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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 newly formed GFWC South Baldwin Woman’s Club (Alabama) already has a hallmark activity to make their mark in their community.  They are proud to sponsor Gulf Shores Goes Pink, an event which will have municipal buildings and bridges light up in pink to honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October. They are excited to make this an annual tradition to help raise awareness of women’s health issues. On October 1st, Gulf Shores mayor Robert Craft will sign a proclamation to make October officially Breast Cancer Awareness Month in their town, and will kick off the event! It will feature pink firetrucks and police cars, with volunteers from Gulf Shores Fire & Rescue manning the grills.

The GFWC Women’s Club of Mountain Top (Pennsylvania) participated in National Night Out held by their local first responders. The club provided children with a card to color and present to a first responder at the event to thank them for their service. The event gave the club a chance to reach out to members of their community while also raising their own visibility as important members of the community.

Clubs like the GFWC Northboro Junior Woman’s Club are helping shape the next generation of young women. The club is in full swing prepping for their 11^th Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Conference. The free conference gives hundreds of middle school girls from their community and the surrounding towns an opportunity to explore careers where women have been underrepresented. They get to work with professional women in fields such as forensic chemistry, robotics, surgery, DNA extraction, veterinary medicine, nursing, computer programing, dentistry, and more!

The conference is an excellent chance for young girls to be exposed to fields that have historically been male-dominated. The day begins with a light breakfast and a keynote speaker. There are 16 hands-on workshops, 40 minutes each, and the girls get to choose four to attend. After their workshops, there’s a “networking” lunch.

Studies show that girls lose interest in math and science when they’re in middle school. The conference attempts to break that pattern by actively engaging with preadolescent girls and presenting them with women role models in STEM fields. Every year the Women in STEM Conference has an increasing number of both participants and presenters, with many returnees. Last year’s conference consisted of 20 professional women in STEM, and 170 passionate middle school girls. The workshops they offer are varied and dynamic. Girls can investigate a crime scene with a forensic chemist, construct and race “bristlebots” (mini toothbrush robots), create a zip line with a materials scientist, extract DNA from strawberries, and so much more.

The GFWC Dublin San Ramon Women’s Club (California) sponsors a Teen Job Fair every year. It began as a small idea in 2003 with about 20 teenagers, but now it’s a major event! The fair exists to provide teenagers with information and strategies that will help their transition into higher education or the work force. Like many job fairs, teenagers can speak with over 30 businesses. But the club goes above and beyond that and offers teens the chance to have a one-on-one with a career panelist, attend a workshop, and participate in a mock interview. The club offers free lunch, and there’s even a workshop for the parents so they can better prepare and assist their children.

Children and teenagers are the future, and by hosting conferences and career fairs, GFWC clubs are making sure adolescents in their communities are excited, engaged, and prepared for it!

There are tried and true fundraising techniques that bring GFWC clubs success every year, but sometimes a club thinks outside the box. When Marian Ambrose became the new president of the GFWC Melbourne Woman’s Club (Florida) four years ago, she searched for a way to raise funds that was both entertaining and fairly easy. She tried to think of something that hadn’t been done before that would appeal to a large group of people. That’s where the idea of a GFWC Psychic Fundraiser was born, and it’s been going strong ever since!

The club invited famous psychic medium, Jeffrey Wands, to do a presentation. He “read” the audience for an hour or so. During a 20 minute break, the club served cookies, cakes, and beverages to the audience. They also took the opportunity to play a video that showed the club’s charitable activities, allowing them to attract potential members. Afterwards, Jeffrey held an hour and a half Q&A, followed by a book signing.

This year, the club raised additional money during the event with raffles. Jeffrey donated some of his books, as well as a free private reading for one lucky winner. The evening resulted in $3,400 in profit for the club. It was also a victory in engaging their community and getting interest in the club. They received emails and text messages thanking them for providing an enjoyable and moving experience, with requests to be put on the mailing list so they’d know when Jeffrey would return. By offering an imaginative event unlike any other in their community, the club established a successful fundraising tactic that continues to draw a crowd each year.

They aren’t the only ones with mystical fundraising ideas. The Century Club of Amsterdam (New York) held its fifth Psychic Fair in 2017. The club always hosts it in October because the Halloween mood makes it the time of the year with the most interest.

The club enjoys welcoming the public into their home, especially for an exciting event like their fair. Psychics decorate their space to fit the mood, and the club sets up dividers to give them privacy. In addition to psychic readings, guests can enjoy tarot cards, stones, palm readings, and aura reflections. Since there’s often a wait for the different types of readings, the club offers lunch for their guests. There are also vendors with jewelry, leather goods, oils, massages, and cleansing sessions, so there’s something for everyone!

By tapping into the otherworldly, these GFWC clubs have created unique events that serve them well. We don’t need a fortunate teller to know their success will continue.

While Valentine’s Day is mostly associated with romance, it has become more common to celebrate all forms of love. GFWC clubs take the holiday as an opportunity to open their hearts to their communities. The GFWC Junior Woman’s Club of Jacksonville (Florida) likes to show their love for the troops on Valentine’s Day. This year they made over 200 cards to send with candy!

Sharing their enthusiasm is the Newtown Woman’s Club, GFWC, Inc. (Connecticut), who has a long tradition of supporting our country’s veterans. To make the men and women who served our nation have a special holiday, the club write notes and sends them to the veterans living at the state’s retirement home.

Retirement homes are a popular spot for GFWC Valentine’s Day projects because they want residents, especially those who don’t have loved ones to spend the day with, to remember they are valued. The annual project of the GFWC Woman’s Club of Newton (New Jersey) is to collect valentines made by school children, and deliver the colorful messages to nursing home residents. The GFWC La Cresenta Woman’s Club (California) decorated placemats for seniors at a local retirement home to brighten up their meals this year.

Valentine’s Day provides an opportunity to express all kinds of love, even love for your libraries! The GFWC Marlborough Junior Women’s Club (Massachusetts) turned Valentine’s Day into Love Your Library Day in recognition of librarians and GFWC’s history with libraries. For the past seven years, they’ve delivered cards and homemade chocolates for the librarians in two local libraries on Valentine’s Day. The Marlborough Library is less than a block from the homeless shelter, and the librarians have been instrumental in helping them get back on their feet by showing them such things as how to access their Registry of Motor Vehicles accounts. The club knows the librarians do a lot of work helping the less fortunate in their communities, and wanted to show their appreciation.

The Valentine’s Day tradition of the GFWC Qui Vive Club (Minnesota) is to deliver the club flower—red carnations— to hospital patients. A card is included with each vase, and the club members enjoy talking with the patients. Unfortunately, due to the severity of the flu this year, the club has to wait and do it closer to Easter. The GFWC Beloit Junior Woman’s Club (Wisconsin) delivers Valentines to patrons of Meals on Wheels. The holiday encourages us to show that we care, and GFWC clubs rise up to the challenge. The creativity and thoughtfulness of all of these projects just goes to show that clubwomen have no shortage of love to share.

Mardi Gras is a celebratory day, and many GFWC clubs take it as an opportunity to celebrate their communities! It’s often an indulgent holiday, with feasts and traditional foods that make it live up to its “Fat Tuesday” name. But the GFWC Western Wake Woman’s Club (North Carolina) use the day to make a difference in the lives of people who might not have access to food. They’ve volunteered for Meals On Wheels of Wake County’s Mardi Gras Ball for five years now. The club greets guests, answers questions, encourages participation in the silent auction, and hands out door prizes. The fundraiser event supports the elderly and homebound members of their community by ensuring they can be delivered meals that will lead to a healthy life.

To get into the spirit of Mardi Gras and the excitement of Bourbon Street, the GFWC St. Petersburg Junior Woman’s Club (Florida) is having their 4^th Annual Mardi Gras Bar Crawl. Participants dress up and get a swag bag that includes a mask and beads.

They get to drink, dance, and crown the King and Queen of Mardi Gras. The local bars are incredibly supportive of the Juniors and their event. They help decorate in purple, green, and gold, and offer drink specials and prizes. The club loves all of the fundraisers that allow them to continue their long tradition of service in community, but the Mardi Gras Bar Crawl might be the most fun.

Perhaps the expert in Mardi Gras events is the GFWC Frederick Woman’s Civic Club (Maryland). This February they’ll host their 57^th Annual Mardi Gras Gala, their county’s longest running event. In 1962, the historic Steiner House was going to be taken down and turned into a gas station, so the club seized the opportunity to preserve a Frederick landmark and make it into their home. The club started the Mardi Gras event to pay off the mortgage and maintain the house that was built in 1807. Over the years, they began to use the extra proceeds to fund scholarships, non-profit organizations, and the club’s Community Service Programs.

The club rents out a ballroom and courtyard for the affair, with a DJ who brings dance motivators. Three men chosen for their community participation are crowned the kings of Mardi Gras.

There is also a royal court of princesses who are high school juniors, seniors, or college freshmen. The club hosts a Princess Tea for the chosen princesses and their mothers at Steiner House. There’s a brief program with a speaker, followed by an introduction of each girl that emphasizes their achievements and the goals they’ve set for themselves. The princesses take part in a community project too. This year they made Linus Blankets for DC Candelighters, an organization that benefits children recently diagnosed with cancer and supports their families. At the Mardi Gras event, one princess is randomly selected as the Queen of Mardi Gras, and she receives a $1,000 scholarship.

If these Mardi Gras events are any indication, GFWC clubs know how to combine celebration with charity.

Supporting the arts has been an important venture for GFWC from its beginning, and clubs continue to find new ways to do so. In honor of January 31^st being National Inspire Your Heart with Art Day, we want to celebrate the artistic projects that GFWC clubs have done.

In addition to holding Arts & Crafts contests for many years, the GFWC Woman’s Club of Tarpon Springs (Florida) have also held workshops for using alcohol ink to paint on tiles. One of those workshops benefited the Hacienda Girls Ranch, a foster care group home and emergency shelter for young girls that fundraising by the GFWC Florida Federation helped launch. Another one of their fundraisers was a workshop for painting wine glasses, combining creative expression with service.

The Woman’s Club of Westminster (Maryland) has sponsored art exhibits for six years. Each exhibit features media done by local artists in various mediums, including photography, acrylics, watercolors, pen and ink, pencil, colored pencil, computer generated art, giclée photography, and basket weaving.

It began when their Arts Committee decided the utilitarian walls of their meeting space in the Carroll County Non-Profit building could use a transformation. They began to exhibit three or four art shows every year to celebrate local artwork. To date, they’ve provided a free exhibit space for over 142 local artists! Other groups who use the building routinely thank the Woman’s Club of Westminster for providing art that gives them daily pleasure.

GFWC Mississippi President Tinker Forrester’s creativity was fostered by her grandmother. She grew up watching her create intricately designed quilts and make all of her clothes without a pattern. In 2006 when Tinker was the arts chairman of her local club, she invited a guest speaker from EXPRESS Yourself! Art, and was touched by the concept. The program provides individuals with cerebral palsy the opportunity to express themselves on canvas with the assistance of a trackers, who are trained to execute the vision of individuals with severe disabilities.

Eventually Tinker became Mississippi President-elect, and knew she wanted her administration to focus on EXPRESS Yourself! Art. She reconnected with the head of the program to find out where the greatest impact could be made. When she found out that the program receives no funding, operating strictly on grants they’re able to get and part of the proceeds of art sales (with the rest going to the artists), Tinker decided to raise enough money to fund an endowment administered by the MSU Foundation so the program could be sustainable.

Tinker is thrilled that the endowment commitment has been three-quarters funded so far. But the most rewarding part has been the bond she’s developed with each of the eight artists currently involved in the program. One of her personal goals was to learn how to be a tracker for the artists, and to date, she has tracked for four of them!

We encourage you to take this Inspire Your Heart with Art Day as an opportunity to develop new ways to inspire others with a combination of art and the GFWC spirit!

January is National Blood Donor Month, meant to promote blood donation during what has proven to be the most difficult time of year to recruit donors. Holidays can be busy and distracting, and people tend to get sick in the winter. Bad weather is doubly disadvantageous, because it causes icy roads and unsafe conditions that result in an increase in traumatic injuries requiring donated blood, but it also forces the cancellations of many blood drives.

Blood donation saves lives. Victims of disasters and accidents, cancer patients, children with severe anemia, and women with pregnancy complications are some of the people who need blood transfusions and count on those who can donate. The American Red Cross reports that every two seconds, someone in the United States requires a blood transfusion. Unfortunately, it’s estimated that only 38 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate at any given time, with only 10 percent of that population actually donating blood each year.

While not everyone is eligible to donate, you can still do your part by taking a page out of the book of GFWC clubs who sponsor or host blood drives! The GFWC Cumberland Valley Pups (Pennsylvania) have hosted blood drives since 2011, partnering with the Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank, which produces flyers for the club to post in public places. This is important to the club because they know promotion of the blood drive is critical to its success.

Club members volunteer to assist donors with paperwork and provide refreshments while they wait to give blood. They also post their mission statement and previous club projects so that their event might recruit some interested people along the way.

A total of 27 people came to their 2016 blood drive, 18 of them able to donate, and it benefitted over 54 people! In 2017, only 12 people attended, half as many as usual. The club says this is because they took for granted that the event “sold itself” in the past, and assumed past donors would continue to show up. This made the club realize the importance of giving each member a goal for getting people to commit to the blood drive in order for it to be successful.

The GFWC Amery Woman’s Club (Wisconsin) has assisted with and held blood drives for 52 years! It has grown to a two-day blood drive in the spring and fall each year. The club promotes them all over town, calls prospective donors to schedule appointments, inputs those appointments onto the Red Cross website, and sends out reminder postcards.

Members help donors sign in, serve homemade cookies, drinks, and donated snacks, and provide casseroles and salads for lunch for the Red Cross employees. After the blood drive, they write thank you letters, and write to an editor of the paper to share how many units of blood were collected and to thank the community for its support. Thoughtful touches like that help ensure people will return.

If your club is looking for a new project, consider hosting a blood drive! Hospitals are always in need of blood, so every person who donates is helping making sure supply meets the demand.

The poverty line is the estimate of the minimum level of income needed for basic life necessities. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s report, 40.6 million people in the country lived under the poverty line in 2016, a third of them children. While it was the second year in a row of a decrease in the poverty rate, that number is still too high. January is National Poverty in America Awareness Month, so it’s time to think of what you can do to make sure the poverty rate goes down every year.

There are several ways the government could address poverty, but it takes your voice to make it happen! You can write to your Congressional representatives about your support for:

• Granting employees more stability and predictability for their work schedules. Low wage jobs often have constantly changing shifts, which can be a challenge for families and single parents who are already struggling to make ends meet.
• Paid leave and paid sick days. The U.S. is the only developed country that doesn’t offer it, although individual states are beginning to. Not having paid sick leave can pose an issue for families that must sacrifice necessary income to attend to their health or care for a sick child.
• Pay equity. We’ve heard that on average, women make 79 cents for every dollar men make. However, it doesn’t acknowledge that the gap is even wider for women of color, or that men of color have their own wage gaps. Pay equity for everyone would bring many families out of poverty.

Poverty is a complicated social problem that can’t be solved by individuals, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways for you to help fight against it in your communities, or to support those living in poverty.

• Support access to quality education. Education and poverty are tied up in an unfortunate cycle. Children who come from impoverished homes face more challenges in school, especially in underfunded schools. If they don’t succeed or can’t afford college, it means those who grow up in poverty are likely to stay in poverty. But you can support low-income students by:
  • Creating or supporting afterschool meal programs.
  • Establishing libraries or donating books in underserved areas, and promoting summer reading programs— low-income students are shown to lose reading skills over the summer while their high-income peers improve.
  • Donating school supplies to children in need.
• Donate necessity items. Collect food, clothing, toiletries, first-aid items, diapers, blankets, furniture, and more items that we take for granted and give them to shelters and local organizations in your community where they will be put to good use.

This month, spread awareness of the poverty problem we have in our country, and together with your club you can advocate for change and make change of your own.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that about three percent of babies are born with a birth defect each year. Common birth defects include congenital heart defects, cleft lip and cleft palate, and spina bifida— which is an incomplete closing of the backbone. Birth defects can cause serious problems in a baby’s health and development, and are also the leading cause of infant mortality. January is Birth Defects Prevention Month, and 2018’s theme is “Prevent to Protect: Prevent Infections for Baby’s Protection”. What can you do to help?

Get Educated and Spread Awareness

Promoting awareness of the prevalence and danger of birth defects is important to make prevention possible. But it’s important to first learn about birth defects yourself and then spread the word.

Some birth defects are tied to genetics and can’t be prevented, but others can be. Here are a few ways the CDC suggests that a pregnant woman can reduce the risk of birth defects:

• Avoid alcohol and cigarettes while pregnant.
• Have a preconception check-up— the doctor will make sure you’re healthy, you’re up to date on your vaccinations, and that you aren’t taking medicine that will negatively affect your baby.
• Wash your hands often to risk reduce of common infections.
• Take folic acid, an essential B-vitamin, before and during the early stages of pregnancy.
• If you have a cat, don’t change the cat litter. This will lessen your chance of getting toxoplasmosis, an infection caused by a parasite. Cats are the primary living host of the parasite, and it’s passed through their feces.

You might not be pregnant or have any plans to become pregnant, but your voice is a powerful tool, and you can make sure that the pregnant women in your life and in your community are aware of how common birth defects are and what they can do to prevent them.

Support GFWC Partner March of Dimes

Hosting a fundraiser for March of Dimes will help fund their research and programs that work to prevent birth defects.

Support GFWC Partner Operation Smile

While this month’s focus is on prevention of birth defects, that doesn’t mean treatment isn’t possible. Prevention should be prioritized, but there are still ways you can make a difference in the lives of children who have been born with birth defects. For example, you can support Operation Smile in its mission to provide free surgeries to children with cleft lip and cleft palate who don’t have access to safe surgery.

This January, spread the word about birth defects and support the organizations that work to make them less common.

GFWC clubwomen are filling the holidays with music. The Fuquay-Varina Junior Woman’s Club (North Carolina) has a Christmas Social every year that involves getting dinner at a local restaurant and then going back to a member’s house for dessert and coffee. They spend an hour caroling and sharing their memories of youth, led by a professional pianist they hire for the evening. The club enjoys adding special harmonies and tunes to the carols, and have wonderful time singing and storytelling.

Many GFWC clubs carol to bring cheer to their communities. In addition to an evening of acapella caroling at their annual Christmas party for their guests to enjoy, the Women’s Club of Farmingdale (New York) continued their annual custom of entertaining the Farmingdale Adult Day Care Center with traditional Christmas tunes!

The Swartz Creek Woman’s Club (Michigan) provided a Christmas tree lighting, complete with two live reindeer, and had the high school Madrigals and a local band sing carols. Then they had a huge event called Christmas in the Creek, which was their first ever no-fee event for their community. The event was packed with things for kids to see and do, including a penguin egg hunt and a Charlie Brown Christmas skit. The local library also featured Miss “Christmas” Carol, who read and sang songs to young children! With all of the activities and song, the club made sure their community could find Christmas spirit wherever they turned.

The Oconomowoc Junior Woman’s Club (Wisconsin) braced the wind and cold for their fourth annual tradition of Christmas caroling at local establishments in downtown Oconomowoc. The club uses the evening to raise money for Rogers Memorial Hospital Foundation, which participates in the Give for A Better Day Holiday Gift Drive that benefits the Angel Fund. The Angel Fund gives a gift to children ages 8 through 17 who will be undergoing treatment during the holiday season. Every year, the hospital staff hosts a festive party and distributes gifts to each patient. Oftentimes they are the only holiday gifts they receive. This year the club raised $363.00 for the Angel Fund, and one of the club members will purchase gift cards for the patients so they can have a brighter holiday.

The Woman’s Club of New Tampa (Florida) carolers were right on key when they shared Christmas jingles and joy with the residents at the Legacy at Highwoods Preserve. The residence offers assisted living and memory care for seniors. The club sang and served cookies and warm drinks. The tradition of bringing Christmas cheer to seniors is one of their favorite holiday outings each year.

Whether they’re caroling for a cause, or just to bring a smile to everyone’s faces, GFWC carolers are uplifting spirits in their community through song!