The Kiwanis Club of Batavia received its charter from Kiwanis International on February 22, 1923. Former mayor, Ashton W. Caney, and 55 other charter members started it. The club membership included many community leaders, businessmen and professionals. They met at the Hotel Richmond at the corner of Main and Court Streets. The mission of Kiwanis is to serve children, and as one of their first projects, they started a fresh air program where they brought in children from the cities for a week in the country. Other projects started by the Kiwanis included the Soap Box Derby, an ice carnival, Farm City Days, a ski tow in nearby Attica, and the Golden Olympics for seniors. The Club started giving out scholarships and recognizing the top students at Batavia High School and Notre Dame in 1944, a tradition that continues today. Recently scholarship funds have been added for students of Genesee Community College. Their largest and most successful project was the building of the City Pool at MacArthur Park. It took the club 5 years to raise the $42,068.14 needed to build the $120,000 pool.