Kiwanis was founded in Detriot, Michigan, January 21, 1915. The original name was "The Benevolent Order of Brothers". Within a year, the name had been changed to "Kiwanis", which means roughly "Self Expression", and the purpose of the organization became "Community Service".

The Kiwanis Club of Perth-On-Tay was chartered in 1974 and has helped numerous non-profit organizations in the district in achieving their goals. We have attracted a strong following of Perth and district residents and our membership continues to grow. Many of our members are seniors, but we welcome men and women from all walks of life who are interested in helping to make Perth a better community. We celebrated the 25th anniversary of our club in November 1999.

Perth nestles in Lanark County, a justifiably lovely tourist area of lakes, canals, farms and maple syrup wood lots. Our town of 6000 and four surrounding townships (another 20,000 persons) have light industry and four season tourist attractions. The town is located an hour west of Ottawa and an hour north of Kingston. It will soon be 200 years old and is becoming "the" place for retirement.