It is 1921, when the Great War to End All Wars and the Spanish Flu were fresh on the minds of the people of Mount Airy – but they were ready to make history on the local frontlines.
In June 1921, community leaders gathered in the downtown dining room of the Blue Ridge Hotel to create a local chapter of Kiwanis International, a service organization established six years earlier in Detroit.
Those who had gathered for this centuries-old affair could be described as the movers and shakers of the community, including Dr. Moir S. Martin, a prominent local surgeon who was elected the first president of the young Kiwanis Club of Mount Airy.
A news report from the meeting indicated that with the mandatory organizational details, the club “now expects to get to the right thing” – which it did during another well-attended meeting later in June 1921.
Members had been asked to write their ideas of what Mount Airy needed on pieces of paper placed in a box near the front door. Among those suggestions – reported in the June 23, 1921 issue of Mount Airy News – were some that are out of date by modern standards, but other relevant ideas still bear fruit today:
• A member who had only lived in Mount Airy for a short time saw a public library as a great need and said he lived in other library locations. And not having access here seemed to him “an uncomfortable situation that is a disadvantage for a city that expects progressâ€.
• Several members felt the club should push for manufacturing operations, including a knitting mill, in Mount Airy.
• With this in mind, the proposal for “an ice facility with sufficient capacity to meet the needs of this section†was a necessity when there were no refrigerators.
• The priority for two local doctors was to establish a “more systematic†form of local garbage collection.
• Some local residents saw the need for better roads and a modern sewer system.
• A local businessman complained about jitneys (buses or other vehicles that carry passengers for a fee) parking in front of downtown shops, saying the practice should be regulated to avoid obstructing trade at important times. Such a situation continues today with the presence of delivery vans.
• In addition to quality of life, the early Kiwanians also dealt with the subject of death, in particular with the method of better caring for “our cemetery†(Oakdale).
“Some thought the city should have control over it and make it a more attractive place for everyone who lives here,” the newspaper report said. The city government later acquired Oakdale Cemetery on North Main Street.
A public library and better utility and waste systems would also emerge.
Still active today
The Kiwanis Club of Mount Airy hosted a Charter Night at the Blue Ridge Hotel on October 14, 1921, with 48 members certified as original members.
In the modern version of the group, membership has decreased.
“We were up to sixteen at one time, but because of this COVID we fell away,” said Bettsee McPhail, who has been president of the Kiwanis Club for three years. Other factors included deaths, changed times, and attrition, with McPhail adding on Wednesday that it now has about 10 members.
But even with his 100th birthday this year, the local Kiwanis spirit remains strong.
McPhail noted that the club had played a role in public health through projects such as promoting organ donation by distributing armbands to local students.
“This is an on-going thing,” she said, also hampered by the coronavirus, as planned visits to Surry County’s high schools as part of the Donate Life program were canceled.
The Kiwanis Club of Mount Airy also sponsors blood donation drives, including one on July 22nd at the American Red Cross facility on Westlake Drive.
Along with health-related initiatives, McPhail said, the club is looking at programs to support children that align with the core cause of Kiwanis International, which is now present in more than 80 nations and geographic areas.
It is described as a global organization of volunteers who, through their various endeavors, are dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time.
“Every ward has different needs, and Kiwanis empowers members to find creative ways to meet the needs of the children, such as family and friends.
The global organization is facing major challenges such as combating disease and poverty.
“I think our main project is working with children,” said McPhail of local Kiwanians’ upcoming plans to engage with middle school students by helping with reading and mentoring teenagers who need special attention.
She mentioned that her group also sponsors the Action Club at Surry Community College, the only service club for adults with disabilities.
The Kiwanis Club meets every first and third Tuesday of the month at the Gondola Italian restaurant on West Lebanon Street, which includes dinner and a business meeting. New members are welcome, according to McPhail, who can be reached at 336-719-6853 for more details.
During its last meeting, the club was visited by a Kiwanis state official, Joanne LeDonne of Clemmons, who is lieutenant governor of District 5, one of the 26 districts in the Carolinas.
LeDonne urged local members to remain committed and contribute to the rich history of the Kiwanis in Mount Airy.
“She really inspired us,” said McPhail.
