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In support of the Women in the Military Grand Initiative, the Mulvane Federated Women’s Club (Kansas) have been sending emails, cards, and care packages to a deployed female soldier. The solider provided a list of items that she liked, ranging from her favorite chewing gum to preferences for hygiene items. The first package included locally-made beef jerky, and she commented that her friends really enjoyed it, so the club’s second package included even more jerky so there was plenty to share! Jean Horstman, corresponding secretary of the club, said, “When I mentioned to my husband that we were doing this project, he teared up. When he was in the service, those care packages were few and far between, but meant so very much to him. Thank you for setting our group on the path to work on such a worthwhile and rewarding project.” We’re so glad to see all the incredible ways that clubwomen support women in the military!

World Senior Citizen’s Day is coming up on August 21, and the Iranian Federated Women’s Club (California) let us know how they’re helping seniors in their community. They noticed that the seniors in their community who don’t speak English experience extreme isolation. To help them join the larger community, the club is collaborating with the Cupertino Senior Center to support programs (including technology classes, free informational lectures, a travel program, and more) that will hopefully combat that isolation and be a great resource.

The Murray Women’s Civic Guild (Utah) cut out mittens to be donated to the homeless shelter and a few other facilities. They created mittens of all sizes so that parents and children alike will be ready for Utah’s cold winter this year.

At the San Bernardino District Summer Conference, California clubwomen collected $61 in loose change for Operation Gratitude, a district-wide project. The organization emailed Public Issues Chairman, Linda Brooks saying they were in need of personal correspondence for troops, veterans, first responders, and book camp recruits. So she laid blank cards with instructions to write notes, and over 150 cards were made!

On July 31, 2019, several members from clubs throughout Southern California joined to support the all-volunteer, non-profit For the Troops. They packed “We Care” packages to send to members of the military. They contain basic necessities and some goodies as well.

Left to right are Shirley Palmer and Jackie Thomas,  GFWC Oak View Women’s Club; volunteers Melissa and her son; Leanna Kennedy,
GFWC Oak View Women’s Club; volunteer Helen; Shirley Scott, Simi Valley Women’s Club; Carina Solecki, Ojai Valley Woman’s Club; volunteers Christine and Zoey;
Lois Stewart, Ojai Valley Woman’s Club; Connie Biggers, GFWC Oak View Women’s Club; and Patti Bagley, Co-President of Ojai Valley Woman’s Club.

The GFWC High Springs New Century Woman’s Club (Florida) donated proceeds from their “Real Men Make Soup” fundraiser to the local police and fire departments. The police department will use the donation to purchased needed incidentals, and the fire department will use it to replaced parts of their CPR manikins. It was a great way for the club to thank first responders for the dedication to their community.

With 169 combined years of service to GFWC Western Fairfax County Woman’s Club (Virginia), seven women have left their marks on their club and community and continue to do so. The Greenbriar Civic Association (GCA) honored these women with the Greenbriar Citizen-of-the-Year award over a span of 15 years. Each year, residents nominate neighbors they deem deserving of this special honor for their service to the community. The GCA even changed the name of the community center to the Cale Community Center to recognize club member Barbara Cale and her husband for their many years of service to the community. 

Club members: Lois Price, Marion Brown, Barbara Levermann, Barbara Cale,
Eileen Chambers and Lee Conley. Not pictured is clubwoman Roasannah Moser, deceased.

From helping the local library raise more than one million dollars from biannual book sales organized by the Friends of the Chantilly Regional Library to helping keep the local paper, the Greenbriar Flyer, up and running for many years, these Virginia clubwomen are emblematic of what it means to be a Volunteer in Action.

Eleven clubwomen from the GFWC Woman’s Club of Denville-Rockaway (New Jersey) visited the New-York Historical Society to see the Hudson Rising exhibit, a topic that was featured at GFWC’s 2019 Women’s History Month Event. It included a display about how New Jersey clubwomen took up the cause to help save the Palisades cliffs along the Hudson River. It’s great to know that New Jersey clubwomen got the chance to see and learn about their own legacy!

This week, the GFWC Fayette County ESO (Indiana) delivered 141 pair of shoes to the Cincinnati Soles4Souls storage facility!

Another club to participate in the Soles4Souls Grand Initiative is the White Mountain Woman’s Club (Arizona), who worked with friends, family, and neighbors to collect 123 pairs of shoes.

Keep up the great work for GFWC’s Cooperative Project with Soles4Souls!

A clubwoman from Arkansas, Debbie Hall has been a member of GFWC for 35 years, a fact that she finds hard to believe. Currently serving as the Credentials Committee Chairman on the 2018–2020 Board of Directors, she reflects fondly on the rewarding journey of becoming increasingly involved with GFWC.

How did you get involved with GFWC and your club?

I joined the GFWC Junior Civic League of Fort Smith in 1984. Their big fundraiser was the Red Stocking Revue, which always needed more volunteers. Some of my good friends worked on the show and so I got involved. I joined the club afterwards and have been a member ever since.

When I first joined, I had four young daughters so I focused mainly on local club work. But as my children grew up, I had more time to get involved at the District level, then the state level, and finally the national level.

Which club project has been the most important to you?

I loved doing our Red Stocking Revue, but eventually it ran its course. For a number of years, we sponsored a Night at the Races and I enjoyed that. Our big fundraiser has always been to raise funds for Bost, Inc. It’s a wonderful agency for people with disabilities. It started out as a school for kids with special needs, but as our public school enlarged and the special education program grew, Bost, Inc. started helping families until their little one went to kindergarten. Then they provide more training and apartments and homes for when they become adults. Our club now helps Bost, Inc. with their huge fundraiser, Grape Escapes.

Has working in a school system influenced your experience as a volunteer or vice versa?

I’m now the financial secretary for Southside High School. I spent so much time doing PTA work when my children grew up that I knew everyone in our school. I subbed for our school system for five years and then the Principal of Southside offered me a half day job in attendance. My current job grew from there. Working with children of all ages is a joy to me, so I seek out those opportunities. I’ve taught Sunday school at Church, and worked with both Girls Scouts and our Youth Tennis Program.

You’re the Credentials Committee Chairman. What was your journey to that leadership position?

Since I love greeting and talking to our members and I love working with numbers and money, doing credentials is the right job for me. I have done it for years for our district and state, our regional meeting when it is our time to host, and have served on the Credentials Committee three times. This year, I am Chairman of the Committee.

What was your favorite part of the 2019 GFWC Annual Convention?

I always love Convention. I’ve enjoyed it even more working on Credentials because I love having something to do and somewhere to be at Convention. I like that the Credentials Committee gets to see and catch up with all the ladies as they register.

Since I love hearing an author speak about their work and getting a chance to meet them, I also loved having Joe Starita as a speaker this year.

What is the best lesson you’ve learned during your time with GFWC?

If you have something in your community that you don’t like, help to change it! Or, at least learn why it has to be that way.

What has been the most rewarding part about being a clubwoman?

I’ve loved being a clubwoman because I get to make friends with our members, both longtime members and new ones alike, while working to help our community. Through GFWC, my friends have expanded to include ladies across my state and now across the nation.

In 2020, we’ll celebrate 100 years that women have had the vote. The Ojai Valley Woman’s Club (California) celebrated a little early and definitely in style! They dressed as suffragists and marched in their local 4th of July parade to celebrate the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution so many decades ago.

Betty Paterson, Suki Sir, and Pat Essick (1st VP Ojai Valley Woman’s Club)

The GFWC Women’s Club of Odessa (Delaware) enjoyed an English Tea to remember the accomplishments of last year: donating over 100 pairs of shoes for Soles For Souls; distributing over 60 books to children’s libraries; writing letters to their legislators through the Legislative Action Center; providing an animal shelter with towels and blankets; collecting and distributing blankets to the homeless for MLK Day of Service, with one member cleaning a bench even while on vacation; and creating candy boxes to be distributed to patients in a veteran’s hospital on Valentine’s Day.

The Conservation and Education committees of the Lawrenceville Woman’s Club (Georgia) joined forces to stock a Little Free (Seed) Library at the Lawrenceville Housing Authority community garden. The garden is an on-going project of the Conservation committee. For the Seed Library, Conservation provided seed packets and seed saving envelopes while Education provided laminated Planting Guides and Harvesting Schedules. Now, with the inclusion of the Little Free (Seed) Library, the residents are able to maintain their gardens in the years to come. The club will continue to support other planned community gardens with the gardens’ own Little Free (Seed) Libraries. These gardens provide area residents with limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables a sense of pride knowing they are providing their families with healthier food choices. Local co-ops will benefit from donations of food the new gardens. Classes and reference materials are going to provide the gardeners with best practices on harvesting, preparing and preserving food.

The GFWC Park City Athenaeum Club (Utah) held their 1st annual Road-Clean-Up on May 7th. The club adopted a 2.1 mile stretch of Old Ranch Road, which is a well-traveled and beloved roadway in Park City.  The day was cold and rainy, but somehow the weather made it more fun, and members were just glad it didn’t snow!

The Maquoketa Woman’s Club (Iowa) continually participates in community outreach and seeks new ways to make a positive impact. After one of their club members mentioned that the chemo port that was implanted near her chest was uncomfortable when she wore her seat belt, the club sprang to action with a solution that will provide some comfort for patients. The club has now donated over 160 handmade “seat belt port protector bags.” These soft, cushioned mini-pillows can be attached to the seat belt strap and adjusted accordingly to bring comfort to patients who have ports, pacemakers, and other health-related implants. The club donate them to the University of Iowa Hospital where they’re provided for free to patients. This is an ongoing project and one that will keep us busy due to its popularity at the hospital. It’s wonderful to know that we can bring a small bit of relief to patients. On May 11, they also helped spruce up the welcome sign that greets visitors as they enter the city. The volunteers have adopted the sign area and will continually maintain the landscaping. They planted 180 brightly colored marigolds and mulched the flower beds. In addition, they’ll be re-painting the letters on the sign so it’s even more visible to passersby. Throughout the summer and fall they’ll also be on weed patrol to keep the beds clean and welcoming.

The GFWC Saxonburg District Woman’s Club (Pennsylvania) are happy to contribute to the Soles4Souls Grand Intiative. In just one month, they collected 75 pairs of gently used and some new shoes to donate. They were delivered to Larua Marks who will be taking them on a mission trip in July. She hopes to be able to take 5000 pairs of shoes with her by that time!

The GFWC- South Brunswick Islands Woman’s Club (North Carolina) participated in the March for Babies Walk in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  The club made baby blankets, 12 of which were donated at the local event, and 14 of which were donated to the national event. The club also raised $2,009.00! The club not only surpassed their 2018 collections in both dollars collected and blankets donated, but they were also recognized locally as 3rd place in donations for non-family member groups.

The Salem Area Woman’s Club (New York) worked with the Glens Falls Hospital to co-sponsor the 25th Annual Women’s Health Day “By Women For Women” at Salem Washington Academy. There was an outstanding community response to this all-day event.  The keynote talk was given by author Patricia A. Nugent.  Six workshops were offered by Dr. Krista Carle, Jill Chadwick, Elizabeth Cockey, Joyce Dattner, Jessica Roesel, and Dr. Lauren Van DeWater. Attendees  enjoyed a continental breakfast which was supported by the club and local sponsor, while local businesses contribute door prizes. Homemade baked goods were available to purchase throughout the day. Health Day Committee Chairman Lois Sheaff voiced her thanks to all involved in making this interesting and informative event such a success.

Chairman Lois Sheaff with keynote speaker Patricia A. Nugent.

The Women’s Club of Indian River (Delaware) celebrated Arbor Day with a tree planting at the Indian River Yacht Club where they hold their meetings. The tree was donated by the East Coast Garden Center, RSC Landscaping, LTD., Millsboro and planted by them through the help of new members Stephen and Michael Cordrey.

Linda Kutay, Recording Secretary; Muriel Pfeiffer, Vice-President, Shelby Weillop, Treasurer;
Cheryl Broadway, Home Life Chair; and Henrietta Belcher-Stack, President.

In 1961, the GFWC Yorba Linda Woman’s Club (California) gave their first scholarships by awarding two local students $50 each. Now they host an annual Student Awards Night. This year it took place on May 2 and the club awarded over $30,000 in scholarships, HOBY leadership awards, and art awards to 57 high school students from local area schools. The funds were raised through a combination of proceeds from their Spring and Fall Craft Fairs and their wonderful sponsors.

In attendance were the students’ families, friends, art teachers, and school principals, as well as several local dignitaries: City of Yorba Linda Mayor Tara Campbell, Mayor Pro Tem Beth Haney, Councilmember Gene Hernandez, City Manager Mark Pulone, OC Supervisor Hon. Don Wagner, Senator Ling Ling Chang, and representatives from the offices of Congressman Gil Cisneros and Assemblyman Phillip Chen. On display were the winning students’ photography, drawing, painting, mixed media and 3D art entries.

The annual awards ceremony evening is a wonderful culmination of all the outstanding work of the Yorba Linda Woman’s Club each year. The club members dedicate their time to planning, coordinating, advertising, etc. to continue these successful events so that they can continue to give back to their community and young students through scholarships and awards.

The Needham Women’s Club (Massachusetts) held their largest fundraiser, Dancing with the Needham Stars, along with the Needham Exchange Club. These two groups will donate more than $50,000 to several local programs and charities that benefit children, domestic violence survivors, homeless families, and the intellectually disabled.

Women’s club members dancing through the decades!

Peace Over Violence has run its Denim Day campaign on a Wednesday in April in honor of Sexual Violence Awareness Month for the past nineteen years. The campaign was originally prompted by a ruling of the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt that since the survivor was wearing tight jeans she must have helped her rapist remove her jeans, thereby implying consent. The following day, the women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the survivor. Peace Over Violence developed the Denim Day campaign in response to this case and the activism surrounding it. Since then, wearing jeans on Denim Day has become a symbol of protest against inaccurate and destructive attitudes about sexual assault. This year’s Denim Day was April 24, 2019, also Federation Day, and the executive board of GFWC California’s Southern District showed their support by wearing jeans.

In January, Olympia Woman’s Club president Linda Wolfe, vice-president Sandra Groves, and member Pat Keith met with Senator Sam Hunt to review procedures and processes for potential funds from the Washington State Legislature for the Abigail Stuart House. The upkeep and maintenance of the house is a considerable cost to the club, and they’ve been searching for assistance. At the prompting of Senator Hunt, The Woman’s Club of Olympia prepared an application to their Washington State Legislature House and Senate representatives, Senator Hunt and Representative Beth Doglio, to apply for an appropriation of funds from the Capital Budget for upgrades and maintenance of the historic Abigail Stuart House by making it more ADA accessible, upgrading the electrical wiring system, installing a new roof, refinishing floors, painting, and overall maintaining of the House. The application made it through the offices to be included as an application to the Financial Committee. Since March 1, the club periodically checked in with Hunt and Doglio’s offices to review the progress of their application. The final vote on the Washington State Operating and Capital Budgets was held just moments before the close of the legislative session and both budgets passed with revisions. One revision that was not removed was the Abigail Stuart House and the final Capital Budget awarded an appropriation in the amount of $250,000. The Woman’s Club of Olympia is thrilled with this outcome and will be setting up a committee to set priorities for the use of the funds within the guidelines of the application.

To show support for the GFWC-New York President’s Project, the Farmingdale Women’s Club held their Pinwheel Prevention Event in April and donated $150 to child abuse shelters for Lond Island children. In the fountain there are memory and tribute boards and Tina Diamond added the Floral Park Juniors to it.

One of the Seven Grand Initiatives was to plant 1,000 trees for Arbor Day, and clubs took it to heart, planting trees across the country. Here are just a few of the clubs who celebrated.

Being from Nebraska, the Seward GFWC has celebrated Arbor Day since the beginnings! They are proud to know that clubs across the country were celebrating this year too thanks to the Seven Grand Initiatives. This year, Seward GFWC joined forces with Concordia University to celebrate their 125th birthday by planting two trees. One was dedicated to the GFWC club and the second was in recognition of Concordia’s milestone. Both trees were donated by Sinclair Hille Architects of Lincoln Nebraska, who just completed a new building on Concordia’s campus.

Every year, their Arbor Day celebration includes the fourth grade classes from Seward’s public elementary school as well as St. John’s Lutheran and St. Vincent de Paul’s Catholic school’s; each class does a presentation in honor of Arbor Day. The festivities were started with a Proclamation by Seward’s Mayor, Joshua Eickmeier. Two separate trees were donated by an individual to the Seward GFWC and were planted on Arbor Day at the Seward Civic Center where the club meets. The Civic Center was built in 1955 after Jessie Langworthy passed and donated the land and money for a structure to be built to host non-profit organizations at no cost. Mrs. Langworthy’s mother-in-law was an early member of their town’s GFWC club.

For Arbor Day, the GFWC Dillsburg Woman’s Club (Pennsylvania) voted to plant a small tree in Quay Park, which the club owns. Since it is a beautiful but narrow park on the main street, they needed to plant a tree that would stay somewhat small. Thus, after speaking to one of the horticulturists, they decided on the pinky winky hydrangea tree that blooms as white flowers in mid-summer and changes into purplish pink flowers in late summer and fall.

The GFWC Woman’s Club of the Denville-Rockaway (New Jersey) joined in the festivities when the town held a’ bridge’ dedication at a local park for one of the club’s past members, Peggy Gray. She was an active volunteer in the town and the club was able to get a tree donated in her memory and planted by the bridge.

Pictured with members is the Mayor of Denville, Tom Andes.

The Sorosis Club of Lamar (Colorado) worked along side the tree board and their local 5th graders to help plant 30 trees at local ball parks. Four members were able to help the 5th graders plant trees and nine members provided 12 doz. cookies and 12 doz. bottled waters to the 105 students and adults. Everyone had a great time!

Many clubs brought together Arbor Day and Federation Day to make their mark and celebrate in a big way. One such club was the GFWC Temple Terrace Woman’s Club (Florida), who planted 2 red maple trees to celebrate GFWC’s history.

Another club who combined the celebrations was the GFWC South San Francisco Women’s Club (California). They purchased a valley oak tree that they planted at Orange Memorial Park, a local sculpture garden. A plaque indicating the type of tree, location, date of donation, and an inscription indicating it was donated by the South San Francisco Women’s Club will be posted in their SSF Municipal Services Building for the public to see.

L to R: President Sylvia Payne, Evening and Garden Chair Sharon Silvers;
2nd VP Janine Greenwald; Treasurer Olma O’Neill; and Past President Annette Davis

The Women’s League of Mt. Holly (New Jersey) celebrated Arbor Day with a tribute to two of their members. Club president Joelle Wentz conducted a ceremony to honor Mardella Woolston for 63 years and Carol Kovacs for 48 years of loyalty, generous spirits, and loving hearts. Both were presented with a certificate and became lifetime Honorary Members as they touched candles to represent the circle of light that guided their footsteps for all those years. To celebrate Arbor Day, the club purchased two books on trees and donated them to the very school Mardella retired from so many years ago. The school was delighted and asked her to read a book to the children. One of the books donated is a true story about teacher, Kate Sessions, who moved to San Diego in 1883 and began planting trees in that dry, arid terrain and how she changed the city forever. The Tree Lady by H. Joseph Hopkins was the perfect example of the strength and tenacity their two honorees have shown over a combined total of 111 years.

And last but not least, Midge Tucker, a member of the GFWC Ludlow-Okemo Valley Woman’s Club (Vermont), showed that just one person can make a difference. She doesn’t just plant trees for Arbor Day! Midge has a lot of evergreens in her yard, and while weeding the gardens she comes across tiny inch-high seedling trees. She pulls them up and plants them in little pots, sometimes weaving two or more together for strength. The stems are sometimes as thin as a piece of thread, but will grow rapidly when put together. Some of her successes have found their way to other areas of town, usually when they reach at least a foot high and can survive transplanting into strange soil. She wants to spread the love through trees and you can too!

Clubs around the country have planted pinwheels for Child Abuse Prevention Month to symbolize healthy and happy childhoods. The GFWC Spring Station Woman’s Club (Tennessee) planted a pinwheel garden in front of Spring Hill City Hall and issued a press release to local news media to raise awareness.

Cassie Self, Willie Adler, and Tina Majors

Members of the Woman’s Club of Fredericksburg (Virginia) greeted Fredericksburg Head Start students to plant a pinwheel garden.

Cheryl Broadway, the Home Life Chair of the GFWC Women’s Club of Indian River (Delaware), joined other members to collect art supplies and diapers for Easterseals in Georgetown. The baskets were donated and decorated by member Christy Swiger. 

Pictured left to right are Shelly Waples, Easterseals Access Rep for Children’s Therapy Dept.;
Home Life Chair Cheryl Broadway; Linda Forte, Community Relations Easterseals;
Kate Antisavage, Easterseals Center Director of the Adult Day Program; Shelby Weilepp, Women’s Club of Indian River Treasurer;
Henrietta Belcher-Stack, President of Women’s Club of Indian River; and Muriel Pfeiffer, Vice President of Woman’s Club of Indian River.

The GFWC Brookings Women’s Club (South Dakota) helped pack food bags for school children. The Brookings Backpack Project is a program that assists children and youth in Brookings County by providing them with easy to prepare weekend meals and snacks throughout the year. They helped pack 450 bags of food to deliver to schools for the kids to take home for the weekend. This is a weekly project, with different community groups and volunteers taking part.

The GFWC Progress Club of Las Cruces (New Mexico) volunteered to help with the preparation of Marcher Bags for participants of the 29th Annual Bataan Memorial Death March held annually at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. This March honors the more than 75,000 American and Filipino Soldiers who were surrendered to the invading Japanese force in April 1942. This year there were 8,790 marchers. The GFWC Progress Club, along with other volunteers, helped prepare 9,500 Marcher Bags in two days! Bags included shirts, brochures, dog tags, shave gel, blister pads, hydration drink and pamphlets. In a small way, they were able to honor the 10,000 people who died along the way and many more who were held in captivity. The club was honored to be part of this important event to honor the men and women who serve our country today and throughout history.