Civic clubs an indelible part of the community


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Any city or township that’s growing and flourishing more than likely has active civic and service clubs at work, community leaders say.

Groups such as the Rotary, Kiwanis, Lion’s and Optimist clubs play a key role in their communities by giving out scholarships to high school and college students, organizing community-wide clean ups, giving dictionaries to grade schoolers or holding food drives. These groups are usually comprised of business leaders, government officials and dedicated community volunteers and activists.

In Butler County, there are around a dozen or more of these organizations actively working to improve their communities. And while these civic organizations have become part of the fabric of the community, many of them have folded in recent years due to an inability to attract younger members to carry on the legacy.

But local leaders say these organizations are too important to go away. Where their activities are considered paying the community back or paying it forward, civic clubs matter, say those who are involved in them.

“I think that the most important thing is that is serves a way for (people) to be a part of something that supports community not just by donating money, but actually getting involved with doing the work to make things happen,” said Rich Bethart, president of the Rotary Club of Hamilton.

And by supporting the community, these clubs are leaving an indelible mark, said Lou Robinson, president of the Lindenwald Kiwanis Club of Hamilton.

“I believe it’s to give back to the community,” he said of the main goal of civic clubs. “I think that’s the key. When you’re helping others, you’re not just building your own self-esteem, but you’re helping others to build their self-esteem.”

Ohioans are slightly behind the national curve when it comes to being involved in civic organization — which include groups based in religious, school-based, fraternal, charitable and service, according to the Ohio Civic Index Report released last year — but historically the state tends to be ahead of the nation overall.

According to the Ohio Civic Health Index that came out last year, 38.8 percent of Ohioans reported some form of group participation in 2011, which is a similar number to the past few years. However, the rest of the nation seems to be catching up as the national average sits at 39.2 percent participation.

Civic clubs were a staple in any community in the early to mid-20th century, and decades ago Hamilton and Middletown could each support multiple Kiwanis clubs. Civic clubs are still an important part of the community and “can mobilize resources of a community in ways a single nonprofit can’t,” said Heidi Schiller, president of the Fairfield Rotary.

“Most service organizations are made up of people who are business leaders, who have varying areas of interests, so when you have that kind of spidered network… they can mobilize better,” she said. “There’s a lot more resources a service organization can bring to a problem that a single (non-governmental organization) can’t.”

And though there are several civic clubs that support various corners of the county, they don’t overtly compete for donors and members.

“I think that we overlap in our circle of influence,” Schiller said. “You look at ripples in a pond. The ripples don’t compete. When the ripples meet, they create a new ripple.”

Civic clubs are all trying to attract more young adults, officials said, but getting them involved has proven to be difficult.

“With the way the economy’s going, it’s a struggle for people that have school-age and especially preschool-age children to be able to come to an organization like Kiwanis that meets during the day,” said Matthew Dixon, president of the Middletown Kiwanis. “We have had some success, and we’ve had more success than the clubs that have had to fold.”

Recruiting young working adults can be difficult because many employers today, as opposed to 30 years ago, aren’t as lenient about letting their employees take an hour or so out of their work day to attend club meetings and functions, Dixon said.

“ There are fewer and fewer of them,” he said.

Dixon said civic clubs in communities such as Fairfield and West Chester Twp. are enjoying more growth because of their location.

“The growth of the people that have the leisure time and the resources to be involved in that sort of organization are beginning to gravitate out of places like Middletown to places like West Chester,” he said. “A club like Fairfield, it’s basically right off the interstate and it’s much easier for them to join and be involved in.”

Bethart said it’s difficult to grow in Hamilton because there aren’t many youth in the community.

“We’re an aging community, but there is a new birth coming on,” he said. “We have seen with all the things going on, with the new businesses being attracted to Hamilton and the younger people coming to Hamilton, I think they’ll see the value at some point.”

One group in Middletown, the Middletown Young Professionals, a group that formed in October 2013, is channeling the resources of the Millennial generation and the youngest of those in Generation X.

“We’re the demographic that everyone is after right now, and our opinions matter,” said Jeff Repper, president of the group geared toward those who are between 21 and 45 years old living or working in Middletown. “We started the group because we thought there was a need in town and we wanted to have a positive impact on our community.”

Repper said the group is involved in various activities in the community, and over the past 18 months have been approached by community leaders to participate in various initiatives.

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