Dr. Wil Blechman Remains Passionate About YCPO
by PG Warren Kane
It was nearly two decades ago, as president of Kiwanis International, that Dr. Wil Blechman helped coin the term “Young Children: Priorty One” and focus the attention of the organization on the need to help children at the earliest age possible.
All these years later, it is a passion to which he remains true.
“The way we end up as adults is largely a manifestation of what happens in the first five years of life,” the Miami physician said during remarks at the April 8 meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Arlington, which drew club members from throughout Kiwanis’ Capital District.
(Front row (left to right): Arlington President Khalid Siraj; Division 20 Lieutenant Governor Jeffrey Wolff; District YCOP Committee member Betty Bell; Past Kiwanis International President Wil Blechman; and PG Gus Lamond. Second row (left to right): PG Art Riley; PG Warren Kane; Capital District YCPO chair Bernice Oden; Past International Trustee Dig DeGarmo, and PLG J. R. Harris. Third row (left to right): PG Linwood Watson and Governor Tom Ganse. Fourth row (left to right): Governor-Elect Don Dudey, PG Jerry Peuler; and PG John Tyner)
“What happens in the human brain as it is developing,” Blechman said, “is just an unbelievable thing.”
Noting that 85 percent of the brain’s growth occurs from conception to age 5, he told the more than 100 in attendance that young brains “have some of the greatest potential for our future – and they are also the most vulnerable.”
Blechman decried the ratio of huge spending on children of school age compared to the relatively light expenditures to help those in their earliest years.
“Unless those issues are handled properly . . . a lot of these children are going to be the ones who cause trouble,” he said. “We are wasting lives.”
Blechman joined the North Miami Beach Kiwanis Club in 1961, rising through the leadership ranks to become Kiwanis International president in 1990-91.
The decision to focus on children’s issues began a few years before his ascendancy to the top position, as individual Kiwanis clubs across the world were complaining about the organization’s policy of supporting different initiatives each year.
In response, some Kiwanis officials wanted to focus on the middle-school years, but chose instead to concentrate efforts on “the importance of early intervention, before a child is ever born,” Blechman said.
“Kiwanis clubs jumped at the chance, because they were able to see a rationale behind it,” he said. That commitment is even “stronger today,” he noted.
Past Kiwanis Capital District Governor Warren Kane, a member of the Arlington club, noted that Blechman has a direct connection to the county. Years ago, his father operated a small restaurant adjacent to what was then an almost sleepy courthouse and collection of low-rise lawyers’ offices.
“I took him by the courthouse area [today] – he didn’t recognize it,” Kane said, noting that the once lazy area is now a bustling collection of tall office buildings served by the Metro system.
Capital District Governor Tom Ganse said the appearance by Blechman, witnessed by members of so many clubs, was sure to lead to reaffirmation of the organization’s commitment to youth.
“Even as we face some challenges, including membership, there are many successes to be proud of,” Ganse said.
One of those successes is the Kiwanis Club of Arlington’s partnership with the Arlington Pediatric Center, which provides low-cost services to children of families in need. The South Arlington Kiwanis Club also partners with the pediatric center.
In addition to providing grant funding to the center, the Arlington club also collects gently-used books (in English and Spanish) to give to the patients. One club member, alone, has donated more than 21,000 books to the initiative.
