JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — You may not know the name, but its impact is felt all around the First Coast. This week the Meninak Club of Jacksonville is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
"The Meninak Club of Jacksonville's mission is to serve primarily youth in the community," Kerry Varkonda, the president of the club, said.
Founded back in 1919, the club is comprised of business, professional, military and civic leaders. They meet weekly to learn about issues facing the community and find ways to address them.
"We have young executives all the way to retirees and everyone in between. We have a great mix of goodhearted, humble people that really want to make an impact on the community and its citizens," member Diana Fanning said.
From mentoring students with Take Stock in Children to teaching financial literacy to children in Title 1 schools, the men and women of the Meninak Club strive to lend help where none is available. Over the past 100 years the Meninaks have given more than $1.5 million to charities in Northeast Florida, and $575,000 in scholarships to high school students.
"What Meninak does is brings people together to serve," Varkonda said. "It takes our minds off ourselves."
Over the course of 4,000 lunches the members have listened to community leaders from all walks of life, from city officials to judges to the heads of non-profits.
"We try to stay informed of what's going in the community and have good robust discussions about issues in the community, but do it very constructively as opposed to what sometimes happens on some of our electronic media where it's a lot of negativity," Varkonda said.
For 100 years, he says his club has worked to make the First Coast a better place.
"We don't wait for someone else to solve the problem," Varkonda said. "We go, and we collect our friends together that have like minds and hearts and we go solve problems, and I think that's what Meninak is all about."