Summertime typically is a sleepy time in the desert.

It’s blazing hot, lots of people have hit the road for cooler climes and many activities are on hiatus. That is in a normal summer. Summer 2020 is anything but normal, but surprisingly, folks in Fountain Hills have figured out ways to carry on despite the usual summer doldrums and the seemingly never-ending COVID-19 pandemic.

Fountain Hills is one of the busiest little towns around. People in the community are service-oriented. They love to volunteer and they love to meet. To accommodate those folks there are nearly 85 clubs and organizations listed in the Community Guide and Fountain Hills Business Directory. There are others that require membership in the Fountain Hills Activity Center and are not listed.

Many organizations stopped holding in-person meetings in March. But many continue to meet via Zoom or FaceTime or another virtual method. Things in Fountain Hills did not stop in the clubs world when COVID-19 showed up.

The Times reached out to a number of organizations to see what members have been up to these past four months (and counting).

Service clubs continue doing good deeds. Both Kiwanis clubs, Four Peaks Rotary Club and Four Peaks Women’s Club weighed in with their activities.

Noon Kiwanis President Keith Junk said his club meets once a month via Zoom rather than in person twice a month for the time being.

“We’ll continue to use the Zoom meeting to stay connected and will start regular meetings as soon as they are authorized, and as soon as our board is comfortable doing so,” he said.

The Noon Kiwanis has had a few service projects through the coronavirus, including cleaning LaMontana Drive and packing boxes at Extended Hands Food Bank. Remarkably, and successfully, the club has sponsored two blood drives, attracting new donors and new interest in donating blood.

The last blood drive, coordinated by Vitalant, led to donors being able to learn whether they have COVID-19 antibodies through a special test held at the same time as the blood drive.

Extended Hands Food Bank is the recipient of donations from Sunset Kiwanis, as well. The club has purchased carloads of food to donate to the food bank during the pandemic.

The club’s secretary sends out a daily email to members titled “Keep Your Sense of Humor.” Each email includes a joke.

Members have donated about 500 handmade items to the Back-to-School Project that provides services for children in low income families. Donations also have been made to the Kiwanis International Children Fund and the Southwest District of Kiwanis.

Members hope to resume their meetings the first and third Tuesday evening of the month.

Four Peaks Women’s Club was unable to hold its last three meetings due to the pandemic, but members were able to install new officers via Zoom.

The club has continued some if its committee activities including making holiday crafts for people receiving Home Delivered Meals, working on Adopt A Street projects, collecting items for organizations such as Children’s Cancer Network, Veterans First (women vets) and Phoenix Children Hospital’s mobile health unit.

Since the club anticipates ongoing pandemic issues in September, members will have a food drive for Extended Hands rather than hold a meeting.

Fountain Hills Women’s Club, another of Fountain Hills’ long-standing organizations, successfully awarded six scholarships after the pandemic to women continuing their education. The club’s primary fundraiser, a luncheon and fashion show, will be held in 2021. The event was postponed when activities changed due to the coronavirus ramping up in March.

Members continue to keep up with each other via emails and phone calls but will not meet in person for a while.

Four Peaks Rotary has continued to meet virtually during the pandemic, successfully utilizing the Zoom video conferencing app to conduct club business.

Since April, members have organized a Mother’s Day car parade to celebrate quarantined mothers living in Fountain Hills’ senior living facilities. They placed flags along the walkways of Fountain Park on Memorial Day honoring military personnel who died in the service of the country.

Four Peaks has donated more than $9,000 to Extended Hands Food Bank, awarded monetary gifts to the Teacher of the Month and distributed food gift cards to needy families through the Fountain Hills Unified School District.

Plans are to continue meeting virtually, following state and CDC guidelines, until health officials and club’s board agree it is safe to resume meeting in person.

Fountain Hills Woodworkers cancelled its scheduled meetings in April and May and typically doesn’t meet during the summer. Members gathered at Fountain Park in June where all wore masks, social distanced and had a general show and tell session.

The group hopes to reconvene in September to create the fall-spring schedule. Woodworkers’ meetings normally are held monthly from September through May.

For a full list of clubs and organizations, pick up the 2019-20 Community Guide. The 2020-21 edition is being worked on now.