Happy New Year!!!! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and Hannukah and an absolutely perfect beginning of the New Year! My time with my family was wonderful and it was nice to see each other and spend quality time together.
“The New Year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written.” — Melody Beattie
We ended the 2021 Club Year with an absolutely wonderful Christmas Party. Thank you to the Social Committee for setting this up and to Linda J. for her innovative socks exchange. It was so much fun and the creativity of the socks were incredible! What a great way to end the year. The fellowship and laughter was perfect as we celebrated “US.”
What a great time we had volunteering at Harbaugh Village on the 20th of December. The number of toys that were donated and the families that were helped was just amazing. It was humbling to fill bags of toys for needy families, give already made up bags of toys to people picking up and just sorting the hundreds of toys donated to help with filling wish lists for distribution. We were told that we made a big difference as we were volunteering on the last week before Christmas. We have been asked if we want to volunteer to help again this coming Christmas and the answer is definitely YES! Ask the volunteers who went this time to share what is was like. A big thank you to Carol and Bruce M., Vicki and Fred C., Jody and David H., Karen H., Peg S., Debbie H., Lisa H., Denise P. who joined me for all of their help. Of course we had our special ladies who met Steve Harbaugh and were able to chat with him and get selfies. What was accomplished in building this village in just a couple months was incredible. The village is awesome and as this is just the first year, it was all about getting the toys to families. The plans for the future are remarkable and I can’t wait to visit again.
The New Year is here with 6 more months of our current club year and we have so many things going on and more in the planning. First on the agenda is getting the Committee Reports in to Headquarters. I am currently working on a few myself and am reminding everyone to please have the reports in to me by the 15th of this month. Thank you for all you do to make our club so special and involved in so many worthwhile activities.
The January District Meeting was supposed to be held in person in Medford on January 20th; however I hear that it may be going virtual. I will know more in the next few days. Jill M. has asked for each club in the Garden District to collect food items to help stock the Rutgers Student Food Pantry. All Districts are asked to participate in this worthwhile collection. They need peanut butter, granola bars, individual packs of oatmeal, cereal, shelf stable milk, soup, 1–2 pound bags of rice, chicken broth, vegetable broth and travel hand sanitizers (that hook on back packs). Please check expiration dates. I understand that the WDJWC will be helping to collect foods for Jill which will be a big help to her. If you have a donation, please just drop it off at my house. I will make sure it gets to Jill or the Juniors.
Also…on the topic of contributions, if any of you are interested in donating feminine products or laundry pods to the Greater Woodbury Community Ministry, Kim VZ-C. has graciously volunteered to collect these items for Joan B. and see that they are delivered. Thank you ladies.
With donations on the mind, I will be sending out our Donations List from 2021 for you to review before our February meeting. Please let me know if there is an organization you wish to add to the list. We have a limited amount of money to donate but we want your input as to where your hard-earned monies go. We will put the list together with a suggested donation for all of you to look over before voting.
Also, the Order of the Lily and Honor Roll committee will be meeting soon to discuss who will be honored this year. If you have someone who you would like recognized, please send your suggestion with some of the work your nominee has done to Carol F. She will be putting the list together.
And as the end of the year approaches, if there is a committee that you would like to work on, please let me know so that I can let the committee chair know. We would like to see everyone have a chance to work on a committee of their choice. We do very amazing work and all of you are part of our success. I will send out a list of our committees and a little summary of what they do. Your voice matters.
Finally…your Executive Board met virtually for our January meeting because of the uptick of positive Covid cases in the County. We felt that it was the responsible thing to do to keep everyone safe. Also, St. Paul’s Church is back to requiring everyone who enters the building wear a mask as the numbers continue to increase. Because of this, we will be having a Zoom General Meeting for January 11th. I am hoping this is just a one-time decision; however we need to put the safety of our members first. Installation of new members will take place at our February meeting. Thank you for your understanding and think positive that we will be back to meeting in person in February. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.
May 2022 be a successful year for our club and for you and your families. May we see good health and good fortune as we travel this new year.
Warmly,
April