2021 - 2030

2020-2021     The COVID 19 pandemic pretty much dominated the lives of all of us.  New words like “Zoom” meetings” and “Tele-Health” popped up, reminding us that it was still unsafe to be in the presence of others without a mask and social distancing. Work from home and home schooling were prevalent from coast to coast.  Many businesses had to close and so many were out of work. The vaccine became available in Jacksonville to persons over 65 in January 2021 and then opened to everyone under age 12.  And now, a second round of the COVID 19, Delta variant., has overtaken our country, and everyone from the President, congress, governors, mayors, and community leaders are pleading with people to get vaccinated.

Immigration, the opioid crisis, and racism still control the headlines. We finally, after 17 years, pulled our troops out of Afghanistan.

As for our Southside Woman’s Club, we love our new home at Deerwood Country Club -  chic and classy, and everyone is so accommodating.  We had a huge garage sale to benefit the “Northeast Florida Fallen Officers” organization.  We started a book club, and continued bringing in books for our “Little Free Library.”  We amended our bylaws so that in 2022 we will be in sync with the state officers and revised certain committees to allow for greater representation.

 We continue to support Greenfield Elementary with food, clothing, and cash donations.  Our newest mission at Greenfield is “Envision the Future” – to supply children with vision problems with eye exams and a pair of eyeglasses.  We were proud to contribute to “Operation Smile” for children born with cleft palates.  We continue to help finance our local “Five Star Vets” organization.  We did extremely well in the Arts & Crafts competition in District 4 and the GFWC State Convention.  We were able to fund three scholarships and commit funds to our community totaling $10,000. 

2021-2022    During this past year, our Community Service Programs - Arts & Culture, Education and Libraries, Environment, Health & Welfare, and Civic Engagement & Outreach, have succeeded in keeping everyone busy. 

Our Nominating Committee, for the first time, voted on selecting board members to serve a two year term instead of one year.   This will put us in parallel with the State protocol. 

We are still meeting at Deerwood Country Club.  We continued to support Greenfield Elementary school with boxes of food, school supplies, donations, and Christmas gifts.  We had one new project, “Envision the Future,” and were able to secure a dozen vouchers for eye exams and glasses for the children, with the promise that we could obtain more should the need arise. This resulted in our taking 1st place in the President’s Project for GFWC FL 

We won several lst place and 2nd place awards for our entries into the Arts & Crafts competition and was awarded lst place for our “Stargazer” Newsletter and the “Yearbook”. We celebrated National Women’s History Month with a “Women of Wisdom” theme.  We are proud to report that Julie Babcock was one of the women highlighted across GFWC FL. With all her life’s accomplishments, we can also include her 52 years as a federated clubwoman.

Again, this year, there was a highly organized letter writing campaign to Governor Ron DeSantis in support of May Mann Jennings for induction into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame.

On the national scene, what dominated the news was our public health crisis, Covid 19, immigration, and the widespread opioid epidemic. Russia invaded Ukraine, causing undue hardship to this country. Our President’s Club Flower, the Sunflower, is also the Ukraine Country flower, reminding us to keep this country in our prayers. Supreme Court decisions, marked inflation, and the economy all contributed to a year of anxiety. 

We were the only Club in District Four to participate in the “Eagle” Project.  This entailed a large Eagle statue that our club purchased for $500.00.  We raised the money to cover our investment and The National Park Service matched our $500 donation.  These funds were donated to The Everglades National Park to replace the handicap signage destroyed from a past hurricane.  Our “Eagle” that we named “Warrior” found a new home when we donated him to the 5 Star Veterans Home in Jacksonville. We continued to stock our “Little Library” and started our own book club. We sponsored a “Silent Auction,” and the proceeds went for art supplies for the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and Blind.  As an Club Arts & Crafts Project, we colored in quilt squares that created a beautiful quilt that we raffled to support the “Make a Wish Foundation.”   We made available $3,000 for scholarships & donated a total of $10,000 to various charities within our community.

Through our leadership and fellowship, we have set goals and managed to obtain results.  We have given back to our community not only dollars, but many hours in volunteerism.