Dear Members of Southside Woman’s Club,

We will officially begin a new club year with our opening reception in September and our first meeting of the year in October.  I am excited to be leading the club.  We have an experienced Board who are enthusiastically preparing for the events and projects planned and willing to entertain any ideas you have to make this year our best ever!  

One of the first things on which we must focus our efforts is building our membership.  Everything we do is easier the more folks we can get to help, and that help needs to come from new members who can carry on the work we have done for over a century.  So, put on your thinking caps, look around your neighborhood and other clubs to which you may belong, your place of worship, friends you may have not seen in awhile, and invite these women to visit a club meeting.  Tell them about things we have done and plan to do.  Get them interested in helping with something you are doing with the club.  If they are artsy, tell them about our great participation in the Federation arts and crafts festival and invite them to join us and participate, too.  They don’t have to be your age, they can be younger or older, as long as we can foster the enthusiasm we need to grow and keep up the good works we do.  Let them know how rewarding our projects have been to us personally as well as to the lives we have affected.

We will have a number of interesting speakers for our meetings, speakers from our community who are experienced in their areas of expertise and willing to explain what they do and how we can help them reach their goals.  After the time we have had away from club work this summer, let’s renew our efforts, dedicate ourselves to making a difference, and be open to new projects and new ideas.  We are, once again, participating in the GFWC FLORIDA President’s Project, Operation Smile.  During the past year we collected our change in our “Smile Cans” to pay for nine Smile operations plus a few more dollars as seed money for even more Smiles in 2019 - 2020.  Together with our sister Clubs in Florida we have funded an amazing number of Smile operations, over $33,000 worth, affecting children in parts of our world where these surgeries are only a dream for children born with cleft lips and palates.  

On a personal note, I have chosen United Community Outreach Ministries (UCOM) as my  President’s Project within our community.  This food bank can use our contributions of goods-in-kind, monetary donations, and volunteer service to help folks in the Southside subsist when they are hungry and underserved.  More about this worthwhile service as the club year begins.

Again, WELCOME to the 2019-20 Club Year.  Let’s make it the best year we can through unity, and challenge each other to put our hearts into all that we do, making SWC the best it can possibly be!

With Federation Love, 

Julie Babcock, President