April President’s Message

Happy Easter and Happy Passover to all of you! As this year’s celebrations are going to be quiet and without so many that we would love to be with, may all of you know only joy, happiness and peace during this unprecedented time.

You may think that you are completely insignificant in this world. But someone drinks coffee (tea) from the favorite cup that you gave them. Someone heard a song on the radio that reminded them of you. Someone read the book that you recommended, and plunged headfirst into it. Someone smiles after a hard day’s work, because they remembered the joke that you told them today. Someone loves themselves a little bit more, because you gave them a compliment. Never think that you have no influence whatsoever. Your trace, which you leave behind with every good deed, cannot be erased.

Power_Words-Unknown

As you and your families struggle to stay safe during Covid-19, know that you are so special and important to so many people. Whether they are members of your family, friends or acquaintances, you are their rock, their confidant, or the person they need to turn to when they need advice. We got this, and we will emerge from this time of self distancing and isolation even stronger than before. I know that all of you are missing your loved ones…a hug from my grandchildren would be the best medicine in the world to me, but I know that they are safer now following the NJ Governor’s rules and guidelines. I heard many of you are face timing with your families, messaging and using Zoom to stay in touch. Those hugs are going to be even sweeter to all of us when this is over.

All club business across the State of NJ is pretty much at a standstill. As I told you in my email to you, the NJSFWC Convention in May 2020 has been cancelled. GCI in June 2020 has been cancelled. All District activities have been cancelled. My goal is to keep all of you informed of things in the Federation, District and the WCWD as they occur.

A few recognitions are still in order… I want to give a big shout out to Karen D. She took the initiative and reached out to Guidance Counselor Mrs. Kelly at WDHS about scholarships. She received a wonderful email back stating that the seniors are being contacted at home about all scholarships including ours. The applications are online and the students will still be able to fill them out and get them in by the deadline. Thank you, Karen, for being on top of this. We don’t know how things will be handled with the school district as far as whether school will open or not by June, but these seniors will still be going to college in the fall. All of those scholarships will be appreciated.

Thank you to Linda J. for organizing the Read Across America activities for OV School. We were not able to finish reading to all of the classes because of the closing of the schools responding to the Corona Virus mandates by the Governor, but we did get to several classrooms and it was just amazing to watch their little faces as we read a story and made bookmarks with them. Hopefully, we will be able to do this again next year.

Thank you to all who responded to Carol F. as she shared a plea from a former WD Junior who was asking for donated sheets, blankets and more for the YES Shelter in Blackwood. This Shelter comes under the SERV Program that we donate $250.00 each year. We were able to do double for this organization this year and help some teenagers who have had a rough time.

And finally, thank you to all who have been sharing places that are available to help us with curbside pickup or deliveries of food or necessities during these isolated times. It means the world to all of us. As we are social beings, having to stay home and away from others or our regular activities can put a strain on even the best of us. Hang in there…we will get past this. See page 10 for the list.

With all the cancellations and school closings, another one of our activities to be cancelled is our Women’s Suffrage Program to be held at WDHS. Chris T. made the wonderful suggestion to reschedule this program for the fall. Thank you, Chris, for the suggestion. This is something that we will definitely look into and hopefully schedule again for the next group of young voters.

I also want to recognize Patty W. and Carol M. Both ladies have updated and adjusted both accounts to meet the requirements of the 501c3, state requirements and more. Patty has her budget ready as does Carol. A big thank you to Carol who spent several hours writing checks, letters and sending out our donations to the organizations that we support. That was a big job and we appreciate the time to get this all together. As we cannot call these organizations to our April meeting, Carol was still able to get the checks written for all of the organizations.

As you will note in a separate article, our Nominating Committee is still at work getting our new slate of officers in place. As we did receive the directive from the NJSFWC President to hold our elections electronically, we will have a plan in place to do that should we not be able to meet in May. I will keep all of you posted as things progress. The important thing is that after the club votes in May, either in person or electronically, the new board will take over as the new Fiscal Year begins on 7/1/2020. I know I am being optimistic, but I do hope we will be able to get together again next month.

As voted on at our March meeting, we will be holding a Basket Raffle in the fall. Nancy D. has reserved a date for our Basket Raffle at Adelphia’s. The date is Monday, October 12th. We have a lot to discuss, vote on and get a committee together, which we will do. However, we do have a date. Once we get through our self-distancing, we can move forward with plans. Thank you, Nancy D., for getting us started.

As we continue to travel through this pandemic, please stay safe, continue to self distance, and reach out to me if you need any assistance. If I can’t help you, I’ll find someone who can. It can be hard to stay isolated from everyone so give me a call if you are feeling down and we can chat. I am home. I am doing a lot of home projects and going out only as a necessity…(food). Each one of you is in my thoughts and prayers as we work to survive our new normal. We will be together again…even better than ever. This edition of Tidbits will go into the archives and show future members what we endured in 2020. They will also see that we are strong, survived and thrived. We got this!!!!

Warmly,

April