News & Notes- February 20, 2020

Register for the 2020 Women’s History Month Event

Did you know that Abigail Adams became the first First Lady to have been appointed to a federal position? Or that Alice Paul formed the National Woman’s Party when she was only 31 years old? Learn more about these incredible women and others at GFWC’s Women’s History Month celebration on March 5 from 2–4 p.m.!

This year, GFWC will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with a performance by Kate Campbell Stevenson. Kate’s one-woman show, Amending America: How Women Won the Vote, will illuminate forgotten stories of the suffrage movement. She will highlight women such as Abigail Adams, First Lady and advocate for women’s rights, Rose Crabtree, a member of the 1920 all-female town council of Jackson Hole, and Alice Paul, co-founder of the National Woman’s Party. Kate’s performance also encourages women to become more active participants in the political process.

To register, please visit the Member Portal!

Volunteers in Action

This week is our final MLK Day-themed blog. GFWC would like to thank you for all of the service projects that your club completed. You certainly promoted the GFWC brand!

Read and comment on this week’s GFWC Blog! Have a success story to tell? Email pr@gfwc.org.

Participate in Our Legislative Blitz April 24

Celebrate GFWC’s Federation Day, April 24, 2020, by participating in our legislative blitz. Plan to have your club members together with family and friends call, email, or write your United States Senators and Representatives on that day and urge them to pass Miranda’s Law (S. 1787 and H.R. 2793) and the 3D Printed Gun Safety Act (S. 1831 and H.R. 3265). We also urge you to meet with your members of Congress or their staff during the month of April to advocate for these bills. These meetings can be held at local district offices or in Washington, D.C. offices. Be sure to reach out early to schedule your meetings.

For those who have already called, sent messages through our Legislative Action Center, or even sent your own message through email, we encourage you to ensure that at least three others have done the same. You can find information sheets on these bills in the Advocacy in Action section of our Legislative Action Center. Use the provided informational pieces as leave-behinds for your members of Congress and their staffers. Let’s bombard legislators with requests to make two of our Brand Initiative bills into law.

Arbor Day: Tree Tidbits

General Sherman, a giant sequoia in California’s Redwood Forest, is the largest tree in the world. It measures 30 stories tall, is 82 feet in circumference, with 52,000 cubic feet of wood. Participate in the Arbor Day Grand Initiative on April 24 and leave your mark this Federation Day!

Contact Your Senators About the ERA

Last Thursday, the United States House of Representatives voted to remove the deadline for ratification and to have the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) added as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. Earlier in the week GFWC Programs staff attended a hearing of the House Committee on Rules as well as a press event on the ERA held by Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Clubwomen across the nation used GFWC’s Legislative Action Center to contact their members of Congress on this issue. This is a huge victory and we thank you for your support, but the work is not yet complete. We must now direct our attention to the U.S. Senate and urge them to take the same action as the House. We thank you again and hope that we can count on your support in the fight ahead. Contact your Senator today!

Buy a Convention Program Ad

The 2020 Annual Convention is coming up fast! Are you excited for Atlanta? Get ready by purchasing an ad in the 2020 Convention Program to recognize your club or fellow Federation sisters. Use our Convention Program Ad form to order and pay for your ad by March 27!

The Final Countdown Until Dr. Seuss’ Birthday

The birthday of Theodor Seuss Geisel, best known as Dr. Seuss, is in 12 days! What does your club have planned to help children in need learn how to read?

Help to ensure 4,200+ more books are donated by June 30 to schools, Head Start programs, and other places dedicated to making a difference in the lives of children. The goal of the 2018–2020 Administration is to donate a total of 55,000 Dr. Seuss books directly to clubs’ local communities.

With your club’s help and book donations, we can reach this goal. Visit the “My Digital Library” Resources (under D) in the Membership Portal for labels to affix to the inside covers of books that your club distributes in your local community.

Become an Oral History Ambassador at Your State Convention 

Help us get the word out about the oral history project!

The WHRC is in the process of digitizing its Oral History Collection. Digitization will help ensure that these interviews are preserved and can be easily accessed through the WHRC Online Catalog. Comprised of 341 interviews, the collection contains the priceless voices of past clubwomen, influential women leaders, and GFWC International Past Presidents.

It’s an ambitious project and we’re looking for ambassadors to help us make sure this collection is forever available to clubwomen and the public. Contact WHRC Manager Alyssa Constad to find out how you can help!

What Will Your Legacy Be? 

It’s always difficult to face the idea of our own mortality. What will we be remembered for? What do we want to be remembered for?

For many of our clubwomen, involvement with GFWC is a lifelong journey. It’s an adventure filled with friendships, challenging projects, and the joy that comes with giving back to our communities. GFWC becomes a part of you – a part of you that should be celebrated, recognized, and shared.

Remembering GFWC through a charitable bequest helps to keep alive the valuable work that GFWC clubwomen perform all over the world for countless causes and communities. What is a charitable bequest? A charitable bequest is a written statement in your will which directs that a gift be made to charity upon your passing. Consider speaking with your estate planner to see how you can remember GFWC in your final arrangements. A bequest to GFWC can have a lasting impact on the incredible work our members do for their communities – and that’s a legacy to celebrate!

Parliamentary Pointers: To Amend
by GFWC Parliamentarian Deen J. Meloro

 

The motion to “amend” is one known to most clubwomen. To amend something is to change it, and there are many ways to do this.

Before the motion to amend is discussed, it must be germane to the subject at hand, i.e. closely related. Nothing new can be introduced through an amendment. If the motion was, “I move that our club hostess the district meeting on April 5,” the motion cannot be about putting in more parking spaces. While the parking spaces may influence how many people would be able to attend the district meeting, it is a different subject and must be brought up at a different time.

When the intent of the motion to amend is to add a few words, the motion would be to insert. For example, “I move to insert the word “Capital” before the word “district.” When using the word insert, it is important to indicate exactly where the inserted word or words would be placed.

When the intent of the motion is to extend the original motion, the motion would be to add, such as, “I move to add at noon after April 5.”

You may move to make large changes by moving to substitute. Generally, substitution is used for entire sentences or paragraphs.

At the same time you are inserting or substituting, you can move to strike out. For example, I move to strike out the words “our club” and insert the words, “the Woman’s Club of Westwood.”

You can also move to strike out a word, a sentence, or a large piece of the original motion without inserting or substituting.

When working to perfect a motion, you can have an amendment, and an amendment to the amendment all at the same time. The two amendments are then the primary amendment and the secondary amendment. The secondary amendment must be voted on or withdrawn before another amendment can be introduced.

Marketplace: WHRC Collections Book 

The WHRC Collections Book is the perfect way to brush up on your GFWC history before attending the WHME. Detailing over a century’s worth of the organization’s history, it’s a recruitment tool that will have your guests wanting to be a part of that history. Get your copy for $15 in the GFWC Marketplace.