Welcome to the 2018-2020 Administration!
For the next two years we will “Reach Out…Connect” and become as passionate about membership in GFWC as our foremothers were over 100 years ago. Why is “Reach Out…Connect” this administration’s theme? Because our membership needs to know about their “connection” to GFWC and “reaching out” to them at the grassroots level is how we will start.
The first goal for the next two years is to reconnect our membership to GFWC by visiting them in their own communities so they know what their parent organization can do for them. In addition, club members will be encouraged to visit other clubs, and district members to visit other districts. We are all a part of the whole, and are interconnected more than the membership may realize. These visits will help members see how important they are to GFWC and how GFWC is important to them.
The next connection is equally important and that is leadership. This is something GFWC has given me that I want other members to gain. Members take a risk when they say yes to a holding a chairmanship or office. During the next two years, members will be encouraged to step outside their comfort zone, take that risk, and say yes when asked. When holding a leadership position, there may be times when you feel that you aren’t qualified or adequate enough. You may have doubts about the goals you are trying to accomplish. But where you feel like you have failed, another club member admires you for stepping up to the plate and accomplishing something they didn’t have the nerve to try. So, take a risk and take on that position your club or district is asking you to do and do it the best you can. You might just learn a thing or two.
The third objective for the administration is to use the GFWC name and emblem when reaching out within our communities. We must brand ourselves as a member of an international organization to maintain credibility. We are the General Federation of Women’s Clubs! Be proud of our heritage and put the GFWC name and emblem on every piece of correspondence, news release, newsletter, poster, flyer, banner, t-shirt, pin, etc. that you can and tell your community who you are and where you come from. You might even pick up a new member or two!
These three goals are interconnected. You cannot succeed without each one, which is why they will all be emphasized the next two years. Our upward momentum is beginning. Now is our time. We will succeed and grow as an organization and as individuals.
Finally, I am introducing a new project to the membership. This Illinois-based organization is Living Lands and Waters, which grew from one man’s driving passion for clean rivers to a non-profit with a $2 million operating budget, the undying support of “Dirty Jobs” star Mike Rowe and the honor of winning CNN’s Superhero of the Year. Its mission is “to aid in the protection, preservation, and restoration of the natural environment of the Mississippi River and other polluted rivers in the United States.”
To date, Living Lands and Waters has worked on 23 rivers in 20 states (Mississippi, Illinois, Ohio Rivers in Illinois) with the help of more than 100,000 volunteers, removing 9.2 million pounds of debris from U.S. waterways. In addition to river clean up, they provide educational workshops to teachers and students, trees for the MillionTrees Project, sponsor an “Adopt-A-River Mile” project for all U.S. waterways, remove invasive species, and restore waterways. And they sort and recycle the trash!
To summarize:
Reach Out…Connect the Membership at the grassroots level
Reach Out…Connect to a Leadership Challenge
Reach Out…Connect with our communities using the GFWC Name and Emblem
Reach Out…Connect to the President’s Special Project , Living Lands and Waters
So, that’s a peek into the 2018-20 administration, a little membership, leadership, communications and public relations, and conservation. What a way to Reach Out and Connect!
Yours in Federation,
Shelli
5 E. Van Buren Street,