I joined Better off Bowling for a spring league and so glad I did! I joined solo and got connected…read moreto a random team. It was so fun! We met weekly at Woodland Bowl for 6 weeks. We got to bowl for an hour and a half and got a team t-shirt. Am I a good bowler? Not so much. Was 4 strikes in a game my best bowl? Yes it was. Did anyone care that I wasn't strong? No. I definitely plan on getting my friends together for a team to do the winter league!

Better Off Bowling is a very fun league to hangout with your friends or coworkers. I enjoy getting…read moretogether with my coworkers on Wednesday nights to challenge everyone at their bowling, poker (when I remember my cards), and trivia skills. The Main Event isn't my favorite bowling spot, but the location is great. The website can be a bit confusing. We ordered shirts last spring and this fall it was difficult to change my shirt size. I love my award we got in the spring and proudly wear it around the office, often!

I'll be honest. I can barely think about Servants at Work, often called SAWs for short, without…read moregetting tears in my eyes. As a longtime wheelchair user myself, I'm acutely aware of just how inaccessible life can be. I'm fortunate. I'm still very able to live an active life despite a myriad of health issues. I'm very aware that others aren't quite so fortunate. SAWs is an Indianapolis-based non-profit faith-based organization dedicated to "providing freedom to people with permanent disabilities in low-income households through the construction of wheelchair ramps." The ramps always meet ADA requirements and very often are the difference between someone being able to access the community and being stuck at home. In case you're unaware, wheelchair ramps, or at least properly constructed wheelchair ramps, aren't always easy and are frequently unaffordable for those on a limited or fixed income. While there's occasionally government funding to assist, for example my own ramp at my home came via Vocational Rehabilitation, very often these programs are limited, have long waiting lists, and/or have strict qualifying guidelines. A program like Servants at Work, which is entirely devoted to building ramps, makes all the difference in the world. These are good people doing amazing things. I was familiar with SAWs long before I joined my current church, Second Presbyterian Church, a longtime sponsor and one of the groups involved in the founding of SAWs. SAWs has built ramps for more than one of my friends. They largely use volunteer crews, often from area faith communities, and the work always meets ADA guidelines. While teams are often faith-based, it's certainly not an absolute with organizations such as Elevance Health, Erie Insurance, Old National Bank, Rehab Medical, Subaru, and Salesforce all getting involved. Getting involved is usually a combination of financial support and actually working on the ramps. SAWs has now grown to the point of having hubs statewide and even affiliates in Virginia, Arizona, and Nevada. Rik Hagarty, a Second Presbyterian Church member, founded SAWs and it remains a lean organization with four paid staff (Executive Director, Program Development Manager, Accountant, and Operations Manager). Otherwise, everything happens because of the sponsors and volunteers. This is an amazing group doing amazing work for individuals with disabilities by helping to ensure they can live life as independently as possible and that they have better access to their community. In 2021, SAWs celebrated their 3,000th ramp build!

I hadn't been to the red room in YEARS and YEARS but was invited to a 50th Birthday party here,…read morewhich I didn't even realize was a thing. So apparently you can rent the facility prior to them opening at 10pm. So the party was from 6-10. You have access to the entire place and the outside area as well. You can also cater in your own food, so it's not like you have to use their contacts, but it does have to be catered, you can't bring in homemade food. You can also bring in a DJ. This particular party had a cash bar but you can make arrangements for it to be an open bar if you would like. The most exciting thing is you only have to have I think a $400 liquor minimum. Well if you have a decent crowd, I'm sure that's pretty easy. I also wasn't aware that they actually have a parking lot for your guests as well.

This place has always been hands down so much fun! The service has always been so great with the…read morestaff being so kind and attentive. The ambiance is fun and upbeat. I would highly recommended red room for a fun upbeat vibe and always kind staff. They also have a fun salsa night on Wednesdays. During the warmer temps of nights they also have an outside lighted patio!

Food is incredible and the service is top notch! I liked the ambiance it wasn't too loud.read more

I'd heard interesting things about this place, so I decided to finally come with my mom and try it…read morefor dinner on a recent Sunday evening. We were greeted warmly upon arrival and taken to the patio, as requested. I can't remember our server's name, but she was nice! However, towards the end of our visit something turned and seemed off, though we weren't sure what was going on. I opted for the margherita pizza, which they add pesto to, making it a bit different. I didn't love the taste, and actually ending up removing the tomatoes when I ate the leftovers the next day, which made a significant difference. My mom ordered the fried chicken plate, which comes with two sides and she enjoyed it. Reservations recommended!

The venue is great but the evening we were there more than five adults tripped on the multi-levels…read more They are not marked very well and should be fixed immediately.

This organization of 200+ volunteer members operates Operation School Bell which provides a duffel…read morebag of clothes and shoes to Indianapolis Public School children and the surrounding township schools each year. In addition, they provide assault survivors with a new set of clothing to wear home after their trauma. A third program is Bears which provides grieving children with a stuffed teddy bear to provide comfort. The nicest and most dedicated members striving to make Indianapolis a better place to live!

This is a great group whose main activity is helping students in Indy Public schools. This is the…read moreIndy branch of a large national group. We are an all volunteer, no paid employees, very low overhead, group that provides school uniforms for Indy Public school children. But it's not just the clothing. The students come to a "store" we have set up and select the items they need for school and a couple that they want. We provide the standard uniform pieces but students also get a choice of a new winter coat, hat, mittens and books. Everything goes into a brand new duffel bag. And students have had an opportunity to "shop" for their things, having a fun time choosing for themselves. We also work with the schools to provide extra uniform pieces to the school social workers to keep in their offices for emergencies. Students are chosen by the school social worker based on need and come to the store on a "field trip". We also provide shoes for about half of the students who get uniforms. Additionally we provide assault survivor packs to area hospitals. New sweats, sweatshirt, socks and underwear for women/girls who must leave their personal items as evidence after an assault. The hospitals give these packs free to those in need. It's a And ALI bears which gives new stuffed bears to first responders to give to children whom they encounter. And we visit two senior living facilities to play bingo, celebrate birthdays and life and bring some joy to residents.

I thought given recent current events, milestones and the current state of things, I would provide…read morean update since my last review three months ago. As much as I'd like to say things have improved, they unfortunately have not. So let's start. Seven years ago this month, on a warm May in 2015, I left California to take a train to New York City. By the time four months passed, I had raised several thousands of dollars toward the Eliminate Tetanus Project. The funds raised potentially saved thousands of lives. One would think that now that we have the COVID pandemic going on in our own front yard and the fundraising phase on tetanus already concluded, not only would Kiwanis, who has saved countless of lives and prevented negative health outcomes from its efforts on tetanus would be moved into action, but would also work with national government like it did in the 1980s with Nancy Reagan's Say No to Drugs campaign. Not so, even though I'm still working with several national organizations throughout the U.S. with government ties working hard to address the ongoing COVID pandemic wanting to collaborate with Kiwanis on those efforts. With vaccines now being recently approved for younger children, and boosters also being made available, one would think Kiwanis would be involved in those efforts. That's still not the case. Almost two years ago now, our Kiwanis Executive Director Stan Soderstrom issued a statement on the unrest that resulted from the tragedy in the wake of the unjust police brutality that occurred in Minneapolis, Minnesota https://www.kiwanis.org/news/newsitem/news/newsitem/soderstrom-we-will-not-tolerate-racism . In it, the statement mentioned the oft heard slogan "Black Lives Matter", which has been echoing almost as long as we've been dealing with this pandemic. However, one has to wonder if that's what the organization thinks, given that a recent reports show that so many lives could have been potentially saved. One year after getting the letter from the White House on its national efforts to vaccinate as many eligible citizens, I would not have imagined that just one year later, we would be marking a million COVID-19 casualties https://abcnews.go.com/Health/unthinkable-tragedy-us-covid-19-death-toll-surpasses/story?id=84502918 . But here we are. Despite Kiwanis, along with other service organizations working together to issue a joint statement early on, nothing has been done since- especially when vaccines first became available later in the same year http://digital.lionmagazine.org/publication/?i=668715&article_id=3732034&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5 . One has to wonder just "whose life matters?" Kiwanis says "Black Lives Matter", then in a statement on COVID, Kiwanis also states, as mentioned by then President Daniel Vigneron that "We all play a role in keeping our friends and neighbors safe". But has Kiwanis really done that? What about other organization peers? Just who do service clubs serve? Whose life matters if it's not even making efforts to try to save lives of fellow Americans? Just like people we've tried to help around the world, this pandemic has disproportionately impacted people of color here in the U.S. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/expert-answers/coronavirus-infection-by-race/faq-20488802 . To clarify, this isn't about your average member going out and giving vaccines to people, but being trusted messengers, voices, in their communities. Very few of us are doing this. But this isn't a small group effort, or even a bunch of organizations effort- it's an all-hands-on-deck effort. What's disappointing is that groups like Kiwanis and Rotary should be on the forefront of these efforts with their experience on issues like tetanus and polio, respectively. However, that is not the case. Trusted messaging is still in need of this time, and many lives could have probably been saved if service groups like Kiwanis had been involved since even last year https://abcnews.go.com/Health/300000-us-covid-deaths-averted-vaccination-analysis-finds/story?id=84753284 This isn't just a critique only of Kiwanis- this goes for all service organizations- especially those on the joint statement. Why come out with a statement at all if they're not going to put more effort into saving even fellow American lives, where most of our membership lies? It's sad to think that one year after my outreach, more than two years into a global pandemic, cases of COVID increasing again, and our organizations having their conventions again this year, there is still no collaboration with COVID organizations or national government. Do service organizations work to serve others, or only themselves when the situation suits them? One has to wonder what the purpose of service organizations are if they only seem interested in helping those far away when they could also be doing something to help people here too. Skip joining service organizations- get vaccinated if you're eligible instead.

Kiwanis International is a service organization made up of volunteers who work together to improve…read morethe world one child and one community at a time. This building houses the head office for the organization, and is where the North American region of the organization is managed along with where many of the resources offered to the International board and the rest of the organization are managed. The space itself is versatile and includes the staff who support this organization of volunteers. The building is on a great plot of land and includes some awesome art, has a wonderful auditorium, and includes much history among other things. Staff here are really friendly as are the members of this organization. Tours can be arranged here for members of the organization. Likewise there is a Kiwanis store on site where one can purchase Kiwanis branded merchandise. The Service Leadership Programs for this organization are also served by the staff here and that includes Key Club International, Builder's Club, Circle K International, Aktion Club, and K-Kids. There is ample parking.