00:00Gathering for a final goodbye.
00:05At a special place, Myrtleford's 72 year old
00:10The Rotary Club forced to fold after membership plummeted in the past two years.
00:15We went from about 15 or 16 members.
00:20Down to 12 and then finally down to 8 and it got to the point.
00:25And none of us are getting any younger either.
00:27The club's legacy might be stamped across...
00:30..but finding fresh blood has been hard.
00:33We need to look at...
00:35..how we operate, how Rotary operates...
00:37..and how all service clubs operate.
00:40If the family dynamics have changed, we have to change too.
00:45Next door, the Myrtleford Lions Club boasts a relatively healthy 33-strong membership.
00:50But shares the same recruitment struggles.
00:53The biggest challenges explain...
00:55..to people that it...
00:57..it's not a boring old pack of fuddy-duddies.
00:59There are some...
01:0071 fewer Rotary clubs in Australia than there were five years ago.
01:05Most research shows volunteer numbers have been falling since 2012.
01:09But more...
01:10More Australians are also changing the way they volunteer.
01:13Shifting away from tradition...
01:15..to traditional club-based models.
01:17People are looking for more choice and more flexibility.
01:19They're looking to...
01:20..to address their agency in different ways.
01:22There's also been a spike in spontaneous...
01:25..volunteering after emergencies.
01:27Like this summer's bushfires.
01:29Probably get as many...
01:30..properties done as quickly as possible...
01:31..to help a lot of the other areas that have been affected by the fires.
01:34Even small...
01:35small acts of kindness can go a long way.
01:37Volunteering provides something of a unique...
01:40..opportunity to engage in building a better tomorrow...
01:43..not in three...
01:45..three years' time...
01:46..but actually this afternoon or tomorrow.
01:48Doing a priceless job.
01:50...to help.
01:51...
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