Holiday Greetings to you!

Thank you for reaching out and touching the lives of those in need in your communities. I know all club-women have been busy not only preparing for their own holiday celebrations but helping to ensure that others will have joy and happiness at this special time of year.

We have so much to be thankful for and I often think of you and all you do for others. Keep up your awe-some work! I can’t wait to read about your club accomplishments at the end of January and I hope you’ll create a Pin Wheel garden in April to draw attention to Prevent Child Abuse (see the article for more information).

In Federation love,

Mary Beth

Mark Your Calendars for Mid Winter Rally

Saturday, January 28, 2012 with a snow date of Saturday, Febru-ary 4, 2012.

Westminster Riding Club, 366 North Colonial Ave., Westminster, Maryland 21157 The GFWC STARS of Westmin-ster will be our hostesses and they have invited Carole Richardson from The Blessing Wagon to speak to us.

Junior Director

Mid Winter Rally

Volume 2,

GFWC –MD

JUNIOR JOURNAL

Ditty Bags for

Veterans

Bobby Anderson is

anxiously awaiting news from Junior

clubs about their

work on creating

ditty bags for veter-

ans. Please send information about

your club endeav-

ors to: and-

ya9@verizon.net or

3039 Ridgeview Drive, Orwigsburg,

PA 17961-2337.

Nominations 2

Membership 3

Junior Day 4

Reports 5

LEADS 7

SAFE 8

Pinwheels 9

Inside this issue:

Winter 2012

Service Project: Replenish the items at the Blessing Wagon by bringing one or two of the following:

Bars of soap

Toilet paper

Paper Towels

Shampoo

Trash bags

Deodorant

Toothpaste

Feminine products

Dish soap

Cleaning supplies

We are investigating a way to donate our time through a hands-on service project at the Blessing Wagon.

Hello, leaders! Maryland Juniors need you.

A slate of officers for the 2012-2014 GFWC Maryland Junior Board is being

gathered.

Mary Walton, GFWC Junior Woman’s Club of Westminster, has been nominated for the position of GFWC Maryland Director of Junior Clubs 2012-2014 and at-tended the GFWC training in November. Welcome, Mary and thanks for answer-ing our call. She’ll be an incredible leader !!

Patti Jo Green, GFWC Junior Woman’s Club of Westminster, has been nominated for the position of GFWC Maryland Junior Secretary. Thanks for continuing to serve and preserve our meeting records.

We are searching for candidates to serve as GFWC Maryland Director-Elect and GFWC Maryland Junior Treasurer. Help preserve our strong Junior Membership by nominating some one from your club for one of these positions. Nominations can be made from the floor at Mid Winter Rally on Saturday, January 28, 2012.

Please send your club’s endorsement to: Mary Beth Strickler,

sylvan@lavalecenter.com

Membership

It’s time to report your club’s results with the “Rake in New Members” Fall (September, October, and Novem-

ber) membership campaign. Please send information about your endeavors to Mary Snyder, GFWC Maryland

Membership Chair, dcsnyder55@comcast.net.

The Winter campaign is “Flurry of Members” (December, January, and February) with reports due March 1.

Here are some ideas to create a flurry of new members in your area:

December

Safe Toys and Gift Month and Chocolate Day. Host a “Gift that Keeps on Giving” party. Ask each attendee to donate a toy that can be donated to a local domestic violence or homeless shelter. Display a membership exhibit board and include pictures and information about club projects. As you wrap the gifts, share with guests that the gift that keeps on giving is GFWC membership and making a positive difference in the community and the lives of others. Send each attendee home with a gift package of chocolates and club information including the details for the next club meeting.

National Cookie Day. Host a cookie exchange event and ask current and potential members to bake a pre-determined amount of cookies and bring a non-perishable food item. Explain that dozens of cookies and the food items will be donated to a local food pantry. Busy women go home with an array of home-baked cookies and know that their time was well spent helping others.

January

National Get Organized and Self-help Group Awareness Month. Host a “Kick-off the Year and Volunteer” event and invite current and potential members. Everyone makes resolutions about what they hope to accomplish in the next year. Educate potential members on how club programs and Federation sisters are just what they need to improve their lives. Speakers could be on topics such as organizational skill building, financial planning, and healthy living. Be sure to include a healthy dose of food, Federation facts, and fun.

A wonderful way to warm a cold January night is with “An Evening of Coffee and Chocolate.” Serve varieties of cof-fee and chocolates, and invite a pastry chef or barista to provide a presentation to current and potential members on chocolate and coffees. Include informational club and GFWC materials and an invitation to come to the next club meeting.

February

Plan a “Let the Good Times Roll” event with a Mardi Gras theme. Focus on the fun of Federation playing Federation fact games, giving beads and trinkets as prizes. Share with guests past projects, programs, and social events en-joyed by members.

Celebrate National Cherry Month by serving all cherry snacks and desserts.

Heart Health Month. Host a “Volunteering Moves the Heart” event and have a speaker discuss the number one killer of women: heart disease. Serve healthy snacks, and promise to share the recipes at the next meeting. Take this opportunity to celebrate “Plant the Seeds of Greatness Month” by brainstorming new community service pro-jects. Give each attendee a packet of Forget-Me-Not seeds with a label including club and contact information. Seeds of volunteerism will be planted, and guests will want to come back for the recipes and to help work on the projects they helped germinate.

Junior Day

At the GFWC Maryland Federation of Women’s Clubs, Inc. 113th An-nual Convention

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Celebrate and share your Junior pride at our annual meeting. We’ll elect and install new officers, share our club reports, present awards,

and fill the Emergency Pantry of Anne Arundel County with much needed baby items. Irenee McElwee, past MFWC Director of Junior Clubs and Emergency Services Director for Food Link, will be our

speaker.

Youth Art will also be in the spotlight as the winners and their families will join us for dessert.

Stay for Federation Fun Night which will be held after the conven-tion’s opening banquet Saturday night. We’ll be hosting a pajama party and sharing friendship with our Maryland signature drink, the

mudslide.

Convention will last through Monday, April 16 and more details will be available in the spring edition of The Maryland ClubWoman

Reporting time is here. Woo Hoo!!

Have fun sharing all club projects and activities which occurred from January 1 to December 31, 2011 with a theme party or give a prize to the chairman who turns in her report first. Create a trivia game for the next club meeting to give mem-bers some idea of the hours they volunteered and amount of donations which were given. Everyone will be surprised with the totals!

Here are some small reminders:

Share all club projects and activities which occurred from January 1 to

December 31, 2011.

Activities NOT listed in the GFWC Program Partnerships materials should be reported in the GFWC Program Collaboration area it most closely relates to.

Use the 2010-2012 “Reporting Index” to help categorize your projects.

Do not CROSS Report. No statistical information for any project may be reported in more than one GFWC Program Partnership/Collaboration.

Include up to two typed pages, single-spaced of narratives for each GFWC program or project your club has completed.

What to do with your reports when you’re done...

Make 8 complete report packets and mail by the postmark deadline of January 31, 2012 as follows:

Mail one complete report packet to:

GFWC Reporting, 1734 N Street NW, Washington, DC 20036-2990

Mail two complete report packets to State President:

Jo Miller, 14003 Cedarwood Drive SW, Cumberland, MD 21502-9602

Mail two complete report packets to State Dean of Chairmen:

Brenda Bennett , PO Box 5399, Ocean City, MD 21843-5399

Mail one complete packet to YOUR District Dean of Chairmen:

Western: Patti Jo Green, 42 Liberty Street, Westminster, MD 21157-4937

Eastern Shore: Julie Gibbs, PO Box 419, Ocean City, MD 21843-0419

Baltimore: Shirley Wales, 9805 Gunforge Road, Perry Hall, MD 21128-9515

Southern: Jeannine Dufrene, 556 Maynadier Lane, Crownsville, MD 21032-2136

Montgomery: Marge Shiflett, 3321 Sue Mac Court, Monrovia, MD 21770-8725

Mail two complete report packets to State Director of Junior Clubs:

Mary Beth Strickler , 112 Forest Drive, Cumberland, MD 21502-1909

Nominate a LEADS Candidate

January 31, 2012 marks the deadline date for clubs to nominate candi-dates for the LEADS training at the 2012 GFWC International Convention in Charlotte, NC.

LEADS may include the following:

Presentations on conflict resolution, mediation, public speaking, time management, and parliamentary procedure

Explanation of GFWC resources, materials, and assistance

Discussions on GFWC policies, procedures, and parliamentary law

Tips and techniques for pursuing leadership opportunities

GFWC covers a portion of the attendees' expenses, including:

Round-trip travel to and from the GFWC Convention city*

One-half of room charge for two nights at official Convention hotel *

Breakfast and lunch during the LEADS program

$10 Gift Certificate for the 2012 GFWC Annual Convention Marketplace

Submit applications and two letters of recommendation to:

Norma Jean Swam

22 Fitzhugh Avenue

Westminster, MD 21157

Stop Abuse for Every Teen (SAFE) Teen Act

U.S. Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Congress-

woman Gwen Moore (D-WI), and Congressman Dave Reichert (R-WA) recently

introduced the Stop Abuse for Every Teen (SAFE Teen) Act. This important, bipar-

tisan legislation recognizes the severity of teen dating violence throughout the

country and allows schools to use existing federal funding for prevention and edu-

cation. This bill does not call for monetary or budgetary considerations.

According to reports, one in four adolescents reports emotional, physical, or sexual

violence while each year while one in 10 adolescents reports being a victim of

physical dating violence. Teen victims of dating violence suffer long-term negative

health consequences and show poor student achievement.

“Dating violence prevention programs in middle and high schools will educate

people to engage in healthy relationships,” says International President Carlene A.

Garner. “I urge each GFWC member to contact her senator and representative in

supporting this vital bipartisan legislation.”

If passed into law, this bill would:

Expressly authorize schools to use existing grant funding for teen dating violence preven-tion;

Highlight teen dating violence prevention as part of the comprehensive, community pre-vention program, Safe Schools, Healthy Students, that already funds prevention activities;

Support better teen dating violence data to understand the scope of the problem;

Support promising practices to further replicate, refine, and test prevention models.

View a sample e-mail text for contacting your legislator by visiting gfwc.org

Stand for Maryland’s Children

April Pinwheel Gardens Kathy Ferrara, GFWC Director of Junior Clubs, has challenged every Junior Club to observe April as Child Abuse Prevention Month by displaying blue and silver pin-wheel gardens to represent the healthy de-velopment of our nation’s children. Since 1972, Prevent Child Abuse America has led the way in building awareness, providing education, and inspiring hope to everyone involved in the effort to prevent the abuse and neglect of our nation's children. Pre-vent Child Abuse America is one of our GFWC partners.

Our Maryland Chapter is The Family Tree and they have a Stand for Maryland’s Chil-dren – Pinwheels for Prevention campaign. The goal of this effort is to demonstrate the role each of us can play in building strong families and communities. Here are some fun ways that the Maryland Junior Membership can get involved:

Build a Pinwheel Garden – Design and create your own pinwheels and display them in a pinwheel garden in your community. There is an easy template to follow and pinwheels can be purchased from The Family Tree, just email develop-ment@familytreemd.org.

Design a Pinwheel – Visit www.standforchildrenmd.org and design your own vir-tual pinwheel. Help the garden grow by adding it to their virtual garden. This is a fun project to do as a family. Spread the word and share your pinwheel with a friend via Facebook, MySpace or email others to join in. Help grow 1,000 pinwheels in the gar-den by the end of April.

Host a pinwheel coloring contest and display them in the window at a neighbor-hood store. Download the coloring page at www.standforchildrenmd.org.

Stand for Maryland’s Children

2108 North Charles Street

Baltimore, MD 21218

410-889-2300

Standforchildrenmd.org