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Weeding the GFWC Hudson Women’s Club Butterfly Garden at Bensons Park in Hudson, New Hampshire is a project that isn’t stopped by social distancing. Members can stop, drop, and weed, anytime they are walking in the town park. Keeping gravel paths weed free and pulling out invasive bittersweet go much faster when you can talk to another gardener ten or fifteen feet away! The pergola, purchased with prize money won in the GFWC Community Improvement Contest (2012) and installed by Habitat for Humanity, finally has some plants thinking about climbing up the posts! Club members have heard several families explaining the butterfly life cycle to young children with the help of our signage. The garden is a certified Monarch Waystation.

Since the start of the shelter in place in California, members of GFWC Corralitos Woman’s Club have made more than 400 cloth masks, which were donated to three area hospitals, three animal hospitals, the local YMCA, independent visiting nurses, Salud Para La Gente community services, Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance, Community Action Board, local businesses, and the club’s general membership. More than $2,600 in donations were received as a result, and these funds were given to six local nonprofit organizations that all provide food and emergency assistance: Grey Bears, Meals on Wheels of Santa Cruz County, Pajaro Valley Loaves & Fishes, PV Prevention & Student Assistance, Second Harvest, and Teen Kitchen Project. Currently the club is busily knitting “mask extender” comfort straps for a local hospital.

Pictured is Lindsay Pavlovich, RN, modeling a mask and a sampling of the colorful assortment of masks.

The GFWC Florida High Springs New Century Woman’s Club provided a delicious pizza luncheon for residents at the Plantation Oaks Senior Living Residence located in High Springs. To bring a little cheer during these “trying times,” members donated the funds to have 22 pizzas delivered to the center. The staff was able to meet the members of the club outside and shared how excited the residents would be to receive this special treat. It really meant a lot to help make others smile!

GFWC Dunwoody Woman’s Club (Georgia) has not let COVID-19 stop it from completing charitable projects in its community. In addition to taking donations to local food pantries, JoAnn Kostkan, Arts and Culture Chairman, worked with the Foundation for Hospital Art and organized a club art project while members were sheltering in place. Members and their grandchildren painted six panels that will form a beautiful dragonfly mural to be donated to a local hospital in Georgia. Members also painted a picnic table that is now located at a local coffee shop – Crema Espresso Gourmet.

The City of Dunwoody Economic Development Department partnered with local restaurants to add or expand outdoor dining with the Painted Picnic Table Project to meet social distancing requirements. Dunwoody non-profit organizations volunteered to help assemble and paint the tables; businesses donated picnic tables and painting supplies.

Dunwoody Club President Susan Crawford coordinated a team of members to sew fabric face masks for the staff of the local police department. The masks can be washed and reused and will help extend the life of the N95 masks. The Dunwoody Woman’s Club has been an active part of the community since 1971 and will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year.

After a long stretch of hot humid weather, the GFWC Woman’s Club of West Allis (Wisconsin) decided to “cool” off. The club collected more than $500 and purchased 30 box fans at a discounted price with free delivery from Ace Hardware for the Milwaukee Homeless Veterans Initiative. The club also collected two used fans and one new fan. A big thank you to Elliott’s Ace Hardware for being a wonderful partner to “cool” the veterans and their families.

GFWC Woman’s Club of West Allis Fan Project Coordinators Sharon Plucinski (left) and Linda Taylor (right) with Ace Hardware Staff (center)

The five members of GFWC Woman’s Club of Little Silver (New Jersey) made and donated 250 masks to Monmouth Medical Center during the early stages of COVID-19. Club President Kathy Doty also made the Tree of Hope out of felt.

Winifred Steele-Burnett, LSWC Recording Secretary and Club President Kathy Doty

In June, the GFWC Mississippi Florentine Evening Club provided gift cards from the hospital coffee shop, muffins, cookies, and other baked goods to the 4th floor ICU nurses and doctors at St. Dominic Hospital as they heroically face COVID-19 on a daily basis.

The Women’s Club of Farmingdale (New York) was very proud to present a $1,000 music award to Jonathan Doty, a Farmingdale High School 2020 graduate. The Olive B. O’Connor Music Award is presented every year to a qualifying candidate by GFWC New York. The winner must be a resident of New York State, be graduating from an approved New York State (NYS) Education Department high school, private school or academy, and have had preparatory instruction, either in voice or instrument, at the high school level. The award must be used for continued musical education and be approved by the NYS Music Award Chairman.

Women’s clubs throughout NYS submitted the names of qualifying students before the March 1 deadline. Jonathan’s application was submitted by Bea Ferrari, a WCF sponsoring club member and retired FHS teacher. Jonathan has been singing since he was in 6th grade and studying voice since 8th grade. He has been performing high school musicals since his freshman year where he has had the male lead every year. These include “Horton” in Seussical, “The Baker” in Into the Woods, “Nick Piazza” in Fame, and most recently “Link Larkin” in Hairspray. Also included in his resume are many performances in “outside” theatre shows. At FHS, Jonathan was part of the mixed chorus for four years, vocal jazz for three years, and the select barbershop quartet for three years. He was Bass Section Leader and has gone to All County Mixed Chorus for two consecutive years. In addition to singing, Jonathan plays the French horn and has been one of the Drum Majors for the FHS Marching Band.

Several years ago, the Women’s Club of Farmingdale (New York) created an Ambassador Fundraising Program to raise funds for International and Global Issues inspired by their parent organization, The General Federation of Women’s Clubs, Inc. in Washington, D.C. The Ambassador Program consists of monthly lunches at local restaurants chaired by a rotating schedule of members. In the past, funds raised have been used to support a member’s daughter who is involved in building schools in Uganda in remote areas and, in addition to education, the schools promote healthy exercise for a healthy mind.

Currently, the Ambassador Program sponsored “Speak Up for the Poor,” whose mission it is to transform the world on behalf of the poor, especially creating a new reality for girls in poverty. By building an international network of people and organizations that run Girls’ Education Programs, Safe Homes for girls and Justice programs to investigate and defend human rights abuses, they have rescued girls born into brothels, rescued girls from sex trafficking and rescued girls from exploitation and abuse. They have helped and encouraged these girls to stay in school, find a path to success and inspired them to live up to their fullest potential. Unfortunately, hundreds of girls remain on their waiting list.

With the club’s $1,500 donation, Speak Up for the Poor was able to build and dedicate a beautiful Learning Center wing and purchase four bicycles for the girls to use as transportation. For more information, please go to: www.speakupforthepoor.org.

The Domestic Violence Committee of the GFWC Woman’s League of the Lowcountry (South Carolina) assembled and delivered comfort kits to Hopeful Horizons in May. Hopeful Horizons is a children’s advocacy, domestic abuse and rape crisis center, providing safety, hope and healing to survivors. This nonprofit center serves four Lowcountry counties. The kits will be used by the therapists working with the children. Each kit contained educational workbooks, a journal, colored pencils, crayons, playdoh, and a fidget toy as well as a weighted blanket to offer comfort and security during the interview process.

In addition to the kits CCI Hearing Dog Huxley presented CCI Hopeful Horizon Dog Adobe with a $100.00 gift card.This project by the Domestic Violence Committee was made possible by a $1,000 grant from S.C.F.W.C Progress Foundation.

GFWC West Side (Pennsylvania) recently donated funds to the Pennsylvania Regional Food Bank, the Al Beech West Side Food Pantry, and the “Dinner for Kids” program. GFWC West Side is dedicated to helping their local community and area nonprofits.

At the general meeting of GFWC Woman’s League of Mt. Holly (New Jersey), back in March, Home Life Chairman Elaine Hollowell, introduced a new project to raise funds to purchase a little red wagon for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The wagons are used to transport children to surgery, medical treatments, and many times just for a little ride with their families. Her goal was to pass around a tiny replica of the wagon asking members to contribute their spare change for the next few meetings, to work toward buying one wagon for $100. The meetings came to an abrupt end shortly after this due to COVID-19 and members have not had another meeting since. That did not stop their amazing, generous, and committed group of ladies from supporting this worthy project by mailing their donations to Elaine.

To date, members and anonymous donors have collected enough to purchase eight wagons for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The GFWC Woman’s League of Mt. Holly were able to bring smiles not only to the children, but their families as well.

GFWC Women’s Club of Indian River (Delaware) held their awards presentation from the Delaware State Federation of Women’s Club on June 2 at the pavilion of Warwick Park on the Indian River. The awards were presented by President Carla Pyle and some of her officers. The officers toured the state visiting each club to present these awards.

In honor of Memorial Day, the members of the GFWC High Springs Woman’s Club (Florida) placed flags on the graves of deceased veterans at the High Springs Cemetery and the Pine Hills Cemetery. The 295 flags were donated by American Legion Post 149 in Newberry. A penny was placed on each headstone to show someone visited the grave. To remember our veterans with health issues, the club served lunch donated by Wendy’s for the veterans living at the Mayflower Assistant Living facility in High Springs. Goody bags and chocolate covered Oreos made by one of their members were a big hit with the veterans. The residents created and signed beautiful cards thanking Wendy’s and the Woman’s Club.

GFWC Menominee Woman’s Club (Michigan) places flags on veteran’s graves at Menominee’s Riverside Cemetery for Memorial Day each year. This year, the club decided it could still participate in the project if masks were worn and the social distancing rules were followed. It was a beautiful day on May 21 for volunteers to honor about 400 veterans with flags. A photo of some of our volunteers in their masks is attached.

An additional 2020 Memorial Day project for GFWC Menominee Woman’s Club was to clean the marble gravestones in the original Veterans Memorial area of Menominee’s Riverside Cemetery. Last autumn Pat Krah, Chair of the Public Issues CSP, approached Todd and Christina Schloegel, owners of Menominee Granite Co., with a request for a price estimate to clean all the marble headstones. Their response was :”We will clean the headstones at no cost to your Club. It will be a thank you to your Club which does so much good in our community.” A photo of the newly washed headstones is attached.

Earlier this year, when schools and planned service projects started being canceled or postponed, members of the GFWC Lilburn Woman’s Club (Georgia) scrambled to find creative ways to serve and quickly discovered that their communities needed them more than ever. After holding their first virtual meetings and challenging their Community Service Program (CSP) Chairs to get creative, GFWC Lilburn Woman’s Club President Diane DeGaetano, a retired RN who understands first-hand the importance of protective equipment, encouraged all the seamstresses in the club to start sewing masks for local and state hospitals workers in need. More than 300 masks have been shipped and delivered to date with many more to come. She then asked each CSP to donate a portion of their annual budget to provide a GFWC Federation Day Italian buffet lunch for 30+ respiratory therapists at their local county hospital. Not only were they able to show their appreciation for the medical frontline workers, but they also supported one of their local small business restaurants with the project.

GFWC Lilburn Woman’s Club education committee members identified the need for children’s books at their Title I elementary school after the libraries and schools closed. They coordinated with the principal and administrators to establish a Pop-Up Little Free Library in front of the school stocked with 3 cases of disinfected along with new and used books for readers of all ages. As the children and their parents or guardians walked to school to pick up their free lunches during the week, the school staff would give each child their own book to take home along with their lunch.

Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, International Affiliate GFWC CrêSer in Brazil is focusing its work on helping those in need. CrêSer is working to provide supplies and shelter to families affected by unemployment and cut in wages.

CrêSer relied on great commitment from its volunteers and employees for the manufacturing and distribution of 2,000 fabric and 300 acetate protection masks. A fundraising campaign made it possible to set up 1,215 baskets with non-perishable food that was delivered to families in need.

CrêSer adopted all hygienic security measures by suspending group activities, communicating via telephone, internet, and social networks. They also practiced social isolation and domestic care, as well as the prevention of violence against children, adolescents, and women.

CrêSer hope to return to normal programs soon!

The GFWC Appalachian Leading Ladies Junior Woman’s Club (Virginia) was officially federated in February at GFWC Virginia’s Mid-Winter Executive Board Meeting. Just ahead of the COVID-19 outbreak, which forced all clubs into quarantine, GFWC Appalachian Leading Ladies Junior Woman’s Club was unable to get started the way they envisioned. Instead, the club utilized group messages and video chatting on Facebook Messenger to adopt a mask-making project. Members donated supplies, monetary donations via PayPal, got started sewing, and distributed masks to those in need throughout the community at no charge.

GFWC Newington/Wethersfield Women’s Club (Connecticut) distributed nearly 300 free masks to community hospitals, clinics, first responders, pharmacies, police, correctional officers, those with health complications, and more. GFWC Appalachian Leading Ladies Junior Woman’s Club has donated 646 masks, 79 bands, and 8 hospital gowns. Masks were donated to Newington Rapid Recovery, Prudence Crandell, Newington Town Hall, and Senior & Disabled Center. They were also donated to co-workers, friends, and family. They have spent 387 hours making these items and donated over $700 in in-kind donations.

Clubs across Oklahoma had to be creative with celebrations as club years ended with sheltering-in-place and social distancing. GFWC Waurika Sorosis Club has sponsored a Tea for graduating seniors for more than 25 years. This year, club members had to be creative in honoring the class of 2020 graduates. On May 6, club members delivered each Waurika High School graduating senior yard signs, pizza, a rose, a gift from the club, and balloons. Club members drove separate cars and were careful to socially distance as the deliveries were made.

The group also gives each Kindergarten graduate a copy of “Oh the Places You Will Go,” a favorite by Dr. Seuss. This year, the books were distributed by school superintendent, Cody Simmons, as the students had their graduation in individual family groups with no more than two family members present. The kindergarten book program was started in 2011.

The GFWC Woman’s Club of Bridgeport (West Virginia) and the GFWC North Central Junior Alumnae (West Virginia), annually celebrates GFWC Federation Day. Typically, the occasion is noted with a meeting or party, but this year—due to the COVID-19—members celebrated in their own homes, snapping photos to share with each other. Members were asked to reflect on the many friendships made through their Federation involvement. They were to call a friend and reminisce about the wonderful opportunities they have shared through their membership in GFWC.

April is usually the month that GFWC Marlton Woman’s Club (New Jersey) gathers at its monthly meeting to partake in many fundraising events. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these events have been canceled. GFWC Marlton Woman’s Club witnessed the hardship of their neighbors and community suffering financially from business and school closures firsthand. Via electronic vote, it was approved by the membership to divide all available funds this year to donate to six area 501(c)(3) organizations that are on the front lines feeding, sheltering, and helping those at-risk in our community. GFWC Marlton Woman’s Club donated $750 each to the following six community partners: Cherokee High School Food Pantry, Covenant House, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church Food Pantry, Providence House, Wiley Food Pantry, and Women with Voices Charity.

Earlier this year, when schools and planned service projects started being canceled or postponed, members of the GFWC Lilburn Woman’s Club (Georgia) scrambled to find creative ways to continue to serve and quickly discovered that they cannot be stopped when their communities need us more than ever. Members came together and to help their communities in several ways:

1. GFWC Lilburn Woman’s Club sewed more than 300 masks that have been shipped and delivered with many more to come.
2. GFWC Lilburn Woman’s Club coordinated with local elementary school after the libraries and schools closed. They established a pop-up Little Free Library® in front of the school stocked with three cases of disinfectant, and books for readers of all ages.
   
3. GFWC Lilburn Woman’s Club Home Life set up a drive-by food donation box outside of the Allstate office in downtown Lilburn, GA; it was posted on social media so that both the general public and club members could drop off donations for their local food pantry without ever leaving their cars or waiting in line.
   
4. GFWC Lilburn Woman’s Club Arts Committee ordered components, assembled, and delivered 200 craft kits to Lilburn Elementary School for the children.