NORTH MANKATO— It’s just before noon on a Friday at Happy Chef, and as Billy Joel once wrote, “the regular crowd shuffles in.” As they have for the last 50 years, the Sertoma Club of Greater Mankato is meeting.
Mankato once had two Sertoma clubs, but now there’s one. Although membership is down a bit, they still do three annual fundraisers, several club events and donate to organizations that provide speech and hearing services.
While they are heavy on the “service,” they’re a successful “social” club as well, as the growing amount of talking and loud laughs attest.
They all have their own stories about how and why they got involved.
“A guy I worked with was a member of the club, and he asked me if I wanted to come to a meeting,” recounts attorney Steve Fink, who takes over as president after many years as sergeant-at-arms. “I was a young lawyer in town and thought, ‘Absolutely.’”
That was back in 1994. He figures he may hold the record for being the longest member who avoided being president: 31 years.
“What’s interesting about (joining) a club, most of us are joining it for business purposes, right? We want to get to meet people. We want to get to know people. But if you come to the meetings on a regular basis and you participate, all of a sudden it’s not a burden to come,” he said.
For retired KTOE radio personality Barry Wortel, the “opportunity” presented itself when a co-worker’s broadcast schedule changed back in 1988.
“Brian Garvin was in Sertoma and they moved him to middays on KDOG, so he had to leave Sertoma,” Wortel said. “(Station owner) Don Linder said, ‘Barry, why don’t you join, take Garvin’s spot?
“My first reaction was, ‘I don’t want to join a damn service club,’” he recalled. “It’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”
Larry Wild joined Sertoma in 1986, while still a sales representative for Kato Glass, which he went on to own for many years. He had a lot of friends already in the club back then, he said.
“I just really enjoyed the camaraderie of the Sertoma Club,” he said. So much so that he chaired the committee that brought about 300 people to town for the regional convention in 2004.
Sertoma was founded in Kansas City in 1912, making it the second oldest service club in the United States. The name is an acronym for the club’s motto: Service to Mankind, and one of their events is a banquet that honors someone from the community whose actions align with the motto.
Fundraising events are a spaghetti feed in early spring, golf tournament in June and poinsettia sales in November. Last year longtime member Armin Schull surpassed Wild for top in poinsettia sales.
“I sold 265 last year. I overtook Larry. It took years, but I made it,” he said. Back before light bulbs became so specialized, Schull was tops in sales for them, too.
Schull is a 60-year-member of Sertoma, switching to this club after the morning club disbanded. Like many of the ranks of service clubs these days, he is retired after 41 years with Madsen’s Valu Center.
The sort of friendly rivalry that comes through poinsettia sales not only adds fun, but it leads to bigger donations to places such as Minnesota State University speech and pathology, VINE Faith in Action, Mankato Area Public Schools, Mankato Chapter for Dollars for Scholars, Early Childhood Family Education, the Sertoma Foundation and Camp Sertoma.
The Mankato club is the top supporter of Club Sertoma, each year sponsoring campers, purchasing food and supplies, or volunteering at Camp Confidence on East Gull Lake.
Theresa Kopischke joined in 1999 , thinking she wanted do more.
“I just needed to spread out and I wanted to join an organization that was a nonprofit, helping the community,” she said. Her work has expanded to being president of the club and serving in regional leadership.
She serves as chair of the committee for the spaghetti feed, which includes more than just eating pasta with other people. She echoed what all service club members say: “It is great, but we need more people. Always need more people.”
People don’t need to get that involved, said Pauline Krueger, who joined in 1999. In fact, it’s the sharing of the tasks that makes it fun for her.
“It’s not one person doing everything,” she said. “We’re sharing the chores and everything gets done quickly. And that’s nice about the group.”
Sometimes people get involved specifically because of the work Sertoma does in different areas of society. That was true for one whose family was affected by hearing loss.
“They came because they’ve received services within that area. Not from us, but knowing that we’re supporting the needs they had and that it was important to keep it going,” she said.
Although Fink doesn’t have any huge plans for his year as president, he does hope to get more people to attend a meeting (noon Fridays at Happy Chef Restaurant) to learn what Sertoma is all about. Membership costs just $85 per quarter, including lunch each meeting, and the friendships are free.
“When you get here, you get to know people,” he said. “And pretty soon you’re looking forward (to coming). You’re teasing; they’re teasing you. It’s been a very nice thing for me. I didn’t know what it would be like in 1994.”