These first meetings were lead by Chaplain Alfred R. Saegler Jr. who served at the time as Head Chaplin at the Naval Air Station and Þorgrímur Halldórsson the Station Engineer at NAVCOMMSTA. There had previously been several attempt made at forming U.S/Icelandic organizations and clubs such as Toastmasters; a Keflavík Ski Club and the Northern Light Masonic Club a.o., but none had been successful for long except the Masonic Club. Rather than being on their own and isolated the group looked for an organizational body that they could become a part of and the KIWANIS Movement was selected as a vehicle to achieve the set goals.

With the help of Hermann Þórðarson then President of the Kiwanis Club ELDBORG in Hafnarfjörður, Rúnar Guðmundsson then treasurer of the same club and specially Páll H. Pálsson the Past President of Kiwanis International Europe, a new Kiwanis Club at Keflavík Airport was off to a good start with 61 founding members. They were of six nationalities: Icelandic, American, German, English, Chinese, and Danish. To this day there this international flavor has been a BRÚ trademark as there have always been several nationalities in the club. Of the founding members there are still two active Þorgrímur Halldórsson and Ásgeir Ásgeirsson.

At that time all Kiwanis clubs in Iceland had unique names in addition the their geographical ones. Several options were considered before the name "BRÚ" selected. In Icelandic the name means "bridge", but the acronym stands for "Build Richer Understanding", which became the clubs motto. This was found appropriated for a club who´s main objective/goal is to provide understanding between peoples and cultures.

The Kiwanis Club BRÚ was, and still is, unique in the Kiwanis movement. The membership was and has remained truly international and there has only been one club in the world like it, i.e. a Kiwanis club in Augsburg, Germany, which has now folded.

During the clubs formation the board of directors was made up of: Guðmundur Karlsson, President; Þorgrímur Halldórsson, Treasurer; Joe Durham Secretary, and Herbert Melany.

The Kiwanis Club BRÚ was officially formed on 14. March 1973 and the following members were elected to direct the Club through its initial year:

President: Guðmundur Karlsson,
Vice President: Herbert Melendy,
Secretary: Doyle Autry,
Treasurer: Þorgrímur Halldórsson,
Assistant Secretary: Ingimar Ingimarsson,
Assistant Treasures: Jónas Nordquist,
Directors: Sveinn Eiríksson, Marlin Matter and Joe Durham.

The Charter Meeting was the greatest party ever to have been held at the Three Flags Club at the Naval Station, with over 400 members and guests in attendance. It was a formal affair and with the whole club taken over for the event that lasted until early hours of the next day. There were guests from near and far lead by groups from our sponsoring clubs of HEKLA Reykjavík, ELDBORG Hafnarfjörður and the Augsburg club in Germany. Officials from the Iceland District, as well as the Icelandic Government, Iceland Defense Force and Kiwanis International Europe (KIE). The inauguration hosted what was to become a great BRÚ tradition, excellent and distinguished speakers. Through the years many of the better known names in politics, religion, education and science in Iceland have honored the club with speaking engagements mixed with a cadre of fine speakers from the ranks of military and civilians on base and off.

Service to others, both on and off the Airport has always been paramount objective of our club. Right at the start the club got its greatest challenge ever. The volcanic eruption on Heimaey at Vestmannaeyjar forced all the 5000 inhabitants to evacuate their homes and when they arrived to the mainland with only what they could carry, having had to leave all their property and belongings behind, our club joined the others Kiwanis clubs in collecting funds to get them resettled. We collected by various means over $17,000 and have ever since found ourselves to be a little closer to the people of Vestmanns than others.

As examples of BRÚ´s early service projects was when the club discovered that the small church at Innri-Njarðvík Town could not house all the parishioners in the church building. Kiwanis club BRÚ purchased and installed a closed circuit television system between the church and the Community Hall across the street. Later a newly build senior citizens home at Garður Town could not afford to install a fire alarm system. Our club provided not only the smoke detectors, but also constructed and installed an intercom system from the individual rooms to the nurses stations.

But children and youths have always received special BRÚ attention. Support provided to the Base Nursery included an outdoor play area, leveled and covered with grass and filled with play articles, and regularly through the years BRÚ members have flocked out to clean playground areas and paint playground fences. Support to the two base schools and various youth and teen programs, e.g. the scouts, have helped contribute to the well being of the younger generation at Keflavík Airport. Special BRÚ scholarships are given annually to graduating High School students, which has helped a multitude of youths further their education. Nor has the club ever reclined to support when the student body needed assistance, e.g. by contributing to their annual yearbook.

The elderly have neither been forgotten. In addition to participation in joint projects with other clubs in the area. BRÚ has their own projects to help the elderly.

Participation in the tri-annual "K" DAY, an all hands Icelandic Kiwanis project to benefit the mentally retarded, has always been well supported by the club, as have projects to support the blind, the deaf, and other physically handicapped individuals.

One of our most rewarding program has been our Foster Children Plan. We have supported a total of six children from various parts of the world to enable them to attend school regularly and hopefully got them started off to a better live then they would otherwise have had any hope for.

True to its motto BRÚ has provided support to intercultural activities on the station by inviting guest speakers from outside as well as from our own community, to our meetings. On the spiritual side, BRÚ has supported churches on and off the station and sponsored a local minister for several weeks of training in the ministry for the retarded.

BRÚ has supported the Base Library to build its Icelandic section to such that it has now probably one of the best collection of English language translation of Icelandic books and books about Iceland, to be found. For this project BRÚ received the Icelandic Movements Kiwanis Lamp in 1973 and the most noteworthy service project of the year.

The club has through the years lived up to it's motto: "To be a Bridge and Build Richer Understanding". Hundreds of men and women have been members of this club and many are likely to have joined other Kiwanis Clubs when they left Iceland. Many of the military members of the club have been given an excellent venue to meet the Icelandic people through the club and the Icelanders have seen another side of the military than normally present at a military installation. (Text: Þorgrímur Halldórsson - Past President of Brú - 1979-1980)

Presidents of Brú: This is a list of all presidents of Kiwanis Club Brú since it was formally established in 1973. I list this to inform our new members of who they are:

1972-1974		Guðmundur Karlsson
1974-1975		Doyle Autry
1975-1976		Jónas Nordquist
1976-1977		Gery Preston
1977-1978		Jón Guðmundsson
1978-1979		David Hilty and
		Sveinn Guðmundsson
1979-1980		Þorgrímur Halldórsson
1980-1981		Runólfur Sigurðsson
1981-1982		Carmen Cardello
1982-1983		Ástvaldur Eiríksson
1983-1984		Alston Kirk
1984-1985		Valberg Lárusson
1985-1986		Jack Cristwell
1986-1987		Alfreð G. Alfreðsson
1987-1988		Jack Bailey
1988-1989		Sverrir Örn Kaaber
1989-1990		Allen J. Clements
1990-1991		Tómas Björn Ólafsson
1991-1992		Tom Jones
1992-1993		Guðbjartur Greipsson
1993-1994		Bill Karitis
1994-1995		Óskar Guðjónsson
1995-1996		Robert Pollard
1996-1997		Guðmundur Jónsson
1997-1998		Skip Hiser (President-Elect)

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