Category: Volunteers in Action

VIA Honored with Proclamation

The mayor of Rehoboth Beach, DE, honored the Village Improvement Association by proclaiming that Monday, March 20, 2023, would be Village Improvement Association (VIA) Day.  The proclamation was in honor of Women’s History Month and to recognize and celebrate the achievements the women have made over the club’s 114 years serving the City of Rehoboth and surrounding area.

The proclamation cited the club’s many contributions in education, support for the homeless, scholarships and community beautification efforts to name a few.  It also stated that the club’s 240 members make a positive difference in the community.

The formal proclamation was declared on Friday, March 17 and a reception honoring VIA members was held at the VIA clubhouse on Monday, March 20.  Stan Mills, Mayor of Rehoboth Beach, several City Commissioners, GFWC Delaware State President Patricia Rodriguez, and GFWC Delaware Sussex County Vice President Mindy Goss attended the reception and participated in the celebration.

At the Women’s Club of Farminngdale (NY) February Meeting, 2nd VP Lynda Leone scheduled a wonderful program by Canine Companions. Thank you to Linda Herskowitz, Craig Barbieri and Ann Johnson and their beautiful “canine companions” that brought so much joy to the meeting. They shared so much valuable information including the fact that besides helping adults with physical disabilities or deafness, children with disabilities, veterans with physical disabilities, hearing loss and PTSD, they also work in health care, criminal justice and educational settings. They foster a nationwide community of dedicated volunteers, donors, advocates and clients who believe in their mission. For more information, please visit info@canine.org.

At the March meeting of the GFWC Woman’s Club of Bridgeport, Membership Co-Chairmen, Renee Starkey and Gay Jeffers, led the members during a shamrock painting project. This was a combination Saint Patrick’s Day activity and a March Craft Month activity. The club’s paintings were then delivered to residents of a local personal care facility.

Amy Brown, the President of the Wake Forest Woman’s Club (NC), determined a unique and personal undertaking for her President’s Project. Through her weekly volunteer work at the Wake Forest Community Table program at Hope House in Wake Forest, Amy became aware of the need for feminine hygiene products by the women being served.

These products are costly, necessary, and take up a good portion of their budgets. Such products are not an eligible benefit of North Carolina SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) or SNAP for WIC (Women, Infants, and Children).

Further, Huma Farid, MD, in an article in Women’s Health of Harvard Health Publishing, uses the term “period poverty” to describe “the nearly 22 million women living in poverty in the US who cannot afford menstrual hygiene products.”

The women served by the weekly dinner program frequently request such items. Amy states, “As a woman’s club, I wanted to support women in our community. These products are expensive for them.”  Amy communicated her message to her fellow clubwomen and they responded by donating boxes of personal hygiene items to supplement her purchases. Over 150 boxes were delivered to Hope House and will be distributed to clients served by the program.

GFWC Four Leaf Clover Club of Albion Idaho recently worked with the eastern Idaho Food Bank on a agricultural/farmworker food distribution event.  Several members helped by directing traffic, assisting people with food from the pallets and helping load the food into vehicles.  The State President’s project is to help alleviate hunger in Idaho and all four clubs in Idaho are doing their part.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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