By Hayleigh Gowans
Staff Writer
The Fayetteville-Manlius Rotary Club will celebrate 50 years of service to the F-M community in 2017 — but due to a dramatic decrease in membership, they may soon have to turn in their chapter’s charter.
“All volunteer organizations seem to have been having a problem with membership,” said Carl Fahrenkrug, a past president of the group. “It’s a shame. We just haven’t been successful in attracting members.”
Fahrenkrug said he believes a contributing factor to the decline is that the weekly lunch meetings can no longer be held at Traditions at the Links at Erie Village. Now, meetings are held at 7:30 a.m. the first and third Wednesdays of the month at the Fayetteville Dunkin’ Donuts, or at noon on the second and fourth Wednesdays at Papa Gallos Mexican Restaurant in Fayetteville. Since that change, the membership has gone from 20 to eight members, said Fahrenkrug, and the chapter is in risk of having to disband.
Another reason for the decline in membership, Fahrenkrug said, was that in the past, requirements for membership were that a person had to attend at least 50 percent of the weekly meetings as well as participate in the various community service projects the Rotary does throughout the year.
Membership requirements have changed over the years and a strict rule on attendance is no longer in place, and members are more expected to take part in service projects, many of which are done on the weekends.
The F-M Rotary Club has been involved in numerous service projects over the years and has supported many different charitable causes, including a scholar award at F-M High School, improvements to local parks and senior centers, the A Better Chance house, F-M student training weekend at Cazenovia College (RYLA) and the American Diabetes Association “Tour de Cure,” among many others.
“I think there are a lot of people out there in the community who would fit well in the Rotary Club, we just haven’t been able to tap into that section of the community,” said Fahrenkrug.
The best way to learn more about the organization is to contact David Jones at 560-2990 or Tom Heister at 637-4330. Interested people are also invited to attend their weekly meetings.
To learn more about Rotary International, go to rotary.org.
