Dinner meetings and socials provided the framework for the addition of another ideal - service work.

Early club projects included welcoming young men to the city and providing entertainment for children in a home for orphans.

Being young professionals, Hamilton Kinsmen soon followed their careers to various parts of the country, taking Kinsmenship with them. Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg soon followed in establishing clubs. By the end of 1926, nine cities had Kinsmen clubs. The 1926 national convention in Winnipeg saw the organization adopt a constitution and bylaws and fixed the maximum age for active membership at 40.

The Association continued to grow throughout the 1930s and at the outset of the Second World War, Canada had 103 Kinsmen clubs. With the call to arms, Kinsmen mobilized in two ways. First: as soldiers fighting for Canada. And second: at home, becoming a war service club, assisting in the total war effort.

It was during the Second World War that one of the largest Kin projects of all time, Milk for Britain, took place.

Responding to a radio appeal for milk for British children, Rogers began to rally Kin troops across Canada to raise funds for the purchase of powdered milk. The goal for the first year was to raise enough money to purchase one million quarts. Within nine months, Kinsmen and Kinettes had supplied more than three million quarts. By the end of the Milk for Britain campaign, the Kin family had raised more than $2 million and sent 50 million quarts of milk to Britain. The wartime effort saw the emergence of 41 new Kinsmen clubs and the formation of a new part of the organization - Kinettes.

Kinsmen wives had, for years, supported the activities of their husbands and, in various parts of the country, had begun to create their own clubs on an informal basis. The Kinette movement began to grow. At the Association’s 1942 national convention, Kinettes were given official recognition in the national bylaws and duly certified as an auxiliary organization.

The end of the Second World War marked a new era in service work for Kinsmen.

The Association’s motto, "Serving the Community’s Greatest Need," took on a more global perspective as the Association helped to found the World Council of Young Men’s Service Club (WoCo) in 1945.

Included in this group was the Association of 20-30 Clubs (USA and Mexico), Active International (USA and Canada), Apex (Australia), Round Table Clubs (Great Britain and Ireland) and, of course, The Association of Kinsmen Clubs of Canada and Newfoundland. Kinsmen now had a network through which to channel their fundraising efforts to all parts of the world by working in co-operation with their service club brethren in other countries.

With the end of the 1940s came the formation of another Kin auxiliary, K-40 clubs. The upper age limit had always been a contentious issue. What happens to a Kinsman when he reaches 40? Attempting to maintain its identity as a young men’s service club, delegates at the 1947 national convention endorsed the formal establishment of K-40 clubs.

Kinsmen older than 40 years of age would still enjoy the fellowship and service work, but would not be allowed to hold executive office, thus ensuring that the younger members assumed these responsibilities and learned experience associated with them.

As Canada prospered in the 1950s, so, too, did the Kin family. Club expansion was foremost in everyone’s minds, yet so was member retention. To assist in keeping Kin interesting, many national award programs were developed, giving Kinsmen goals to attain and excellence to strive for.

In 1964, the Kinsmen Club of North York began working with a relatively unknown disease that struck down children by the age of four. From this one service project, support grew for the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and today, 41 years later, is the Association’s charity of choice.

In 1970, the Association celebrated its 50th anniversary in grand style as the entire country supported a national project of raising $350,000 to assist in the construction of the Kinsmen National Institute on Mental Retardation, built at Toronto’s York University.

The decade of the 1970s also gave the Kinsmen a heightened profile through their involvement in the Particip-action Movement, particularly with the construction of Participarks. Kinsmen led the way in building these fitness-oriented parks and opened more than 100 by the early 1980s.

In 1980, 60 years of Kin culminated with the opening of the Hal Rogers Kinsmen National Headquarters, a three-storey, 14,000 square foot building in Cambridge, Ont.

The 1980s brought many changes within the Kin family, most notably, the raising of the maximum age limit to 45, the equalization of Kinettes as full partners in the association and, in 1989, the change in the organization’s name to the Association of Kin Clubs to reflect a new commitment to bilingualism.

Many milestones were celebrated during the 1990s - the ‘Proud to be Canadian Tour’ in 1992, the more than $20 million raised for cystic fibrosis research by 1993 and the Association’s 75th anniversary.

But with celebrations, there was also a farewell as the Association paid tribute to its Founder Hal Rogers, who passed away on Sept. 15, 1994.

In the late 90s, Kin voted to remove the upper age limit and now it is possible to be a member well into the senior years.

The millennium is already proving to be a successful period for Kin. More than $33 million has been raised for cystic fibrosis, the Association’s new name Kin Canada was adopted, and more than $15 million was raised nationally in 2004 for community projects.

As the Association works its way through its eighth decade, many challenges are waiting to be met. Increasing the Kin presence in urban Canada, firmly establishing Kinettes as a leading women’s service organization and overall, increasing membership with a focus on retention, are issues of priority.

One thing is for certain. Kinsmen and Kinettes will respond to these challenges with a zest and enthusiasm. The Kin attitude is one that exemplifies a hands-on approach to service work. Not content to simply write cheques - if there’s work to be done, Kin clubs do it!

Self satisfaction, fun, personal growth - all ingredients in the winning Kin formula.