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Four of the Overseas Unit members, 1920

WHRC: From the Archives

Freddie Hilp and the GFWC Overseas Unit

By: Joanna Church, Women’s History and Resource Center Librarian

Welcome back to our new monthly blog series, direct from the GFWC Women’s History and Resource Center! Here, we’ll highlight stories of General Federation history, pulled from our unique archival, photograph, and artifact collections. Check back on the first Thursday of each month for a new post.

During World War I, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs formed a War Victory Commission to identify projects and raise funds to support the war effort. One major area of concern was the need for wholesome recreation opportunities for U.S. servicemen, especially after the November 1918 Armistice when troops waited many months for transportation home. Organizations like the American Red Cross, the YMCA and YWCA, the American Library Association, and the Jewish Welfare Board worked together to supply refreshment, recreation, and entertainment to the American Expeditionary Forces; GFWC joined in by recruiting several dozen women from across the country for a new “GFWC Unit for Overseas Service.” These women were assigned canteen duty in France, Belgium, and Germany: serving refreshments, hosting dances, and boosting morale.

Four of the Overseas Unit members, 1920

GFWC Overseas Unit members, 1920. Their YMCA uniforms are embellished with “General Federation of Women’s Clubs” armbands. (See full photograph at bottom of this post.)


The GFWC Overseas Unit members were not necessarily clubwomen themselves, but we expected these “Daughters of the Federation” to represent our organization while in Europe. GFWC President Ione Cowles entreated them “to exemplify for us the fine spirit of consecrated American womanhood,” helping to remind the troops of what they had fought for and who was waiting for them (mothers, wives, sweethearts) at home.

In a report to the Federation in 1920, Unit member Hallie Jamieson described the “love and ideals of the womanhood of America” that GFWC sent abroad with the Unit. She also claimed to have heard soldiers respond positively (if, at first, with confusion) upon reading her GFWC armband. Click here to read the full Overseas Unit Report from the 1920 Biennial Convention.

After the war, we invited members of the Unit to attend the 1920 GFWC Biennial convention in Des Moines, in order to give them a specially-designed “decoration”: an ornate gold pin, engraved with each woman’s name. (We also very much wanted to bring these women into the GFWC fold and encourage them to join their local women’s clubs, but it’s unclear if that effort was particularly successful.) Unfortunately, GFWC’s record-keeping in this era trended toward finished reports rather than working papers; thus, we didn’t have many details about the Unit other than what was recorded in convention records and the GFWC magazine.

In the 2000s this lack of detail was greatly improved, thanks to the donation of 263 photographs taken by Unit member Freddie Hilp.

Freddie Hilp with camera, 1919



29 year old Blanche Frederika “Freddie” Hilp was working for
the Nevada State Council of Defense when she learned of the GFWC Overseas Unit opportunity. She applied through the Nevada Federation of Women’s Clubs, was accepted, and ended up assigned to one of the YMCA’s “rolling canteens.” From March to July 1919, she drove around the French countryside with chocolate, lemonade, and other goodies, delivering comfort to troops who couldn’t travel to a stationary canteen.

Freddie Hilp, in uniform and holding her camera, on a beach in France, 1919.

Snapshots of Freddie Hilp's vehicles, 1919

During her trip, Freddie drove or rode in at least two different canteen vehicles, probably decommissioned ambulances, which she nicknamed Daisy and Faith. Left: “Daisy, myself & Paul April 14-1919” Right: “‘Faith’ – in Albert. June 20 1919″

Snapshots taken by Freddie Hilp, 1919



Fortunately for us, Freddie brought along her camera. She snapped photos of new friends; of the servicemen she and her colleagues encountered; of historic sites and French residents; of working days, and time off for fun.

Top left: “Entraining 77th Division” Top right: “Forwarding Camp – 21st Eng” Bottom left: Parame – France. Miss Carlson [?], me, [unnamed], Luckie” Bottom right: General Pershing visited the camp on “June 2 1919”

Freddie also documented the devastation wrought by the war. Amidst her cheerful snapshots are poignant photos of ruined towns, blighted landscapes, barbed wire, and newly-dug cemeteries.

Snapshots taken by Freddie Hilp, 1919

Top left: “Barbed wire – no man’s land. June 25 1919″ Bottom left: “Belleau Woods – 500 crosses. June 27 1919″ Right: “Montfaucon. June 29 1919″

Freddie Hilp’s tour of duty lasted only a few months, but the experience was a life-changing one. In Europe she met a serviceman from Illinois named William F. Gliessman. They married in 1920, and moved to her native state of Nevada; their only surviving child, Lester Hilp Gliessman, was born in 1921. Sadly, Freddie died of ovarian cancer in 1929, just a few weeks short of her 40th birthday.


In 2004, Lester Gliessman’s daughter, Leslie Holt, offered the WHRC her grandmother’s photo collection, opening up for us an amazing window into GFWC’s wartime work. A few years later a collector donated an Overseas Service pin owned by Martelle Thomas of Florda, adding another piece to the puzzle; up to that point we knew there had been a pin, but we didn’t know what it looked like. And just a few months ago, our own GFWC President-Elect Wendy Carriker won an eBay auction for another Overseas Pin.

Front and back of Freddie Hilp's Overseas Unit pin

I am not embarrassed to admit that when Wendy described her successful bid and said “I think the name on the back was something like Freddie…?” I literally jumped up and down with excitement. It turns out that Leslie Holt died in 2017; her widower, not aware of the connection to Leslie’s earlier donation, put this piece from her collection up for sale. The muse of history was looking out for us, and Wendy spotted the auction. When she told Mr. Holt she would be donating the pin to the WHRC to join Leslie’s earlier donation, he said she would have been so glad to know that her grandmother’s story was of such importance to us.

GFWC Overseas Unit alumnae, 1920

Group photo of the Overseas Unit women who attended the General Federation of Women’s Clubs Biennial Convention in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1920. Though the women are not identified, I think that Freddie is standing in the front row, seventh from left (in the detail view used earlier, she’s third from the left).

A huge thank you to Leslie and Rick Holt for sharing Freddie’s story with us; Wendy Carriker, for keeping an eagle eye on GFWC-related auctions; and Morgan Davis, who cataloged the 263 photos shortly after their donation.

Remember to check back next month for more stories from GFWC history (and present)! To learn more about the WHRC collections, visit the WHRC page or contact us at whrc@gfwc.org.

Joanna Church is the Women’s History and Resource Center Librarian at GFWC Headquarters in Washington, DC. She oversees the WHRC collection, handles research requests, and loves sharing our unique resources with fellow lovers of women’s history.

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WHRC Archives room filled with records

WHRC: From the Archives

Welcome!

By: Joanna Church, Women’s History and Resource Center Librarian

Welcome, readers, to our new monthly blog series, direct from the GFWC Women’s History and Resource Center! Here, we’ll highlight stories of General Federation history, pulled from our unique archival, photograph, and artifact collections. Check back on the first Thursday of each month for a new post.

To kick things off we’ve chosen a few images from our collections that show clubwomen, past and present, hard at work and Living the Volunteer Spirit. Let’s take a tour through our history!

The Trained Nurses’ Club and Reading Room, New York City, 1894

The Trained Nurses’ Club and Reading Room, New York City, 1894. “A New York City club for ‘trained nurses’ was formed in 1894 in conjunction with a reading room for members who were described as ‘graduate nurses and those who stand high in the profession.’ Pictured are members in the reception area of the club rooms, which included sleeping apartments. Mrs. M.G. Willard, founder of the club, was a permanent resident.” This photo and caption appeared in Reaching Out, the definitive history of GFWC written by Mary Jean Houde and published in 1989 for our Centennial; the image was earlier used in the very first history of GFWC, Jane Cunningham Croly’s 1898 book, The History of the Woman’s Club Movement in America. Many early clubs were organized for study and relaxation, though soon we moved to community action and improvement.

GFWC staff at Headquarters, Washington, DC, 1928

GFWC staff at Headquarters, Washington, DC, 1928. “The ‘Long Office’ at Headquarters in which is rendered valuable service to thousands of clubs and individual club women scattered throughout the world.” Since the 1980s, this 60-foot-long room has served as our Archives, where much of the WHRC collections are housed. This photo and its caption can be found in the August 1928 issue of our magazine, at that time called “General Federation News.”

GFWC Bookmobile, 1941

GFWC leaders with the New Hampshire Federation of Women’s Clubs Bookmobile, 1941. The April 1941 issue of “The Clubwoman” featured this image of GFWC President Saidie Orr Dunbar (far left) with Mrs. Frederick B. Preston (center), President of the New Hampshire Federation, and Lucy Jennings Dickinson (also of New Hampshire), GFWC 2nd Vice President and future President. They are posed with a bookmobile purchased by the New Hampshire Federation for the state public library commission. Libraries – whether stationary or mobile – have long been a major focus of American women’s clubs, and of the General Federation itself.

“Saguache, Colorado club women at work,” 1959. Since the late 1940s, GFWC has sponsored a biannual contest for club projects focused on improvements within the local community. Though the contest has gone by different names over the decades, today it is called the Community Impact Program (CIP) award. Because contest submissions include detailed text, imagery, and supporting data, the CIP collection contains a wealth of information for historians, as well as for present-day club members hoping to learn from their predecessors’ successes. (Look for a lot more from the CIP collection in future WHRC blog posts.) In this instance, four clubs in Saguache, Colorado joined forces to organize a community council, secure a town doctor, and create a museum; the project was a national finalist, netting the clubs a $1,000 prize in 1960.

GFWC San Xavier Woman's Club

Officers of the San Xavier Woman’s Club, Tucson, Arizona, 1964. GFWC has a long history of member clubs in Native American communities, particularly in western and midwestern states. The San Xavier Woman’s Club of Tucson was founded in the 1950s as a “mother’s club” by women living in the Tohono O’odham Nation (then called the Papago Reservation); in 1964 they federated with Arizona and GFWC in order to better coordinate their work with other area organizations. This photo, showing the club officers receiving their GFWC Charter, was published in “Clubwoman,” November 1964. Left to right (seated): Miss Carmelita Antone, president; Miss Mary Lucy Wilson, 1st vice president; (standing): Mrs. Albert S. Frank, treasurer; Miss Rufina Morris, 2nd vice president; and Miss Evangeline Ignacio, secretary.

Kansas clubwomen, 1972

Kansas clubwomen repairing windows, 1972. Here’s another photo from our CIP collection, this one showing members of the Johnson County Young Matrons, of Shawnee Mission, Kansas, rehabbing a house to hold the Temporary Lodging for Children, an emergency shelter for community kids “who are temporarily without parents of a home due to circumstances beyond their control.” The project was awarded first place in the 1972-1974 contest. In the club’s submission, this photo was captioned: “The fruits of our labor brought satisfaction to all!!” (Yes, complete with two exclamation marks!)

Members of the São Paulo Women’s Club sorting donated clothes, 1986

Members of the São Paulo Women’s Club sorting donated clothes, 1986. GFWC has welcomed international affiliates since our earliest days. Here, a member club in Brazil distributes clothing to children at the Castelinho Community Center; the clothing was donated by Health-Tex as part of the GFWC Concern for Kids International program. The São Paulo Club helped organize the community center in the 1960s, and won third place in the International CIP contest for their work; in 1986 they won first place for their continued efforts with the center. This photo was published in “Clubwoman,” September/October 1986.

GFWC members donate
3 women and one man holding teddy bears

Club members delivering donations, 1995 and 2007. Our magazine has gone by a variety of names over the years, but no matter the title, the hard work of our clubs has been featured since the beginning. Left: Members of the GFWC Woman’s Club of South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, made a donation of paper goods to their local Ronald McDonald House; they were featured in the “Club News” section of the August/September 1995 issue of “Clubwoman.” Right: North Carolina club members made nearly 150 stuffed bears, which were then donated to the Wake County Emergency Medical Services for the benefit of young patients; this photo appeared in the August/September 2007 issue of “Clubwoman” under “Volunteers in Action.”

Atlanta Woman’s Club members preparing lunch for shelter residents, 2023. The inaugural GFWC National Day of Service, held on September 24th, 2023, brought nearly one thousand GFWC clubs together to tackle the problem of food insecurity in their communities. Participating clubs submitted reports and photographs, which are preserved in the WHRC archival collections. Here, the Atlanta Woman’s Club of Georgia is shown preparing some of the 45 lunches they contributed at a homeless shelter.

GFWC Atlanta Woman's Club food insecurity on National Day of Service 2023

Remember to check back next month for more stories from GFWC history (and present)! To learn more about the WHRC collections, visit the WHRC page or contact us at whrc@gfwc.org.

Joanna Church is the Women’s History and Resource Center Librarian at GFWC Headquarters in Washington, DC. She oversees the WHRC collection, handles research requests, and loves sharing our unique resources with fellow lovers of women’s history.

Learn More about the WHRC

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Volunteers in Action: Glendale Woman’s Club

The GFWC Glendale Woman’s Club (Glendale, Arizona) Veterans committee hosted an educational program with guest speakers from USVETS for our February 2023 business meeting who provided updates on the new facility in Phoenix, scheduled to open in April 2023. This site will house 132 transitional beds for homeless veterans. We are also excited to join in a new journey with USVETS who unveiled Ashley’s Place. Two brand new five-bedroom homes were built through a partnership of USVETS and Habitat for Humanities. These homes will provide transitional housing for up to 30 female veterans who will receive daily meals and services such as group counselling.

GWC ladies showed their giving hearts with travel size toiletries, dental supplies, socks, and more, an in-kind donation valued at around $400.

 

Members of Glendale Woman’s Club took advantage of the opportunity for a free booth at the 13th Annual Dog Days of Glendale to raise awareness of our club, its mission and also to help raise funds for the Frances Willard Munds statue. Dog Days is an annual event that supports Animals & Humans in Disaster, Empty Bowls Pet Food Pantry a nonprofit organization. They provide support to individuals in Arizona who are experiencing economic challenges, health problems and natural disasters.

The Frances Willard Munds statue is a big deal, since it is the 1st statue of a woman to be built on Arizona state owned land. We celebrate Women’s History by keeping Arizona’s suffragist Frances Munds visible using the club’s #flatfrances project.  We brought our  6 ft. #flatfrances to this event, and that really helped to draw attention to our booth. We encouraged visitors to be a part of history, take a picture with #flatfrances, and consider donating to the statue fund. Offering online payment options really helped with getting these donations. In a few short hours we raised $186, over 90% was an online payment. We also brought plenty of GFWC and club information so we could tell the public about our 122 year old GFWC club. We handed out GFWC brochures, postcard invites to our next meet your neighbor event, and provided literature on the club’s current programs. During the event we also took time to explore and advertise by doing a Facebook live event.  This helped advertise our club’s participation and also the good news of our community coming together to help our 4 legged friends.

Below: Pictured is Club President Cheryl Kappes and local high school student, club-volunteer Idaprae Maynes with #FlatFrances

 

 

 

 

Volunteers in Action: Prestonburg Woman’s Club, Tellico Village Woman’s Club, and Woman’s Club of Bismarck

This week’s Volunteers in Action highlights just three of the many clubs using the work of their hands to benefit their local communities.

Over the 2022 Christmas holidays, the GFWC-KY Prestonburg Woman’s Club distributed toys and handmade quilts to the maternity and children’s wards at ARH Highlands hospital. As member Sabra Jacobs reports, “This is one of our favorite projects!”

 

The GFWC Tellico Village Woman’s Club (Tennessee) has worked for over a year on a community service project making breast cancer pillows, called “By Women – For Women.” On January 17, 2022, members gathered to make a first “test run” to see how the breast cancer pillow project would be received within our community. With a very positive response from the breast cancer centers, another event was held on September 21, 2022, this time with an invitation to all women of our community as a membership drive and an introduction to the club. At the end of the event, we had 125 completed pillows. The third event was held January 16, 2023 for the club’s MLK Community Service day, at which 200 pillows were completed. Each packaged pillow contains the verse: “A strong woman knows she has strength enough for the journey – but a woman of strength knows it is on the journey that she will become strong.”

The club’s membership drive was a huge success, growing from 23 to 39 members between December 2021 and February 2023. After distributing 370 pillows, Tellico Village Woman’s Club is not done; they are committed to continuing this project to help women during their difficult journeys with breast cancer.

 

And in honor of Valentine’s Day, the GFWC Illinois Woman’s Club of Bismarck took on two projects. Clubwomen decorated 15 small Valentine trees for the Alzheimer’s unit at the Danville VA Medical Center (part of a year-long initiative to decorate trees for various holidays and seasons, lifting the spirits of Danville veterans). The club also took 23 adult and 15 children’s Valentine treat bags to the Crosspoint at the Y Domestic Violence and Transitional Shelter. Cher Pollock, the center’s director, was very grateful to have these treat bags for Crosspoint residents.

Volunteers in Action: Frederick Woman’s Civic Club and Poplarville Woman’s Club

The Poplarville Woman’s Club (Mississippi) donated bras and other items, supplied by I Support the Girls, to nine different shelters and other organizations in recognition of Human Trafficking Month (January). The club also viewed webinars from the Blue Campaign, and at their January 2023 meeting listened to a presentation by a speaker from the The Center for Violence Prevention in Pearl, MS, the only shelter in the state dedicated to serving human trafficking victims.

Pictured: Erica, Betina, Carolyn, Shirley and Dawn of Poplarville Woman’s Club sort donations.

As part of an ongoing effort led by the Evening Group members, women of the Frederick Woman’s Civic Club Inc. (Maryland) gathered on January 19th, 2023 to sew “capes for kids” for children served by the Children of Incarcerated Parents Partnership (COIPP) and the Child Advocacy Center of Frederick County, Maryland. The capes are intended to help children through times of trauma and stress and symbolize strength and bravery. Nearly 60 capes over the past several months have been made, and more sewing sessions are planned.

Pictured (l to r): Cape makers Elaine Junker, Nancy Boyd, Kari Hassler, Joanne Bee, Lisa Wolf, and Michelle Willis. Not pictured: Karen Butler and Mary Snyder

Volunteers in Action: Woman’s Citizenship Club of Alamosa and Woman’s Club of Clayton

Many clubs have enthusiastically joined with GFWC in our work with Secure the Call, a national 501(c)(3) organization that repurposes old cell phones and tablets into free emergency call phones, distributing them to local organizations that serve and assist victims of domestic violence. These live-saving devices can call 911 without a service contract, ensuring that help is in reach for individuals in abusive relationships. Just two examples are the Woman’s Club of Clayton (North Carolina), which placed their collection barrel in the local public library, and the Woman’s Citizenship Club of Alamosa (Colorado), which partnered with the Alamosa Senior Center to collect devices at the Center.

“I would venture to say that most people have old cell phones tucked away in their desk drawers because we don’t know where to get them recycled. The GFWC Woman’s Citizenship Club members are excited to bring this opportunity to [the community],” said Theresa Rudder, coordinator of this project in Alamosa. As the Woman’s Club of Clayton’s Civic Engagement and Outreach CSP noted in the club newsletter, “Your help is greatly needed and appreciated, and will go a long way to make sure that high-risk individuals always have access to emergency services.”

These drives end February 28, 2023, so you still have time to find a barrel (including one here at HQ) and donate your old devices! Our thanks to the many clubs who are participating, helping GFWC to reach its goal to collect 7500 phones and tablets.

Below: Lynette Cotton, Director of Alamosa Senior Citizens, Inc., and Theresa Rudder, member of GFWC Woman’s Citizenship Club are ready to fill up the barrel with used cell phones.

Volunteers in Action: Southwest Region Woman’s Club of Colorado and NJSFWC Southern District

On January 16, 2023, GFWC clubs participated in a variety of fantastic community initiatives around the country in honor of Martin Luther King Day of Service. Here are just two of the many!

In New Jersey, the Millville Woman’s Club hosted clubs from across the NJSFWC Southern District to support the state Community Food Bank. Members of these clubs donated cans of tuna, chicken and vegetables; packages of fruit cups; oatmeal cups; granola bars; and cereal, along with bags of beans and of rice and more. Club volunteers then worked diligently to create Dinners in a Bag, College Meal Kits, Healthy Lifestyle Meal Kits, and Snowy Meal Kits. These were donated to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, and distributed by Gateway Community Action Partnership. Pictured above are (left to right) Shirley Grygotis (Absecon); Carole Speechley, President (Cape May); Linda Green, District Chair for the Day of Service; Laura Badger, Southern District VP; and Barbara Heim (Cape May).

And in Colorado, the GFWC Southwest Region Woman’s Club partnered with local non-profit Benefits in Action to help those in the community experiencing food insecurity. Ten club members (pictured below) volunteered 30 hours to fill 251 boxes, all of which were delivered to Benefits in Action clients who are seniors, medically fragile, and do not have transportation to access local food banks.

Volunteers in Action: Junior Woman’s Club of Westminster and Woman’s Club of Westminster

 

On January 16, 2023, the GFWC Junior Woman’s Club of Westminster (MD) and the GFWC Woman’s Club of Westminster (MD) joined forces to honor Martin Luther King’s service to our nation through a “Day of Service” project. The team collected donated snacks, consolidated them into three boxes of goodies, and delivered a box each to the Carroll County Sherriff’s Department, Westminster City Police, and the Maryland State Police. This GFWC project has become an annual event to show our appreciate for the service of our front-line workers.

“Be the change in your community, Be a Butterfly”

Volunteers in Action: Waurika Sorosis Club

From left: GFWC-OK Waurika Sorosis Club President, Lisa Adkins; Waurika City Manager, Kyote Dunn; Waurika Development Trust Chairman, Roy Bartling; Sorosis Club Co-Vice President, Jennifer Aldridge; Martin Villarreal, ODOT; City of Waurika Street Dept. Supervisor, Chad Dodson; ODOT Jefferson County Superintendent, Billy Martin, and ODOT employee, Blake Latta, meet with ODOT about this year’s wildflower plantings.

 

Spring is a few months away, but several groups gathered on Monday, December 12, 2022 to watch the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) plant wildflower seeds that will color the entrances to Waurika with beautiful flowers in late April and continue through July. The Waurika wildflower project is in its fifth year and is a collaborative project with the GFWC-OK Waurika Sorosis Club, Color Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation with cooperation from the City of Waurika and Jefferson County.

One hundred forty five pounds of wildflower seeds were donated to the Waurika Sorosis Club with just over half coming from a grant from Color Oklahoma. The grant was matched by donations from the Waurika Sorosis Club, Bartling Ranch, Bentley Bartling Enterprises and Marketing Solutions Groups. Additional seeds were generously donated by Color Oklahoma Board Members Craig Williams, owner of Williams Landscape in Lawton, and Monica Bartling. Most of the seeds are perennials or seeds that re-seed themselves each year. “We add additional seeds each year to continually extend the area planted and also to keep the established areas blooming,” Craig Williams said. “My vision is to have wildflowers blooming each spring along U.S Highway 81 from the Red River to the Stephens County Line and beyond.”

“ODOT has a long standing Roadside Wildflower Program that has planted approximately 2,500 acres of wildflowers since the program’s inception in 1990,” according to Billy Martin, ODOT County Superintendent for Jefferson County. “This year we are planting 15.8 acres of seeds along the entrances to Waurika.” Kyote Dunn, Waurika City Manager, added, “We are pleased to assist with this project and support the plantings along the entrances to our city. We thank the individuals and organizations who donate to this project. There are no city funds used on the wildflower project and it actually saves us a little on mowing expenses.”

Elizabeth Scott, GFWC-OK Waurika Sorosis Club Environmental Chairperson for 2022-2024, stated, “The Wildflower Project is one of our club’s signature programs. Since 2018, with our first planting of seven acres north and south of the U.S. 70 and U.S 81 intersections, we continue to grow the area planted. We are grateful for Color Oklahoma working with us each year and that our club members are so supportive of this project. This year’s planting includes seeds for Indian Blanket, Lance Tickseed, Showy Primrose, Plains Coreopsis, Red Corn and California Poppies, and Bishop’s Flower.”

Volunteers in Action: Millville Woman’s Club

Left to right: Debbi Permito, Donna Pio, and Diane Alcantara of MWC, and Raquel Matis of Holly City Family Success Center

In 2020, Millville Woman’s Club (New Jersey) member Diane Alcantara suggested that the Club spread the joy of the holiday season in the form of gift bags for children. The Holly City Family Success Center, a community-based, family-centered organization offering a multitude of services to children and families, was selected as the beneficiary, as a way to thank them for the services they provide. The project went so well that the Club kept the tradition going in 2021 and 2022. MWC members donated bags with toys, books, games, coloring books and crayons, puzzles, gloves, and more for the children’s Christmas party. On December 13th, 2022, Donna Pio and Debbi Permito joined Diane to deliver over fifty gift bags to Raquel Matis at the Success Center.