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Steubenville club pays tribute to veterans

PRESENTATION — OFWC Woman’s Club of Steubenville President Carlotta Jordan, second from right, presented a $100 donation on behalf of the club to help with expenses involved in purchasing new flags representing all service branches at the small park at the intersection of state Route 7 and Franklin Avenue. The project was initiated by AMVETS Post 275. With Jordan at the November meeting that paid tribute to veterans are, from left, Matz Malone of AMVETS; retired Air Force Col. Vincetta Tsouris, a speaker; and Bill Demjan of AMVETS and the Jefferson County Veterans Service Commission. -- Janice Kiaski

STEUBENVILLE — The OFWC Woman’s Club of Steubenville will be entertained by Steubenville High School’s jazz band as part of the organization’s Christmas party meeting that will be held Dec. 3.

The noon luncheon gathering will be held at the YWCA of Steubenville with President Carlotta Jordan, president, presiding. Kimberly Hahn will give the invocation, and Judy Brancazio and Gloria Popp will be greeters. Members are reminded to bring gloves, hats, scarves and men’s socks for donation to the Friendship Room in Steubenville.

The group’s November meeting included a salute to veterans; an update on the GFWC Ohio president’s Operation: Culinary Canteen; and a presentation by a local woman whose mission trip experience in Guatemala is fueling a local effort to be part of a project called Days for Girls.

Jane Agresta gave the invocation at the November meeting. Shirley Valuska and Linda Wells were greeters.

Special guests on hand at the Nov. 5 meeting as part of the veterans tribute were AMVETS Post 275 representatives Bill Demjan and Matz Malone; retired Air Force Col. Vincetta Tsouris; and Annabelle Clutter, outreach officer with the Jefferson County Veterans Service Commission.

The club presented a check for $100 to help with expenses involved in purchasing new flags representing all service branches at the small park at the intersection of state Route 7 and Franklin Avenue. The AMVETS post purchased the flags for the site and is looking to work with local Boy Scouts to do other work there also.

Demjan thanked the club for the contribution and noted the work there will enhance an entrance way to the city.

He also explained he has served on the Jefferson County Veterans Service Commission for 15 years.

“Our ultimate purpose is to help the veterans whenever there is a need,” Demjan said. “We’re there to help, and if they can’t come to the office, we’ll send one of our service officers to their house in order to get them information so we may serve them, and many times there are veterans who need food assistance or clothing or shelter. We’re there to help them out in every category possible,” Demjan said, adding that in emergency situations, the commission works to help in that scenario as well.

The office is located in suite 310, 500 Market St. The phone number is (740) 283-8571.

“So the veterans, they come first as far as we’re concerned and rightfully so. They put their lives on the line for this great nation of ours, so we’re there to serve them,” he said, introducing Annabelle Clutter, outreach specialist at the JCVSC.

Jordan introduced Vincetta Tsouris of Steubenville, retired Air Force colonel, who shared briefly about her military service that included seven tours of duty, including in Afghanistan and Iraq. She served as a flight nurse and also as a mental health coordinator at Andrews Air Force Base.

Tsouris joined in 1976 and retired after a 36-year career.

“Our main focus was picking up wounded warriors,” she said. “They would get hurt in the field, and we would go to their unit, and they would bring them to a small area,” Tsouris said. She did three tours at Andrews Air Force Base. “That was the worst because the patients were at their best,” she said, noting many cases “stick in your mind.”

Tsouris said she was honored to be able to help the troops.

Jordan also introduced GFWC/OFWC Southeast District President Pat Ketzell of Bridgeport, who shared with club members that the theme for the 2018-2020 GFWC/OFWC administration is “The Memory of a Day, Holds the Key to Tomorrow.” The GFWC Ohio president’s special emphasis is called Operation: Culinary Canteen with the USO as the benefactor. USO is an acronym for United Service Organizations, which provides morale, welfare and recreation-type services to uniformed military personnel.

The USO of Northern Ohio travels to installations during drill weekends to serve lunches and breakfasts to the troops. Food and supplies are hauled to the site in the back of a van and warmed up. A food truck/mobile canteen or food trailer capable of hauling equipment, a grill, a convection oven, warming oven and refrigerator would “greatly help us be more effective in delivering this program to the troops,” the state president notes in a newsletter item.

Ketzell said generating money to have a canteen is a goal.

“What they want to use it for is when these soldiers are deployed , after they’re processed, they can’t leave the airport,” she explained. “They want to a canteen there that is accessible so they can be able to feed the soldiers and their families,” Ketzell said in offering an example.

Collecting care package items is another project, in addition to making yarn scarves about 6 feet by 4 inches.

Ketzell also shared what the seven grand initiatives are for the 2018-20 administration of GFWC International President Mary Ellen Brock. They include having 1,000 club projects performed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day; focusing on service opportunities at local military bases, especially ones that benefit women who serve; having members sign their names in red when communicating with government officials in support of legislation in a show of GFWC advocacy efforts; planting 1,000 tree GFWC-wide as part of Arbor Day/Federation Day; having 1,000 clubwomen donate $1,000 to the capital campaign; donating 1,000 children’s books in honor of Dr. Seuss on his birthday to schools in need; and donating 1,000 pairs of shoes as part of GFWC’s Soles4Souls.

Kate Sedgmer, club vice president, introduced guest speaker and local resident Jamie Copenhaver, who shared about a mission trip she took to Guatemala.

“I didn’t see this trip coming and really didn’t have an intention or a wish to go on a mission trip, but there was a chance meeting I had with somebody who had been to Guatemala several times,” Copenhaver said.

The trip was through World Help, Copenhaver explained, and included a tour of the Hope of Life campus in Llanoverde, with visits to a hospital, orphanage, facility for disabled adults and Kelly’s House for children with special needs.

In the village of Altamira, Copenhaver said living conditions are very primitive. There the mission trip participants talked to residents through an interpreter to understand needs they had. The group added on two rooms to a school, did a vacation Bible school for children; and used funds provided by a donor to build a home for a widow, Copenhaver explained, using a slide show to give club members a visual appreciation of the trip. She said the “huge deal” about having a house is its floor, windows and a door that locks.

A sustainability project involved a community oven and how to use it and planting fruit trees. A women’s meeting, something not done in that culture, attracted 40 participants, according to Copenhaver. One of the most disturbing aspects of the trip was visiting the dump where scavengers scouts for things that turn into a $12 monthly salary.

Copenhaver told the club women that Days for Girls is a movement that increases access to menstrual care and education and involves sewing reusable pads out of flannel and cotton. She plans to start a local sewing group for this that possibly would meet at the YWCA. For information about the local effort, she can be contacted at (740) 317-5742 or shinewithjamie@yahoo.com.

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