Kindhearted
Kiwanis Couple…
Mark & Joan Hildebrandt have
selflessly supported local club for 35+ years
WORDS: Amy Bell
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
For Mark and Joan Hildebrandt,
volunteering is not a sprint, but a
marathon. The couple has been
heavily involved in the Kiwanis Club for
more than 35 years.
Joan and Mark’s passion for Kiwanis was
first sparked when they were in college.
“We were both members of Circle K,
now called CKI, which is a college level
Kiwanis organization,” explains Joan.
“We found it very rewarding working on
projects that benefitted children’s needs,
such as building a playground from
donated materials that the handicapped
children were able to access at Happiness
House (now Easter Seals) and visiting the
residents at Children’s Haven.”
After college, Mark and Joan got married
and settled down in Palmetto to start their
family. That’s when they got involved with
the Kiwanis Club here in Manatee County.
“We have been involved in Kiwanis
for over 35 years, and are both past
Presidents,” says Mark.
Today, Mark is the club’s long-time
Treasurer, and Joan has served as
Secretary for several years. The
Hildebrandt’s also have been a mainstay
at the Manatee County Fair for many
years, where they sell corn dogs for the
annual Kiwanis Club fund raiser.
“We are also both very involved in our two
major service projects, the Book Bus and
Kiwanis Against Hunger,” says Joan. Four
years ago, she and Mark purchased the
Book Bus on behalf of their Kiwanis club
from Bloomington, Illinois, and drove it all
the way back to Palmetto.
“Since then, we have been involved in
stocking the bus, driving it to schools
and events, and passing out the books to
children,” she says. “This is an amazing
project, and it is so rewarding to see the
excitement in the children when they get
to choose a book to keep.”
Kiwanis Against Hunger is another project
that is close to the Hildebrandt’s hearts.
A decade ago, when Mark was at a
Kiwanis Convention in Nashville, he and
fellow Kiwanian Richard Birkholz saw an
international organization called Kids
Against Hunger.
“We thought that would be a perfect fit
for our club,” recalls Mark. Now a satellite
of the Kids Against Hunger organization,
the Manatee Sunrise Kiwanis Club serves
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the needs of the hungry in Manatee
County. “To date, we have packaged over
750,000 meals and distributed the food
to organizations, such as Feeding Empty
Little Tummies, St. Joseph Food Pantry,
Our Daily Bread, Salvation Army, and
many area church food pantries,” he says.
Mark is instrumental in making each of
these Kiwanis Against Hunger events
a success - from ordering supplies to
enlisting more than 100 volunteers to
attend and organizing the set up and
break down along with fellow members
of the Kiwanis Club.
“The good news is that all of the food
stays right here in Manatee County,” Mark
says. “The bad news is that it stays here in
Manatee County. It is shocking the amount
of homeless and food insecure families
there are right here in our county. We are
glad to be able to contribute to some relief
for these families on an on-going basis.”
The Kiwanis Club is currently in the midst
of a capital campaign to raise funds to
purchase a warehouse to store supplies for
this program. “This will enable us to expand
the program and serve more people in
need in our community,” Mark adds.