By Karen Poh
SERVICE groups such as the Rotary and Lions clubs have traditionally played a big part in maintaining the fabric of society, but their branches in Hobsons Bay are reporting a significant decline in membership.
A big proportion of the membership pool is made up of those born before World War II and they are not being replaced.
Lions Club of Williamstown secretary Philippa Cursio says there is a need for young blood.
“The numbers now are 19, and we have about 14 working members. The average age is in about the late 50s at the moment,” Ms Cursio said.
“We’ve gone down mainly because in the past four or five years some of our members have died because they are elderly. But I think every service club is the same, it’s hard to get people to commit themselves to doing things like that … and when you do get them, we never seem to retain them.”
Rotary Club of Altona president Therese McKenney-Campbell is a baby boomer and at 50 is the second youngest member of the club.
“Then we have the oldest, who’d be hitting mid-80s,” Ms McKenney-Campbell said.
“Our membership is 27, but it’s an ageing club.
“It was a club of about 45 or 50 about 15 to 20 years ago. We’ve got to try and target the Y-generation.”
But neither believes the community spirit is disappearing in Hobsons Bay.
“We might not have very many in our club, but the community supports us really well when we have fundraisers,” Ms Cursio said.
“We have sausage sizzles and people will just come up and say here is a donation without even buying a sausage. But not everyone wants to be involved in the day-to-day and the paperwork and things like that. It’s hard for people to make the time. We really do need younger people, but they’re probably the most difficult age to get, those with young families, because nowadays life is so hectic.
“People have heart, but they don’t know how to time-manage themselves.”
The Y generation was also keen to make a difference, but did not know what to latch on to, Ms McKenney-Campbell said.
She admits it is time for service groups such as Rotary to reinvent themselves.
“There’s a perception that Rotary is for old people. But Rotary is actually changing face,” she said.
“Rotary is there to help the disadvantaged, to actually fund projects that other departments like the council wouldn’t fund. We did a decking for a young disabled girl in Altona Meadows, for example. Her parents wrote to us. She was eight years old and wheelchair-bound, and her mother couldn’t take her out because there was no disabled access from her house. We purchased the materials, and our members, builders and carpenters, built the decking with the ramps so the little girl could go out and get some sunshine.”
“It’s a working club in the community, and we need the skills of the Y generation,” she said.
Ms Cursio agrees. “If you invited a couple of young ones and they came to a meeting and they saw a lot of older people, they’d probably think, ‘oh, my God’. But if they came in a group, they could come with new ideas and introduce a new culture.”
And this is what Victoria University’s young carpentry and joinery teacher Michael Hick has found. The 31-year-old is working with the Rotary Club of Altona on their latest project to refurbish the Logan Reserve rotunda on Pier St in Altona.
“I wouldn’t have been able to say that before, until I met these people, but now I can say it’s a group of people doing good in the world,” Mr Hick said.
“People need to realise that they do get out there and do work, it’s not just a knife and forker, having your meals and that’s it,” Ms McKenney-Campbell said.
