The Pine Grove Community Club had its final meeting on Sept. 9, and the final vote was to end the club after nearly two decades.
The club was initially formed as an effort to save the old Pine Grove School building, a one-room schoolhouse that operated from 1855-1949. The club acquired the building from the county on the condition that they restore it within two years. It took major financial and time investments, but they rose to the occasion and have preserved the school for 17 years since then.
“We worked for years to raise all the money that we needed,” club member Steve Kahler said. “It was literally in the mud when we started.”
Despite a steady presence in the Pine Grove community for most of the 21st century, things took a sharp downward turn for the club when COVID-19 hit. They were no longer able to meet at the school on a regular basis, which prompted many members to drop off from participating in activities. From there, attendance snowballed downward and the club lost eligibility for grants that demanded a certain level of activity. Eventually, there was no clear path forward.
While the pandemic was a major exacerbating factor, the end of a local community club has been foreshadowed for years. Most of Macon County’s clubs report that they’ve struggled to maintain their roster due to competition for attention. Some of them fear that disbanding is just a sign of the times.
“The general population just doesn’t seem conducive to community clubs anymore,” Pine Grove Club President Kathy Kahler said. “We’ve lost so many members that the ones we have left can’t really keep up.”
Following the club’s disbanding, the school building will revert to the county, and while plans aren’t set in stone for what will become of it in the long term, it’s likely to become a voting precinct. Club members will get to take home some memorabilia from the school, some of which was there when they attended it themselves. Just under $3,000 remains in the club’s bank account, and once they pay a few hundred dollars to cover the rest of their bills, they plan to disburse that money to local classrooms in need of supplies.
“Our teachers work hard and they always need some extra money,” club member Nancy Davis said. “They’ve really appreciated it when we’ve sponsored them in the past.”
In addition to supporting classrooms, Pine Grove Community Club donated supplies to local police officers, opened the school building for field trips, performed wellness checks and hospital transports for local seniors and filled a wide variety of other functions for their neighbors. While continuing the club isn’t feasible right now, there will be a void when they’re gone. Kahler said if the need is great enough, a new community club could start under a new name one day and take over for them.
“If somebody else wants to carry on what we started, they may, but they’ll have to understand that it’s about more than just conducting a monthly meeting,” she said.
The club’s dissolution will officially take effect on Monday, Nov. 1.