Whether its waking up at 5:30 a.m. to hand out water for marathon runners or helping labrador dogs by working at the Lab Rescue water station, Key Club stands forward to assist the community.

“Key Club is an easy-going club that offers community service opportunities for everyone,” senior and president of Key Club Kelsey Aijala said.

The oldest international highschool service program, Key Club strives to motivate students to use their own time, outside from school and friends, to volunteer. Key Club is run by Kiwanis International, an organization that devotes more than six million hours of service and raises about $100 million every year for communities, families and projects.

“We work with Kiwanis International because they are a major outlet of support, and we work on one major goal with them for the year,” Aijala said. “We pay dues which goes towards Kiwanis projects, which make us the club we are now, and we can get people to sponsor our events and possibly win awards.”

Recently, Key Club members at Carlsbad High School handed out water to the marathon runners. While this simple act of giving back to the community may not seem like a lot, Key Club members state that it is not only the need for community hours that drive them.

“The runners were very nice telling us ‘thank you for being here and volunteering’ while running,” sophomore Ashley Lang said. “I felt like I made an impact on the community by cheering them on.”

The club is currently involved with the Eliminate Project in which the club, alongside Kiwanis, will try to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus by raising funds.

“I would really like to see us help Kiwanis with this project,” Aijala said. “We can possibly help 129 million mothers with these diseases, and even provide for the babies who sadly suffer from the disease as well.”

In the near future, Key Club plans to be involved with the San Diego Half Marathon on March 9. To receive updates about Key Club and its events, check out its Facebook page.