When you care for a community, you do things to contribute to its well-being. Wausau shows signs of this thanks to fundraisers for area veterans, donations to the needy, and humanity for the homeless. However, if current national trends continue, service clubs in the city that have brought people together for these noble purposes will have fewer members and a blunted impact.
Reports from as early as 2000 in books like Robert Putnam’s “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community” reveal attendance at meetings for groups like Rotary International, Elks, and Kiwanis International declined 58 percent over the previous 25 years. A cursory Google search shows the problem persists in places as far away as Washington and as near as Milwaukee.
While nothing is guaranteed to last forever, in Wausau local groups are taking on renovations and reorganizations in an effort to freshen themselves up and attract new members, especially in harder-to-reach younger demographics.
“I think we are sitting pretty good, but COVID-19 hit everybody hard,” Wausau Elks Lodge No. 248 Events Coordinator Maureen Johnson says of the club’s current 500 or so members. “For a lot of years nothing really happened and now what I’m trying to do is breathe life back into this.”
Changes at the group’s Scott Street facility include a renovation costing over $100,000 unveiled earlier this year as part of the group’s 100th anniversary. Johnson adds they have also gone digital with some activities like game show nights. The group has a modern venue space for brides or businesses looking to gather.
But none of that is a guarantee that the club will be able to stem the change in membership. The Elks Lodge’s membership is a far cray from the 90s, when membership peaked at around 1,200 or so.
David Imlah, the Wausau Freemasons' worshipful master, has 115 members to work with in his organization — less than half of the previous high of 300 members years ago.
But their numbers have been increasing again in recent years. That’s because in Imlah’s view in part because of structural changes like soliciting members (before, prospective members had to ask an active member to join) and evolving with the times.
“There is so much online presence,” he says. “People spend so much time online doing research and looking for things, so we developed an online presence so people find us. I think you’ll find a lot of service organizations aren’t doing that. They need to think outside the box if you will.”
However, rule changes and other upgrades has not always worked out for clubs looking to revive their memberships. The Service Club of Milwaukee (which was for high school-aged girls) made local headlines in 2022 when its board said the century-old organization was “not a sustainable organization.” The group tried to boost its numbers with a new website, but was severely hobbled by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Of course, social change is often irreversible, but, at the Wausau Rotary Club, they are trying to overcome it and stay fresh with a lot of flexibility.
“We are actively trying to recruit younger,” Wausau Rotary Club President Dr. Lisa G. Dodson says. “With that demographic, they are often starting families and in the very busy phase of their lives. They are new homeowners; they have a new baby or puppy … having three different times of day our various clubs meet has been intentional at least in part to address that issue. People might not be able to come to our meeting at noon, but they might be able to attend a morning early bird meeting or the after-hours club which meets less often and meets more informally.”
Another aspect of some historical service clubs and fraternal orders is religious connection. The Elks and Freemasons have belief in a higher power as a general requirement to become a member while Rotary and Kiwanis International do not appear to as of this story being filed.
Millennials and those in the Generation Z demographic are considered to be some of the least religious age groups in the United States. The percentage of Americans who identified as Christian, for instance, declined from 90% in 1972 to 64% by 2020, according to a study conducted by Pew Research. Pew projects that number to continue declining.
When asked if religion also has a role to play in signing up younger people to organizations that once had no difficulty in growing, Johnson adds it is something embedded in Elks history, but is not a part of their regular practices to a high degree.
“We are a Christian organization but that is as far as that goes,” she says. “We are not picking out any sort of religion or anything. One of our philosophies is believing in God, that is the easiest way to put it. If I see something as belief in God I don’t go ‘Oh, they’re worshiping on knees.’”
For now, the struggle continues and those interested in learning about the mentioned clubs can find out more about them by visiting their Facebook pages, attending a meeting, or other open events.
Evan J. Pretzer is a freelance contributor to City Pages. He can be reached at evanjpretzer.com or evan.pretzer@protonmail.com.
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