A 19-year-old Bermudian university student, Dani Raynor, is following her grandmother's footsteps into a life of service to the community.

Miss Raynor's grandmother Leleath Bailey is Lieutenant Governor of the three Kiwanis clubs of Bermuda based in Sandys, St. George's and the City of Hamilton.

Kiwanis is a community service organisation with chapters all over the world.

In 2006, Miss Raynor was so inspired by her grandmother's work, that she helped to form the Kiwanis Key Club at CedarBridge Academy, a branch for secondary school students.

Miss Raynor was in charge of setting up the programme at CedarBridge Academy and recruiting new members.

"I never really had to do any convincing because the other students were open to do it," she said. "I was known. Other students knew that if I was doing it, then it was cool."

There are about 100 adult Kiwanians in Bermuda, and about the same number of junior members in the Kiwanis Key Clubs, and the Kiwanis K Clubs for primary school students.

"My grandmother has always inspired me to be the best that I can be," said Miss Raynor. "She has always been behind me in terms of improving who I am. I guess that is why I turned out to be a good person."

Miss Raynor is currently in her third year at St. Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is studying religion, English and education. She hopes to become a teacher when she graduates.

"Being in Kiwanis has opened my eyes to a broader perspective," said Miss Raynor. "It has been great just seeing that you can make a difference individually. Usually, people don't feel that what they do makes a difference."

And she said participation in an organisation like Kiwanis doesn't hurt your college or job application either.

"It gives you a name," she said. "People know what Kiwanis is, so it looks good."

This summer, Miss Raynor is working for another charity, the Mirrors Programme, a group that reaches out to young people on the Island.

Mirrors has a programme for 15 to 18-year-olds and one for 18 to 25-year-olds.

Miss Raynor said it was important that people understand that Mirrors was not necessarily for "troubled" teenagers.

"It is for anyone who wants personal growth," she said. "It is not limited to teenagers. They have professional development workshops for adults. They had one last week. It is to give you more growth, and so you can know more about what you want to do in life."

She said working for Mirrors has been a good experience.

"You are there and you actually see what it takes to run the programme," she said.

"They haven't held anything back because we are summer students. It has been very good to know how they recruit individuals, and the process it takes to run an organisation."

Her grandmother, Mrs. Bailey, is a life-coach with the Mirrors Programme. Life-coaches help Mirrors participants to stay focused.

"I think I am a role-model to Dani and my other grandchildren," said Mrs. Bailey.

She has six grandchildren all in their teens including Antonia, Antonio, Anthony Jr., Dani, Kerina and Jenay.

So far, Dani is the first to follow her into the Kiwanis Club.

"I try to keep behind my grandchildren," said Mrs. Bailey. "I have always been interested in their future careers. I take an active role in their lives."

Like a lot of service organisations today, Kiwanis suffers from an ageing membership. They hope that the young people taking part in their youth programmes will one day become adult members.

"Kiwanis needs to generate more interest with young people," said Mrs. Bailey. "Although we are out in the community always doing, our numbers need to be built up. The only way we can do that is to reach the younger generation."

In the United States, young people are very active in Kiwanis programmes. Their fund-raising efforts operate a hospital called Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute in Boston, Massachusetts.

It was the first trauma center in the world to provide medical care for injured children, medical research on pediatric trauma, and injury prevention programmes for children and families.

"Our theme is 'Young Children, Priority One'," said Mrs. Bailey.

For more information about joining Kiwanis, email Mrs. Bailey at: lbailey@logic.bm .