Happy Birthday Altrusa!!!

Today we honor the memory of our founder, Mamie L. Bass, as we celebrate 96 years of service as Altrusans!  From those hopeful beginnings in Nashville where the first Altrusa Club was formed under the leadership of Mamie Bass in 1917, Altrusa  has grown to be an international force for good, consisting now of close to 400 Clubs with nearly 10,000 members!

 

Happily, we continue to realize Mamie Bass's vision.  To quote her:

 

 What we have already achieved is magnificent. But Altrusa is not static; it is dynamic. New fields shall open unto us and we will achieve new goals of helpfulness.

Montgomery County Says No to Violence against Women

The Montgomery County Club has lent its support to programs serving domestic violence victims for a number of years.  In addition to making direct donations to shelter residents, for example, the Club staged its signature Free Market event at the Betty Ann Krahnke Center for abused women and children on two occasions.  Opened in 2000, the Krahnke Center is the only shelter for victims of domestic violence in Montgomery County, Maryland, and, according to its website, typically serves more than 200 abused women and 350 children under age 18 in any given year.  (Link to Krahnke Center here http://www.familyservicesagency.org/bak.html)

 

Currently the Montgomery County Club reaches domestic violence victims through its relationship with the Shepherd’s Cove Shelter for women and children.  According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, approximately 63% of homeless women have experienced domestic violence in their adult lives.  In addition, 50% of the cities surveyed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors identified domestic violence as a primary cause of homelessness.

Shepherd’s Cove is one of the four charitable organizations that our Club “adopted” two years ago.   We support our adopted organizations not only with direct donations but also through various types of hands-on projects and activities.  For  example, over the past 2 years, for Shepherd’s Cove,  we have direct-donated food supplies, toiletries and books, and we are currently working to arrange a re-staging of the combination breakfast and Free Market that we held at the facility last summer.  At that event we served a hot American-style breakfast (including pancakes!) to over 60 women and children, after which women and teens shopped at the Free Market for clothing, shoes and household goods while the younger children engaged in arts and crafts and reading-related activities in our “Kiddie Corner.”

 

Shepherd’s Cove has been managed since 2004 by United Communities Against Poverty, Inc. (UCAP), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that was founded in 1964 and that was designated in 1978 as the official Community Action Agency (CAA) for Prince George’s County, Maryland.  Shepherd’s Cove is a 100-bed facility that operates 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.  In addition to emergency/transitional housing, it provides various other kinds of support for residents, including daycare and after-school care for children, as well as employment, education, and health and mental care services.  (Link to UCAP here http://www.ucappgc.org/AboutUs.aspx)

 

Reporting in from our Adopted Road

Has spring really sprung?  According to the calendar, it has, but it sure didn't feel like it when we did our bi-monthly clean-up duty on our adopted road!  Doing our bit for the environment through Montgomery County's Adopt-A-Road program is just one of the ways Montgomery County Altrusans look after their local community's backyard (and front yards too!).

Today is ORANGE DAY!  Wear something orange every 25th day of the month in support of the United Nations' global campaign to end violence against women and girls!

Inaugurated in 2008 by the UN Secretary General, UNiTE to End Violence against Women has gained the support of millions around the world - not just organizations and governments, but individuals like you and me. 

Altrusa Montgomery is proud to report that among supporters are individual Altrusa Clubs as well as individual Altrusans.   Altrusa International (our parent organization) has had a UN presence since 1946 and so was there to lend active support from the very beginning.

Together committed supporters have launched over 5 million "actions" to date - concrete efforts to do something to eradicate this terrible social evil.

It's easy to lend your voice. 

--Sign up for information updates (and get ideas about "actions" you and others might initiate or join) by visiting the website http://saynotoviolence. 

--Share your own ideas through this blog.

--And don't forget to WEAR SOMETHING ORANGE EVERY 25TH DAY OF THE MONTH!!

Getting up to speed in communications

Today is a big day for communications for the Montgomery County Club:  we'll be pushing "publish" buttons and activating links as we roll out several social media products.  For the first time the Club will have its own presence on Facebook, on Linkedin, and on Flickr.  We're also taking another shot at getting a Club blog going.  As a result, not only will we be able to strengthen communication and information-sharing among Club members; we'll also be able to share information and build relationships with Altrusa Clubs near and far.  Last but not least our Club will be better positioned to participate in the ongoing Altrusa rebranding project:  it's pretty hard to "lead to a better community" if, in important ways, we're still "behind the curve"!  So good luck to us   (keeping in mind that luck happens "when preparation meets opportunity")!