Modern Woodmen youth club leader and camp secretary Lowanda Johnston (center) heads up many volunteer projects, from planting to painting. "There's always something to do," she says. "And it makes a big difference."

A better place

How Modern Woodmen members improve their communities

It's like a snowball or a train running down the tracks.

That's how member Lowanda Johnston, Sesser, 111., sees Modern Woodmen fraternalism: community-minded activities that keep growing and going to make a positive impact.

"People see you doing things, and they ask ... did you plant those flowers ... can you help with this or that?" Lowanda explains. "It makes me feel real proud."

Lowanda is just one example of Modern Woodmen fraternalism in action - members supporting projects that improve quality of life. Here we share a glimpse of three areas of the country touched by members who make their communities better places to live.

Southern Illinois spirit

Lowanda Johnston agreed to be Sesser's Modern Woodmen youth service club leader on a temporary basis. That was 10 years ago. She also runs the Modern Woodmen camp [adult chapter] in neighboring Benton. "Now I wish I'd taken it on 10 years sooner!" she says.

Lowanda and her members have taken on many projects, including those at the city park, a hub of activity for Sesser's 2,000 residents. Every June, her youth club members help get the park ready for the homecoming cele­bration. The kids pick up trash, set up chairs and decorate the stage. In 2006 she got the idea for another park proj­ect when a fellow member of the Sesser Homecoming Association asked, "Have you been in the bathrooms lately?"

Working together

Lowanda's camp members and Homecoming Association members installed privacy dividers and doors and replaced toilets in the park's rest-rooms through Modern Woodmen's Good Neighbors Program. The camp contributed $500 toward the materials, while the city and the Homecoming Association split the balance.

Lowanda's club members joined the group for a Join Hands Day project to clean and paint the new stalls. They decorated the walls with colorful stamps. One of Lowanda's youth club moms, Linda Arnold, directed the children."It teaches the kids," Linda says. "If they're taught to get involved when they're younger, they're more apt to do it when they're older."

The park projects are some of many projects members in the area have supported. Sesser camp secretary Joyce Gunter led her camp members to raise money for a new fence at the cemetery. Lowanda's club members have raised money for the library. The fundraising activities get people involved, sometimes in unique ways.

Lowanda's camp partnered with Grace Awakening Church to put on a sock hop and variety show fundraiser for a single mom facing medical bills from breast cancer. Members served barbecue dinners, sold raffle tickets, ran a cake walk and held some wacky contests, one of which Lowanda won easily. "I'm the hula-hoop queen of Sesser!" she proclaims. More than 600 people attended the event. When matched by Modern Woodmen (up to $2,500), the fundraiser generated $5,806.

Members like Lowanda and Joyce have gained a reputation for helping others. When the representative at the Child Advocacy Office needed a resource to help a 17-year-old who hadn't had new school clothes in three years, she called Lowanda. Through the Help A Child Program, the club purchased T-shirts, shoes, jeans and school supplies.

A way of life

The many fraternal activities in the Sesser and Benton area don't stop when a project is finished. A couple of years ago, members landscaped in front of the post office, replacing a grassy weed patch with bushes, a con­crete bench and flowers.

"It's kind of an ongoing personal thing for me now," Lowanda says. "I plant flowers there every year."

From fundraisers to hands-on community improvement projects, Modern Woodmen programs contributed more than $13,000 to the Sesser/Benton area through the first three quarters of 2006.

Sesser's mayor of 30 years, Ned Mitchell, sees value in these projects beyond the dollars. "It brings people together, and I think that's important," he says. "To put projects like mat together and get peo­ple to work together ... it gives them a source of pride in their community."

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