By Mary Ann Ferris
Four members of the G.F.W.C Woman’s Club of Shinnston recently attended the 180 th Annual State Woman’s Club Convention held at the Greenbrier Resort on March 15, 16 and 17.
Those attending from the Shinnston Club were Mary Ann Spadafore, North Central District President, Donna Mick, State Legislative Chair, Mary Ann Ferris, Shinnston Co-President and Connie Leuliette.
At the convention, the Shinnston Club was recognized in several areas for its members work throughout the 2023 club year. Our member Barbara Boyd’s poem was first place in the poetry category of the State writing contest; her poem has now been submitted to the National poetry contest for judging.
The Shinnston Club was recognized as both an Honor and Superior Club. We received the Rhododendron award for maintaining our membership and a second place award for our efforts to keep our members informed through the phone tree, yearbook and news articles about our meetings and activities.
We were honored with first place overall in the State for the greatest percentage increase in membership.
The Shinnston Club was awarded First Place in the Medium Club Legislative and Public Policy category for our members’ lobbying efforts concerning women’s and senior issues. Our major project in this area was having County Assessor Rocky Romano speak to our members in September about the proposed changes in the tax law that will give Seniors a tax credit on their personal income tax for the personal property tax they have paid their counties.
We received another First Place award in the G.F.W.C. Support Fund category for Medium Size Clubs for our activities and donations to the following causes / organizations: the American Cancer Society, the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, Little Troopers (support for children of veterans in need or crisis), Pennies for Arts, the Woody Williams Foundation (Veteran’s Home) and the State Scholarship Fund. Shinnston also awards a $500 scholarship to a Lincoln Senior.
Lastly, the Shinnston Club received an Honorable Mention in the Medium Club Category Communication and Public Relations for our annual yearbook, our newspaper articles and our phone tree. The fact that we made our Clubhouse available to the public for rental for a nominal fee, to the Lowe Public Library for its Summer Reading Program free of charge, and to various civic organizations also helped us win this award.
As you can see, even though the Woman’s Club of Shinnston is relatively small, our members manage to complete activities and projects that benefit our community. We could do much more if we had more active members, so please consider joining us.
We meet the third Monday of each month from April through December at 6:00 pm. Our November and December meetings are at 1:00 pm so no one has to drive home in the dark. If you are interested in joining us in our future efforts, please contact either co- president, Debra Herndon at 304-677-6650 or Mary Ann Ferris at 304-592-2061.