MASON, Mich — Over the last two years, I have had the privilege of being in the Rotary Club as your Mason neighborhood reporter, where I learned that service club memberships have declined across the country over the years. Now, an effort is underway to get the next generation involved by bringing service to students.
WATCH BELOW: Interact program brings community service to Mason Public Schools
As of December, Rotary is now in Mason Public Schools. The new program, Interact, is giving students in Mason opportunities to serve their community and bringing them into the world of service.
Elodie Somerville is the first student president of Interact. She said this is something she has been waiting for.
"Young people truly can make an impact," Somerville said.
Melody Bennett, president of the Mason Rotary Club, hopes bringing Interact to the schools will help get the next generation into serving their community.
"Communities rely on service clubs to get things done. They just do," Bennett said.
Bennett noted the initial interest from students has been promising.
"We had 19 people show up and say I want to know more," Bennett said.
While membership has declined nationally, Bennett believes the desire to help remains.
"There are still people out there that want to give to their community, it’s just a combination of they don’t know how, they don’t know who to talk to, and time," Bennett said.
For Bennett, volunteering has been a lifelong commitment.
"I started volunteering when I was 5 or 6, and it’s become a huge part of my life," Bennett said.
She hopes to pass that same passion on to the students in Interact.
"It can be community service, taking care of needs that you see, and with Rotary we have two different aspects where we like to take care of our local community, but we also get involved in international projects," Bennett said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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