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Como, os Seniores principalmente, percebemos, os Capítulos hoje em dia, apesar de muito, muito mais numerosos, têm quadros de membros menores.

Quando entrei no Capítulo Campo Mourão 028, em 1989, éramos quase 100 DeMolays Ativos. Creio que, hoje em dia, há pouquíssimos Capítulos que chegam perto disso.

Em muitas conversas, sabemos que um dos principais motivos é que a Ordem tem muitos "concorrentes" hoje em dia, o que não ocorria antes. Shopping, cinema, videogame, baladas e, principalmente, namoradas.

Na "nossa época", começava-se a namorar um pouco mais tarde. E olha que nem faz tanto tempo assim!!!! O quê, o quê, o quê!!! :-)

Essa saiu no Pantagraph, jornal de Illinois (EUA):

Tuesday, April 6, 2004
Membership wanes

Civic groups seek interested youths

By Rebecca Loda
rloda@pantagraph.com

BLOOMINGTON -- When Kristina Gaddy participated in a local Rainbow Assembly event several years ago, she knew she belonged.
"I liked it because when I walked in, I instantly had 10 friends," she said.

Since then, Gaddy, who lives in rural Lexington and is a senior at Gridley High School, has held leadership roles at the local and state levels.

"When Kris first joined Rainbow, she was quiet, a little on the shy side," said her mother, Marilyn Gaddy. "It gave her a whole new spread of friends. Over the years, it's given her a lot of poise and public-speaking skills."

Kristina Gaddy is one of a shrinking number of youths involved in Rainbow Assembly, its male counterpart, Order of DeMolay, and other civic groups for young people. Local leaders said their groups, which teach values like leadership, are working to rebuild, but they face competition for youths' attention in an increasingly busy world.

"There's just so much for kids to do today than there was 30 years ago," said Dave Poffenbarger, former state DeMolay executive director. "Kids today have much more of what we call a 'microwave' mentality. We were not tuned in like that. The whole style has changed."

The key, he said, is to offer members a chance to do something new or something they wouldn't otherwise be able to. "If you offer a good program to kids, they'll buy into it."

Marilyn Gaddy, who serves as "mother adviser" to the Bloomington-Normal Rainbow Assembly, said she thinks other youths can benefit. The local assembly currently has eight members, all in junior high or high school. The organization is open to females between the ages of 11 and 20.

"Years ago, they used to have 50 girls," said Marilyn Gaddy. "For this area, we're doing pretty good. We do need more girls."

The Lincoln Rainbow Assembly has seven members, down from the average of 14 to 18, and is also looking to increase its numbers, said mother adviser Peggy Payne.

Jay Keeran, chapter adviser for the Charles E. Dagenhart chapter of the Order of DeMolay, can relate. The organization is for males ages 12 to 21.

The local chapter has about 10 to 15 participating members and most reside in McLean County, said Keeran. The chapter "went dark" more than a year ago, but it is in the midst of rebuilding, he said.

When he was a member in the early 1990s, there were about 25 active members.

"We're in the process of rebuilding," he said. "We're doing really well."

Both youth organizations are affiliated with Masonic groups, though youth members do not have to have ties to the adult groups to join. They require members to believe in a supreme being, though are not affiliated with a specific religion.

The groups stress friendship and service, as well as responsibility and leadership skills. "Our whole reasoning is to perform service to others," said Payne.

The groups have levels of leadership through which members advance. Andrew Erickson, a freshman at Bloomington High School, is the local DeMolay master councilor and has been involved in the group for about a year.

"I've made a lot of friends from different events," he said. "It's just a lot of fun."

Brittany Pensky, a freshman at Normal Community West High School, serves as the Bloomington-Normal assembly's worthy adviser.

"When they're worthy adviser, it's their responsibility to plan business meetings, set our calendar and use parliamentary procedure," said Marilyn Gaddy, who said the adviser also chooses a charity for the assembly to support.

It's a post Kristina Gaddy has held. She now serves as grand worthy associate adviser for the state. Next year, she'll serve as grand worthy adviser statewide.

The group participates in service projects and fund-raisers. There are bimonthly assembly meetings -- most of which are closed -- in addition to activities.

"Everyone accepts you," Brittany said. "It doesn't matter who you are."

On the Net For more details:

International Order of the Rainbow for Girls: www.iorg.org

DeMolay International: www.demolay.org