NEBRASKA STATE PRESIDENT/INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT PAGE
Dear GFWC Sisters,
I am once again very excited to serve as your president. My theme is “Volunteering is Love Beyond Measure”. I certainly feel that all our volunteer efforts in each of our communities is something we cannot truly measure, not by our Dollars Spent, Dollars Donated, In-Kind Donations or even by our Volunteer Hours. But I do believe that volunteering helps club members make new friends and contacts which leads to an increase in membership and retention of current club members; both are vital for the survival of GFWC. No matter how big or how small your volunteer efforts are, remember “It is the little things that create differences”. Mary Stewart was very aware of this when she wrote that line in the GFWC Club Collect.
GFWC has one new affiliate, ‘Hope for Justice’; it is a charity working to bring an end to modern slavery and human trafficking and to protect the human rights of victims and survivors. I have decided to make ‘Hope for Justice’ one of my special projects.
The ‘Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte Memorial Hospital’ in Walthill, Nebraska, will be my other special project. Susan was the first Native American doctor in the United States; she also was a GFWC Club member, serving as Chairman of Home Life (now Health and Wellness). The Memorial Hospital project should be completed within the next two years.
I am excited for this administration as I will be working with 40 dedicated Board Members, 23 committed Club Presidents (two clubs have Co-Presidents) and over 400 loyal Nebraska Clubwomen. Together we will go the extra mile to achieve the following goals for the GFWC Nebraska State Federation:
Continue to make NFWC strong by growing our state membership. Carry out our many worthwhile projects that will benefit others in our communities, our state and even global.
Remember, we all want to make a difference, it’s not about the roles we have but the goals we reach. I am proud and honored to serve as the 66th GFWC Nebraska State President.
Volunteering is Love Beyond Measure!
Karen Crandall
Dear Fellow Members,
Welcome to the 2022-2024 GFWC Administration. I am humbled and honored to serve as your 54th GFWC International President. Please join me in embracing the leadership and service opportunities that will be ours over the next two years.
Your state publications and the GFWC Club Manual will play an essential role in the success of your programs and projects as they are wonderful tools and resources for you and your clubs. Be sure to network and call upon your state leadership when needed! They are there for you and want nothing more than for your club to flourish and grow.
The 2020-2022 Administration taught us many valuable lessons. What was the most notable? We learned NOTHING stops a GFWC Clubwoman! In preparing for this administration, my hope for GFWC is to continue strengthening the many facets of membership, leadership, and communications necessary to ensure the future and sustainability of this organization.
I also wish to thank you, our dedicated GFWC members, for continuing the vital work of our volunteers in our local clubs and communities. Always remember every gift you share as a member of GFWC has tremendous value and significance.
The common bond of compassion, service, and philanthropy connects us all, no matter how young or old we are and no matter where we live. Through the giving and sharing of GFWC, we discover its true reward.
So together, let’s Dream Big...Sparkle More...and we will indeed Shine Bright, for the Federation’s greatest gifts are all of YOU, the timeless, priceless members of GFWC! Continue Living the Volunteer Spirit.
Yours in Federation,
Debra A. Strahanoski, GFWC International President
COLLECT FOR CLUBWOMEN
Keep us, Oh God, from pettiness; let us be
large in thought, in word, in deed.
Let us be done with fault-finding and leave
off self-seeking.
May we put away all pretense and meet each
other face to face, without self-pity
and without prejudice.
May we never be hasty in judgement and
always generous.
Let us take time for all things; make us to
grow calm, serene, gentle.
Teach us to put into action our better
impulses, straightforward and unafraid.
Grant that we may realize it is the little
things that create differences, that in
the big things of life we are at one.
And may we strive to touch and to know the
great common human heart of us all,
and, Oh Lord God, let us forget not
to be kind.
Mary Stewart | April 1904