Service clubs struggle to keep volunteers

Verona, Wisconsin, Press
http://www.veronapress.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=2&ArticleID=1676&TM=25269.08

Are Verona charities and service organizations hurting for volunteers?

It depends whom you ask.

Recently, two annual fund-raisers were canceled—the Fireman's Pancake Breakfast during Hometown Days and the July 5 Freedom Fest hosted by St. Andrew Catholic Church.

Those cancelations were due, at least in part, to the strain the events put on volunteers. And it begs the question whether other groups are struggling to find volunteers.

Many of the traditional service groups—such as the local Kiwanis, Rotary, Optimists and Lions clubs—say they are. In fact, other than the Lions, where membership has grown to 22 from around a dozen earlier this decade, each group's membership is dwindling.

John Volker, former Verona mayor and Optimists president, said that mirrors national trends, and he guesses it's because adults are busier with jobs and parenting. For example, more parents than ever join athletic booster clubs—such as Verona Little League, the Verona Lacrosse Club or the Verona Area Soccer Club—or parent organizations that pick up the slack when schools face budget cuts.

"It's not that people aren't doing things, they're just doing different things," he said. "But we're the victims. ... The service clubs are really hurting."

Some groups, however, are faring better.

The Verona Senior Center has seen an uptick in volunteers. The Verona Food Pantry is holding steady with roughly 80 volunteers. And Angel's Wish, a local non-profit that helps find homes for orphaned pets, has grown its volunteer base since the economy tanked last year, said president Amy Good.

"Several of our volunteers have found themselves unemployed and are able to give more volunteer hours than usual," Good said.

'Hated to see it go'

The Fireman's breakfast has been around for decades, but organizers from the Verona Firefighters Association opted this spring to pull the plug because it required a lot of work for a small payback, said Marc Lindquist, past president of the association.

"We hated to see it go. It was almost like an institution," Lindquist said."But honestly, the profits we made did not warrant the hours and hours of setup ahead of time."

The association is feeling a scarcity of volunteer firefighters in general, as the Verona Fire Department has gone from about 40 volunteers to 21 over the past five years, said assistant fire chief Melissa Helgesen. Still, the association expects to host its annual raffle at a Fire Prevention week open house in September, which tends to raise a lot more money than the breakfast did, Lindquist said.

Whether the breakfast will return next year is uncertain, said Lindquist, who directed the inquiry to Sid Ballweg, association president. Ballweg who could not be reached for comment.

"There will probably be a lot of discussion about that," Lindquist said.

At St. Andrew, Freedom Fest was to be held last Sunday but organizers decided in May not to host the fifth annual event, primarily because the church is in transition following the departure last month of Fr. Dave Timmerman and the arrival of Fr. William Vernon, Vernon said.

But while that transition spurred the cancellation, Brad Stiner, a member of the local chapter of the Knights of Columbus, said the event was hard to pull off each year for a group of core volunteers.

Fern Reilly, a member of St. Andrew, said the event raised some money for the church, but the main goal was to bring the congregation together and build a sense of community in Verona. The church discussed moving the festival to August, but for now, the committee that runs it has opted to meet later this year to decide whether to try again in 2010, she said.

Some groups thriving

At the Senior Center, director Diane Lanaville said volunteerism is up, though it is changing, as more volunteers sign up for just one or two events a year, rather than being "on call" for any help that's needed.

One big event—the center's annual Pie Social from 4 to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, July 20—is still a go. Organizer Audrey Huseth said she expects 15-20 volunteers—including a half-dozen Epic employees—will help set up the event, which typically draws 250 people to sample 60 or more donated pies and other food.

Volunteers are also plentiful for the seventh annual Jerry's Race against Muscular Dystrophy Aug. 15 in Verona. Scott Smith, who handles promotions, said most of the 50-60 volunteers help organize the run/walk that is the event's centerpiece.

"We're happy to report that we're not having any problems," he said.

Likewise, a steady supply of about 80 volunteers is helping the Food Pantry meet growing demand. Last year, 7,064 people used the pantry, a 25 percent increase from 2007, said co-coordinator Karen Fletcher.

"That was a big jump," she said.

But the pantry could take a few more volunteers for its four, two-hour shifts on Monday and Thursday afternoons, she said (call 848-2499).

"We could always use a few more volunteers," she said.

Shift from service clubs

Bruce Carroll, a charter member of the Fitchburg-Verona Rotary Club that formed in 1996, recalls how his dad and his friends used to view bi-weekly Lions Club meetings as a big social event.

"That has changed," said Carroll. "People are so busy with their own kids' soccer games or coaching. ... There are so many different avenues of entertainment to choose from."

That might explain why Rotary's membership has declined from around 35 in 1996 to between 15 to 20 these days, he said.

With fewer members, and most in their 60s or 70s, the club can't do as much as it used to. It still organizes foreign-exchange student visits and raises money for youth scholarships. But if asked to run a concession stand at a soccer tournament - which could net them a few hundred bucks to put back into the community - the group often has to pass, he said.

"There's no way we could man (a stand) on a Friday or Saturday night now," he said.

The same goes for the Kiwanis club that formed three years ago with 34 members but now has only a dozen or fewer, said member Theresa Wilson.

Some members dropped out because annual dues proved too costly, possibly a sign of the poor economy, she suggested. Others simply couldn't commit the time.

That strains current members, who had to rely on outside help from high school students and the Belleville chapter of Kiwanis to operate the brat stand at Hometown Days this year, she said.

"We've definitely seen a decrease (in members)," she said. And while the group hasn't discussed dissolving, she worries that if another key member or two steps down, its future could be in jeopardy.

Last month's Hometown Days got a boost from some new volunteers, said Mary Egan, president of Verona Community Betterment, the nonprofit, community-oriented group that runs the festival.

But she said Betterment had to plug a few holes that used to be filled by volunteers. For example, State Bank of Cross Plains employees - where she's a vice president - helped Rotary sell tickets at the beer tent, and church groups helped guide parking, a job usually filled by the Verona Explorer Post, which is also seeing lower numbers.

"A lot of folks had to reach out of their normal groups to have enough people to fill everything," she said.

For Wilson of Kiwanis, she hopes more people will see the need for service clubs to survive.

"Even if they could volunteer a couple hours here or there, that'd be great," she said.