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Club’s Holiday Splendor fundraiser Dec. 3

WITH GUEST SPEAKER — Mary Beth Allan, left, president of the Wintersville woman’s club, and Judy Ostrowsky, right, program chair, welcomed guest speaker Stephanie Rouse to the October meeting. Rouse, a longtime General Federation of Women’s Club member, discussed the “Shot at Life” global vaccination program GFWC helps support. -- Janice Kiaski

WINTERSVILLE — The Wintersville Woman’s Club will continue to finalize plans for its key fundraiser when members gather for their Nov. 16 noon luncheon and business meeting at St. Florian Hall in Wintersville.

The 16th-annual Holiday Splendor luncheon and style show to benefit scholarship funds will be held Dec. 3 at St. Florian Hall. Shopping begins at 11:30 a.m. and will feature boutique shopping involving various vendors. There also will be a variety of themed basket items available in a Chinese auction, a 50-50 drawing and door prizes. No drawing tickets will be sold after 1 p.m.

Lunch will be served at 1 p.m. with the menu including chicken orzo soup, chicken salad with croissant, harvest salad and desserts.

A style show will feature fashions from the Dress Barn with shopping afterward until 4 p.m.

Tickets are $30 per person. Checks may be made payable to the Wintersville Woman’s Club and mailed to 141 Starkdale Road, Steubenville, OH, 43953. Inquiries can be directed to Joyce at (740) 264-0492.

Robbie Young, Pat Freeland and Barbara Thermes will serve as hostesses at the November meeting with Natalie Doty offering the meditation and grace. The program will be presented by Janice Kiaski, community editor for the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.

The meeting also will include the election of a nominating committee, and members are reminded to bring a $10 gift for a boy or girl or an item for the Christmas stocking for Good Neighbors.

Judy Ostrowsky, Donna Phillips and Janice Gardner served as hostesses at the Oct. 19 meeting where chairs were decorated with pink balloons attached in observance of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month. They carried a tag encouraging their finders to report back on the location in which they were discovered. At the close of the meeting, the balloons were released.

Joan Doan gave the meditation, then later the recording secretary’s report when the business meeting began under the direction of President Mary Beth Allan. Joyce Palmer gave the treasurer’s report and Bonnie DiDomenico, the corresponding secretary’s report.

In community service reports, Barbara Grimm, arts committee chair, announced cards will be made for nursing home residents, “a couple hundred,” for the holiday and asked for scraps of narrow ribbons to be brought to the November meeting.

Ella Jane Burns, home life chairman, asked members to bring to November’s meeting babies bottles that were made available to collect change as a fundraising project for the A.I.M. Women’s Center in Steubenville.

Nancy Antill, conversation chairman, encouraged members to start thinking about the December project — making Christmas ornaments or decorations out of recycled items as a part of a club contest.

Robbie Young, education chair, noted names for possible scholarship recipients are needed, and Judy Weaver, international outreach chair, thanked members for their donations of coupons sent to military bases. At her recommendation, the club voted to continue its support of Heifer International, agreeing to donate $50 for the purchase of a “Hope Basket” of chickens and rabbits.

Ruth Carson, public issues chair, encouraged members to send a message to a service member as Veterans Day approaches.

A bake sale held at the meeting generated proceeds as part of an ongoing fundraising project to help with renovations at the GFWC headquarters in Washington.

Ostrowsky, program chair, introduced guest speaker Stephanie Rouse, a 38-year woman’s club member who is active in the Mingo Woman’s Club. Her topic involved “Shot at Life,” a campaign that connects and empowers Americans to champion vaccines as one of the most cost-effective ways to save the lives of children in developing countries, she explained.

“Somewhere around the world a child dies every 20 seconds from a vaccine-preventable disease,” Rouse told the club members. In 2015 she attended the Champion Summit held in Washington, D.C., which was sponsored by the United Nations Foundation. After an application process, Rouse was among seven GFWC members chosen nationwide to be trained as a new champion for the Shot at Life Organization.

GFWC and “Shot at Life” have been partners for about four years, according to Rouse, who explained how a trip to Africa sparked interest in being an advocate for it. Rouse visited a friend and helped her where she volunteered at an orphanage in Nairobi, assisting in the infant section. The program provides many immunizations in Kenya and Tanzania to children in need.

The campaign overall rallies the public to advocate and raise funds for global childhood vaccines available to children in the United States but not worldwide. Such an effort envisions decreasing the 1.5 million annual vaccine-preventable childhood deaths, giving every child a shot at a healthy life.

“‘Shot at Life’ wants us to advocate,” said Rouse, who noted she lobbied for support of funding global vaccines through local legislators, including U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta. She provided club members with information and e-mails to do likewise.

“We advocate all vaccines,” Rouse said, explaining that “thanks to polio vaccinations, 5 million who would otherwise be paralyzed are walking, and polio cases are down 99 percent. Never before has the world been this close to eradicating polio. There are two countries that still have polio — Afghanistan — we can’t get in there to advocate, and the other is Nigeria.”

The club also heard from guest Judi Hladek, development director for Valley Hospice, about the organization’s “We Love the ’60s” fundraiser with proceeds to benefit unfunded care and services, including “A Hero’s Salute,” specialized end-of-life care for veterans, and Meaningful Moments, a program developed to provide meaning and comfort for individuals and families dealing with dementia.

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