Service organizations look for ways to draw younger members
Age is just a number, but it’s a number that on average seems to be creeping up among members of local service organizations.
As young parents see their schedules fill up more and more with children’s activities, evening meetings of the Pleasant Hill Lions Club are kept brief to ease the time crunch.
“If our meeting is two hours, that’s two less hours to be with their family,” said Teri Dean, 56, who is the club’s president. She was a charter member of the club in 2003.
Dean said the meetings help organize the club, but the efforts to raise money for scholarships, health care, Thanksgiving dinners and other club services can be spearheaded by members who have only occasional attendance at those meetings.
“We’re just saying the meetings aren’t the primary focus of being a Lion,” Dean said.
She said about 15 people attend the Lions Club meetings on the first and third Monday of the month at the Doanes Park Youth Center in Pleasant Hill. The second monthly meeting offers a potluck meal to encourage parents to bring their children along. A play area also is set up during meetings.
Lions Club members often follow a family history of participation in the organization.
Gary Fry has been a member of the Mitchellville Lions Club for more than 30 years. The 63-year-old said many of the younger people who have signed up for Lions Clubs across the state are the children of veteran club members.
“It’s like most other service organizations,” Fry said. “There’s a void in the middle.”
He said once baby boomers retire, they might give the Lions Club a closer look to fill up that newfound free time.
The Rotary Club of East Polk County has success with a middle-aged group of business leaders, according to secretary Mary Rork-Watson, 46, of Altoona.
“You can have breakfast and go right to work,” she said of the Wednesday morning meetings at Prairie Meadows.
Club members recently have worked to eradicate polio and provide safer water in Africa.
Jeff Nolin, 40, of Altoona saw his parents, Gerald and Joan, head off to Altoona Lions Club events when he was younger, and he stepped into a similar role about eight years ago. He has been a past president of the club.
Andrew McGrean, 21, already has a great influence on his community as a member of the Southeast Polk Public School District board of education. He was elected to a second term in September. He, too, cites his family as his reason for getting involved.
“I grew up in the same town and had family in the area,” McGrean said. “I felt a little more connected.”
He completed the Altoona Leadership Program to learn more about city government and network with other people who want to serve the community. He and his 14 classmates were honored at a December meeting of the Altoona City Council.
Nolin said some of the most valuable members of the Lions Club also are the oldest and will be almost impossible to replace with members of a similar level of quality.
“They’re the glue of the club,” he said.
Nolin noted the overall age of the club members limits their ability to complete physical projects.
“There are not too many Lions willing to get up on a ladder,” he said.
As Nolin’s two children have grown, he has endured the balancing act that is so common for parents. As their activity list lengthens, he has fewer opportunities to assist the Lions Club.
Roger Mahnke, 76, is a longtime Altoona Lions Club treasurer who has seen the group change through the past four decades. The biggest meetings will draw about 25 members, and the club has donated thousands to Central Place Family Resource Center, food banks and families in need of eye care. Young members, though, are hard to attract.
“There are too many activities for families,” Mahnke said.
As Altoona and Pleasant Hill have seen rapid increases in population, children’s musical and athletic activities have been greatly expanded. That likely means more miles behind the wheel for Mom or Dad. Parents have to pick and choose among worthy organizations that all aim to improve their communities.
“We have three who are pretty young,” said Helen Waltz, 82, treasurer of the Runnells Lions Club, which has about 10 people attend each meeting. “We’re just trying to hold onto them. They bring a new perspective and ambition.”
Allon Cady, president of the Altoona Kiwanis Club, said about two dozen people attend the group’s Tuesday meetings, and recruiting is not targeted at young people. Cady, 65, has helped lead the Kiwanis Club’s work to install an all-inclusive playground at Clay Elementary.
He said young parents might be active in a school organization instead of the Kiwanis Club.
“Some of those folks would be good for our club, but they just don’t realize it,” Cady said. “Not everybody attends every meeting.”
Steve Halstead, secretary of the Bondurant Lions Club, said his club has dropped its pancake breakfast and moved into more athletic events for children, plus a cow pasture golf tournament for scholarships.
“We’re kind of lucky that we’ve got a pretty good mix of ages in our club,” said Halstead, 67.
About 20 people attend the meetings on the first and third Thursday of the month.
Perhaps the solution is for members of service organizations to be a bit more boastful about what their club has to offer.
“It’s all based on members inviting new people to come in,” Halstead said. “It just seems we’re able to do it. Each community finds its own direction and takes it.”
