Service Organizations

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A couple of weeks ago, Gary and I took a

(00:01):
step back to a different time. We didn't stay there long,
because nothing brings a radio show to a screeching halt
quite like a stroll through history. But if sometimes the
past gives you a good roadmap to the future, maybe
it was a good talk For the next couple of days.
I then drove around town and looked for signs. Talked
to a few old timers about a day when the

(00:22):
community was strong and getting stronger. I was looking to
revisit the heyday of the community service group. You know
their names, Rotary, Optimist, Kawanas, Sirtoma, Lyons, Elks, Shriners. In
small towns, the sign that greets us on the main
drag into town features their logos. Most of these groups
were founded in the early twentieth century and thrived for

(00:44):
three generations. They were a big deal. In some towns.
There were multiple clubs, multiple Rotary or Kawanis clubs. They
were pretty much stale, pale and mail but in the
case of Kowanas, they had key clubs for high school
kids and circle k clubs on college campuses. They had
women's auxiliaries named Kawanas Queen's kwee ns, the weekly luncheons,

(01:11):
the national conventions, big deals. What did they do exactly?
That depends on the town, but probably a lot. If
yours has a community center where young families can access services,
or a senior center where the aging gather for cards
or small hobbies. Maybe an indoor pavilion where families can ice, skate,
roller skate, just have a good time. Or that wheelchair

(01:34):
accessible splash pad finally got built. It's likely thanks to
a service club, maybe several service clubs. If the roads
leading into your town are free of trash or ned
here down the street low on medicare needs a pair
of eyeglasses, or the poor kid who writes a letter
to SATA and in care of the local Optimist Club
somehow finds that very toy under the tree on Christmas morning,

(01:57):
a service group likely has its fingerprints on that and
making the town better today. More than ever, Americans give.
We give billions in cash and millions of hours of volunteering,
but the groups are fading away. Rotary International says it
attracts forty four thousand new members every year but loses

(02:19):
fifty one thousand. That the numbers in Omahan Lincoln are
about the same. Why is that maybe because we define
the word community differently. It's not the Omahak community. It's
the LGBTQ community, or the business community, or the Creighton community.
We're not communal anymore or tribal, just like our moms

(02:40):
and dads, grandparents. We want to be a part of,
not apart from just differently. The data is dramatic. Half
of charitable giving today comes not from mission but recommendation. Millennials,
gen wi's, gen z's, gen x's want to give, but
first of their own families and friends doing so, and
hand is the quality of their lives. If that is so,

(03:03):
then a service club must enhance the quality of life,
not compete with it. Maybe we need a format change,
you wonder in the year twenty twenty four, is the
weekly lunch a good use of time and not for multitaskers?
Not In an online connected world, young people don't need
a lunch to connect with each other. Maybe once a

(03:26):
month or a few times a year, but each week,
and most of us don't eat meat loaf, mashed potatoes
and a hunk of bread and dessert it noon anymore.
The old model is dad the new model is everybody.
How family friendly is your service club? If family time
is precious to young parents, and it is, how can

(03:46):
the service group welcome the entire family. Commit not to
speeches at lunch, but ted talks, encourage topics that stimulate
thought and imagination, address key social issues that affect families,
and then encourage part anticipation in community activities that solve
problems and meet challenges. If you can imagine it or

(04:06):
dream it, you want to do it. So try this
brand on ver size. Come do what you want to do,
not what we do.