2022/01/20 Martin Luther King Workday

Our community service project for this year was a project By Women – For Women. Our club came together as a group to support a unique sewing project – making breast cancer pillows. We completed 44 pillows and we donated them to breast cancers centers in our area: Tennessee Cancer Specialists and Knoxville Comprehensive Breast Centers. Nine women worked on the project, all fabric was donated, and we spent 36 hours totaled. Going forward, we plan to make this one of signature projects because it was so well-received.

 

2022/03/15 District Meeting

The Smoky Mountain District meeting was held on March 15.  Mary Barber, Nancy Benn, Cathy Maxwell, Linda Claggett, Martha Velez and Barbara Ellerbrock attended.  The meeting was held at Chilhowee in Maryville and was the second district meeting since COVID.   Nancy had had a serious accident in January while on vacation so she was in a boot and hopped around quite a bit.  Both Barbara and Martha had had shoulder surgery in February so both were in slings.  We were a sight to see!  The Spring meeting of the District is the “award and installation” meeting.  Barbara was installed as 2nd Vice President and Nancy was installed as Secretary. 

2022/03/31 Habitat Breakfast

Houses and Hope 8th annual Breakfast fundraiser on March 31, 2022, was attended by (front) Mary Lou Rothenbohl, Nancy Benn, (back) Michele Ondeck, Sue Milligan, Nancy Gregg, Mary Cushman.

Tellico Village GFWC is a proud and longtime supporter of the Habitat for Humanity program in Loudon County. Throughout the years we have assisted financially and with volunteers. We look forward to helping at the next women’s build house in the future.

2022/04/25 Mary Cushman's Birthday

One of our Charter Members, Mary Cushman, celebrated a milestone birthday.  At a regular meeting of the Club, we were able to help Mary celebrate this milestone.  All our members gave her birthday cards and a delicious cake was provided by Michele Ondeck.  Even though out of tune, we gave her a sincere rendition of Happy Birthday.

2022/05/23 Installation Luncheon

We installed our 2022-23 Board on May 23, at The Café in Loudon.  There were 18 members who attended the installation.  Michele Ondeck, is the 2022-23 President; Annette Quimper, 1st VP; Nancy Gregg, 2nd VP; Martha Velez, Nancy Benn, Recording Secretaries; Sue Smith, Correspondence Secretary; Linda Claggett, Treasurer.  Rounding out the officers are Barbara Ellerbrock as Past President and Mary Cushman as Parliamentarian.  Also installed were new members 2021-22, Raquel Chavez-Galbraith, Annette Quimper, MaryLou Rothenbohl and Eleanor Salchak. 

2022/06/13 Year End Picnic

The Tellico Village GFWC Ladies ended the year with a party as big as their hearts when it comes to community service. The Year End Picnic took place on June 13, 2022, at the TV Tugaloo pavilion. A Tailgate party theme allowed participation by attendees to wear their favorite sport (including running, golf, pickleball, etc.) team colors, gear, jersey, clothing, caps, etcetera. It was an all-inclusive sports representation. Which is also a portrayal of our GFWC club, “all inclusive”. Entertainment was high-spirited with competition at the corn-hole and team sports trivia game. As you can see, by the ribbons, we had 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners. Hot fun in the summertime!

22/07/05 Good Samaritan Bench

For the 2021 Charitable Giving we gave Good Samaritan $900 to purchase a “Plaza Bench” for the sidewalk outside the Center.  This bench was donated by the GFWC; Kevin Meyer from Kiwanis helped with the “production” of the bench. While GFWC paid for the bench to be made, Kevin helped with the transportation from the facility in Ohio.   

Benches like this are known as BUDDY BENCHs and have been put in many elementary schools.   Each bench takes approximately 90,000 plastic caps and lids.  He collects these from around the Village and along with other Kiwanis members sorts through 5 trash cans of caps and lids – taking about 3-4 hours per trash can.  It takes 5 trash cans full to make a bench.  Over the past three years, TV Kiwanis has delivered 20 benches in 4 counties.  Some of our members have already started collecting plastic lids and tops to keep going with this project. 

22/07/10 Dresses for Haiti

During the at-home days of the pandemic, many women enjoyed spending their days sewing. Our club wholeheartedly supported this project by helping 80 orphaned Haitian children. David Leslie Ministries works with two orphanages – one that houses 40 girls and one with 40 boys. Our club members and outside volunteers made 40 dresses and 40 pairs of boy’s shorts with donated fabric. To complete the donation, our club bought 40 tee shirts and underwear for all the children. We had five people sewing and shopping who donated 100 hours. The total in-kind donation was valued at $1,178.

 

2022/08/16 Ticket Folding

Working together we folded 740 tickets in just over an hour!  Thanks everyone.

2022/09/12 Comfort Kits

The  Website 101 discussion was followed by the group packaging our Comfort Kits.  These are the last we will supply to Fort Loudon Hospital this year.  Each kit consists of shirt, pants and underwear in various sizes for women. 

2022/09/21 By Women For Women

On September 21, 2022 the GFWC Tellico Village held a "By Women -  For Women" Volunteer Day event to make breast cancer pillows  12 members, 15 non-members, 7 sewing machines, 6 women cutting, 10 stuffing and 6 hand sewing the stuffing opening.  The women pulled together and 90 pillows were completed. 30 pillows went to Knoxville Comprehensive Breast Center and 30 Parkwest Surgery Specialists.  

2022/10/05 Ladies Luncheon Desserts

We provided deserts for the monthly Ladies Luncheon at the Yacht Club.  Each desert sold for $3.00.  Cindy Black from Good Samaritan was the featured speaker.  She told the ladies about their Dental Program.  We were able to raise $246 to this program through the sale of our deserts. Of course, we also told the ladies about our Home Tour.   

2022 Club Volunteers

Throughout the year members of GFWC Tellico Village volunteer in several activities.  Here is just a sample of some of the work we do.

In September members helped sell coupons for the Balloon Festival in Vonore.

In October several members attended Hunk in Heels, a fund raiser for Iva’s Place.  Linda Claggett’s husband was one of the Hunks this year.

2022 10 12 Veteran Women's Honor Flight

Nancy Benn, Linda Claggett, Michelle Ondeck, Eleanor Salchak and Sharon Jones joined Ossilli Circle GFWC members to greet returning Military Vets from the Honor Flight to Washington, DC.  GFWC members prepared goodie bags to present to Vets upon their return.  The primarily Women Vets indicated they had a wonderful trip and were grateful for the awesome welcome home.

2022 10 22 Fall District Meeting

On October 22, six members drove to Chattanooga for the Fall District Meeting. The meeting was well attended with about 45 district members attending. The next District meeting will be sponsored by Loudon and Lenoir City and will be March 18. More details to follow. Other dates we were told to remember are: April 28-30, State Meeting at Paris Landing and June 10-12, National meeting In Lexington, KY. At the District meeting, our Club took about $340 worth of children’s clothes for the Isaiah 117 House, an organization that the Chattanooga Club (Valamont), is pairing with. We also took change for the piggy banks that their members will be presenting to the House as well as a gift basket that was raffled off for fundraising for the District.

2022 10 28 Halloween Party

On October 21 we had our 2 nd annual Halloween Party – multi-purpose for fun and Good Samaritan. “Cost” of admission was a box or bag of diapers which were taken to Good Samaritan – what a great donation, 104 lbs of diapers with an approximate donated value of $450. Needless to say Good Samaritan was very appreciative of this delivery!!!

Once again Jan Sampson did herself proud with the decorations and with the games. Around 20 of us attended and were treated to a murder mystery game with the ladies trying to figure out “who done it”. Costumes, appetizers, soups, desserts and drinks all followed the Halloween theme and made everything just a little bit “spookier”.

Thank you Jan and the members for a fun afternoon.

2022 11 06 26th Annual Home Tour

On November 6, 2022 we held our 26th Annual Home Tour.  This year we had four houses, two in Rarity Bay and two in Tellico Village.  Our Sponsors were at the Yacht Club as well as our Reception.  We were innovative this year with our Raffle.  Each time you visited a sponsor you received a check for the Raffle.  This increased your success in winning a prize. 

The homes in Tellico Village were close together with very little parking.  Our innovative Parking Committee opted for a shuttle service from the Yacht club.  Using a small bus and volunteers in cars, golf carts to alleviate the walk for the parked cars, and help from volunteer husbands, we were able to successfully keep congestion to a minimum.

With a lot of good planning and all our members working together our 26th Home Tour was a great success. 

2023/01/23 Club Meeting

GFWC Tellico Monthly Meeting

This month we celebrated the success of our November Home Tour.  Three of our four home owners and our recipients joined us for the meeting.

N. Benn introduced Kari Watkins of CAC – She thanks us for our years of support for both CAC and Iva’s Place. She briefly explained the SCAN school program used by CAC and of the monthlyhousing cost for abused women at Iva’s Place.

E. Salchak introduced Karen Hammerslag of Adopt a Class –Karen explained the expanding role of Adopt-a-Class and great need to help teachers and children. Our funding helped with monthly publications of Highlights and Story Works for elementary school children. She also used funding for school supplies for children and teachers.

N. Benn introduced Bill Ballinger of Tellico Village Fire Department - Bill spoke of the work our fire department does in Tellico and Loudon Counties. He thanked the club for our continued support and gave us an overview of the new transport equipment they purchased with our donation.

B. Schwindt introduced Cindy Purdy from the (Family Resource Center – Weekend Food for Kids). Cindy reported to the club about the needs of approximately 590 school-aged children in nine Loudon County Schools. Our funding helps purchase food from Second Harvest Food Bank and we help pack the food for children to take home for the weekend.

N. Benn introduced Sandi Byrd – Habitat for Humanity. Sandi spoke of the work Habitat does in Loudon County and thanked us for the tool trailer our funding allowed them to purchase.

B. Ellerbrock introduced Cindy Black of Good Samaritan Center. Cindy spoke of the continued success with the dental program. Our funding will help supplement their dwindling one- time grant. Good Samaritan helps with food, utility, rent, pharmacy needs and school supplies for Loudon County residents in need.

N. Gregg introduced Joyce Fields and Michela Lewis of the Dunbar Rosenwald School Foundation. Joyce gave us an overview of the history  and restoration of the Dunbar School. Our funding will help with that restoration. Nancy gave us information about the upcoming 2023 Tennessee State Museum exhibit showcasing the histories and legacies of what were known as Rosenwald schools.

S. Jones introduced Willie Franklin and Sharon Neumann– The Lost Vets Rescue – Willie explained the importance of this project and his role in directly helping veterans in need.