The June 24 Black Mountain [North Carolina] NEWS showcased the local Pilot Club. Pilot, originally one of five clubs for professional women only, belongs to the larger family of twelve service club types. Like most service clubs, Pilot is now open to both women and men.

Tom Harris, President of the Pilot Club of Black Mountain,  lays out a new element of his club’s appeal. According to Mr. Harris, 

“There are a lot of people here in our town who want to take part in meaningful service projects and help the community, BUT CAN’T HANDLE THE LONG MEETINGS AND TIME COMMITMENTS required by other clubs” (capitals mine.) 

He adds: “Pilot is a CONTEMPORARY service network which offers THE FLEXIBILITY AND OPTIONS THAT VOLUNTEERS OF TODAY WANT (capitals mine). Mr. Harris also underscores Pilot’s “new approach to volunteerism.” People who used to say no to service clubs increasingly say yes to Pilot.

Some are beginning to meet less often and to demand less money from members. Breakfast get-togethers increasingly trump lunch or dinner. A young working person is reluctant to commit $500 to $1,500 to support a service club’s annual range of activities: exchange students, college scholarships, eyeglasses for the visually impaired or, in the case of Pilot, brain-related disorders. Even when employers pay employees’ dues, they  ask tough questions about what is in it for the company.

Some service clubs, like Pilot and Lions, are adapting.  Others, like Rotary and Kiwanis, still hew to the old expensive, time intensive ways. A year ago (07-23-98 Asheville TRIBUNE), I called attention to one type of service club not yet in Western North Carolina. If any club can go head to head with Black Mountain Pilot Club as a modern, flexible organization it would something which does not yet exist: an EXCHANGE CLUB in Asheville, Fairview, Franklin or Sylva.

The NATIONAL EXCHANGE CLUB movement dates from 1911 in Detroit. Its earliest members focused on helping youngsters love American history, civics and  values. The other eleven service club types blanket the globe. Exchange exists only in the USA and its possessions. Every local Exchange Club decides for itself what projects its members will embrace. Exchange has, however, generally focused on young people: working with schools to deepen student interest in American history and civics through donation of Freedom Shrines. These are visually impressive showcases containing 28 seminal American documents, beginning with the 1620 Mayflower Compact. Exchange Clubs also salute America’s unsung public heroes, especially policemen and firemen. 
 

Since 1979 National Exchange has also worked hard and effectively to combat child abuse. Exchange Clubs donate teddy bears and channelmuch love and attention to lonely, neglected children.Use your personal computer or go to your public library and read more on the internet about this ultra-modern service club at http://www.nationalexchangeclub.com/.

Imagine Western North Carolina’s first Exchange Club: in Oteen or Hendersonville or Sylva. It meets twice a month. Members are free to miss meetings. Dues are set locally and are usually very low. To serve as mentors and models there are Exchange Clubs as near as Greeneville, Tennessee and Shelby, North Carolina. The first WNC Exchange Club’s charter members will design their own club. If they want a special emphasis on the United Nations, fine. Or on providing scholarships to an inner city church school or home schoolers, they can do it. Youngsters, their parents, local policemen and firemen will  soon know that something new and good is among us.

Would you like to be with a dozen or more men and women of your community who do not have the time and money to be Rotarians or Civitans or Kiwanis but want to make a difference? Then design your own Exchange Club. Invite me to join!

-OOO-

for Asheville TRIBUNE

[NOTE: as of 06/25/2001 there is still no Exchange Club in the mountains of the 17 counties of Western North Carolina.]