Abingdon Club Pegs its Future on 2+2 Meetings

by Jack White, President, Kiwanis Club of Abingdon, VA

The large Abingdon Kiwanis Club in Southwest Virginia recently approved a new meeting plan that it believes will help the club retain members who have full-time employment, and recruit others like them.

The plan is called 2+2, which means two lunch meetings and two breakfast meetings each month. Such a meeting rotation is not common in this District and the Abingdon plan may be unique.

How did it come about and why was it approved?

It all began last year when several members who were young business and professional persons left the club within a few months They told the leaders their office workloads had increased or for other reasons they no longer could get away for meetings in the middle of the workday.

Abingdon Kiwanis had been a lunch club since it was chartered in 1942.

Then President-Elect Jack White knew about the new Kiwanis meeting option called Club Satellites and proposed that the club form a Satellite for present and prospective members who required another meeting time. It was assumed the Satellite members would choose breakfast meetings, the fastest-growing for new Kiwanis clubs.

The Satellite proposal was approved and an organizational meeting was being planned when a Board member, retired Army Col. Charles Seaver, proposed an alternative. He said the Satellite would create a second club, in effect, so why not have the present club hold two lunch and two breakfast meetings each month?

Seaver and others polled a majority of the members and received favorable responses, so the Board approved a six-month trial of 2+2. It began last November.

The club’s long-time meeting place, a home-like facility now run by the third generation of a local family, never has hosted breakfast events. So the new morning meetings were moved three blocks away to the modern Abingdon Senior Center. It already was doing a brisk business in breakfast meetings -- for the Chamber of Commerce, senior citizens, and a variety of businesses and other groups.

The new Kiwanis breakfast meetings got off to a good start. But, three months into the trial, some Board members wanted to extend it. It was proving to be the coldest winter in decades with a lot of snow and hard-to-navigate roads. The Board feared the weather would curtail attendance and a proper gauge of support for the breakfast time slot would take more time.

So the trial was extended by three months, to the end of July.

At the outset, the Board assured the members they would decide whether to make the new meeting plan permanent, but the Board would give them a recommendation. The members would vote at one lunch and one breakfast meeting in the month before the trial ended. The club wanted to give the Senior Center proper notice if 2+2 did not pass.

With the start of voting just eight days off, the Board spent half of its June meeting discussing whether 2+2 should be continued. They noted that breakfast attendance, while less than the lunch meetings, was not markedly lower and the gap was closing. About five more people were turning out at lunchtime in a club of 65 members.

The breakfast site was preferred for its modern appearance and facilities, better parking and access, and a much better layout for programs, especially those that use projectors and a screen. Meals at both places were judged to be excellent.

Once the discussion ended, the Board decided to recommend that 2+2 be continued. The vote was unanimous. The main reason given was that a meeting option would let more people with full-time jobs join the club and remain members. A fear also was expressed that with all lunch meetings the club might evolve into one of mainly retirees.

When all the members’ votes were counted, those in favor of continuing 2+2 outnumbered those opposed by about 3:1. So the Abingdon Club will approach its long-planned membership drive in September with two meeting times to offer prospects.

How will this work over a long period of time? No one is totally sure, but the leaders are convinced the right choice was made for the immediate the future of this venerable club.