ORANGE PARK – Last fall, complications from a simple gallbladder surgery landed 85-year-old Bill French in a bed at Orange Park Medical Center for a 10-day recovery process.

Doctors placed him in physical therapy to strengthen his legs and balance. French, the gregarious past president of the Orange Park Lions Club, struck up a conversation with his physical therapist, Robin Catbagan, while she helped him shuffle through the hospital hallways on a walker.

“I said ‘maybe I need one of those leader dogs like the Lions Club supports, and she asked ‘are you a member of the Lions Club?’ and I said yes, and she said ‘the Lions Club gave me a scholarship when I graduated from high school,” French said.

The two stopped with the sudden realization that they knew each other. They stopped and realized that, 15 years prior, French’s signature appeared at the bottom of an acceptance letter telling Catbagan the club paid her first two years of college tuition and books in entirety.

“I told him I actually still have my acceptance letter,” Catbagan said. “When I went back and saw him the next day at work I brought in the letter signed by him congratulating me for the scholarship.”

Catbagan had framed the letter shortly after receiving it. That was before she earned her associate’s degree from St. Johns River State College and well before she finished her doctorate in physical therapy at the University of North Florida.

Catbagan is just one recipient out of nearly 40 local young men and women to have their first two years of their college lives paid for by the organization.

The Orange Park chapter of the international community service organization has sponsored young high school graduates through their first two years of college through a donation-funded scholarship program for the last 34 years.

Lately, however, the organization has had to postpone their yearly scholarship from lack of membership and lack of funds.

“If we could recruit more members we could raise more funds and do more things like scholarships,” French said. “We’ve lost a few [members], a couple have moved away. We’re getting older and it seems younger people are harder to recruit – we’ve got some momentum going right now and I think we’re carrying between 16 or 18 members.”

When French first joined the Orange Park Lion’s Club 28 years ago, the club carried roughly 50 members. Community service organizations across the country have reported declining memberships. In 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a decline in the percentage of men and women 16 and older who volunteer.

The membership dip remains part of a noticeable downward trend in young people willing to commit to community service nationwide.

As Lions Club International celebrates its 100-year anniversary, French believes the scholarship will live on in smaller donations to students rather than a full scholarship. That is, until the organization can bolster its membership and, therefore, its donations.

In the meantime, the organization will continue its other community service efforts. Nationwide, the organization focuses on collecting used eyeglasses and donating them to communities that, otherwise, might never get them.

The program, dubbed ‘Recycle for Sight’ distributes those glasses to recycling centers. From there, the glasses go to middle to low income communities.

The club also gives to efforts to reduce blindness and offers free vision screenings. It’s part of the club’s pick-your-flavor approach to community service. And when fundraising events pick up – along with membership – French hopes to one day distribute the club’s scholarship to students.

But, as he notes, the cost of college and tuition is always on the rise. He said the club needs to be, as well.

“Over the years… [we] seldom hear of whatever happens to [recipients],” French said. “They don’t always follow through later and let us know where they ended up. The purpose of the scholarship is to encourage local high school graduates to continue and serve the community.”

He said Catbagan remains a fine example of a recipient who will continue to serve her community, and said being able to see her work in action was a very humbling experience.

The serendipity of the chance meeting isn’t lost on Catbagan, either. Although she now lives in St. Johns County and works at the Mayo Clinic, the encounter sticks with her.

“Mr. French and the Lions Club helped me to obtain my degree, which in turn, allowed me to return the favor and help him when he needed it,” she said. “To me, that is a beautiful thing.”