WESTBROOK – The attendance at free family skate night sponsored by the Westbrook Kiwanis Club Friday was the kind of turnout that made everyone forget that the club nearly folded due to a lack of interest just a few months ago.

More than 100 people showed up for an evening of skating, bonfires, marshmallows and camaraderie at the outdoor rink on Stroudwater Street. Most of them probably had no idea how close the Kiwanis Club was to disappearing forever last September.

“We literally almost lost the club,” said Matt Brunner, club president.

According to Brunner, the Kiwanis Club was suffering the same fate as many service organizations – there were not enough new members to sustain it.

John Bernier, a 64-year-old club member and past president, said he was the youngest Westbrook Kiwanis member when he joined. He was 51 at the time.

“Clubs like this tend to go through cycles,” Bernier said. “At some point it becomes difficult to attract younger members … If you don’t recruit younger members, the club kind of fades away.”

Losing a service organization such as Kiwanis could be a big blow to a city like Westbrook. Maria Dorn, the city’s director of community services, said the city relies on the “generosity of volunteers” tied to groups like Kiwanis, parent/teacher organizations, Rotary Club and Lions Club.

“They really are why we have the programs we do,” she said. “Those are the little pockets of people who get things done in this town.”

Kiwanis International was founded in 1915 in Detroit, Mich. It has evolved into an organization devoted to helping children around the world.

In Westbrook, much of what the Kiwanis Club does is for children. It awards scholarships to students and sponsors the Key Club within the schools. It sponsors a track and field relay each year, and hosts a community golf tournament fundraiser every summer.

It used to be easier to make a difference because more people were committed to the cause. Bernier said the club has been as large as 35 members in his time.

But the club was languishing recently. It had six members in September, and nearly became a satellite club of another group because its membership was so low.

If they had gone that route, said Bernier, “there would never be a Westbrook Kiwanis Club again.”

So Bernier kept the pressure on Brunner, a member of the past five years, hoping he would volunteer as president. And he did – and brought some others along with him.

The club has grown to roughly 15 members, with a few more waiting to sign up, Brunner said. At 38 years old, he has managed to infuse the group with a new energy.

The youngest member now is 23-year-old Dylan Knight, a friend of Brunner who joined in September. He was a member of Key Club in high school and benefited from a Kiwanis scholarship, so he knew the impact the club could make, he said.

These are people with full-time jobs and families, yet they still find time to volunteer. Brunner works in project development for Gunderboom Inc. of Scarborough. His wife, Kelly Larson-Brunner, is a doctor at New England Chiropractic. Knight runs Knight Property Services, a local landscaping and snow removal business.

“You’ve just got to make the time for it,” Knight said. “Any time would be good enough, and it makes you feel better.”

Brunner said he felt it was important to volunteer his time because he has two children – Aria, 7, and Dominic, 5 – who he intends to raise here.

“You have to give back whatever you can,” he said.

On Friday night, the smiles and laughter made all the volunteering seem like no work at all. Brunner said Dominic had his skates on all night, while Aria felt guilty and went to work in the concession stand.

“She thought it was her shift,” Brunner said.

There were at least 80 people on the ice at one point, Brunner said. Thirty years ago, he said, the rink was always full on Fridays and Saturdays. It reminded him of that simpler time.

“It was awesome. It reminded me of being little again,” he said.

Even Bernier, who talked to the American Journal while on a golf course in South Carolina Tuesday, said he wished he could be in snowy Westbrook.

“I was so jealous not being at that event Friday night,” he said.

Luckily, there is more to come. The club is planning two skate nights in February, and looking for more volunteers.

“The more people you have,” Brunner said, “the more things you can do.”

Skaters are silhouetted against a snowy backdrop at the Westbrook Kiwanis Club’s free family skate night Friday. The club is experiencing a resurgence after nearly folding last fall.
Courtesy photo