Author: SMayuga

There were so many incredible MLK Day of Service projects last week that we had to dedicate another Volunteers in Action post to feature more.

The GFWC Grundy Center Woman’s Club (Iowa) invited a local 4-H Club led by a club member to join them in making basic bags to be given to their local domestic violence/abuse and sexual assault agency, Crisis Intervention Services. Fifteen 4-H kids attended the event.

Sixteen clubwomen from the GFWC Rhinelander Woman’s Club (Wisconsin) braved sub-zero temperatures to make no-sew blankets for Operation Smile, completing 23 with a few more that clubwomen took home to finish. Everyone had a good time chatting, being together, and serving the greater good.

The GFWC Manistique (Michigan) gave $5 gift certificates to all bus drivers, maintenance workers, and janitors at the local schools to tell them how appreciated they are!

The Woman’s Club of Point Pleasant (New Jersey) held a very successful Day of Service despite the zero degree wind chills. They wanted to do something for several more of GFWC’s Seven Grand Initiatives, and succeeded with projects that related to Soles4Souls, the Legislative Action Center, and women in the military. Club members joined members of the community in a variety of service projects at their clubhouse. Projects ranged from simple collections of various items to more involved hands-on projects. Projects included: food collection for poor, collecting shoes for Soles4Souls, collecting linens for the pet shelter, writing valentine notes to women in the military, making blankets for CASA, creating tray favors for nursing home, Capes 4 Kids, Legislative Action Center, making birthday bags and collecting used cell phones for domestic violence shelters, crocheting squares for an afghan, distributing directions for preemie hats and stocking for soldiers.

The Woman’s Club of Loudon (Virginia) adopted March of Dimes’ new self-care kit project. They completed 102 kits in one night! The project was a hit and simple to complete.

Shafter Woman’s Club (California) members Barbara Gladden and Colleen Diltz led their first GFWC Grand Initiative in their town by honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service with a White Ribbon Campaign. Shafter policemen, council people, parks and recreation, the high school principal, and even pastors wore white ribbons and said, “I pledge never to commit, condone, or stay silent about violence against women and girls.”

The GFWC Auburn Junior Woman’s Club (Massachusetts) delivered food to the Auburn Mass Fire Department and the Auburn Police Department. Both establishments were extremely thankful to be thought of by the club on the day of service. Later that night the club attached tags that said, “Take me if you need me. What happens to you, matters to us,” in English and Spanish to hats, mittens, scarves, and blankets as part of our Warm Hands, Warm Hearts Project. Volunteers braved the cold last night to distribute these items downtown.

The Batesville Junior Woman’s League (Mississippi) began their MLK Day of Service at the assisted living home, conversing the residents and putting up handmade snowmen on all of their doors.  They also dropped by the fire station with fruit and muffins for the firefighters on duty as a little thank you for all they do for the community. Their last project was Pick up Panola. Trash has become a sore spot in their community, so they spent the next few hours picking up trash in three different areas of the county.

The GFWC Service Guild of Covington (Georgia) collected “the Wish List” from Washington Street Community Center. Frosty the Snowman garnered the attention of passerby, while members collected sporting equipment, art supplies, board games, money donations and more! It took two large SUVs to load all the donations! L to R: Service Guild members Lynn Garrett, Pam Barnes, Diane Loeble, Peggy Hawley, Betty McFadden, Frosty (Kathy Rhoades), and Marianne.

The GFWC Seward Woman’s Club (Nebraska) donated gently used purses and items to fill them, including bottled water, tissues, feminine products, shampoo, lotion, wet wipes, gum, raisins, granola bars, toothbrushes and toothpaste, Band-Aids, socks, mittens, and hand warmers. The club had read that a purse is one of those private things that a woman has just for her, and many times that is lost or set aside during homelessness. They handed the purses out to homeless women because to have that small gift with needed items helps them claim a piece of themselves often lost during their journey.

The GFWC High Springs New Century Woman’s Club’s (Florida) project was “Bunnies, Books, and Bandages.” They collected children’s books to be donated to two local daycare centers and created bunnies out of washcloths for the children to read to. They also sewed Operation Smile bandages, which are splints used to prevent children from bending their arms after receiving facial surgery.

The GFWC Tellico Village (Tennessee) held a sewing bee for Operation Smile. A group of 15 ladies cut and knotted blankets, stuffed dolls, and sewed arm bands for Operation Smile patients.

The Dequincy Study Club (Louisiana) provided the Dequincy Senior Center with refreshments, bingo prizes, and lunch to the appreciation of the seniors!

Thirteen members (and one granddaughter) of the GFWC Greater West Palm Beach Women’s Club (Florida) donated cat and dog food, litter, toys, blankets and sheets to the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League. They also toured the facility and learned that they offer portable vaccine clinic for the community, do 60 planned surgeries per day, and have a nursery to bottle-feed. The 141 volunteers and staff are 80 percent women, and greeted the club with a smile during their hour tour.

The GFWC Erwin Monday Club (Tennessee) resupplied the Little Lending Libraries which were placed around Erwin by last year’s Chamber of Commerce Leadership Class. These little “libraries” are boxes placed around the community to promote reading by allowing people to easily access books and to share them with others. The idea behind the project is that readers will “take a book and leave a book,” thus keeping the boxes supplied. Over time, the books are recycled so that others can read, but since some of the books do not get returned and because avid readers may have read all of the available books, the Monday Club saw a need for the Little Lending Libraries to be restocked. Club members donated books, either pulling them from their own libraries or purchasing them. Then on MLK Day of Service, they went in teams to restock the boxes. The books placed were selected to appeal to young children, teens, or adults, including fiction and nonfiction, self-improvement, how-to, and devotional books. Hopefully there’s something for everyone! By promoting reading throughout the community, the club hopes to help in the fulfillment of MLK’s dream of embracing the goal of true education: intelligence plus character. Reading allows all people access to a larger world of ideas. The quote on one of the library boxes says, “Reading does for your mind what exercise does for your body.”

Check back next week for our final round of MLK Day of Service success stories!

This week we’re featuring a few clubs who participated in the MLK Day of Service!

The Chapin Woman’s Club (South Carolina) held a shoe drive for Soles4Souls. They collected and packed 19 boxes for a total of 275 pairs of shoes on MLK Day! They advertised in Nextdoor, on Facebook and through their local Chamber of Commerce newsletter. The club had boxes for donations at their local town hall, chamber of commerce, and even members’ porches. They still had shoes being delivered even as they were packing boxes!

The GFWC North Pinellas Woman’s Club (Florida) and GFWC St. Petersburg Junior Woman’s Club (Florida) promoted literacy equality with a Little Free Library. They gave away 3,500 books thanks to a service award they received from the MLK Day of Service Project.

The GFWC Woman’s Club of Deerfield Beach (Florida) celebrated 100 years of volunteer service and participated in the MLK Parade in their community.

Bridget Murphy of the GFWC Morgan County Woman’s Club (Kentucky). Their club project wasn’t going to be until later this week, and so she wanted to do something special on the actual MLK Day of Service. Her thoughtful project was to crochet ten preemie hats. She will donate them to the American Heart Association in memory of Patrice Booze, a member of GFWC’s 2018-2020 Resolutions Committee Member who sadly passed away in 2018. What a touching way to honor a friend!

The Haddon Fortnightly (New Jersey) made snuggly fleece blankets for the foster children in the Court Appointed Special Advocates of New Jersey. Members and their granddaughters made 2 dozen blankets for the children of CASA, which is the Special State Project of the New Jersey State Federation.

The Circleville Junior Women’s Club (Ohio) was a triple threat for this year’s MLK Day of Service. Instead of working on one project, they worked on three! This included making bags for the homeless, making thank you bags for USO, and cutting and sending greeting cards to St. Jude’s Ranch to be repurposed.

It was 25 degrees in West Tennessee on the morning of MLK Day of Service, meaning that member attendance was low for the GFWC Henderson County Woman’s Club (Tennessee). But the cold didn’t stop two dedicated members who assisted rangers at Natchez Trace State Park by clearing brush to create better lake viewing areas.

Members of the GFWC Jubilee Woman’s Club (Alabama) made fidget pillows for people suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia. Fidget Pillows are pillows adorned with different textures and sensory tasks that help provide safe and comforting activities for patients.

Members of the GFWC Women’s Civic League of Cheyenne, X-JWC, and Cheyenne Optimist Club (Wyoming) partnered to serve hot cocoa and cookies for the MLK March participants. They also delivered cookies to the Comea Shelter, an emergency homeless shelter.

The GFWC Valamont Woman’s Club (Tennessee) combined two of the Seven Grand Initiatives! For their MLK Day of Service, they made 30 book buddy pillows. The pillows had a pocket to slip a Dr. Seuss book in. They will be given to low-income students at a day care center for their Valentine’s Day Party! The project was made possible by a grant from the Love Like Lija Foundation.

Check back next week for even more projects clubs did for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service!

The GFWC Northboro Junior Woman’s Club (Massachusetts) used toolkits provided by UNICEF to host an Ethically Made Luncheon in December! They also showed UNICEF’s film about human trafficking, “Not My Life.” The menu was placed on every table to show where the club locally purchased the food items served, like baked apples and sea scallops!

Attendees were not charged for the luncheon, but instead were asked to donate to UNICEF if they were moved to do so. They were pleased to send a check of $533 to further UNICEF’s mission of stopping human trafficking.

The Woman’s Club of Parsippany Troy Hills (New Jersey) recently held its Fourth Annual Spelling Bee. Twenty-five students were selected from local fifth grade classes to participate, with over 100 audience members. Mary Ann Coyne, club member and chairman of the event, was moderator. Club member Marianne Burke was the pronuoncer. After twenty-five exciting rounds, the top three winners were declared. They are invited to participate in the New Jersey State Federated Women’s Club Regional Spelling Bee on February 2, and regional winners will then be invited to the State Championship at the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs of GFWC Headquarters on March 2nd. These events give students a chance to shine and show off their spelling skills!

The Elgin Junior Women’s Club (Illinois) recognize that homelessness is a significant issue in their community, with many working poor and a housing shortage. They had the organization, PADS of Elgin, come to their November General meeting to present for Home Life. During their presentation, they mentioned one of their biggest needs is for meals to be donated. They serve dinner, and now lunch, to 60+ shelter residents every day. But they don’t have the staff or funds to have a full service kitchen, so they coordinate with other organizations. When the Elgin Juniors were trying to think of a service project for MLK Day, they though prepping a meal for the organization would be a great opportunity.

The club created the event with a signup for people to provide ingredients. The event was made public in case others were interested in serving. The response was overwhelming. The signup sheet to make two meals for 60 people was completely full in 24 hours! More non-club members than club members took slots for donations, and many others asked if they could still come and help even when the slots were full.

The club ended up having 13 people come to a clubwoman’s house to make meals. They made 6 lasagnas and 5 trays of chicken and rice soup in 90 minutes. The women who were guests were all interested in serving again, and expressed interest in future club meetings and events. There were also almost a half dozen other women who were unable to make the event, but expressed interest in both club and another project like this one. In one small event, they were able to provide two meals for 60+ homeless people in their community, provide aid to a great organization, and get about a dozen new potential members for club! In a club of 13 women, it was a huge success. It was also very easy to replicate, so they plan on doing it again!

In support of GFWC’s 2018-2020 Grand Initiative to support female veterans, GFWC Legacy (Alabama) partnered with Still Serving Veterans to supply two-week’s worth of groceries to female veterans in need of assistance. Still Serving Veterans Executive Director Paulette Risher attended their November club meeting to gave them an overview of the program and accept the club’s donation of more than $500 worth of groceries for distribution to clients in need!

But GFWC Legacy didn’t stop at supporting one Grand Initiative! One of the Grand Initiatives encourages clubwomen to plant 1,000 trees on Arbor Day.  Unfortunately, Arbor Day is not the best time of the year for tree planting in Alabama! So GFWC Legacy coordinated with Operation Green Team, whose mission is to keep Huntsville beautiful and sustainable with litter prevention initiatives, waste reduction and recycling programs, landscape enhancements and environmental field trips and programs at the J.D. & Annie S. Hays Nature Preserve and the Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary. Operation Green Team also supports the Mayor’s Annual Tree Planting Initiative in early November.  In addition to donating $100 to Operation Green Team for the planting of saplings, some club members braced the first bitterly cold morning of their winter season to plant trees on November 10th. They were even featured on the city’s television station.

GFWC High Springs New Century Woman’s Club (Florida) participated in “A Reverse Advent Calendar.” For each day between December 2 to December 24, members placed a food item in a box or basket which was eventually donated to the Peaceful Paths food bank, an organization that serves survivors of domestic violence. In addition to the food, the club donated many toys to help children have a great Christmas.

Another club that helped survivors of domestic violence is the GFWC Oak View Women’s Club (California). This year they supported the GFWC Signature Program: Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention by gathering and filling more than 40 purses to be delivered to a local home for abused women. They packed the new and gently-used purses full of socks, toiletries, toothbrushes, and other items as well as a card signed by the members to be inserted in the purses to remind the recipients that the club supports the GFWC Signature Program to stand against violence.

Gloria Dale has long chaired the Sunshine Committee of the GFWC Lutz-Land O’Lakes Woman’s Club (Florida), but has always gone above and beyond her duty. She single-handedly handwrote 5,200 personal Christmas cards to send to troops overseas and to local veteran’s nursing homes, hospitals, and senior centers. Rather than sit back and enjoy a job well done, Gloria has already started writing holiday cards for 2019!

GFWC Georgia Service Guild of Covington won a 1st place ribbon for this year’s float in the Covington Christmas Parade on December 15th!  The parade theme “Bells Ringing Out” took a different twist with Service Guild’s float “Belles of the South Ringing Out Good Will.” Riding the float are member volunteers: L to R:  Kathy Rhoades, Unice Stevens, Carolyn Bennett, Donna Sneed and Pam Barnes.  Hats and bell-shaped dresses made of hoola hoops and Christmas ribbons were created by the club’s Art Program, co-chaired by Kathy and Pam. “Living the Volunteer Spirit” was also noted on the float banner!

Growing membership and sharing the Federation experience has been one of GFWC Alabama’s primary objectives for this administration. At the beginning of the administration, the membership committee set the goal of establishing six new clubs – a new General and a new Juniorette club in each of our three districts. They’re thrilled to welcome two new Federated clubs this year!

The GFWC Alabama River Region Women’s Club was chartered at the GFWC Alabama Leadership Workshop on July 21st in Montgomery, Alabama at the Alabama Judicial Building. In order to support the new club in its first service project, attendees from across the state were asked to bring items to fill 100 small totes bags to benefit Mary Ellen’s Hearth at the Nellie Burge Community Center – a help and healing place for homeless women and children. Not only were 100 bags filled, but the response was so overwhelming that the GFWC Alabama River Region Women’s Club was able to donate items to numerous homeless shelters throughout the Montgomery area.

The Cahaba Valley Women of GFWC club was chartered at the GFWC Alabama Holiday Open House on December 1st at the beautiful, historic State Headquarters in Birmingham. Once again, clubwomen from across the state generously supported this new club in its first service project by donating items to SafeHouse, a women’s shelter serving Shelby County. This club quickly followed up with its first club fundraiser- pet photos with Santa!

As you can see, GFWC Alabama has been actively sharing the Federation message, and they are looking forward to chartering even more new clubs in 2019. It is their understanding that there may be two new Juniorette clubs next year!

Members of the Palatine Literary Society (New York) and the Mohawk Valley Women’s Club (New York) contributed pocketbooks, toiletries, bathrobes, gloves, and notebooks with an estimated value of $1,078 to women’s shelters in the area. This effort is part of a national effort by GFWC to aid victims of domestic violence through a PURSE – Purses Uniting Resources to Successfully End violence against women – project done on a local club level.

For Veteran’s Day, based on an article in the August 30th News & Notes, the GFWC Seward Women’s Club (Nebraska) brought items to their November meeting to make up Military Mommy Bags, which included a small bottle of water, lotion, Kleenex, Tic Tacs, Chap Stick, and a granola bar. They were proud to report that their small group of 24 members bought enough for 24 bags! One of the goals of Nebraska State President, Louise Zimmerman, in working with the Seven Grand Initiatives is for the Nebraska clubwomen to do 1,000 projects for women in the military. This is part of the GFWC Seward Women’s Clubs’ small effort.

At a recent meeting,  15 members and 2 guests of the GFWC Achieving by Reading Club (Missouri) completed their Stuffed Mug Project for the moms and kids at Hope House Domestic Violence Shelter. They stuffed 108 holiday mugs until they were overflowing, then put each in a holiday treat bag tied with a big bow. Every recipient received candy, fruit snacks, a granola bar, or a cookie pouch. The moms’ mugs were also stuffed with items ranging from photo magnets to manicure kits. The kids’ mugs had surprises such as Christmas erasers and sticker boxes!

The event to light the Christmas tree outside town hall is an annual occasion in downtown Wake Forest, and so is the craft project offered by children by the Wake Forest Woman’s Club (North Carolina). This year, while children wait for their appointment to visit with Santa Claus, they decorated a small “chow” bag to look like a fanciful reindeer. A club member encouraged each child to set out the bag’s contents (dry cereal) at their home on Christmas Eve as a treat for Santa’s reindeer while Santa delivers toys. Club members also assisted the children in writing and mailing their letters to Santa. Approximately 200 children participated in the free activities, assisted by 11 Wake Forest Woman’s Club members.

In 2016, inspired by “Dress a Girl Around The World,” an international effort to provide little girls in third world countries a new handmade dress, the GFWC Woman’s Club of Westminster (Maryland) began the “Little Dress” Project. Many church groups, volunteer organizations, and individuals across many continents have joined this effort believing every little girl deserves the dignity of owning at least one dress. Besides providing for a practical need, village pastors have said that a new dress gives a girl an appearance of being cared for, and may discourage predators.

To date, a very talented group of GFWC volunteers, mostly from the GFWC Woman’s Club of Westminster, has sewn 645 dresses, ranging from size 1 to 12, and they’ve been hand distributed to eleven Central American and African countries. Their first shipment was sent via a missionary to Cameroon, with his children delivering them to local orphanages. Several shipments of 50 to 75 dresses have been distributed to Guatemala via a medical mission team from a Westminster church. A clinic in Malawi got 80 receiving blankets, knit caps for their NICU unit, and little dresses for siblings.

In 2017, an urgent request of 75 dresses was provided to an Operation Nehemiah representative and delivered to a Ugandan Refugee Camp, where thousands of South Sudanese refugees were camped. A former Peace Corps couple, who had served in Costa Rica many years prior, took two dress shipments on visits back to Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Yearly dress shipments are also sent to the Dominican Republic via the “Least of These Ministries,” delivered to Haitian work camps that labor in the sugar cane and banana fields in that country.  The club’s latest project expansion has come via a World Relief Representative who provides ongoing help to the peoples of The Republic of Congo and South Sudan on the African continent. Other countries which have received their “little dresses” include Honduras and El Salvador. Finally, for 2018, they will be supplying 65 dresses to the Operation Christmas Child shoe box endeavor, sending little girls throughout the world a new dress and bracelet for Christmas.

In the spirit of the Shoe Donation Grand Initiative, the Upper Allen Woman’s Club GFWC (Pennsylvania) and the community collected 1006 pairs of socks to donate to the Domestic Violence Services of Cumberland Perry Counties, YMCA Carlisle, and Bethesda Mission.

The GFWC Florida District 8 Annual Meeting and Fall Tour of Officers was hosted in federated unity by the GFWC Temple Terrace Woman’s, Junior, and Juniorette club members. Dist. 8 members learned about the 2018-2020 Administration’s Seven Grand Initiatives and the GFWC Florida President project Operation Smile as well as the Florida Junior Director’s project Book Heroes. GFWC Treasurer Jolie Frankfurth shared information about Strategic Planning Meetings. It was a morning packed with food, information, fun, and fellowship, and these volunteers are ready to take what they learned and put it into action!

There were so many incredible Veterans Day projects completed by GFWC clubs this month that we had to dedicate another Volunteers in Action post to them! The GFWC Wamego Study Club (Kansas) had their Annual Workshop to benefit veterans on Monday, November 12. They worked together to sew bright red, green, and white felt stockings, and then decorate them and fill them with candy for veterans’ dinner tray favors at the Topeka Colmery-O’Neil Veterans Hospital. Members donated many pounds of candy to stuff the stockings and Christmas decorations to make them bright and festive!  Study Club Veteran’s Committee Chairperson, Joyce Blanka, was happy to report that a total of 249 stockings were completed on Monday.

Their Annual Workshop also netted $395.89 in donated items this year. In consideration of the list from the VA Hospital in Topeka of needed items, members brought individually wrapped crackers, cookies, popcorn, granola bars, and personal hygiene items for the veterans. The Club enjoyed a photo display of the War Memorials in Washington, D.C., lit a candle in honor of all veterans, and had a reading of the WWI poem “In Flanders Fields,” by John McCrae, which began the use of the Remembrance Poppy in 1915 for Veteran’s Day.

November’s hostesses Pat Frey, Madge McDonald, Lauranell Stewart, and Patsy Eckart, served a hot and delicious luncheon of soup, Hawaiian slider sandwiches, fruit cups, and dessert. A beautiful autumn theme was used to decorate the tables. The GFWC Wamego Study Club would like to thank members Mary Jean Peterson, Patricia Strohmeyer, and Joyce Blanka for their hours of work prepping the stockings before the meeting, which made the work go smoothly during the workshop.  Club members of WSC worked, visited, and enjoyed the time together while completing their project with a record number of stockings completed this year. Many hands really do make light work!

To honor retired military veterans for Veteran’s Day, the High Springs New Century Woman’s Club (Florida) visited K9s For Warriors- Gold Family Campus. The organization trains rescue dogs to help veterans who are coping with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma, post-9/11 issues, and other psychological challenges associated with military service. Gift cards for a local pet store were given to each resident along with a thank you card. The gift card will help the veteran with the supplies needed when they graduate and go home with their service dog. The dogs were not forgotten, and neither was the staff! Each dog received a big bag of treats, and the staff members, also retired from the military, were presented with cookies and a thank you card.

Lastly, GFWC Minnesota State President Jean Walker brought visibility to GFWC when she was featured in the Crookston Times in an article titled: “Walker dedicates her life to volunteering, honoring veterans.” It detailed the projects she has chosen to support during her presidency: the Veterans Honor Flight of North Dakota/Minnesota and the Eagle’s Healing Nest. The article highlighted her advocacy efforts and dedication to veterans.

GFWC clubs didn’t let Veterans Day pass without doing incredible work to support the women and men who have served. In this blog post we’re featuring GFWC Maine, the Covina Woman’s Club (California), the Woman’s Club of Madisonville (Kentucky), the Hoover Juniorettes (Alabama), and the GFWC South Baldwin Woman’s Club (Alabama), but that is a small fraction of all the projects that clubs dedicated in honor of Veterans Day this year.

At the GFWC Maine Fall Conference, clubs donated 11 “Veterans House Warming Baskets” to homeless Veterans transitioning into their new apartments. Each basket consisted of 21 specific items needed to get set up in their new home. Also donated were new blankets, sheet sets, toaster ovens, coffee pots, air mattresses, and more.

The Covina Woman’s Club (California) delivered 60 hygiene bags for homeless veterans in September and October, and continued to prepare them throughout November. They also donated eight blankets to keep them warm during the coming winter.

The Woman’s Club of Madisonville (Kentucky) celebrated by singing at the Veterans Day Program at the Veterans Center. They sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “We Gather Together.” Additionally, they participated in the annual Veterans Day Parade, the largest in their state. They used UTVs to transport one member from each branch of service in the parade, and other club members walked along side veterans.

The GFWC Hoover Juniorettes (Alabama) had Erin Lyon, member of the US Army reserves and the Alabama Army Band, speak at their last meeting in honor of Veterans Day. Erin has a great story of how she became an oboe player in middle school, then a middle school band director, and finally joined the army at age 29 so that she could be in their band. She inspired the Juniorettes to persevere through the tough times to get to the reward at the end. They thanked Erin for her service and for sacrificing time with her husband and small children to serve in the Reserves. She told them about a great organization called Grace After Fire which helps women veterans with PTSD and other problems they may have after serving in the military. The club plans to bring toiletries and to make cards to send to them at their next meeting.

The GFWC South Baldwin Woman’s Club (Alabama) partnered with Edward Jones to bring extra joy and appreciation to their local veterans through a new card program. The objective of the program is to get classrooms to commit to decorating and signing Veterans Day cards. It can be as simple as putting their first name, grade, and school in the card. The children are also welcome to write a short note and/or draw a picture. The club appreciates giving children a chance to thank those courageous veterans who serve and are serving our great nation.

We always have Volunteers in Action to showcase because GFWC clubs are constantly on the move, planning new ways to improve their community and executing it with wonderful results. We treasure the opportunity to share events and projects that clubs do, so if you have something to share, send it to PR@GFWC.org for the chance to be featured on our blog. In the meantime, check out some of these great ideas!

The October meeting of GFWC Greater Ocala Woman’s Club (Florida) was focused on Breast Cancer Awareness Month. They were extremely honored to host two guest speakers. Dr. Wingard, Deputy Director of cancer research for the University of Florida spoke about ongoing cancer research programs. He emphasized that many people in their region don’t seek cancer treatment early enough, so new programs are being established to reach people sooner. Their second guest speaker represented All About You, a women’s boutique specializing in post-breast surgery aides. Lori Timmreck spoke about the compassion and products her boutique offers, such as custom breast prostheses. She said many breast cancer patients smile for the first time after their surgery because of the services from this boutique. Of course, not all was solemn at the meeting. There were occasion-inspired cookies and origami bookmarks. The hosting committee greeted members by wearing cardboard sandwich breasts, which Dr. Wingard found hilarious and said it was a first for him.

GFWC Potpourri Glenwood (Minnesota) had a fundraiser with an added benefit! They held a garage sale of donated items for local charities and it was a big success despite cold weather. Over $980 will be given to community needs, and the added benefit is that one of the shoppers thought she’d like to be a part of the club and she joined!

Pictured: Colleen Gandrud, Judy Golberg, Darlene Femrite & Carolyn Rust with some interesting sale items!

The Woman’s Club of Vista (California) helped put on the tenth Fall Fun Festival, a free event for the community at the Alta Vista Botanical Gardens. They sponsored scarecrows and contributed clothes and bling for the scarecrows to wear for the scarecrow contest. Club members helped families create the scarecrows and helped judge the contest. The event brought in 540 visitors and 50 student volunteers!