Winter hits GFWC Spokane Clubhouse

                                          WOMAN'S CLUB of SPOKANE SNOWY DAY
Thanksgiving week 2010 has been a challenge in Spokane.  The week started out with a white out blizzard  with snow dry as fluffy sugar. Then we moved into subzero arctic cold and we are now finishing the week with a huge dump of snow.  Ralph, who lives in a tiny garage apartment off the alley, two doors down from the clubhouse, is smiling with a $100 for a week of snow removal in his pocket.  Gosh I'm glad we have him, he gets the place shoveled most days by 8 AM and clears it again if needed.  That's 200 linear feet of sidewalk 6 feet wide, almost a 1000 square feet of walkways and stairs, and breaks through the snow berm on the arterial.  December 5, 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of the first meeting inside the new Woman's Club of Spokane clubhouse, purportedly the first commercial building built by women in the City of Spokane.  Isn't she pretty.

There is a wedding scheduled inside the clubhouse on the day of  this picture, November 27,2010.  You can also see the three trees and 25' flagpole added to the landscaping this year.  OK you can stop snowing now!

Supporting Libraries in Tough Economic Times

As this recession drags on, cities are facing tough financial decisions. Yesterday, I, and six other members of the Woman's Club of Spokane attended a Library Board meeting to express our concern about a budget decision.  The board is choosing to close a branch library in a very poor, central urban neighborhood in our city so all other branches can remain open full time.  The Library board recently announced that the East Central library branch closure was based on "metrics".  The "metrics" were:  least amount of traffic [except Internet use] and closest in distance to other branch libraries.  The catch, many new immigrants live in this area [Spokane has a large international refugee settlement program], children and teens walk to this branch as their parents cannot afford to drive them to this library on any other, and bus coverage in this area is inadequate and about to get cut back even more.  In addition, there are two large elementary schools in this neighborhood and this is considered a safe haven for children after school.

The crowd of about 30, of all political persuasions and economic levels, had quite a few ideas about alternatives to closure.  Our club president, Ginger, testified about GFWC's long standing support for public libraries, especially in under served neighborhoods.  Another member Louise, presented over 100 letters of concern from the  general community about the closure of this branch.  I spoke to the TV news.   No one wants to see a library close, even in hard times.  Libraries are too important of an element for sustaining our American way of life. We hope the board will reconsider their choice.

My thought: surely closing a library in a more affluent neighborhood where access [by a parents car] to other libraries is less of an issue makes more sense for the common good.

news from Illinois

I am thrilled to be part of this blog for GFWC Clubwomen. We have come a long way from the days when women traveled for days to attend their state and GFWC conventions. Here we are a the click of a button, able to share the daily works of this great organization.

A little background: I am a 29 year member of GFWC having started in a Junior Club and have belonged to 6 different clubs through the years and currently belong to 4, soon to be 5. I have served at all levels of club including all offices and am currently the GFWC IL Director of Junior Clubs. I truly believe that each position you hold is what you make of it, and I find that I usually spend an average of 20 hours a week fulfilling the duties of this postion. With that being said, I should also say that GFWC Illinois Juniors have the largest Junior membership in GFWC, and that I guess I'm trying to be an "over-achiever". I wouldn't want anyone with ambition to grow into such a leadership position to feel that it would be necessary to spend that much time at it.

I am passionate about this organization and all it stands for. Since joining, I am a different woman than I would have probably been otherwise, because GFWC has broadened my horizons and helped me grow personally.

As I write this, I am preparing for our Junior State Board of Directors meeting this weekend and each time I look forward to seeing women who have become life-long friends. In fact a couple of weeks ago, I was needing to have someone give me a ride a short distance at our farm. As I started to think of who I could call, the first friends that came to mind were my GFWC friends, but gosh.....they are all over the state and country....not nearby for a quick ride. That moment made me realize just how much these women and a part of my life.

I hope that this opportunity to blog will encourage other GFWC women to reach beyond their club and "comfort zone" and see that they can discover the potential of becoming an extraordinary woman!

Great Lakes Region Conference

Last month I attended The Great Lakes Region Conference in Dayton, Ohio. The three days of meetings were very informative and interesting. One of the best parts of attending the region meetings is the chance to make new friends and to renew your friendships with GFWC members who live in your adjoining states. With only around 150 ladies in attendance, one gets a chance to actually talk with the International President and President Elect in a much more intimate setting than the International Convention affords.

There are always great workshops at these meetings. This year the focus was on membership. The brainstorming and other great suggestions would apply to almost any organization one belongs to. GFWC gives all the members many useful organizational skills, and learning how to grow or retain club members is just one small reason for joining.

In addition to interesting workshops and seeing old friends, our conference also included a tour of the United States Air Force Museum. I did not know that Dayton, OH was the home of the Wright Brothers and the site of most of their work in the invention of the “flying machine.” Sixty women make the field trip to the museum and had a really wonderful time.

I hope you will consider attending your region conference next year. The Great Lakes Conference will be in Madison, WI next year, in October.

Dorthy's Stories

Do you write stories? When we were all in school, our teachers assigned essays, and we were all writers. After graduation, only a small handful of us continue to write. I love to write new stories, and editorial blog stories, but I never try fiction or to relate my experiences. Do you?

My friend, Dorothy Volkert, is an amazing woman who still writes for fun. She doesn’t watch much TV, and spends her evenings writing stories. Dorothy has led an amazing life, being a nurse in the army back in World War II. She told her some of her story of misery and reward at one of our club meetings, and I wish she’d write a book of her stories.

This year one of Dorothy’s stories  won first place in the literature contest in GFWC Illinois.  And her poem won second place.

Dorothy told me she believes there is an author in all of us. Most of us never give her a chance to escape and see the daylight. She has encouraged me to try my hand. I think I’ll start by just relating some eventful day in my life. I’ll keep my stories in a special folder. I may never share my “essays” with others, but they will probably be a lot of fun for me to read in years to come. I haven’t kept a diary in over 50 years.

Then again…maybe I’ll win a prize in the short story contest next year.

New Beginnings

Karen and Rosemary are going to post messages about our lives as members of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. This blog is going to be a continuation of the GFWC sponsored blog, Imaclubwoman.org. We are looking for other dedicated GFWC members, throughout the nation and internationally, who are willing to post messages regularly and will help promote the important volunteer and philanthropic work of our great organization.

This blog is not an official site, but it is hoped it will be recognized as an important contributor to Woman's Issues.

If you are interested in becoming a blogger, please email me, Karen, at karen.clubwoman@gmail.com