Ended up there by default more than any other reason. I had been a board member on a local charity here for a couple of years and wasn't really interested in looking elsewhere...but THE FIRM required that I get out there into a group with more, shudder, "networking" possibilities. ("The other group just helps poor people...how are you ever going to get clients from there?")
The firm had most of the area Rotary clubs covered. I was in the youth Kiwanis (Key Club) in high school so I considered them but had difficulty finding anything about them here in the Hill Country. Easily found info about Lions and joined in around September '03. They saw me coming because I was club secretary about a month later and will start my 4th full year as sec. on July 1.
I may have joined kicking and screaming but within a very short time I was very happy to be there. I really enjoy the weekly lunches/speakers and roughly quarterly projects but mostly I enjoy the other members more than anything else. As the "oldest, continually chartered" Lions Cub in the world, we have a few members well into their nineties. The don't make it to the projects any more but almost never miss a lunch. Surprisingly to me, I love talking to those guys. Former biz scions and congressmen, they can teach me a lot. We also have a pretty good smattering of members in their thirties but I'd say most are in the 40-60 range with the next largest segment being the recently retired set. I'm 48.
We just sponsored a new club in the SW part of town that already has about 25 members and I'd say the age range there is 25-40.
I used to volunteer teach when I lived in Denver and that took about 10 hours a week in prep and teaching time for 32 weeks a year. That was a bit taxing. I certainly couldn't do that year in year out.
Weekly lunch, monthly board meeting, 10-12 days (mostly on weekends) worth of projects per year and maybe another 2 weekends worth of training and regional or statewide events. Much easier and I still get to pretend I'm a better person than Michael or LJ because of it.
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7 comments:
Ha!
Thought you might like that.
That sounds like a lot of time to me. Is that required to maintain membership? How much are dues? And do you feel like your projects are worthwhile? What's the ratio of men to women? (I'm assuming all the service orgs admit women these days.)
Yep, I think women have been admitted for about 35 or 40 years. When I joined (and one of the main reasons I joined and became an officer was because of the absolute competence of our female club president) Ratio is probably 4 or 5 to 1.
$55 a quarter for the dues; pay those and I don't think you have to really participate in anything.
I'm pretty much "all in" so I am probably an %85er. I don't make all the officers training type stuff. I do try to make all the service oriented functions.
Wouldn't do them if I didn't think them worthwhile. Who could not think helping visually impaired kids get to camp in the summer isn't worthwhile? Or, eliminating river blindness in the third world? (The latter doesn't necessarily inspire much local participation, though.)
I guess it's more like 20-25 years that they've been admitting women: "The Jaycees changed their national bylaws to allow women after a 1984 United States Supreme Court ruling requiring them to do so. In 1987 a similar decision against Rotary International forced the opening of that club's ranks to women." http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE0DA1F31F937A35753C1A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all Read elsewhere that Kiwanis was about 20 years ago.
Oh, and the Lions admitted women in 1987 too: "The United States Supreme Court, in a 7-to-0 ruling May 4 that said California could force Rotary International to admit women, laid down guidelines that appear to cover other service clubs as well.
This month [July 1987], Lions Club International and Kiwanis International voted to drop their men-only membership policies. Rotary International is to take up the issue next year, but many local Rotary chapters are not waiting." http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE7D7143EF935A25754C0A961948260
Fairly ancient history.
As much of a feminist as I am (and recognize/appreciate the importance of access to such places for networking and career development, as your firm does), I have to admit it seems like kind of a sad thing that the men folk lost their man gathering place. I remember Dad relating the lunchtime conversations at dinner on Tuesday evenings: "Bob said.... and then George said... and then I said... [then laughing because his contribution was always a punch line]" It can't be quite the same with women. Maybe better in some respects, but different.
Only 20 years? How about that?
I woulda sworn I heard somebody mention the 70s when it happened. At least I wrote, "I think." Our board is about 12 members and 4 are women. One, about 38-40 I'd guess is our 3rd VP. That means she's scheduled to be prez July, 2012-June, 2013.
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