Last week, Dowagiac mourned the loss of one its most influential leaders.

Southwestern Michigan College founder Fred Mathews died last Sunday, March 19, at the age of 87.

Listing everything the optometrist accomplished in his lifetime could easily fill an entire page of the newspaper.

Mathews led the campaign to create SMC, and went on to serve as its chairman for 50 years — making him the longest running college board member in U.S. history. He also helmed the restoration of Dowagiac’s ailing downtown in the late 1980s and early 1990s, turning it into  a district that continues to receive attention today (the city received an award for its Commercial Street restoration last week, in fact).

While the college and downtown will serve as Mathews’ most visible legacies, the late doctor had his hands in countless different efforts that helped improve his hometown and his neighbors.

One the largest commitments Mathews made was to various service organizations in the city. The optometrist helped found the Dowagiac Lions Club, and was a longtime member of the local Rotary Club, where he helped establish Rotary Villa, a housing center for low-income seniors, in the 1980s.

While Mathews was certainly one-of-a-kind, we feel that everyone can follow the SMC founder’s footsteps by also volunteering with a local service club.

Today, clubs such as the Lions, Elks and Rotary are all facing dwindling memberships, especially among younger generations.

While volunteering itself seems to be alive and well, for some reason many people no longer find value in giving their time to clubs. Who knows if that is because websites like Facebook or Twitter fill the void for socializing that service organizations once filled, or if because our ever expanding workweeks make it challenging for us to squeeze time for these types of commitments.

However, we still feel there is a role for service clubs in our communities, and we would hate to see them discarded as mere relics of the past.

While, yes, social media allows us to get in touch with our friends, family and coworkers wherever and whenever, service clubs allow you to meet and work with people you may never have gotten to know otherwise.

While giving blood once a year or helping out with your kid’s soccer team are worthy efforts, service clubs can allow you to work on projects that have global reach. Rotarians, for instance, contribute to causes such as polio eradication and providing clean water to developing nations.

We encourage our readers to look into joining a club in their hometown, and to keep a rich legacy of service alive and well for years to come.

Opinions expressed are those of the editorial board consisting of General Manager Ambrosia Neldon and editors Scott Novak and Ted Yoakum.