In 2001, Robert D. Putnam wrote Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. Before the rise of social media and the dramatic social effects of the COVID pandemic, Putnam wrote about (in the words of Amazon) “how we have become increasingly disconnected from one another and how social structures -- whether they be PTA, church, or political parties -- have disintegrated.” His 2020 update reflected the impact of social media and the internet, but COVID and the associated social distancing exacerbated the problem he identified. In 2016, LinkedIn wrote a piece called Why Our Service Organizations are Dying (and 6 ways to fix them), in which it lamented the decline in service organizations like Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis, Odd Fellows, and Shriners. The article quoted Putnam’s research, noting a 58% decline in membership in these groups between 1975-2000, and the continuing decline over the years since then.
I’m writing about this today because of a constant feature of my local newspaper The Virginia Gazette. Every issue (it comes out twice a week – on Wednesday and Saturday) features “grip and grin” photos of a variety of community organizations. Local newspapers do this in a way that is not possible for newspapers in large cities. Here are a few examples from today’s paper.
St. Andrews Society
To find out more about this organization, I went to their website. You can find it at this link. https://www.scotsofwmbg.org/.
This group was founded in 1968 with 27 charter members. As I read the list of charter members on the website, I recognized several names of people I know.
The society engages in the kind of community service projects you would expect – food and clothing drives, for example – but they also hold a variety of events each year to honor their Scottish heritage. The year kicks off in January with the annual “Burns Supper.” A variety of “Tartan Days” are scheduled in the spring; these include a parade on Palace Green. Several “kirkings” are on the schedule; this is a traditional “blessing of the tartans” involving wearing your tartans to church.
Tim and I were first introduced to the St. Andrew’s Society of Williamsburg by our freshman English professor, Bob Maccubbin. He was of Scottish and loved all things Robert Burns. At his invitation, we attended a Burns-themed event at a local bar during one of our first years in Williamsburg. With the name “McPherson,” you would think that we would have become members of this group. We didn’t. We were bowling alone.
Kiwanis
The extended caption for t his picture goes on to note that “Dr. Aday mentioned several initiatives that creatively pair their scientific work with product implementation. For instance, the word the scientists do to map out coastal flooding is directly to land development throughout the Commonwealth. Club members were surprised to see how tied VIMS is to the state budget and the tremendous work they have done to save and let flourish the Chesapeake bay oysters.
According to the website of the Williamsburg chapter of Kiwanis, Service is at the heart of our Kiwanis club. The thing that makes Kiwanis the best service organization in the world is its focus on children, giving us the unique opportunity to help make a better world today while building the leaders of tomorrow who will make the world better still. When you give a child the chance to learn, experience, dream, grow, succeed and thrive, great things happen.
The Kiwanis Club of Williamsburg sponsors Kiwanis family clubs and programs to reach more people and have a greater service impact on our community: K-Kids and Bringing Up Grades (BUG) for primary school children; Builders Club for adolescents; Key Clubs for teens; CKI club for university students and Aktion Club for adults living with disabilities.
The Kiwanis Club of Williamsburg is one of the largest in the Capital District with over 120 members.
Here are some of their activities for 2023 – all of which are fundraisers for local organizations supporting children.
March 16, 2023 – Shamrock the ‘Burg. In 2022, this event featured a full Irish dinner, Irish beverages, and music from The Fighting Jamesons, a band that plays traditional Irish music. Sounds like a party to me!
April 21, 2023 – Annual Golf Outing
September 9, 2023 – Shrimp Feast
November 2023 – Live Lobster Sale
If you want to know more about Kiwanis, you can go to their website. https://williamsburgkiwanis.org/
Buddy Art Program, Williamsburg Contemporary Art Center
This picture appeared as the header for an article about this organization, so it doesn’t fall into the “grip and grin” category of the first two pictures I wrote about. This picture appears in the “Arts Notes” section of the paper, where upcoming concerts and theater events are promoted.
This event merited several paragraphs in this section of the paper. It advertises the 2023 spring session of Buddy Art – a free program of art activities for kids 6 and up with special needs or physical disabilities. According to the write-up, a variety of art activities is offered based on the ages, ability levels, and interests of the participating children. Each child is assigned a volunteer body to work with one-on-one, helping the child to explore the materials. This event will happen for over five Saturdays in February and March this year and is held in the Williamsburg Contemporary Arts Center less than a block from the William and Mary campus.
I have to confess – I didn’t know about this center. When I went to their website https://visitwcac.org/, I found out a lot of interesting things.
Throughout the month of January each year, they hold a high school student art show.
They offer a series of art lectures in the fall and winter of each year. The lectures in the library auditorium are free and open to the public.
They award college art scholarships to graduating high school seniors in the local school districts. By clicking on a link on the website, I found this information:
The 2020 Art Scholarships are sponsored by ROCKET Magazine, William & Mary’s premier fashion, art, and photography publication. "We provide an outlet for artistic students to collaborate, create, and express ideas through multiple media forms. Our magazine synthesizes narrative photography, fashion styling, critical journalism, and artistic graphic design. We engage with our local community through events and collaborations and with the wider creative industry through interviews and brand partnerships."
I never knew about ROCKET magazine.
The WCAC also offers adult classes and workshops. The spring classes include Korean Traditional Fold Painting, Continuing Watercolor, Painting with the Instructor, iPhone Photography, and Matting and Framing 2-D Art.
This is what the class listing says about the “Continuing Watercolor” class:
This is a small class for people who have had some experience with watercolor, preferably at least an introductory class that taught them about watercolor materials and the basics of painting in watercolor. In this class you will be doing paintings from your own photographs. The instructor will work with the students as a group and individually during the class to help them further develop their skills. She will help you plan your approach to your painting, give guidance on the drawing that you are starting with, and then advise, demonstrate, etc. on aspects of the painting wherever you may need her help. When needed, she’ll use a class session for a concentrated lesson on some aspect of drawing/painting. When she is working with one student, all are welcome to listen and ask questions as these questions offer a learning opportunity to all. Get your materials list when you enroll. If you have questions about items on the materials list, contact the instructor for information. 516 383-1137 or artbyeliz@gmail.com.
This class is one in which people who are working to continually improve their painting skills often enroll continuously. People find not only the help of the instructor valuable but to continually take the class with the same group of people creates an excellent support group for your painting endeavors.
I started focusing on items in The Virginia Gazette for my Wednesday blog posts because I wanted to illustrate the academic point that local newspapers do things that larger newspapers cannot do. However, this has made me read my local newspaper more intentionally than I have in the past, and I always learn a lot about what’s going on in my town. All I can think is that if this is what’s going on in my small town, just imagine what’s happening where you live!
So true, Karen, so true.