Washington area residents can soon join the new Tar-Pamlico Civitan Club committed to serving community needs with an emphasis on helping people with developmental disabilities.

Ben St. John, president of the New Bern Civitan Club which is sponsoring the new club in Washington, said there will be a meeting to discuss the local club-building initiative from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at The Blind Center.

According to St. John, several New Bern Civitans will be there to discuss the types of projects and fundraisers the new club could pursue to advance the respective missions of local area charities.

“Washington and other communities in Beaufort County would greatly benefit from a robust Tar-Pamlico Civitan Club,” St. John said. “I strongly urge all community-minded citizens who gain satisfaction from helping others to attend the meeting and seriously consider joining the club. Because when you get involved with Civitan, you heighten your sense of self-esteem and accomplishment and derive satisfaction from helping a neighbor in need.”

Leigh Wilkinson, an attorney with Ward and Smith and a member of the Tryon Civitan Club in New Bern, is the current governor of North Carolina Civitan District East and has been a Civitan for 17 years.

“I went to a meeting with a friend of mine and just thought what they were doing was a great thing to do for the community and I joined right then and there,” she said. “We’ve done a lot for the communities we serve in, such as food drives for the Salvation Army.”

Wilkinson added they started a “Pay It Forward” Club in Rocky Mount in December, 2010, and have already done so much in the six months they have been there.

St. John has been a Civitan since 2005. However, before that, he worked for the federal government writing Medicare publications and protected healthcare for those in need.

According to St. John, the Civitan Club was first established in Birmingham, Ala., in 1917 by a group of business and professional men, evolving overtime into an international service organization committed to building good citizenship by providing a volunteer organization of clubs dedicated to serving individual and community needs.

“There are many community needs that clubs contribute to, such as building parks, zoos, recreation centers, athletic fields, and more,” St. John said. “Civitans have even purchased school buses, fire trucks, vans, and ambulances for their community, and also have conducted projects involving painting, repairing, and landscaping homes for low-income families and senior citizens.”

According to St. John, the New Bern club volunteers build handicap ramps, volunteer at a soup kitchen, hold an annual fishing/picnic outing for the developmentally disabled, set up “Santaland” for at-risk kids at the club’s Christmas tree lot, conduct an eight-week Kids-in-Canoes program for kids enrolled in the city’s day camps, sponsor a “Craven’s Got Talent” variety show to benefit Special Olympics, volunteer at Special Olympics events, and sell peanuts to the public for shipment to the troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“In fact, all of the Civitan Clubs work with Special Olympics,” he said.

St. John added that club-building recruitment efforts are good and once at least 20 individuals have signed up to join the club, an application will be made to Civitan International for a club charter.

“After that, bylaws will be adopted, club officers elected, and regular club meetings scheduled at a location selected by the members,” he said. “The Civitan Club is open to any person, male or female, at least 18 years of age of good character and reputation.”

He added that each club determines its own membership and elects the projects it will undertake and the charities it will support, with the goal of fulfilling human needs that are not met by other organizations or by individual efforts.

“A Civitan Club can contribute immeasurably to a community’s quality of life through hands-on activities and fundraising events,” St. John said. “The 115-member New Bern club annually raises about $50,000 for various charitable causes, with Craven County Special Olympics, Arc of Craven County, American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, the Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina, and the Duke Children’s Hospital and Health Center.”

A couple of years ago, members collected children’s books for deployed military parents in a remote section of Iraq, St. John said.

“The troops were videotaped as if reading the books to their children back in the states,” he said. “And the books and DVDs were sent home to the children for Christmas.”

Some notable Civitans are Thomas Alva Edison, Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, and racing legend Richard Petty.

“We are all blessed in some way, shape or form,” Wilkinson said. “As a nation, I know it’s a tough time we’re going through with the economy the way it is, but we all have blessings and we need to pay it forward.”

Wilkinson added she wants to get the people of Washington fired up about the Civitan Club and see what great things they can do together.

An organizational meeting will be held Thursday, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., at The Blind Center, 221 N. Harvey St., Washington, and is open to the public. To find out more about Civitan Club, log onto www.civitan.org.