Civic groups working to regroup after pandemic-prompted hiatus
The coronavirus temporarily shut down the activities of several civic groups in Pine Bluff with some organization leaders wondering if the pandemic will be cause for a permanent loss of membership.
Studies have shown — and civic club members know from their own experience — that the average age of membership continues to rise.
It was no surprise then that when the covid-19 pandemic arrived in the state in March, with its first patient being in Pine Bluff, the aging clubs quickly went dormant.
But as with other areas of life that have settled into a new normal, some of the clubs are trying to resurface.
Lelan Stice, outgoing president of the West Pine Bluff Rotary Club, said his club has been holding Zoom meetings for a few weeks now.
He said that out of a full roster of 40 members, with about half going to pre-pandemic meetings, only about 10 join the online get-together.
Still, that bit of a connection has allowed the members to continue pursuing a couple of projects.
One is gathering boxes of cereal for the Arkansas Food Bank, an effort started and spearheaded by Wanda Bateman, who died in February.
The other is a literacy program in which the West Pine Bluff club and a sister organization, the Pine Bluff Rotary Club, pay to have books sent to children each month, from birth to age 5, to underscore the importance of reading in children’s
lives.
The clubs make this happen through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which distributes the books.
Stice, who is the director of pharmacy at Jefferson Regional Medical Center and owns several area pharmacies, said the club, other than a handful of board members that continued to meet, went dark for a couple of months, and he worries that the lull will provide a convenient exit for some members.
“I think we may lose some members,” he said. “Maybe it’s been too easy for them not to participate. If that’s the case, we may need to work to rebuild.”
The membership problem, he said, will be exacerbated if an effective vaccine isn’t found in the near term.
Another organization that has embraced the online platform is the Kiwanis Club.
“It’s gone better than I expected,” said Henry, a retired journalist, adding that many members are in their 70s and 80s, with some tuning in from nursing and retirement homes.
Henry said some members might “drift off” during the covid-19 crisis, but more problematic is that the current membership isn’t being replaced by younger, more culturally diverse members.
“Our club is supposed to represent people from all walks of life and all colors,” he said.
“But the perception is that we are just a bunch of old white guys who have money and go to the [Pine Bluff] Country Club to have lunch. That’s just not the case.”
The club, Henry said, currently has four Black members, but there have been more across the years and more outreach is needed.
“We need closer ties with UAPB [the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff] and the Black community,” Henry said. “That’s where our membership needs to come from.”
Across town, the Pine Bluff Rotary Club hasn’t progressed as far as the West Pine Bluff or Kiwanis clubs.
“We’re not meeting right now,” said Melissa Watkins, a sales manager at Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Pine Bluff. “We’re not meeting at all.”
Watkins said the club, which has about 50 members, meets at the Pine Bluff Country Club where social distancing would be difficult.
And because many of the members are older, even the idea of Zoom meetings hasn’t gotten much traction.
“The vote was that meeting online would just frustrate the membership, more than not,” she said.
The decision as to meet or not is revisited each quarter, Watkins said.
As to whether the covid-19 interruption will be enough to thin the club’s ranks, Watkins said probably.
“I do think there will be a few of the members drop out,” she said. “But we’ll adjust and find new ways to meet. It will take time and a wait-and-see approach”
Asked what the future might hold for her club, Watkins said, chances are it will look different, at least for the time being.
“I hope we go back to the previous normal,” she said, “but I don’t see us going back to the previous normal for awhile.”
“I do think there will be a few of the members drop out,” she said. “But we’ll adjust and find new ways to meet. It will take time and a wait-andsee approach. I hope we go back to the previous normal,” she said, “but I don’t see us going back to the previous normal for awhile.” —Melissa Watkins