Programs

Arts and Culture
The Arts and Culture Community Service Program encourages members to promote and support arts activities in our schools and communities. It is designed to inspire clubwomen and ignite within them a desire to make their world a more beautiful place. As Edgar Degas once said, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
The goal is to create programs and projects that include music, literature, dance, drama, theatre, and other arts-related areas, both traditional and innovative, that cause the world around us to see and feel what they might have only once imagined.

Environment
The Environment Community Service Program encourages awareness of our natural resources and caring for the world around us. It offers information and ideas to promote environmental appreciation and protection. Work to preserve, maintain, and restore our natural resources; protect habitats for plants and animals; and develop sustainable habits.

Environmental education; care for our air, land, and water; recycling; litter cleanup; partnerships with community groups, schools, and children; support of wildlife; energy conservation; tree planting; and beautification – this is what the Conservation Community Service Program is all about. Work to become more aware of conservation issues, enrich your communities, and become stewards of the environment.

Education and Libraries
The Education Community Service Programs promotes life-long learning and literacy.

“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” – John Dewey

From the 1996 Report of the International Commission on Education for the 21st Century and the 1997 Hamburg Declaration: “Literacy, broadly conceived as the basic knowledge and skills needed in a rapidly changing world is a fundamental human right”.

There are millions, the majority of whom are women, who lack opportunities to learn or have insufficient skills to be able to assert this right. The challenge is to enable them to do so. Literacy is also a catalyst for participating in social, cultural, political, and economic activities, and for learning throughout life.

Having founded over 474 public libraries and 4,655 traveling libraries in the 1930s, The American Library Association credited GFWC with establishing 75% of America’s public libraries. In the 21st century, libraries continue to be an important part of our communities, demonstrated by a 2013 survey in which 90% of Americans, ages 16 and older, said the closing of their local public library would have an impact on their community.

Health and Wellness
The Health and Wellness Community Service Program is designed to inform members of issues that affect the well-being of individuals, families and communities by providing opportunities and resources to meet and address needs through volunteering. Through this program, we develop and implement creative projects that promote a healthy lifestyle; increase awareness, prevention, research, and treatment of disease; target personal development; address the issues of hunger, inadequate housing, and homelessness; and/or prevent or correct financial difficulties.

Civic Engagement and Outreach
Civic and social responsibilities are key components in our lives. The Civic Engagement and Outreach Program is designed to actively connect members with effective projects and activities relating to civic and social responsibilities. This program focuses on citizenship, military personnel, emergency and disaster preparedness, and safety and crime prevention.