Mystic Woman’s Club has awarded $9500 in scholarships and grants to local students and non-profit organizations, including community agencies, libraries, children’s centers, and historical societies, this year alone. These funds were drawn from the club’s Scholarship and Charitable Grants
program, funded in part by the club’s Thrift Shop that it operates in Pawcatuck.
The club’s primary purpose is raising money to reinvest in the community. In addition to the Thrift Shop, the club conducts a Poinsettia Sale each fall, with proceeds to the Groton and Stonington Winter Heating Relief Funds; and a Military Whist each spring, with proceeds to various local agencies. This year the Whist beneficiary was the
Indian and Colonial Research Center in Old Mystic, which sustained serious damage from flooding in March of 2010.
The club has been recognized repeatedly by the General Federation of Women’s Club in Connecticut for its fundraising efforts, which have amounted to as much as $100,000 over the last ten years.
In an effort to increase the Scholarships and Charitable Grants Fund, the club has added another fundraiser to the mix, this time a raffle. The Grand Prize is a queen-sized quilt hand-made by club members and featuring
hand-appliqued sailboats. The overall effect is entirely suitable to the shoreline area, featuring the sailboats on a
water-themed background and quilting that looks like waves.
The raffle drawing will be held October 11, 2012, at 8 p.m., at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church’s Parish Hall on Pearl Street in Mystic. Between now and then, tickets for the raffle are being sold by club members and at the Thrift Shop in Pawcatuck during its regular business hours. Tickets are $5 each. Only 600 tickets will be sold.
The General Federation of Women’s Clubs is one of the world’s largest and oldest women’s service organizations. GFWC clubs are dedicated to community improvement through volunteer service. There are about 6500 clubs in the United States and globally in more than 20 countries, with a total membership of around 100,000. Each club sets its own agenda and works on projects that address the specific needs of their communities. GFWC is headquartered in Washington, DC.
