GFWC North Pinellas Woman’s Club Named Florida’s Most Outstanding Club of the Year for Community Service Excellence
This is the eighth time the club has been the recipient of GFWC Florida’s Lois B. Perkins award in their 17 year history.
PRESS RELEASE: CLEARWATER, FL, UNITED STATES, October 11, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/
Our club motto is ‘living the volunteer spirit’ and we have some of the most
remarkable women dedicated to positively impacting lives in Pinellas County.”
Laura Connelly, 2019 club president
General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC) North Pinellas Woman’s Club received the Lois B. Perkins Award, which was awarded to the 2019 Most Outstanding Club of the Year in the state of Florida at the GFWC Florida fall convention held September 25 – September 27 in Orlando.
The Most Outstanding Club of the Year award is granted annually to the club with the best overall record in enhancing its community through service projects. This is the eighth year that GFWC North Pinellas Woman’s Club, founded seventeen years ago, has bested nearly 200 GFWC clubs in the state to receive the prestigious honor.
Laura Connelly, 2019 club president, attributes the club’s success to the extraordinary volunteer spirit of its 190-plus membership base. “Our club motto is ‘living the volunteer spirit’ and we have some of the most remarkable women dedicated to positively impacting lives in Pinellas County.”
GFWC North Pinellas Woman’s Club members work tirelessly to positively impact the community through an impressive array of hands-on service projects. In any given week, volunteers are preparing dinner for the homeless at Peace Café in Clearwater, sewing blankets for kids in foster care, cooking meals for the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and Ronald McDonald House, cleaning the Pinellas Trail, greeting veterans on Honor Flights, educating our teens on dating and healthy relationships, and collecting and distributing children’s books to new Habitat for Humanity homeowners, after-school programs, and foster care agencies.
“GFWC North Pinellas Woman’s Club is distinguished from other service organizations by the outreach,” Connelly said. “Our community service programs span all areas of the lives of our members, their families, and Pinellas County including the arts, civic engagement and outreach, education, environment, and health and wellness.”
Club members volunteered over 30,000 hours in 2019 and donated over $170,000 in community grants, scholarships, cash, and in-kind donations. Among the recent grants that have been awarded include $1000 to the Community Dental Clinic for a blood pressure system for low- income urgent care patients of the free dental clinic; $1000 to The Kind Mouse Productions to supply food for school-age children, and $500 to Wheelchairs 4 Kids for adaptive equipment for children without insurance or Medicaid.
To benefit even more local charities each year, the club hosts a number of fundraisers. Net proceeds are redirected to the community. “We are all about service,” Connelly said. “We are a hard-working club, truly inspired to improve our local community through acts large and small.”
About the GFWC North Pinellas Woman’s Club
GFWC North Pinellas Woman’s Club is an all-volunteer, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization united in our passion to positively impact lives in Pinellas County. Members are very active in a variety of community improvement projects and strive to address all aspects of the community, including foster children, the homeless, school systems, civic duties and social responsibilities, and environmental issues. Visit our website: www.gfwcnpwc.org to see the impact we’ve made.
About the General Federation of Women’s Clubs
The General Federation of Women’s Clubs is a unifying force, bringing together local women’s clubs, with members dedicated to strengthening their communities and enhancing the lives of others through volunteer service. With nearly 80,000 members in affiliated clubs in every state and more than a dozen countries, GFWC members are community leaders who work locally to create global change by supporting the arts, preserving natural resources, advancing education, promoting healthy lifestyles, encouraging civic involvement, and working toward world peace and understanding. For more information, visit www.GFWC.org.
