The GFWC Gloucester County Women’s Club has just completed its year end reports and wants to thank everyone who supported our club’s activities and fundraisers this past year.
Over the past year, we have gained 10 new members, and we keep growing with an additional two more this year already. Members recently donated 285 toiletry items to Mother Matters and helped by making 60 bags of colored-coordinate bags of toiletries to hand out when needed. Mother Matters distributes these bags to cancer patients, front line workers, women in underserved communities through day care centers and to the moms staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Camden with their children.
The club participated in the recent Helping Hands hoagie sale by making donations to both the Washington Township Educational Fund and Clearview Regional High School and with purchases by our members. At the club’s February meeting, a donation was given to the South Jersey Land and Water Trust representative to help them in their work to upkeep and oversee the parks and water areas.
The club and its members donated over $2,000 in gift cards to a family in Washington Township that lost their home due to a fire and to those that suffered significant losses due the tornadoes that hit Mullica Hill, Wenonah and other areas of our county.
New projects this year included working with Box of Balloons by donating themed party goods and games so children in underserved communities have a festive birthday party, and our Look for a Book Project where books were placed in ziploc bags around area playgrounds and parks to encourage to children to read and then pass the book on to another child.
In order to be able to support causes and projects like these, the club needs to hold fundraisers. Currently the club is selling Stock’s Pound Cakes. Mail in forms are located on our website www.glocowomensclub.org or request one at glocowomensclub@gmail.com. Cakes are $15 each and come in vanilla or marble with vanilla, chocolate or no icing. Make checks payable to GCWC and send the form to P. O. Box 138, Sewell, N.J. 08080.
The sale runs until April 9 with cakes being available for pick up on May 5 at the Washington Township Senior Center, 315 Greentree Road or the Mantua Community located at 111 East Mercer Ave. in Sewell. Pick up location is your choice.
The club is also gearing up for its Adopt A Family Raffle. Tickets are $1 and the prize is $250 worth of gift cards which includes a $100 Visa card. The club will be selling these at the Washington Township PTO Crafts Show on March 6 in the Washington Township High School, 9-10 Wing lobby and at Washington Township’s Super Saturday on May 7.
This raffle enables the club to Adopt Families at Christmas. This past year we were able to adopt two families with a total of five children and four adults.
The donation to the South Jersey Land and Water Trust came from the profit of the sale of our Reusable Tote Bags. The club will continue to sell these bags and hope to have more funds to donate to SJLWT. These reusable tote bags are well constructed to hold as much as 20 to 25 lbs. The bags are $3 each or 3 for $7.
Come May 2022, plastic bags will no longer be used at local stores so be prepared. Go to our website for information to purchase: glocowomensclub.org or request bags at glocowomensclub@gmail.com
Upcoming activities include returning to Ronald McDonald House in Camden to make breakfast for the families staying there, crocheting blue hats for October’s #HATNOTHATE for National Stop the Bullying Month, going back to Mothers Matter to make more bags for their Mothers Day distribution, making snack bags for Ronald McDonald House, and another Community Clothing and More Drive.
The GFWC Gloucester County Women’s Club is a non-profit organization and a member of the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs with headquarters on the campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. and is also a member of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. We invite women over the age of 18 to join us in serving our communities, finding personal enrichment and making new friends.
The GFWC Gloucester County Women’s Club meets the second Thursday of each month except for April, July and August at the Mantua Center, 111 East Mercer Ave. in Sewell. In April we meet off site at a restaurant to install the club’s new officers. For more information, email our membership chairman at glocowomensclub@gmail.com
