OGDENSBURG — When the Ogdensburg Kiwanis Club holds its annual pancake breakfast on Saturday, April 24, it will be part of a 90-year-old tradition started in 1931 when a group of volunteers first formed the local service organization.

The Kiwanis Club will serve its annual pancake meal from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Moose Lodge (609 Pickering St.), just three blocks from its original meeting place at the historic Crescent Hotel that once stood at the corner of Greene Street. Breakfast is $7 take out or eat in.

“Come celebrate an important part of Ogdensburg’s civic history and an annual rite of spring by supporting one of Ogdensburg’s oldest civic service clubs,” said James Reagan of the Kiwanis Club.

The Ogdensburg Kiwanis Club was started 90 years ago in 1931 with Harry B. Proctor as the club’s first president. Chris Pitcher is the current president. The club meets twice a month at the Ogdensburg Freighthouse Restaurant on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday.

Kiwanis is an international volunteer service organization dedicated to bringing community members together to help children and improve the community. It was founded in 1915 and today has almost 600,000 members in 80 nations around the world.

“Just 16 years after it was first organized in Detroit, Michigan, a group of civic minded Ogdensburg residents decided to bring the club to Ogdensburg under the leadership of Harry B. Proctor, one of the city’s leading businessmen and owner of the Proctor Lumber Co. on River Street,” Reagan said.

Over the years, the Ogdensburg Kiwanis Club has expanded its service activities to include an extensive youth athletic program that includes Kiwanis Baseball, T-Ball, Softball and Soccer programs that help introduce young people to organized sports and the ideals of sportsmanship.

Reagan said the Ogdensburg Kiwanis Club’s extensive service programs also includes the award winning Ogdensburg Free Academy Key Club, OFA Middle School Builders Club and elementary school K-Kids.

The Ogdensburg Kiwanis Club donates a children’s book to every child born at Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center. It sponsors a one-on-one reading program with the OFA Key Club at the Ogdensburg Boys and Girls Club.

The membership built and maintains an extensive athletic complex with baseball and soccer fields at Montroy Park at the corner of Gate Street and Jefferson Avenue.

The Ogdensburg Kiwanis Club also provides scholarships to graduating seniors at Ogdensburg Free Academy, Heuvelton Central School, Lisbon Central School and Morristown Central School.

Kiwanis Baseball celebrated its 75th anniversary in Ogdensburg last year. The Ogdensburg Free Academy Key Club is celebrating its 50th anniversary at OFA.