MEETING HIGHLIGHTS — “Mardi Gras for Membership” was the program theme for the Feb. 16 meeting of the GFWC Woman’s Club of Wintersville, which was held at St. Florian Event Center in Wintersville. With Iris Craig, club president, second from left, and Marjean Sizemore, right, parliamentarian and membership committee member, welcomed special guests Bea Corra, left, and Rose Logston, second from right, who serve as co-presidents of the Southeast District. -- Janice Kiaski

WINTERSVILLE — The GFWC Wintersville Woman’s Club will turn its thoughts to gardening and Easter when its members gather March 16 for a noon luncheon and business meeting at St. Florian Event Center in Wintersville.

“Pollination of Plants” will be the program topic presented by guest speaker Erika Lyons, a Master Gardener and agriculture and natural resources educator with Ohio State University Extension.

Claudia Dorich, environment committee chairman, will offer the meditation and grace, joining with committee members Karen Hill, Gloria Sergakis, Louise Holliday and Carol Yaich in the role of hostesses.

The monthly service projects will be providing signed Easter cards and jelly beans for Urban Mission Ministries and nonperishable food items for the St. Vincent de Paul Ministry of Blessed Sacrament Church, which operates a food pantry in the Wintersville and Bloomingdale areas.

“Did you change your smoke alarm batteries?” will be the roll call question.

Club member Marjean Sizemore, right, poses with prospective members, from left, Marlana Martinez, Debra Louk and Lynn Taliani, who will be inducted into the club’s membership during the May 18 meeting. -- Janice Kiaski

Club President Iris Craig will preside.

“A Mardi Gras for Membership” was the theme, meanwhile, of the Feb. 16 meeting held at St. Florian Event Center with table decorations to that effect and two games with prizes as part of the program — one regarding Mardi Gras fact or fiction, the other GFWC trivia.

GFWC is an acronym for General Federation of Women’s Clubs, an international women’s organization dedicated to community improvement by enhancing the lives of others through volunteer service.

The membership program was led by committee member Marjean Sizemore, Judy Weaver and Shannon Irvin. Mary Beth Allan is the chair.

Special guests at the meeting were Rose Logston and Bea Corra, who are sharing the duties as co-president of the Southeast District as part of a term that began June 2022 and continues through June 2024.

Rose Logston, co-president of the Southeast District, explains the structure of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. -- Janice Kiaski

Sizemore gave a brief history on Mardi Gras before offering a history of GFWC, one of the world’s largest and oldest women’s volunteer service organizations. “Working locally through thousands of clubs in the United States and globally in more than 20 countries, GFWC members support the arts, preserve natural resources, promote education, encourage healthy lifestyles, stress civic involvement and work toward world peace and understanding,” Sizemore told the audience that included three prospective members introduced as guests — Marlana Martinez, Debra Louk and Lynn Taliani. The three will be inducted into the club’s membership during the May 18 meeting.

“Members of GFWC are united by a dedication to community improvement through volunteer service,” Sizemore continued. “GFWC clubs are encouraged to focus efforts on activities that meet local needs, but are all united under an umbrella of program areas whose flexibility has provided a framework for more than 125 years of accomplishment. In an effort to best serve our communities, GFWC partners with a variety of national organizations that provide information and materials to our local clubs,” she said.

There are nearly 3,000 clubs in GFWC with each electing officers and. Working independently on various projects in their communities, according to Sizemore.

Rose Logston gave club members a broader view as well, providing a GFWC region map that shows the Wintersville club is part of the Great Lakes Region, one of eight regions overall. The Great Lakes region includes Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.

In Ohio, there are five districts, Logston explained, with the Southeast District, which Wintersville is a part of, constituting the biggest geographical district in the state. Aside from Wintersville’s group, it includes the GFWC/Internet Service Providers (Ohio Internet Club), Jefferson County women’s Club Junior Women’s Club of Barnesville, Woman’s Club of Mingo Junction, Woman’s Club of Steubenville, GFWC Belpre Woman’s Club, Circleville Junior Women’s Club, Gallipolis Junior Women’s cClub and East Springfield Junior Women’s Club.

Club member Judy Weaver shared some of the history of the Wintersville Woman’s Club. -- Janice Kiaski

“We are a strong district,” Logston commented. “We only have three junior clubs and no juniorette clubs but that’s always a possibility,” she said, adding, “A good time to get the girls is when they’re young.”

In other regions such as the Western States Region, there are a lot of states in the region but few clubs with Idaho or Wyoming only having one or two clubs, according to Logston. Alaska and Hawaii, she added, has but one club each.

There are officers in each of the regions. “We have five elected officers at the GFWC level, and they are elected at our annual conventions on the even number years,” Logston said. “In the regions, each has four officers with a president serving on the board of directors, and I am currently the vice president of the region, and I will be president in 2024-26,” she said.

“In 2025, Ohio will host the Great Lakes Region conference,” she noted. Although a location for that has yet to be determined, she said with a chuckle, “… I expect to see everyone of you there.”

When the international convention was held in Cleveland, Logston said, “We had more than 20 percent of our members there, and they worked hard and did a super job. The (Great Lakes Region) conference is not quite that big of a job.”

A segment of the program included a handout providing insight on what GFWC acronyms stand for, including CSP, which stands for community service programs. “There are five of them in GFWC that we all work under, but anything you do in your club or want to do will fit somewhere in this so you do what you want to do and what’s best for your community and then it fits in someplace,” Logston said. “That’s the good thing about GFWC – it’s about you and your needs and your community.”

The Southeast District, Logston said, has two meetings a year — the fall conference, which is now done on a Zoom platform instead of in person, and Legislation Day, which will be held March 25 in Cambridge. The guest speaker will state Sen. Frank Hoagland, R-Mingo Junction.

Logston emphasized that the foundation of GFWC begins with the individual club members making up the clubs.

“Without you, this is not going to work, so I want you to know how important you are to GFWC, OFWC, to the Great Lakes Region to the Southeast District and to us,” she said.

The program included Judy Weaver, membership committee member, offering some history trivia about the Wintersville club, including its origin dating back to 1934.

Meetings were held twice a month in members’ homes. Due were $3 by 1947. The 25th anniversary was celebrated in 1959 at the Fort Steuben Hotel in downtown Steubenville with dinner costing $3.50.

The club’s motto is “Deeds not Words.” The club colors are yellow and white, and the yellow rose is its flower, Weaver noted.