Arts Community Service

Arts Community Service Program

Opening Minds Through Art (OMA)

GFWC Southwest Ohio Valley Women’s Club and GFWC Great Friends Working Cooperatively (OH) partnered and trained with the Loveland Health Care Center to facilitate an intergenerational art program for people living with neurocognitive disorders, including memory loss. Members met with residents for 20 weeks in one-hour sessions to create art projects. Two twenty-week sessions were organized in 2018.

Paint for Patriots: Art Classes For Veterans

The Woman’s Club of Saraland (AL) provided painting classes for veterans at two VA Centers. At one center, year-round sessions for small groups served 72 veterans, with two art teachers from the club providing the art materials. At the other center, month-long sessions of weekly classes were held in February and October. The club was asked to increase the number of classes to accommodate more students. Each class served 12-15 veterans.

Shoe Tie Block and Clock Making

GFWC Sebastian Woman’s Club (FL) discovered that most kids in the local kindergarten couldn’t tie shoes or tell “circle” time. Members assisted by cutting wooden blocks into shoes and clocks. The shoes were mounted on a block and grommets were drilled into them. After painting, shoestrings were attached. Clock hands were attached with screws and a sleeve to allow the hands to move. Eight sets of shoes and ten clocks were made and delivered to the school.

Downtown Halloween Window Painting Contest

The Woman’s Club of Madisonville (KY) continues to improve this four-year old project. In 2018, members contracted businesses to acquire their windows, picked up supplies, numbered the windows, and created paint kits. Members helped judge the completed windows and donated cash prizes. There were 164 painters in K to 8th grades and 13 high school participants. A total of 113 windows were painted. The Downtown Turnaround Partnership treated all windows to a washing.

Door Wreaths for Mother’s Day

Members of the Wednesday Review Club of Killeen (TX) made Mother’s Day door wreaths for assisted-living residents. Each wreath was personalized based on the resident’s favorite activities, hobbies, pets, and colors. Members donated all the craft items and worked together to create and deliver the wreaths.

Alzheimer’s Sensory Blankets

Members of the Wake Forest Woman’s Club (NC) created sensory therapy blankets by cutting and sewing backings for 32 lap-sized blankets and adding sensory items such as beads, cording, buttons, and small stuffed animals. The purpose of the sensory therapy blankets, which were donated to assisted-living residences and a dementia support group, is to help reduce anxiety, calm nerves, and provide comfort.

Crafting and Creating Together

The Woman’s Club of Springfield, Inc. (VA) utilized members’ talents to hold a new crafting class each month. Members taught watercolor painting, chalk drawing, crocheting, sewing, and other crafts. As a result, 15 baby blankets and 24 chemo caps were donated to the hospital. Members also sewed, stuffed, and donated 92 cough pillows for heart patients. Other craft items, such as stuffed pumpkins and seasonal fascinators, were used for fundraisers or event decorations.

Partnering with the Art’s Council

GFWC Tuscola Woman’s Club (IL) became the official sponsor of the local Art’s Council with nine members serving as Board Members. For their spring beautification project, the club obtained vintage bikes, painted them in bright colors, and then added handlebar baskets filled with flowers and placed them in the city’s concrete planters in the business district. Similar beautification projects were also completed in fall and winter.

So This Is Paris

GFWC Pea Ridge Woman’s Club (WV) joined forces with the local High School Show Choir. Club members helped organize the premier of the school’s competition show by transforming the cafeteria into Paris. The evening’s program, plus twelve Paris-themed pictures, a backdrop for photographs, floral arrangements, and hallways adorned with various decorations were all designed and created by members. Gift baskets and the framed pictures donated by club members were raffled off after the performance.

Assisted Living Art Classes

GFWC Old Campbell County Woman’s Club (GA) conducted nine monthly craft classes for assisted-living residents. Craft materials with a holiday or seasonal theme were assembled into kits. Twenty residents, assisted by club members or staff aides, enjoyed the two-hour sessions. The classes are both an artistic experience and a means for residents and members to interact. Crafts included cotton-ball snowmen, Valentines, shamrock wall hangings, straw-hat bunny faces, pinecone turkeys, and foam Christmas trees.