As a member of the Ararat Ruritan Club, Pamela Smith puts her spark-plug personality to good use, serving her community and inspiring others to follow suit.
Smith said when she and her husband Kevin became empty nesters, they decided to join the club because “it was something to do.”
Kevin Smith “used to be a member and had been a member before” Pamela joined, she said.
The two noticed “the club was getting kind of low in members,” she said, adding that “we invited others. Now, we’re up to about 50 members.”
Many of the club’s projects appeal to her, including a backpack program that provides food on weekends to Blue Ridge Elementary School students. When schools were closed during the COVID pandemic, “we knew a lot of kids were not getting” the weekend supplies, and also were missing hot meals at the school, Smith said.
The club “had a food drive and the community support was tremendous,” Smith said. School officials Jennifer and Trey Cox “came out and helped deliver due to privacy concerns. The community saw that we were really trying to help and got involved.”
The club also scheduled painting classes and the like to give those suddenly working at home an outlet “and something to do,” Smith said.
Another project was helping youngsters in the Christmas Cheer project, Smith said and explained that her family worked with the program for two or three years before she joined the club.
That year, “I thought, ‘why not get the Ruritans involved,’” Smith said, adding the club also participates in a project called Santa for a Senior, which is based in nearby Mount Airy, N.C.
“We made an outing out of it and practiced our social skills” when shopping and delivering, Smith said.
Besides those projects, Smith said the club also helps individual families who may be struggling due to job loss, illness, or another serious concern.
“If a family is down on their luck, we try to help them” with whatever needs the club can help fill, she said.
The club also held its first Pancake/Sausage Breakfast, a project “that we continue quarterly,” Smith said. “The next one is the third Saturday in June.”
Bingo games are held regularly, and the club also publishes an ad book, Smith said.
The club’s members lend their strengths and talents to the projects which interest them.
“Some come out to help with the Bingo games, others sign-up and help with the breakfasts, and some help with our ad book. They enjoy going out and talking to businesses,” she said, adding individual clubs determine which projects to run.
Another “of the things that brought people out is seeing how much fun we’re having, along with fellowship, goodwill, and community service,” Smith said.
The pandemic “actually helped regrow the club,” she said
The club recently celebrated 70 years of service “because of Mary Dellenback Hill’s determination,” Smith said, noting that Hill recently was selected as the recipient of the Tom Downing Award – the highest honor the club bestows.
More recently, Smith’s husband, Kevin Smith, received the award.
The Ararat Ruritan Club recently presented the highest honor bestowed upon a Ruritan to Kevin Smith. Downing is one of Ruritan’s co-founders. Fewer than 1 percent of Ruritans have been honored as a Tom Downing Fellow.
Kevin Smith first joined the Ararat Ruritan Club in 1996. He has served as secretary, treasurer, vice president, president of the club, zone governor, and on the district level. He is currently the Ruritan Foundation Chair and Lieutenant Governor.
Ruritan clubs have deep roots in Patrick County, Smith said and explained that Ruritan “is an older organization,” with clubs serving the areas of Moorefield Store, Russell Creek, and Dobyns Road years ago.
Until recently, she didn’t know about her family’s place in that history or that she is carrying on a family tradition with her service.
At an estate sale in April, Smith purchased “one of those big Ruritan signs” that previously had been the property of the Dobyns Ruritan Club. She later learned from a family member that her father, Johnny Roberson, had served as the club’s secretary, after joining the club about a month after her birth in May 1969, “probably to get away from a crying baby,” she said, chuckling.
Her uncle, Charles Roberson, was among the charter members of the club that served the community until it disbanded in 1976.
Currently, her son, Jon, and grandson, Rhett, also are members of the Ararat Ruritan Club, Smith said. “We’re carrying on a tradition that I didn’t know we were carrying.”
Last year, there were four Ruritan clubs, Smith said. In addition to the Ararat club, other clubs include
Meadows of Dan, with 29 members; Patrick Springs, with 17 members, and Red Bank with 52 members.
A booth at last year’s Patrick County Agricultural Fair “helped birth” the new Stuart Ruritan Club, which currently has 19 members.
Pamela and Kevin Smith were instrumental in chartering that club earlier this year, and Smith has her sights set on the Woolwine area next.
There’s an open door invitation to attend meetings at each club, Smith said, adding involvement in outside activities is ‘good for what ails you’ – at least, it has been an anecdote for her.
“This empty nest thing is for the birds,” she said.
Visit individual clubs on Facebook for dates and times of meetings as well as upcoming projects.
