Published: June 13, 2009 11:08 pm      

GLYNN: Iraqis sport Kiwanis T-shirts

Nearly everyone in Western New York has heard about the splendid efforts of the community-minded Lewiston Kiwanis Club.

The club’s countless contributions to local organizations, to needy families at holiday times and various projects are well known.

Now that message has been spread even to the streets of Baghdad in war-torn Iraq.

It all came about because Lt. Col. Patrick Roemer, a commander of the Air National Guard based at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, decided that members of his 447th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron would want to help make an orphange school in Baghdad safe and more comfortable for its young students.

Roemer, however, is not the type to take any personal credit for a project. Instead he is prone to always use “We did it,” according to Amy Wiser, whose feature article on helping the orphans, is in the current issue of the Kiwanis magazine.

Roemer told the writer, “The electrical system at the school was in terrible repair and unsafe. We simply didn’t want the kids to get hurt. We tried to make their lives better.”

The commander noted that idle time in the troops’ area of operations can adversely affect morale. Obviously, the project gave something worthwhile for the airmen to accomplish during their day off. The kids became fast friends as well.

When Chuck Stojak, a longtime Lewiston Kiwanian, heard about the work to assist the children in Iraq, he suggested sending some 200 white T-shirts emblazoned with the “Kiwanis of Lewiston” logo, along with a bundle of donated clothes.

Stojak also knew the precise procedures to make certain the shirts and other clothing items reached the right destination. He included a note to Roemer: “Pat, These are for the kids. Distribute as you see fit.”

Roemer said the youths loved the shirts. “Everyone likes to wear white in the hot weather,” the commander added.

One member of Roemer’s squadron, a New York State trooper, was so impressed with the kindness of the Kiwanians that he hinted he might join a chapter when he returned home.

Roemer, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, has received numerous awards and decorations during his career. He tells a story how his brother, Mike, first suggested that they both join the Lewiston Kiwanis six years ago.

They viewed that commitment as a tribute to their late uncle, a past president of the club.

Stojak also is a member of the regional state parks commission, an advisory group for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

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ON THE WATERFRONT: The Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours has been using a dock at the Parks Canada pier near Navy Hall. The company had been ordered off the Niagara-on-the-Lake municipal dock in late May after a judge ruled it had been leasing that space illegally since 1993.

The jet boat rides also operate out of the docks below the Water Street Landing restaurant in Lewiston.

Contact reporter Don Glynn at 282-2311, ext. 2246.