News & Notes – October 3, 2019

Give the Gift of Dr. Seuss This October

Use October, National Book Month, as a time to inspire your club to participate in the Dr. Seuss Grand Initiative! Collect Dr. Seuss books for local daycares, Head Start programs, and schools at a disadvantage to help reach the Administration’s new goal of donating 55,000 Dr. Seuss books by June 2020. That’s 31 days in October of opportunities to make reading accessible and enjoyable for kids who are just getting started.

By June 30, 243 days later, it’s very doable for the Federation to collectively generate the 4,200+ books needed to total 55,000 books. Start planning how you’ll give the gift of reading Dr. Seuss to children now.

Are You Championing School Bus Safety?

Keep promoting the importance of Miranda’s Law (S. 1787 and H.R. 2793) among your family, friends, and community members as part of one of the three GFWC Brand Initiatives. Even with 1,000 attempted contacts to U.S. Senators and Representatives, there’s still much work to do to help parents feel safer about who’s behind the wheel of school buses.

Last year, a New Jersey student and teacher were killed in a school bus accident. The bus driver’s license had been suspended fourteen times already. Miranda’s Law, named in honor of 10-year old Miranda Vargas who died in the crash that day, will ensure that schools receive those kind of records. Miranda’s Law will provide real-time notifications to schools and bus companies when one of their bus drivers receives a moving violation, allowing them to immediately take that driver off of the road.

Keep Calling, Emailing, and Writing
Sign in red when contacting your U.S. Senators and Representatives every week and ask a friend to do so as well (be sure to mention GFWC). Visit the Legislative Action Center to find your elected officials. Together, we can help get this legislation passed!

WHRC Call for Articles
One way the Women’s History & Resource Center helps to preserve our past is through our extensive collection of 341 oral histories. Many of these interviews were conducted 20–30 years ago and capture the experiences of a generation now mostly lost to us. Preserving these tapes helps to tell the story of GFWC and the experiences of generations of clubwomen across the country.

What is your club doing to ensure that the GFWC story will be told to future generations of clubwomen? This Fall’s WHRC Newsletter will focus on how clubs are preserving their histories. Topics can range from recording oral histories, to taking care of your historic club house, to donating your club’s papers to a local archive, and more. Articles must be 500 words or less, and pictures are encouraged but not mandatory. Please email your submissions to WHRC Manager Alyssa Constad by October 24.

Excellent Resource: Women’s Vote Centennial
The Women’s Vote Centennial Initiative is a partnership group currently organizing information about programs, celebrations, and commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. The Centennial Initiative is led by a task force of women’s organizations, museums, libraries, and civic groups. The Initiative serves as a clearing house of information on events, educational materials, and opportunities for volunteers—and is an excellent resource for sharing your club’s centennial-related activities.

Check out the Centennial Calendar and the educational materials and opportunities to be involved in women’s history-centered research projects on www.2020centennial.org. Clubs can email info@2020centennial.org details on their programs or projects to be considered for publication on the centennial calendar.

Parliamentary Pointers: Motions
by GFWC Parliamentarian Deen J. Meloro

It can be very frustrating to be dealing with a motion that you don’t believe has been fully researched or thought out. How can you decide to raise money for the ABC charity if you don’t know if they are a non-profit organization or what they are going to do with the money? You may also have a motion that is useful, but there are other matters of business that are much more important. There are many, many reasons why you may want to stop dealing with a motion for the present time.

In cases like this, the motion “postpone to a certain time” can be used. A member is recognized by the presiding officer and says: “I move to postpone the motion to raise money for the ABC charity until the general meeting in November.” This needs to be seconded. The presiding officer then restates the motion and asks if there is any discussion. The maker of the motion may want to say why she wants to postpone the motion, and there may be other members who wish to say something about the postponement. The motion is only on the postponement, so only the postponement may be discussed, not the merits of the original motion.

This motion may be amended. After recognition, a member may say: “I move to amend this motion by deleting “November” and substituting “January.” This motion also needs a second. After the presiding officer states the question and asks if there are any questions, the maker of the motion to amend will want to state her reasons. Perhaps November doesn’t give the club enough time to do the research. Perhaps November has a great deal of business to take care of already and December is usually devoted more to socializing than to club business. After discussion has ended, the club votes on the amendment. If the amendment is adopted by the club, the club then votes on postponing discussion of this motion until January. If the motion is not adopted, discussion on the motion continues in the present meeting. If it is adopted, discussion is moved until January.

Cares & Concerns
We extend our condolences to Legislation/Public Policy Committee Member Marjorie Pfeiffer whose husband Gene has passed away. Cards can be sent to: Marjorie Pfeiffer, PO Box 266, Clinton ME 04927.

Our thoughts are with California State President Dori Kelsey whose husband Jim has passed away on September 26. Condolences can be sent to: Dori Kelsey at 8041 Cantata Way Antelope, CA 95843.

Voluteers in Action
The GFWC Acorn Club of Seaford (Delaware) is featured on GFWC’s Blog.

Have a success story to tell? Email pr@gfwc.org.

Thank You Tuesday
This month’s #ThankYouTuesday theme is “International Efforts.” GFWC is proud of the work clubs do to make a difference in the lives of people around the world who they may never meet. What international projects does your club do? Share your projects on our Facebook post!

Share How Your Club Helps Survivors
As your club observes Domestic Violence Awareness Month, don’t forget to share the ways you’ve made a difference. Download our press release template on the Resources Page under “P” or submit a summary paragraph and photos to be considered for the GFWC Blog.

Your Profile: Logged in Yet?
If you haven’t done so already, log in to the GFWC Member Portal to ensure all aspects of your personal profile are running smoothly. Your profile is how you’ll update your contact information, make all Marketplace purchases, and much more moving forward. Please don’t hesitate to contact gfwc@gfwc.org if you have any difficulties logging in.

Club Anniversaries Correction
In last week’s News & Notes, the GFWC Menominee Woman’s Club was listed in the July & August Anniversaries as being in Wisconsin. The club is located in Menominee, MI.

GFWC Marketplace: Book Sale

Get two books for the price of one! Buy Sarah L. Sladek’s The New Recruit, which details how to attract and attain younger generations as club members and get Dr. Suzanne Metzger’s daily motivational book, Through Living … Some Assembly Required, for free! Both books are only $15 with our book bundle deal in the GFWC Marketplace.