Green Village resident Nickie Cheney was awarded a Walter Zeller Certificate of Appreciation In support of Kiwanis Project ELIMINATE.

Nickie Cheney (left in photo) of Green Village, NJ proudly wears her Walter Zeller medal. It was given to her at the June 18, 2013 Kiwanis meeting held at Charlie Brown’s Restaurant in Chatham Township. In the center is her mother Penny Nichols Wilson of Milton, Florida. Michael Mulhaul (right), District Coordinator of the Kiwanis NJ District Project ELIMINATE campaign was on hand to make the presentation.

Penny is a Kiwanian who served as President of Florida’s Kiwanis Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise from 2009 to 2011. She wanted to give her daughter a memorable Mother’s Day gift this year. She chose a contribution, in Nickie’s name, to project ELIMINATE.

Project ELIMINATE will stamp out Maternal Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) by raising funds for inoculating women in 30 third world countries, where MNT is a serious problem. In those countries, women give birth in unsanitary conditions where the newborn baby is infected with tetanus. The baby dies a horrible death within two weeks, which is easily preventable by inoculating all women against tetanus - at a cost of only $1.80 per person. Kiwanis International is raising 110 million dollars and directing the funds to UNICEF, which handles the distribution of funds to countries which have the greatest need. This project is for women of child-bearing age, many in remote areas. One baby dies every 9 minutes because of MNT. New Jersey Kiwanis is raising a little over one million dollars to support the project. Click here to learn more about ELIMINATE.

Kiwanis International acknowledges major contributions to ELIMINATE by presenting a Walter Zeller Award. A special broche is included for Mother’s Day. Michael Mulhaul, who is a past Governor of the Kiwanis NJ District, made all the arrangements to obtain and present the award to Nickie, who was an active member of Key Club in high school. The award was a surprise to Nickie and she graciously thanked her mother and Kiwanis for the gift.