Woman’s club active again; new officers installed

Published 8:48 am Thursday, October 21, 2021

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After over a year of COVID hiatus, the GFWC-NC Mocksville Woman’s Club is up and active again.
The club, organized and federated in 1962, had never faced a time when in-person meetings were canceled, art projects for the children at Central Davie were postponed, and bingo at Davie Rehabilitation was halted.
That was then – an all too recent memory of 2020, and now in 2021, the club is up and running at full speed. Members held their first 2021-22 year meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 8 at Bermuda Run Country Club to install new officers and get back to doing the work the community has come to expect.
Christy Schafer, past president 2018-2020, installed the new officers with a ringing of the bell ceremony and presented the officers with bells. The bells symbolize a call to order and a new beginning. Bells have been used in rituals, community gatherings, and community alerts for centuries, so it seemed appropriate to use bells to commemorate a new beginning.
Paulette Agha, clubwoman since 2009 and second vice president, will serve as president. Long-time club woman and a past president, Linda Sechrist, will serve again in a leadership role as first-vice president through this year’s activities. Cinde Rinn, one of the club’s newer members, will serve as secretary, and Alice Sineath will continue to act as the treasurer.
The board appointed a new standing committee post – fundraising chair. Kay Bolick, one of the club’s newest members, has agreed to serve in this capacity. “Kay has countless years of fundraising experience, and it’s nice to see the more recent members like Cinde Rinn and Kay step up and into leadership roles,” Agha said.
The club will continue to provide services or financial support to many of its long-term beneficiaries like the Davie Arts Council, Pearls of Empowerment, Central Davie, Davie Rehabilitation, Storehouse for Jesus, and offer a scholarship.
The GFWC has revamped the Community Service Projects criteria, so there will be many new service projects on the horizon.
Arts and Culture encourage members to promote and support art and cultural programs in their clubs and communities and expand understanding on every level, from local and regional to national and international. The goal is to create projects that include crafts, dance drama, food, music, and other art and culture that develop skills, awareness, and appreciation. The CSP for next month will host a clubwoman art contest using only recyclable items.
Civic Engagement and Outreach reminds GFWC members that each is a part of a larger society and is responsible for undertaking actions that will create a better quality of life and a better sense of community – locally, regionally, nationally, globally. It encourages citizenship, crime prevention, safety, and disaster preparedness; the needy, feeding the hungry, caring for our homeless, and military personnel and veterans.
Education and Libraries is designed to foster schools as well as educational institutions and opportunities. The projects will promote libraries, literacy, and the love of a good book.
The Environment CSP encourages us to become stewards of the earth, preserve the world’s resources, protect wildlife and domesticated animals, live sustainably and beautify our communities.
The Health and Wellness Community Service Project, aims to improve our well-being through nutrition, disease prevention, and physical and emotional care. Each Community Service Committee will design a project for the club and/or the community to meet the goals listed in each description.
All of the projects and benevolences the club provides to the community are sustained through fundraising. During the COVID shut-down, the club canceled the community’s Woman’s Day event. “Large gatherings are not in the cards for us right now,” Agha said. “So it has made us rethink how we raise much-needed funds. The pandemic left us like many groups with a hole in our budget.” The club will hold a Poinsettia sale. There will be more about this fundraiser in the coming weeks.
The club always welcomes new members. If interested in visiting a club meeting, contact Agha at pagha2m@gmail.com.