Decline in Service Clubs Across America

by Jack Lee

Are we experiencing the collapse of the traditional American community and family paradigm? Fraternal (club) organization participation is down by 58% over the past 25 years and according to at least one comprehesive study by author Robert Putnam. He also found family dinners are down by a whopping 43% and 35% of us have fewer friends dropping in for a home visit.

When I was growing up (50’s) the dinner table was where we met to talk as well as eat. It was an important time to regroup, talk about the day and relax. It’s a shame that traditional family dinners are losing out to eating in front of the TV or at a fast foods place.

My Mom had this sort of milk route of friends she would call on and this was a weekly ritutual that went on until she was in her 70’s. My father wasn’t so sociable. Well, let me rephrase that, when he wasn’t working he liked his down time. But, he worked over 50 hours a week at his service station and he earned that down time. He also had plenty of contact with friends through work. He wasn’t into lodges, but he did have his social activities. Both my Mom and Dad enjoyed a weekly game of double deck penochole with the neighbors and that went on for years. And he had his hunting friends, mostly for pheasant and duck season. We’ve lost most of the latter too due to this anti-gun mentality and lack of free space to actually hunt. But, now I’m getting off track – this could be a whole article unto itself.

In the 1950’s most women were stay at home moms. Looking back, this was a lucky break for me because I never knew what it was like to be a latch-key kid. This was in stark contrast to the war years when women filled the jobs left by the men who went to war. So, it was natural that when the men returned home to their jobs, the women resumed that tradional role of having and raising children while the father worked. During these times men were generally active in some sort of lodge too. It was just expected because it was a good place to network your associations, combine forces to solve community needs and just to have fun… without it involving a computer game. It was a healthy lifestyle that stressed high moral standards. Even I got in on the fraternal thing with Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts and I think I was better off for it.

I just did a little personal polling in Chico for this article and among the 4 service clubs I contacted, all are experiencing serious membership problems. A few years ago (5-6) the Retired Public Employees Association of Chico had over 400 members, now that number is less than half, which mirrors results nationwide for other service clubs.

What does this new trend really signify? Has the internet replaced our need for social interaction and will it lead to dysfunctional families, more crime and less human empathy? Are the WWII baby-boomers going to be the last great wave of club members? And what about all the good these fraternal organization have done over the decades, are we going to be relying more on government to fill this void? There are a number of serious questions this trend raises, but the answers are yet to be found. My guess is we’re losing something important to our humanity. We’re becoming more isolated even though there are people all around us. We are limiting ourselves to very few outlets for a healthy social interaction and becoming introverts. At this rate it won’t take long before we’re bowling alone.