News & Notes – September 26, 2019

Continue Supporting School Bus Safety

On Monday, clubwomen throughout the Federation contacted their Senators and Representatives in support of Miranda’s Law (S. 1787 and H.R. 2793). Keep promoting the importance of this legislation among your family, friends, and community members as part of one of the three GFWC Brand Initiatives. Even with 1,000 attempted contacts to members of Congress, there’s still much work to do so that 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.

Sign in Red

Keep calling, emailing, and writing your U.S. Senators and Representatives every week and ask a friend to do so as well! Be sure to sign your support in red and mention GFWC. Visit the Legislative Action Center to find your elected officials. Together, we can help get this legislation passed!

October 1: Success for Survivors Scholarship Opens

To recognize Domestic Violence Awareness Month, consider dedicating your next club fundraiser to the GFWC Signature Project Fund this October! The call for 2020 GFWC’s Success for Survivors Scholarship applications opens next Tuesday, October 1, and this essential scholarship is only made possible through generous donations. The scholarship provides survivors of intimate partner violence with financial support as they seek higher education.

Take it a step farther and partner with an alumnae organization from a local college or university to create the “Go Forward With Confidence” Scholarship, or GFWC Scholarship for short. It’s an opportunity to expand the Success for Survivors Scholarship, increase its visibility, and help students in your community.

Start giving survivors a better tomorrow by fundraising for the GFWC Signature Project Fund today.

Volunteers in Action
What did your club do for International Literacy Day on September 8? Or, how have you engaged your Juniorette club at the start of the school year?

Submit a summary of your successful service project to pr@gfwc.org to be considered for the GFWC blog.

Calling All Shot@Life Champions

It’s time to use your voice! From October 1 through November 12, Shot@Life champions across the country will be taking advocacy and fundraising actions to virtually race alongside their fellow Shot@Life advocates to raise awareness for World Polio Day, World Pneumonia Day, and tell their Congressional offices that funding for global vaccines is a priority.

There are plenty of ways for you to get involved! All necessary information and toolkits can be found at shotatlife.org/racetoerase. For assistance with getting yourself or your club set up, please email champions@shotatlife.org. Shot@Life Staff can also connect you with other champions in your area if you’re interested in joining their existing activities. If you want to apply for one of GWFC’s spots to our annual Champion Summit in D.C. next year, now is the time to get involved and strengthen your application!

Curator’s Corner
The years 1966–1968, when Carolyn Pearce was International President, were a tumultuous time in American history. There was an increased presence in Vietnam, a growing generational schism, overt racial tensions, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. All signs pointed to the beginnings of a “cultural war.” Clubwomen were grappling with the quickly changing realities around them.

When President Pearce assumed the presidency in June of 1966, she chose the Pioneer Woman as the symbol for her Administration’s theme. As a “pioneer woman” herself, Past President Pearce referred to her counterpart as “the modern woman pioneering in the space age.” She stated: “We have no forbidding mountains or scorching plains to conquer, but we do have the perplexing and dangerous problems concomitant with a thriving, advanced civilization … illiteracy, school dropouts, water and air pollution, illness to eradicate, salacious magazines, crime on inadequately lit streets, increasing traffic accidents, and the needs of the underprivileged in our country and abroad.”

The last three scrapbooks of President Pearce’s Administration help to contextualize the world the clubwomen were coming to terms with in midcentury America. One can spot articles on the seemingly inexplicable nature of youth and “hippies,” changing fashions, the threat of communism, violence on television and in the movies, and ways to combat rising crime rates. President Pearce’s scrapbooks also represent constants in the GFWC world, such as the Annual Convention, the President’s tour, UN involvement, and clubwomen’s unwavering work within their communities.

Flip through the six scrapbooks of Past President Pearce that have just been uploaded to WHRC’s Online Collections Database.

Logged Into MemberSuite Yet?

If you haven’t done so already, log in to the GFWC Member Portal to ensure all aspects of your personal account are running smoothly. This GFWC account 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.

State President’s Project: Utah, Linda Kuwana
When Linda Kuwana was searching for her state project, she wanted a project that would benefit the people of Utah. She decided on supporting Hope Lodge, which is affiliated with the American Cancer Society. Hope Lodge had not only helped people in Utah but people throughout the Intermountain West. Hope Lodge is a stay-for-free lodging facility for mobile cancer patients (and a caretaker) who live more than 40 miles away from their cancer treatment centers in Salt Lake City; the next closest Hope Lodge is in Phoenix, AZ. Hope Lodge has fully equipped kitchens and laundry facilities for guests. Cancer patients and caretakers are also transported to their cancer treatment centers free of charge.

Since her installation in spring 2018, the majority of the proceeds from fundraising during conferences and conventions has gone to Hope Lodge. At the April State Convention, Hope Lodge was presented with a van full of office and cleaning supplies and a check for $1,000. In lieu of Christmas gifts for her executive board members, Linda made a donation to Hope Lodge in each of their names. Linda discovered that a member and her husband were the first to stay in Hope Lodge when it opened. That member has volunteered to take over the fundraising to help Hope Lodge, a win-win situation. Linda wishes to thank all her Utah sisters for their generosity during the fundraising efforts which will continue this year until the end of her term.

For a second special project, GFWC Utah has donated 155 formal dresses to Hill Air Force Base Spouses’ Club for their Belle of the Ball project, supporting women in the military.

Parliamentary Pointers: New Community Service Programs

by GFWC Parliamentarian Deen J. Meloro

Many GFWC constituent divisions will be reviewing bylaws in the next few months. When that happens, you may want to update your list of GFWC Community Service Programs (CSPs) to match the new ones that will go into effect on July 1, 2020: Arts and Culture, Civic Engagement and Outreach, Education and Libraries, Environment, and Health and Wellness. All five will include projects and programs that were previously included in the International Outreach CSP. Having the CSPs in your club, district, or state match the GFWC CSPs is not required, but it will certainly make life easier. All information received from GFWC starting with the 2020–2022 Administration will be in terms of the new names.

To amend your bylaws, they must be sent out in writing before the meeting during which there will be voting. Your current bylaws say how far in advance this must be sent out. Amendments must be approved by two-thirds of the delegates present and voting. If you have 150 delegates registered and have 137 votes received, you will need to have 91 votes in the affirmative to adopt the proposed amendments. The difference between 150 and 137 may be because some delegates did not choose to vote, went home, or were meeting with friends. That doesn’t matter; what matters was that 137 were present and voting.

In most cases, a voice vote will show that there are at least 2/3 of the delegates in favor of the proposed amendment. If the voice vote is close, most likely a standing vote will be taken. The total number of those standing, both for and against the proposed amendment, will tell you how many delegates were present and voting. Two-thirds of that number must have voted “yes” for the proposed amendment to be adopted.

Club Anniversaries and Gold Pin Recipients

July & August Anniversaries

65th
GFWC Woman’s Club of Cross Lanes (West Virginia)

90th
GFWC Eastern Shore Federated Woman’s Club (Alabama)

100th
Westbrook Woman’s Club (Maine)

115th
The Woman’s Club of Raleigh (North Carolina)

July & August Gold Pin Recipients

Jacqueline Raymer
Women’s Club of Hollister (California

Barbara Jacobs, Marie Ernie
Avon Club of Felton (Delaware)

Marlene Mylery
La Habra Woman’s Club (California)

Avernell Rogers, Jeanette Coody
Azalea City Woman’s Club (Georgia)

Jeanne McClelland, Katie Stanley Badgett, Janette Stoneman, Julia Woodward, Bernice Hudspeth
GFWC Old Town Woman’s Club (North Carolina)

Janice Hughes
Sweetwater Woman’s Club (California)

Marguerite Brodecky, Shirley Jakubowski, Leola Rhode
GFWC-Howells Woman’s Club (Nebraska)

Kathy Albert
GFWC Amoskeag Community Volunteers (New Hampshire)

Helen Liberty, Sheila Seaborg, Germaine Vincent
GFWC Menominee Woman’s Club (Wisconsin)

Jeanette Jester
GFWC Camas/Washougal (Washington)

Joan Meyers, Eileen Lunter
Palos Heights Woman’s Club (Illinois)

Bette McCowan
Lockport Woman’s Club (Illinois)

Mary Morgan, Maureen Piasecki
East Brunswick Woman’s Club (New Jersey)

Sarah Fillet, Joan Gonzales, & Rosamond Pierce
GFWC Dover Century Club (Delaware)

Virginia Field
GFWC Woman’s Club of Stephen (Minnesota)

Sherrie Silcox & Geneal Dart
GFWC Tooele Civic League (Utah)

Alice Wiedrich & Darla D. Weltmer
GFWC Decatur Woman’s Club (Illinois)

Suzanne Shambaugh
GFWC Cerro Gordo Woman’s Club (Illinois)

Darlene Dicken & Doris Doughty
GFWC East Peoria Woman’s Club (Illinois)

Brenda Conley & Jackie Victor
Wauconda Woman’s Club (Illinois)

Doris Lane & Rosalie Taylor
GFWC Woman’s Club of Champagne-Urbana (Illinois)

Carol Rich
GFWC Pontiac Junior Woman’s Club (Illinois)

Betty Lyons
GFWC Femmes Unir Women’s Club of Bartonville (Illinois)

LaVerve McKanna & Delores Banderowicz
GFWC IL Libertyville Woman’s Club (Illinois)

Dorothy Bennett
GFWC Beaver Dam Woman’s Club (Kentucky)

GFWC Marketplace: Sticky Notes

October is going to be a busy month! Jot down your GFWC to-do list for the Three Brand Initiatives, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and Advocates for Children Week. Login to the GFWC Portal to purchase GFWC’s eye-catching Living the Volunteer Spirit Sticky Notes to help you stay organized!