By MATT LINDSEY

POTSDAM – A nearly 30-year-old organization that supports children and young adults locally may be forced to disband if they cannot increase their membership.

The Potsdam Kiwanis Club, which was chartered on August 22, 1989, needs help and P.R., so Marketing Chair Henry W. Walters is asking for help from the public to save the organization.

Walters said when he joined the club in 2011 they had 28 members, and are not down to 10. If they fall below eight active members, they risk losing their charter.

“This is a critical situation,” he said. “I encourage the public, and North Country This Week readers to get involved because we need the numbers.”

The Kiwanis club in Massena suffered the same fate recently, losing their charter after following below the eight-member threshold, Walters said.

Walters said Lions and Rotarian clubs are having issues similar issues maintaining enough members to continue operating.

Walters said membership is down because members are often elderly and they have died off or are incapable of helping any more. Walters himself is in his 80s.

“Our members are getting to the point where their health is not permitting them to be involved,” he said.

Walters said the Potsdam club has to be part of Kiwanis International or they can’t function.

That means the little reading books that they provide to the Head Start reading program in Potsdam and Parishville will cease. Programs for elementary-age school children (K-Kids Club) ceases.

“The cost of each book is $3 or more,” Walters said. “My wife and I read to children in Parishville or at the Potsdam library and each child gets a book to take home to read to their family.”

The Kiwanis read to children four times each month. If the club loses its charter, this program will end.

“The children are so grateful to my wife and I – they give us hugs and fill an emptiness in us,” he said.

The middle school age children of the Kiwanis Builders Club will also end and the high school Key Club is no more as well.

The Kiwanis meet twice a month to discuss projects and fundraisers that will benefit children in need in the community.

Last fall the Kiwanis organized for the Harlem Ambassadors basketball team to play a charity game at Potsdam Central School. They routinely host pancake fundraisers, bike giveaways, highway cleanup and other similar events, generally to somehow benefit local youth.

During the Potsdam Summer Festival the group raises money for scholarships for high school seniors.

“We try to give out two scholarships – mostly to students who are in the most need,” he said.

Anyone interested in joining the club can attend their meetings, which take place at the Potsdam Ponderosa, every second and fourth Tuesday evening at 6 p.m.

The next meeting is May 9. Meetings typically last 90 to 120 minutes.

“I invite you to make note and attend our meetings as my guest, representing your employer,” Walters said. “Just tell the cashier you’re a guest of the Kiwanis Club of Potsdam and you'll be directed where to go. Do not pay the cashier.”

Walters said he is hoping to recruit younger members, but realizes younger people are often busy with work and other obligations. Residents in Colton, Pierrepont and other towns near Potsdam are encouraged to join.

“When we changed the meetings from lunch to dinner, we gained four new members,” he said.

The Kiwanis are also reaching out to residents of Mayfield Apartments to gauge interest from retired folks there who may want to participate.

A decision will be made Oct. 1 if the club will maintain or lose its charter.

Walters said the club could opt to merge with another Kiwanis club, which would likely be the Norwood organization.

“We are trying to stay independent,” he said.