Other Contributions/Decline
This membership card verifies State's Mates 1972 membership in the Wake County Chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
In the final years of the organization, State's Mates followed in this tradition and embraced small projects beyond the realm of NCSU as a key component of their club. Annual reports note several projects that State's Mates performed in the final years of the organization. In 1970-1971, they resumed the tradition of helping the Married Students Board with a Christmas Party and an Easter egg hunt for the children of students. According to subsequent annual reports, the State's Mates continued with this throughout the remainder of their existence as a club. The following year, the organization created a Christmas basket for a local Raleigh family. In the winter of the 1972-1973 academic year, State's Mates collected food and purchased toys to distribute to local “needy families.” One report indicates that the group prepared and delivered a Thanksgiving food basket for a local woman and her four children. Although there was no date on this annual report, it was likely from the 1970s, since the same report says that “partial plans were made for a fashion show in March, but due to lack of interest the show was canceled.” State's Mates even held a membership with the Wake County Chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, showing that their brand of social motherhood went beyond children and the elderly. Although these tasks were small and required a minimal time-commitment, they still show that charitable acts were a key aspect of the State's Mates organization.
As illustrated by their contributions to the campus and local communities, a civic spirit was evident throughout the duration of the State's Mates club. Like other groups of this era, their level of commitment peaked in the mid-sixties and then declined until the dissolution of the group. As membership in the club began to decline, participation in civic activities waned as well. Despite the characterization of the club as “ full-fledged civic club” by the Projects Committee in their inaugural year, the rate of volunteerism among State's Mates peaked by the mid-sixties. As evidenced by pleas for increased participation from the Projects Committee in both the Wagg'n Tongue and annual reports, members became less willing to devote their time to such activities. A number of factors played into this decline, including greater numbers of women entering the workforce, childrearing, and an increased focus on social activities that could lure new wives as membership plummeted. Robert D. Putnam asserts that “because women's traditional investment in social capital were so time-intensive, their rate of investment has been reduced by their movement into the paid labor force.” Although a significant portion of State's Mates worked since its formation, the proportion of working wives on campus likely increased during the late 1960s as they did throughout the country, although the group did not keep records concerning the vocations of its members. A decreased interest in civic-oriented activities resulted in the group taking on much smaller projects that were aimed at individuals rather than organizations or institutions.
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