Anita Van der Linden, blind and hearing impaired, hears a noise she has never heard before. Frightened, she listens carefully until she realizes it’s the patter of her own footsteps on her newly-lain wooden floors.

Van der Linden had just returned home from receiving new hearing aids from Britt Rivers, a hearing specialist who donates his spare time promoting healthy hearing for those in need.

His charitable venue is the Sertoma Club of Downey – a small, yet sometimes life-impacting group of Downey residents.

“The hearing aid gifts have been some of my proudest times as a member,” Rivers said.

The name Sertoma is derived from the phrase “service to mankind” which the members quietly perform throughout the community.

Rivers has been making a difference in the lives of Downey children for more than 10 years. Often referred students from the Downey Unified School District, Rivers offers free testing for needy families and provides Sertoma with refurbished hearing aids at cost which are then forwarded to the children in need.

Downey senior citizens have also benefited from the efforts of the Sertomans by visiting the audio mobile and free hearing clinics which Rivers and the club have hosted at the Barbara J. Riley Community Center.

A member since 1998, Rivers learned about the Sertoma Club of Downey from his co-worker Edith Walters who was the first hearing specialist to join the local chapter.

“I wanted to join because their emphasis is on speech and hearing disorders, and because it is a friendly, intimate club,” Rivers said.

Chartered in 1964, the Sertoma Club of Downey was formed after the Sertoma Club of Whittier sought out a collection of local businessmen to form a Downey chapter. Starting out with 20 members, only one original charter member remains living.

John McKinsey’s father-in-law, Harvey Clark, was one of the original members. McKinsey frequently accompanied Clark to the club’s breakfast meetings and decided to join in 1970.

“Personally, I liked them as a group of men. Business-wise, I liked them because they were successful. They had various backgrounds – like one was a realtor and one was an undertaker. They were interesting and comfortable to talk to,” McKinsey said.

The men would meet and much like today, discuss needs in the community and how they could help.

In order to better accommodate the working members of the club who couldn’t attend the breakfast meetings, the Sertoma Club of Downey now meets at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at Bakers Square Restaurant.

There are currently 29 members, but the club has seen leaner years as it went down to only three members at one point in time. The club began to grow again once women were allowed to join. Now, the club is trying to find younger members as the majority of members are seniors.

The club’s motto “Little but Mighty” was created because the club has remained active no matter the member count or ages of its members.

One of Sertoma’s yearly activities is the American Heritage Essay Contest. In the past, multiple grades participated, but now only the fifth graders at Old River School take part. The club is hoping that next year more classes studying American history will want to enter the contest.

Believing that charity is more than donating money, local Sertomans are often found volunteering personal assistance – with age being no barrier to many of the members

Thomas Little is a extraordinary example. At age 80, Little has spent the last ten years planning and coaching Fantasy Baseball Camp for deaf and hearing impaired children.

Sponsored by the Sertoma Club of Downey, the campers not only get to learn how to play baseball and softball – they are treated to a practice game at Angel Stadium. This year’s camp takes place August 18 – 22, and Little will be found out on the field with his clipboard, glove, and a smile.

The Sertomans can be found throughout the year participating in the Arc Walk, the Downey Street Faire, and behind the scenes of our community.

“We hear about people in need through our churches or in the newspaper and we will contact them to help them with whatever they need,” McKinsey said.

The residents living at Bell Garden Manor are especially grateful for the kindness of the Sertoma Club of Downey. Every Christmas, club members gather up personal hygiene products and entertainment items to give as Christmas gifts.

“Most of them are wheelchair bound or non-ambulatory,” McKinsey said. “We discovered many of them don’t have family visit them at Christmas so we have a party to cheer them up.”

“Even though [all] of us are older than when we first joined Sertoma, there are people older than us in our community. We continue to hear the need and we respond – that’s always been our mission.”

For more information about the Sertoma Club of Downey, visit www.downeysertoma.org. Mary Forney is a member of Sertoma Club of Downey.

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Published: August 1, 2008 - Volume 7 - Issue 15