Longview Hills @ Newport Oregon

Evolve the Social Club...

ron thomas
EDITORS NOTE:
This article is provoking lively discussion which we feel is a good thing. As concerns over whether it is do-able or not come to the surface in the COMMENTS we will be putting them at the bottom of this article for you to consider. If you have any ideas how a negative concern can be fixed please put it in the COMMENTS.



The Social Club was created for the entertainment and enjoyment of all park residents.


Not All park residents care to be included in the entertainment and enjoyment of Social Club sponsored activities.

Some residents like to be involved if they do not have to do anything but come to an activity.

The same people volunteer to serve and help the Social Club attain its goals again and again until they are burnt out and then they quit, often bitterly, and take up volunteering into other activities outside the community that are more rewarding to the soul.

When the key volunteers quit and move on to other outside park organizations they leave a vacuum and no trained replacements. Many times those that followed our leaders leave with them and increase the vacuum even further.

New leaders with really no idea of the mechanics and politics of the park are sucked in by the vacuum of the trained leaders leaving.

New leaders may try to follow new ideas to improve the community. If they have the personality they may even attract new idealistic people to try and make the park into Nirvana. Everyone is filled with enthusiasm. New things are tried.. Some work. Some don't.

Eventually, the new leaders become the old leaders and those that work with them become a group of friends often referred to as a clique. Those that lead somehow reach a point of saturation where no one else comes forward to help. As time goes on more and more tasks are put on the members of this group because there are no more volunteers to do anything. This wearies everybody and leads to the eventual demise of the group in general as they leave the service of the Social Club for more rewarding outside park involvement.


And so it goes, cycle after cycle.
Recruitment after recruitment.

If you can see a train wreck coming do you sit and watch it or do you get out of the way?

Maybe we should stop the train and re-route it?

Here is an idea I had while Jacky was chasing me around the house with a broom.....

The Social Club exists with a treasury, leaders, and an agenda that calls for the entire park to be involved and have fun. I think the Social Club should be restructured. They should be the executive branch that controls the treasury that doles money out to individual clubs in the park. They should not be in charge of making park activities. Individual park clubs with their own special interests should be doing that.

A park club would be in charge of their own interests. They would decide what they want to do and attract interested members to do it. If they can't do that... Then ...No more club... Simple as that. Membership in all clubs must be open to any park resident. Each club would decide what it wants to do and how to do it. Each club would receive financing from the Social Club treasury as well as have its own money raising capability, such as dues, pay for events etc.

This could be a cure for what ails the park. Why?

• People would join those things that interest them.
• They would most likely have to support their club with money or time and would therefore not be seen as taking advantage of other members. In other words members would have a vested interest in their club and its advancement.
• People not interested in participating in a club but would like to attend a club sponsored event would pay what that club feels is a fair price for the efforts of its club members.
• Volunteers for a club would have far less responsibilities and demands put upon their time than the all encompassing Social Club now has.

This solution is good for our community. It provides a means for all to participate in what interests them and it provides for those that are interested but don't care to participate in a club (they pay as they go for what they want). It removes much of the burden of caring for the entire park from the Social Club. It also provides for those totally not interested in anything the park does as they will not be asked for anything.

Our reader's respond with these concerns about this article:

• The park will experience a social breakup, disintegrating into small splinter groups and limit socializing.
• Who will fund those park activities like coffee, popcorn, equipment upkeep, etc.?
• Will the Social Club exist to fund clubs or will each club fund their selves?
• A lack of interest is pervasive in the park and despite many attempts to overcome it. Nothing seems to work.
• This will further divide the park.
  
• Belonging to the community in general should not be based on whether a person chooses to be involved with the Social Club. If a person chooses not to particpate in activities they should not be made to feel guilty for that choice.
• Americans can choose what they want to do.
• Some folks are weary of hearing about what the volunteers at the Social Club do. They feel this makes them feel gulity and is unfair because they choose not to participate.
• How the Social Club disburses its money does not matter... to clubs or to the Social Club in general.
• Some would like clarification on what the Social Club was orignally formed for. What was it's purpose then?
  

At a later date we will discuss each concern by itself in a separate article and try to find a solution for it. Help for this might come from those of you who have lived in other retirement communities and have seen how they deal with these problems...Please join our forum we are eager to hear solutions.

• A side note. Do you see how we can add on to an article days after it has been written? This is what a member of the blog writing team has access to at any time. If you make a mistake you can just go back and correct it or add to an article if you get a thought ... at any time. This is the advantage of belonging to those that write on this page. Like the idea? email me .