Lockport Woman’s Club
Winter Newsletter
I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season and enjoyed time with family and friends. The holidays give us time to sit back and reflect the many things reasons to be thankful for another year. Being grateful lead us to generosity. Without your generous support, Lockport Woman’s Club would not survive. Many members have demonstrated their generosity to the Guardian Angel Home by donating their time, books, and monetary donations. Marilyn Dorris is grateful to all of us. We hope to have the Library in place by April. I will keep you posted on our progress.
In December, we had our program on Holiday decorating. Ann Ellison from Savannah Rose Boutique gave us a demonstration on how to decorate your table for the holidays by using simple, in expensive things—many of which can be found in your home. The table that she decorated (in less than 10 minutes) was very beautiful and elegant. I know many of us used her suggestions for our holiday decorations.
We also had aor Christmas Party at La Dolce Vita Restaurant in Lemont. The food was excellent. The entertainment was fantastic. Paul Johnson kept us entertained throughout the evening with Christmas carols. He even had 12 of our members participate by singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. We truly enjoyed ourselves. Many thanks to Jodie Rigoni for all her hard work in putting these programs together for us.
In January, we had our Prayer Breakfast at St. Dennis Church in Lockport. Father Jim gave us an inspirational talk on healing. Prayer is very powerful and a beacon for hope for many of us. Father Jim stressed the importance of touching and asking God to heal our troubles and illnesses. We realize that we may be in the middle of tough times, but we trust that God is there for us.
On February 8th we will be having our evening meeting at the Gladys Fox Museum. We will be honoring our Past Presidents of Lockport Woman’s Club and welcoming guests from other women’s clubs.
On a final note, I enclose the resignation letter of our Christmas Crossroads committee. As you know, Christmas Crossroads is our major fundraiser—last year bringing in approximately $34,000. This event has an excellent reputation. It has been in existence since 1071. We get crafters from all over the country. Many people across the state comr to this craft show. Because our annual budget relies on the success of this event, many of our community projects cannot continue and non-profit organizations would suffer from lack of our donated funds. It would be disheartening not only to our participants, but to the community of Lockport to see this event close down
As your President. I am asking for your help. We need a new Christmas Crossroads Committee. It is a two year commit
ment. The present committee will be on hand for the next two years to help with the transition. They are a very organized group—they have everything written down on a month to month basis for one to follow. You may call Rosemary Gasper (815) 838-4546 or any of the other chairpersons if you wish to join. This is an opportunity to do something important for the Club and our community.
Ana Caneva, President
Committee Reports
Book Club
The book club met in January at the Lockport Library to discuss the book “The Other Boleyn Girl”. Lynn Doyle will be announcing the next book in February, All members are invited to participate. If you cannot make it to our February Meeting, you may call her for the title of the book.
Fashion Show
Chairperson Sally Cronholm, and her committee are working hard on this year’s event. Please save the date—April 26th. It will be held at DiNolfo’s Resaurant in Homer Glen. There are plenty of spaces available—so please invite your family and friends to this gala event.
Membership
We welcome Mrs. Lisa Bickus and Mrs. Patricia Varsek as new members of Lockport Woman’s Club. We hope to see them at our February meeting.
GFWC
I will be forming a new committee for the GFWC Women’s History. GFWC is asking all of its Women’s Clubs to prepare a historical record of their Club by February 1, 2008.
This will be a way of publicizing our past history, our present activities and our future goals. This historical document will be added to the GFWC archives in Washington, D.C. for all to read. This will preserve Lockport Woman’s Club special and unique history since 1902. Our community is so rich in history that we cannot allow Lockport to be omitted. I hope to have 3-5 members help with this project.
The Fall Newsletter 2006
October-November
Our Club year started well with our September Meeting at Central Square. We hosted the LTHS students that were Summer Scholarship recipients. Each student gave a brief talk on their experience at the summer camp that they attended.. We were impressed by the talent that these young people have. Thank you to Bette McCowan for her hard work on the LTHS Summer Scholarship project.
In October, we met at Mr. Benny’s in Mokena for our meeting. Historian Seth Magosky gave us a full history on the family of Marshall Field. It was an interesting story and he kept us entertained throughout the program. Not only was he dressed for the time period of the era, but he brought some artifacts on the Chicago store and the Field family. Many of our members stayed after the meeting to see some of these items.
For our November meeting, we will be having a Thanksgiving luncheon at the Gladys Fox Museum. Our program will be on domestic violence presented by the Guardian Angel Home. As some of you are aware, I have chosen the Guardian Angel Home as my President’s Project.
The Guardian Angel Home was originally an orphanage in the early 1900’s. It is now a center that offers crisis intervention, a 24 hour hotline, counseling and legal advocacy for battered women and their children fleeing the horrors of domestic violence.
It is my hope to have the Lockport Woman’s Club start a woman’s library at the Center. A section of the center has been designated for us. From our book exchange, we will be donating books to the Guardian Angel Home as well as to the VA hospital. I hope that we can also donate children’s books, movies, and board games. I know that the little we can give will be greatly appreciated by the Guardian Angel Home.
On a last note, please remember that Renee Miller (Renee’s Worldly Things) will be donating 10% of her sales from November 10 th and 11 th to the Lockport Woman’s Club.
Please stop by at her shop. She has some cute outfits and dresses just in time for the holiday season.
For those of you that cannot attend opur November luncheon, I wish you a Blessed, Happy Thanksgiving.
Ana Caneva, President
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Food Baskets:
The committee distributed fall food baskets to 38 families this past week at St. Dennis Church. Thank you to Carol Coverdill and her committee for all the hard work they put in getting this food to needy families of our area.
Christmas Crossroads: November 16-19 th
A sign up sheet was circulated at the September and October meetings for volunteers to work at our Christmas Crossroads. Each member is obliged to work one 3-hour shift during this event. Remember, this is our major fundraiser and we need volunteers to make this event a success as it has always been in the past. There are many members that have not volunteered yet—I urge all of you to get involved in our club. It will keep this club strong and alive! If you have not signed up yet, please cll Lynn Doyle at 838-4685. she still has some openings to fill.
Book Club:
Lynn Doyle has announced that the book “The Other Boleyn Girl” by Phillipa Gregory will be reviewed by our Book Club. It is something of a historical novel and on the best seller list. The book club will meet in January at the Lockport Library in January., date and time TBA. All members are invited to attend.
Children’s Christmas Gifts:
Betty McCowan has 103 needy kids that are hoping to receive a Christmas gift this year. This is our annual gift giving to our area children. If you are not planning to attend our November meeting, please give Bette a call (635-3739) and she can assign you a child. Please be generous and take more than one name if you can.
