Service clubs focus on youth to guide the future
Local clubs like Rotary and Kiwanis are forging relationships with area high schools students as a way for the adult service organizations to stay viable in the future.
Interact and K clubs are attracting interest as young people seek ways to be socially active and make a difference in their communities.
“The key is absolutely the youth,’ said Memory Woodard, a Rotarian since 1995 who has volunteered as the advisor for the Interact Club at Ygnacio Valley High School since 2001.
“You can’t keep talking to the same groups to fill the void. The connection to staying viable and continuing the growth has to happen with the youth,” she said of the group’s efforts to attract new, younger members.
Chris Ruzicka, past president of the Clayton Valley Concord Sunrise Rotary Club, echoed Woodard’s sentiments and noted the perception that adult service organizations are for older individuals.
Ruzicka’s daughter Stephanie is the current president of the Clayton Valley Charter High School Interact Club. The 50 members, mostly female, have him upbeat about the future.
“I do wish that we could reach more students and get them involved with one of the service clubs on their campus,’’ said Ruzicka. “When they can see how their actions impact the people in the community, they develop an increased sense of responsibility for the community’s success. Getting the message across is the hard part.”
Patti Barsotti, president of the Concord Kiwanis Club, described the young people in Mount Diablo High School’s Key Club as “the cream of the crop.”
“There is a lot of energy and inspiration,” she said.
Involvement at the college level
The goal is to have these young people eventually join the adult organizations. To that end, Barsotti and Ruzicka said their service organizations also support groups at the collegiate level as a bridge to sustaining involvement as attentions turn to careers after graduation.
Rotaract, which can be found on most college campuses, is for 18- to 30-year-olds who want to continue being involved with Rotary but are not ready for the financial obligations of Rotary. For Kiwanis, Circle K is a college-level organization that Key Clubbers can pursue to stay active.
Woodard says the YVHS Interact Club is having a wonderful impact, based on the numerous letters she has received over the years from past members. She said one young woman wrote that “she had seen Rotary make a difference and she hoped to continue to do that as she moved into higher education.”
Woodard is targeting the 2020-’21 school year to start an Interact Club at Mount Diablo High School.
A lifetime of volunteerism
Concord City Councilman Tim McGallian is an example of how what happens at the high school level continues to resonate later in life. He started the Key Club as a freshman at Bishop O’Dowd High School and remains an active Kiwanis member.
McGallian said leadership skills nurtured in Key Club served him well later in groups like the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce and the Todos Santos Business Association Arts Foundation, through which he founded the Concord July 4th Festival and Fireworks in 2014.
He is hopeful that adult service organizations will continue to be relevant in the future through the involvement of today’s high school students. McGallian sees a current generation of young people who value volunteerism and service, which suggests they will be “very community-minded” and will want to continue giving back in ways about which they are passionate.