Women’s Club strives to keep alive its long history of community service
By Kastle Waserman
Photos courtesy of SRWC
Today’s women aspire to a lot: powerful careers, a thriving family life and personal goals. They also seek camaraderie in connecting with other women. One group keeping an age-old tradition of community service alive while providing an outlet to connect is the Southwest Region Women’s Club (SRWC).
As a subset of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, the Southwest Region Women’s Club meets regularly in Lakewood and carries the torch lit in 1890, when women, who weren’t allowed in the workplace, focused their attention on their community.
The Southwest Region chapter started 25 years ago and grew from six members to roughly 50 today. The club works to better the community by donating needed items to The Action Center and Benefits in Action organizations, as well as doing awareness events and service projects for various causes in a bipartisan, non-political way.
Kimba Langas recently took over as president, and, for her, the club is about paying it forward: “co-founded a nonprofit fourteen years ago called Free The Girls, collecting bras to support survivors of trafficking. I just recognize the importance of that volunteer support for so many organizations that are under-resourced.”
One particular effort Langas is involved in is collecting donations of women’s items. “We have ‘tampon parties,’ she says. “We collect pads and tampons because Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s benefits do not cover that for low-income individuals and families.”
Langas recently took over the role from long-serving president Sue O’Dell, who now acts as membership director. O’Dell explained how the organization leans on the power of a group to make significant contributions of food, clothes, diapers or whatever the food bank needs.
“When I go to the store and buy a bag of groceries and drop it at The Action Center, that’s not as impactful as twenty of us dropping twenty bags of groceries. It makes you feel good knowing that you can do that.”
Both Langas and O’Dell say there are various reasons women join the group. Most do it to contribute to community efforts, while others do it for the friends they make and to be around a diverse group of women ages 30 to 80. Many do it because volunteerism runs in their family. “A lot of us grew up in a household where our grandmas and moms went to women’s clubs,” says O’Dell. “Now we invite our daughters and their friends.
The cost to join is $40 a year, and members can participate as much or as little as they want.
“Some women just want to come visit with their friends and have dinner and throw five dollars in the pot. Other people sign up for everything,” says O’Dell.
The SRWC is always looking for more members. O’Dell says it’s not about being required to participate in a certain number of events; it’s about being part of the greater effort in whatever way you can contribute. “We pride ourselves on passing on the legacy of women volunteering and helping the community.”
GIVING
Southwest Region Women’s Club focuses its giving in four main areas.
Home Life: targets food insecurity and homelessness and encourages healthy lifestyles.
Conservation: boosts awareness of the protection of natural resources.
International Outreach: addresses global hunger, disease, trafficking, unclean drinking water and poor education.
Arts: promotes creative endeavors of art, dance, music and theater.
Southwest Region Women’s
gfwc-srwc.org
