Muscogee County GaArchives Photo Group.....Jaycetts ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Christine Thacker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008100 June 2, 2007, 7:46 pm Source: Sesquicentennal Supplement IV, Ledger-Enquirer Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/photos/jaycetts13414gph.jpg Image file size: 88.4 Kb Women's Groups Spurred Community Growth By Katherine McDuffie Modern Living Assistant Editor The old saying "Behind every good- man, is a good woman" could easily be changed to "Behind every good community are good women." Columbus is no exception. Women's organizations, operating in different ways with different names, share a common goal - service to their community. Volunteer hours and financial contributions way up in the seven figures are what it takes. Works benefitting a wide segment of humanity in the fields of health, education, culture and recreation are the result. Take the Columbus, Ga., Chapter of Continental Societies Inc. Since its beginning here in 1970, the members have contributed approximately 3,416 volunteer hours to individuals, agencies and institutions whose characteristics are disadvantaged and underprivileged in nature. The Continentals total contribution in dollar terms as of last year was $50,298. The sources of these dollars are membership, individuals, businesses and corporations along with the group's annual fund-raising ball, publications of a souvenir journal and the Miss Teen-Age Continental Contest. A breakdown would include Brookhaven Branch YMCA as well as the Central Branch YMCA. Columbus Association for Retarded Citizens, Columbus Girls Club, Douglass School, Listening Eyes School for the Deaf, Tenth Street Center, Youth Opportunity, Muscular Dystrophy Tele-Thon, Sickle Cell Anemia adoptee, Columbus College scholarships, Operation Life and Urban League Education Fund. The membership of the Columbus chapter averages 30 members per year. The 23-year-old Jaycettes, auxiliary to the Jaycees, average a total of 8,500 volunteer hours year. The organization has 30 active members. Benefiting from an approximate $25,000 donated through the years have been such projects as a fetal heart monitor machine for the Medical Center, an emergency cart for St. Francis Hospital, furnishings for the Wynnton Training Center and the Edgewood Training Center, the group home at Baker Village and the Retired Senior Citizens Volunteer program. Jaycettes raise their money from rummage sales, concession booths at various activities, mainly the Chattahoochee Valley Fair, the Little Mr. and Mrs. Fountain City Pageant, weekly bingo games and participation in the Jaycees annual Haunted House at Halloween. Since 1960 the Junior Woman's Club of ColumbUs has given about $95,000 to such programs as the Columbus COllege art department scholarships, the Columbus Museum of Arts and Sciences, the Anne Elizabeth Shepherd Home and the Medical Center. One of their main projects is the International Weekend Festival. The 35 members also help out with summer camps for underprivileged children. The members make their money from the annual Columbus Square Art Show and other smaller fund-raising projects. Four hundred and eighty hours a month is the estimate of the number of volunteer hours given by members of garden clubs in Columbus and their parent organization, the Columbus Council of Garden Clubs. There are 40 clubs with an average membership of 17. The clubs raise their funds mainly through an annual spring bazaar at Peachtree Mall and a tour of homes. The members sponsor two large flower shows annually a spring one at First National Bank and one during the Chattahoochee Valley Fair in October. " Beneficiaries of their efforts include the Girls Club, the Boys Club, Columbus Museum of Arts and Sciences, the Naval Museum, the Chattahoochee Promenade, the Bull Creek Golf Course and the beautification of the downtown medians and parkways and the parkways of the Beallwood Connector. Years ago, the garden club members provided funds for three of the fountains on Broadway. The Junior League of Columbus estimates its members have given 600,000 volunteer hours and raised $550,000 since the organization's beginning in 1931. The league has an average of 170 active members. The league's largest sources of income are an annual attic sale and an occasional Follies. It operated a Thrift Shop until 1954. Among its major projects are the pediatric wing and the pediatric intensive care unit at the Medical Center, the North Columbus Recreation Center, the Columbus School of Speech Correction, Highland House, the South Columbus Boys Club, an addition to the Girls Club, the Cultural Arts Program of the Muscogee County School District, the Chattahoochee Promenade and the weekly Heritage Tours. Historic Columbus Foundation has also benefited from the league's support as has the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and the Springer Opera House. The Doctors Hospital Auxiliary, neophyte of its group, has given $6,250 since its beginning in 1976. A total of 11,916 voiunteer hours have been recorded by its 117 members. The auxiliary's funds come entirely from its gift shop in the hospital. Since the Doctors Hospital is investor-owned, the auxiliary cannot buy equipment so most of its funds have gone to community projects such as the Anne Elizabeth Shepherd Home, Valley Rescue Mission, West Central Georgia Hospital (Griffin unit), the Columbus Training Center for the Mentally Retarded and the American Cancer Society. The auxiliary has also given furnishings for the hospital's chapel, sent,children to camp and contributed to the Walter Hoving Home for Girls in New York. At Thanksgiving and Christmas, the members give food, clothing and gifts to the Valley Rescue Mission and the Anne Elizabeth Shepherd Home. The Medical Center Auxiliary, founded in 1963, estimates it has given $653,697 to hospital projects. An average of 125 active members a year have, worked a total of 392,000 volunteer hours. The auxiliary raises most of its funds from the gift shop operated in the hospital's lobby, cheer carts, TV rentals, a baby photograph business, and, occasional bazaar and a hospitality shop in the hospital. Its major projects have been air conditioning the hospital's Nurses Home, the hospital's cardiac unit, emergency room, neo-natal intensive care unit, family practice residency program, fetal monitoring equipment, the hospital's building fund and closed TV circuit for patients. At St. Francis Hospital, the auxiliary has given over $400.000 since the group started in the middle '50s. Most of the auxiliary's money has gone to the School of Nursing, a student loan fund, the hospital's intensive care units and for cardiac unit equipment. An average of 150 active members have worked 275,000 hours. Main sources of revenue are the gift shop, an annual Mardi Gras Ball, cheer carts, TV rentals, donations, dues and memorials. The lists of women's service organizations is lengthy, these are but a few. There are the Parent-Teacher Association, Business and Professional Women's Clubs, American Business Women's Association chapters, Beta Sigma Phi Sorority chapters, the Quota Club, the Soroptimist Club, the Jewish Ladies Aid Society, the Exchangettes, the LaSertoma Club, the Springer Opera House Guild, the Daughters of the American Revolution chapters, the United Daughters of the Confederacy chapters, the chapters of the Order of Eastern Star, various auxiliaries, sororities, church groups and private civic and social organizations. The combined hours of work by members and the total of dollars contributed to "good works" can't truthfully be estimated. But the humanitarian programs they support flourish as tangible evidence of their service. Special Sesquicentennal Supplement IV Ledger - Enquirer, Sunday, May 7, 1978, S-29 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/photos/jaycetts13414gph.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 8.4 Kb