Involvement Falls In Northwest Arkansas Service Clubs

Quartet members Bill Burrows (left to right), John Harrell, Larry Long and Ray Boudreaux sing during the opening activities of the Rotary Club of Fayetteville weekly luncheon Thursday March 13, 2014 at Mermaids restaurant in Fayetteville. The Rotary Club averages about 150 members and guest during their regular meeting.
Quartet members Bill Burrows (left to right), John Harrell, Larry Long and Ray Boudreaux sing during the opening activities of the Rotary Club of Fayetteville weekly luncheon Thursday March 13, 2014 at Mermaids restaurant in Fayetteville. The Rotary Club averages about 150 members and guest during their regular meeting.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Ray Smith faced his seven fellow members of the Fayetteville Evening Lions one December evening and gave them a choice: Keep pushing on with only a handful of people, try merging with another club or disband.

They chose the last, ending the service club after 51 years of selling Christmas trees, helping at Razorback football games and raising $363,000 for children's eye exams, scholarships and diabetes services.

At A Glance

US Volunteerism

Percent of age groups who volunteered between September 2012 and September 2013

• 16-24: 21.8

• 25-34: 21.9

• 35-44: 30.6

• 45-54: 28.2

• 55-64: 26

• 65+: 24.1

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

In its heyday the Evening Lions had 50 or 60 members, Smith, 84, said recently, but without new members, the club simply faded.

"When you get down to those numbers, what you can raise in various activities is just not enough," he said. Most of the members were near his age and simply "worn out," Smith said. "The real purpose of the club was no longer there."

The landscape of service clubs in Northwest Arkansas is transforming, said members from a variety of clubs. Several, such as the Evening Lions, withered away after being around for a lifetime, while others are holding steady.

It's a pattern reflected nationwide and a puzzle, according to members.

"I don't really understand why," said Chaddie Platt, president of the Rotary Club of Fayetteville, one of two in town. "Rotary is doing better than most, or at least maintaining membership. The sad part is most of them are aging out. The younger generation doesn't have the time or energy to devote to civic clubs."

Changing Times

Chicken and vegetables steamed on a row of tables one recent Thursday as almost 200 Fayetteville Rotary members filtered into Mermaids restaurant's conference room for lunch. The group focuses on fundraising to eradicate polio worldwide.

Most were middle-aged or older, but the club's youngest member, Todd Jenkins, wove between the tables to sit near the middle of the room as other Rotarians called out greetings from all sides.

"I didn't know what to expect -- I didn't know I'd be the youngest," said Jenkins, 25. "But these people are great. This is one thing I look forward to every week."

Jenkins, assistant director of Greek Life at the University of Arkansas, said he was most interested in the club's service, though its networking opportunities helped as well. Young people, such as Jenkins, are who struggling clubs said they need, and who they aren't getting.

"It's difficult getting young people especially interested in contributing, getting involved," said Rick Bailey, who's been a Lion since the Vietnam era. He and about a dozen other Fayetteville Noon Lions members get together Wednesdays for lunch at the GuestHouse Hotel. The club has about 30 members, down from more than 120 two decades ago.

"I do it because I got addicted to it," Bailey said. "It just feels so damn good giving back, and it's unlimited."

Young professionals don't have the same attitude, some club members said.

Some blamed the issue on less cultural emphasis on community service, and more competing distractions or priorities.

Others suggested the lunch-meeting model was outdated or pointed to the economic downturn, which made businesses less likely to help cover annual dues that often range from $150 to $700 per year. The Kiwanis Club of Bentonville's scholarship program was brought to a halt by a drop in donations as well, said Buz Moxon, president.

About 62.6 million people older than 16 volunteered at some point last year -- 746,000 fewer than in 2009 and the fewest since measurements began in 2002, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"That's been the overall trend for the last decade or two; it's not really anything new," said Jo Lynn Garing, a spokeswoman for Kiwanis International, which lost nearly one-third of its membership between 2000 and 2012, when 163,000 members were counted. Requests last week for membership numbers from Lions International weren't returned.

"We've been declining in North America, as have the other large organizations like Rotary, Kiwanis, Optimists, groups like that," Garing said. "It's hard to say what it is that's causing that."

Young people tend to be less civically involved, said Patricia Herzog, a University of Arkansas assistant sociology professor who studies voluntary giving and participation. Even if people aren't too busy to volunteer, Facebook, Twitter and other technology can make them feel like they are, she added.

"This sense of 'busy-ness' is a huge explainer for why people don't participate anymore," Herzog said. "All those things consume a lot of the time people would think of as leisure time, or time to spend on volunteer activities."

But the truth is more complicated, she said. People who are busier -- working more than one job, for example -- tend to give more of their time, not less.

"It's actually people who work full time, and students who are in school full time, who contribute more," Herzog said. "So there's some weird paradoxes there."

She suggested volunteering might be changing in form more than in amount, such as moving online instead of sticking with the hourlong lunch every week.

Cathy Fink, who was a member of Fayetteville's now-defunct Exchange Club, agreed. Her club focused its efforts on preventing child abuse for more than 60 years and disbanded because of low membership.

"A lot of these young people, they probably band together and help Habitat build a house. They're more project-oriented," Fink said. "They don't want to do fundraising, they want to go do something."

Mobilizing The Young

The Rotary groups in Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers are among the country's largest, said Platt, the Fayetteville president. The right mix of networking and worthwhile service helped, she said, but she also pointed to the group's Rotary-affiliated Interact clubs at Fayetteville High School and the university.

"And we're engaging a lot more with those clubs to try to instill in them a sense of service," said Platt, a third-generation service club member. "It doesn't matter what clubs you're in as long as you're thinking of how you can make a positive difference, that's what it boils down to."

Clio Rom, a senior at the high school, started the club three months ago after attending a Rotary youth leadership academy. Last week the first 30 members were initiated, she said.

"I was really proud," Rom said, adding while resume-building is a factor, there is genuine desire to serve. "I think there is a certain amount of youth in the high school and the community that are interested in helping out and giving back. They want to do good."

Similar clubs are surging nationally for Kiwanis, Garing said.

The Rotary club will raise money for polio vaccines, volunteer at school events and help seniors register to vote, Rom said. The high school and city clubs planned Saturday to clean up a section of East Mission Boulevard near Root Elementary School.

Such outreach works, said Laura Wilkins, a past Rotary president who was part of Interact in her high school.

"At least I was aware of it," Wilkins said. "And when they opened it up to women (in 1987), I was the first in the Fort Smith Club."

The urgency isn't lost on other clubs. Fayetteville Noon Lions are holding a membership drive this summer and welcomes prospective members with a free lunch or two.

The Bentonville Kiwanis also pushed for more Facebook activity and welcomed a handful of new members recently, Moxon said.

"It goes in waves, and some waves are big and some waves are small," Moxon said. "I think the energy is coming back to our club."

NW News on 03/16/2014

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