club treasurer for Borough Park/Dyker Heights and treasurer for the Brooklyn Division, is fourth generation Kiwanian and said that the one-year anniversary is a “fantastic milestone.”  

Miraglia also spoke very highly of the night’s honoree, calling Irrera a real go-getter and the type of person that the Kiwanis organization really needs and holds in high regard. 

“Serving the children of the world”

Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the world one child and one community at a time. Its motto is “serving the children of the world.” 

Kiwanis International was founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. The organization was originally called the Supreme Lodge Benevolent Order of Brothers and one year later, the name changed to Kiwanis, which was selected by the organization’s founders based on their understanding that the word was translatable to “we build” from the Algonquian Native American language family. That same year, Kiwanis became an international organization with the founding of the Kiwanis Club of Hamilton in Ontario, Canada. 

Initially focused on business networking, the organization changed its focus to service in 1919, specifically service to children. Over the years, more clubs were created in the U.S. and Canada.  Worldwide expansion was ultimately approved in the 1960s. Today, there are Kiwanis clubs in nearly 80 nations and geographic locations.