Video

Kiwanis International President visits Central Illinois

By Joe Bennett

March 31, 2012 Updated Apr 2, 2012 at 10:13 AM CDT

PEORIA, Ill. -- The Kiwanis International president visited the Heart of Illinois Saturday, campaigning to save the lives of babies around the world.

Alan Penn read to a group from the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Peoria after promoting the Eliminate Campaign.

The worldwide campaign provides immunizations for tetanus in infants caused by unclean instruments used during child birth Penn says, in less than a year, Kiwanis International has raised ten-million-dollars for the cause.

"That's our big project and we're going to raise $110 million by 2015. So one of missions and goals is to come here and rally the Illinois Kiwanis district to be able to help us raise that amount of money," said Penn.

Penn says the campaign has so far eliminated tetanus in four of 40 countries with maternal neo-natal fatalities. The primary goal of Kiwanis is to improve the lives of families and children around the world.

To submit a comment on this article, your email address is required. We respect your privacy and your email will not be visible to others nor will it be added to any email lists.