CHARITY CLUB FINDS TIME PASSES IT BY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 13, 1992                   TAG: 9202130412
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: W-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
CHARITY CLUB FINDS TIME PASSES IT BY
An aging membership and failure to attract younger members has spelled doom for a charity club in the western Roanoke County community of Wabun.
The Wabun Social Services Club, an institution at Richfield Retirement Community for a half-century, has ceased to exist.
Funds in its treasury were distributed to other causes and the eight remaining members have gone their individual ways.
"It just got to the place where all the work fell on the older members," said Louise Manning, who had been a member of the club for 31 years and once was its president.
"We got to where we couldn't do it anymore," she said.
There has been some talk among the members of trying to reorganize the club, but Manning said she doesn't know if this will ever come about.
For more than 50 years the club has been a mainstay at the Richfield Retirement Community and its predecessors - Mercy House and then McVitty House.
Club members decorated Christmas trees and provided Christmas parties for residents in the retirement community in addition to remembering the residents at Valentine's Day, Easter and on their birthdays, Manning said.
Over the years, the club donated several aquariums and raised money for several projects.
The club also supported fire departments and rescue squads in the area, Manning said.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB