The American Society of Jalisco (Amsoc) has steadfastly served the Anglophone community of greater Guadalajara for six and a half decades. In a heyday of a 4000-some strong membership, they purchased the large house in Colonia Chapalita that now serves as their headquarters. That was the eighties. Today, Amsoc is struggling to get even 200 paying members.
Even ten years ago, times were different. The club counted around 1000 members then. The explanation for the recent decline: simple attrition. Amsoc was begun as a retirement society, and though membership is open to anyone, its base certainly skews old. Thus, many former members have outgrown the Society, moving on to The United States for health reasons, moving Lakeside or, yes, dying.
No one seems fully able to explain why the replacements have failed to turn up. It may be a combination of factors. Even as Guadalajara’s club has waned, the ones at Lake Chapala have waxed. Guadalajara in the 80s was a much smaller community than today, and perhaps the trend is a turn-off for retired expats. Others blame Mexico’s drug war and the bad press that it has generated for stopping an influx of new blood. Still others feel that times are just, well, different. Longtime club president Ann Whiting recalls, “When I came here 52 years ago, very few people spoke English.” With the Internet and Skype and global society and increasing numbers of Mexicans who speak English, there is surely less of a pressing need to affiliate with other Anglophones.
It’s clear that Amsoc is in a membership lurch, and as such, is entertaining fresh ideas on how to manage things. Currently, they boast full ownership of their own building, complete with Guadalajara’s largest English-language library of books — a lending library at that. Most Mexican libraries do not allow books to be taken off premises. They also host Thursday lunches for members to foster community and provide a bit of home cooking (meatloaf, for instance), unless of course a holiday (Mexican, American or Canadian) falls that week, in which case they likely celebrate with a weekend party. There’s also poker night, exercise class, computer classes, book club, cheap weekend English conversation club (for Mexicans) and they’re trying to get a karaoke night off the ground.Amsoc doesn’t just exist as a hangout, though. They also run sweater drives in cold months, work to help the Huichol Indians, and step in for other charity work as need and capacity converge.
If this seems pretty remarkable for a club with a sub-200 membership, it is. Amsoc is a volunteer organization, and thanks to the work of a few dedicated souls, these events continue on schedule. One goal that members expressed over and over, in addition to merely increasing membership, was encouraging more members to volunteer. In Whiting’s words, “You cannot do the events unless you have volunteers.”
The resources of the club are behind whichever member takes the reins. Want to have a classic movie marathon on Wednesdays? Organize it. Charity work, wine tastings, expeditions, tap-dancing classes, charity wine-tasting tap-dancing expeditions—the sky is the limit. “If people bring us a problem, we try to solve it for them,” says Whiting.
Board Members such as Joan White understand the realities of getting people to step up in a volunteer organization, however. That’s why she’s thinking logistics. “The new people here, they see it as a huge job, being a volunteer. What we could do is break down the tasks that we could use help on into smaller tasks that they know they can handle and offer them a list.”
White is also up for a little creative publicity. She spoke of an idea to put up an awning to shade the line of Mexicans waiting for visa appointments outside the U.S. Embassy Applicant Service Center. The awning, of course, would advertise Amsoc and provide contact information for any with business at the center.
Meanwhile, Dave Ruiz, Amsoc’s new membership chairman is looking at the market — specifically demographics — the WWII generation vs. baby boomers, Midwesterners vs. Coasters, etc. to determine the services that would be most likely to bring in new members. “We need to reevaluate the position and the offerings of the organization and the facility,” says Ruiz, “to gain membership.” This initiative is just now in the exploration phase.
It’s not all dire, though. Whiting also tries to look at the bright side of the situation, “We feel positive in the sense that we really watch our money, we really watch where we spend our money.” Without members and volunteers, however, this longstanding neighborhood fixture will continue to wither, even if it doesn’t disappear entirely.
The American Society of Jalisco is located at Avenida San Francisco 3332 in Colonia Chapalita, a few blocks from the Glorieta de los Caballos. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (33) 3121-2395.