It's "safety first" for the Junior Women's Club of Lake Murray! 

The JWC of Lake Murray's Community Service Program, Public Issues, held a special night at Nancy K. Perry Children's Shelter. 

Corporal Greg Wiles of the South Carolina State Transport Police and Master Deputy Brian Hinz in the K9 Unit of Lexington County Sheriff's Department visited the shelter to talk about their jobs, gave the children a tour of their "office," and talked about overall public safety. A few highlights of the night were when the officers turned on the sirens and lights in their vehicles and when Corporal Wiles played Pictionary with the kids! 

Special thanks to Zoës Kitchen of Lexington and Little Caesars for providing food! Interested in supporting the shelter? Visit their website.





DID YOU KNOW? Every 98 seconds someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted. That means every single day more than 570 people experience sexual violence in this country. The General Federation of Women's Clubs works to educate club members on safety. Last weekend JWC of Lake Murray club members took a self defense class offered by Richland County Sheriff's Department. 

Where is a child to go when he or she cannot be properly cared for at home? 

Prior to 1972, in Lexington County and most other places in the country, many children who needed protection were kept in jail cells because there was nowhere else for them to go. 

Then, through a concerted effort of Lexington County Citizens, the Shelter, originally known as Welcome Home, opened its doors. 

After later being known as the Lexington County Children’s Shelter, its name changed in 1992 to honor Ms. Nancy Perry, a volunteer, houseparent, and former executive director.

On Monday, June 12, 2017 the Junior Women's Club of Lake Murray celebrated another great club year with our "Out with a Bang" End of the Year Party! The JWC of Lake Murray is now 7 years old! We all had a great time catching up with one another & enjoying all the great food and fun at our annual event!
The Director of Junior Clubs for South Carolina, Katie Moydell, was present to induct our new club officers for the 2017-2018 club year:

During the induction ceremony, Katie used GFWC-SC President Janet Prince's theme as she encouraged us to serve together with joy and with passion, one step at a time!  (www.gfwc-sc.org)

As a token of appreciation, the outgoing Club President and Vice President, Elizabeth Porth and Megan Yongue, gave a little something special to all our club members to thank them for their thyme & commitmint this club year: small clay pots with chalkboard paint to plant thyme and mint in this summer. We love our members & not only do we appreciate their time and commitment, but the community does too!
In addition to the celebration party, we had our annual meeting to discuss some of our new plans & programs for 2017-2018.
In particular, we are going to partner with the wonderful ladies of the Lake Murray-Irmo Woman's Club to sell okra at Irmo's famous Okra Strut in September.
LMIWC members Meredith Fields and Nanette Butler were present to give us all the details of the fun event. We are all looking forward to a really great time together, as we fry up some okra for a good cause!
We are also planning a project in February for Cancer Awareness Month - a Class for a Cause at barre3 Lake Murray. More details to come!

We recapped our Bag-A-Bargain yard sale - a HUGE success! Thank you to all of our wonderful shoppers and supporters! We had a fantastic turnout and we absolutely loved being able to partner with our new River Bluff High School Juniorettes. The Juniorettes hosted the bake sale with lots of homemade treats and coffee. We are looking forward to more projects with them in the future. They are an outstanding group of talented young ladies with hearts to serve!






At the yard sale, our club also presented a scholarship check to Linsy Dooley, a teacher at RBHS.  This is our second year we have been able to donate a scholarship to RBHS.  Mrs. Dooley will award this scholarship on our behalf to an at-risk graduating senior, who will attend Midlands Tech in the fall.

Over the summer break, we plan to remain active by volunteering at a local children's shelter, hosting a bake sale at South Carolina Oncology Associates to benefit SCOA Cares, and collecting travel-size toiletries for the monthly Feed the Hungry events at First Baptist Church of Columbia.

Last, but not least, is the list of awards our club received this year at the 119th GFWC-SC State Convention:

           
Bag-A-Bargain features new and used items donated by club members, friends, neighbors, and local businesses at very low prices.  Items include home decor, housewares, furniture, electronics, jewelry, books, DVDs, toys and games, housewares, holiday decor, sports equipments, and appliances. 

This event will also feature a Bake Sale hosted by the new RBHS Juniorettes, Raffle Items, and a Boutique Section.

Proceeds from the event will be used by both clubs to help support various programs and projects in our area. Organizations we support include the Snack Pack Program, Palmetto Place Children's Shelter, Nancy K. Perry Children's Shelter, Keep the Midlands Beautiful, SCOA Cares at South Carolina Oncology Associates, and Palmetto Health Children's Hospital.

We are very proud to be co-sponsors of the new GFWC-SC River Bluff High School Juniorette Club!

In the fall of 2016, the Palmetto Woman's Club and the JWC of Lake Murray worked together to organize this new club for high school girls at River Bluff High School in Lexington, South Carolina.

After a very successful afternoon at high school's club fair last fall, the RBHS Juniorettes had their first meeting in November 2016.  Officers were soon elected and the Juniorettes have been off and running ever since!


In January, the club had their first project: Penny Wars! The Juniorettes collected coins and small change from students at their school. Grades 9-12 competed against each other to collect the most pennies. The winning class got to throw a pie in the face of a school faculty member! The club raised approximately $70.00 and all proceeds went to Palmetto Place Children's Shelter, an emergency shelter for children and teens in Richland, Lexington, and Kershaw counties.


In February, the Juniorettes spent a wonderful afternoon at Carolina Gardens Assisted Living. Club members mixed and mingled with the residents and helped them decorate cards for Valentine's Day. A fun and sweet afternoon was had by all!





In March, the Juniorettes collected household items and toiletries to donate to The Oliver Gospel Mission in Columbia. The JWC of Lake Murray's Public Issues Department donated paper towels, shampoo, conditioner, toilet paper, bathroom cleaning supplies, Clorox wipes, and laundry detergent pods to this event.



Future plans for the RBHS Juniorette Club include a litter clean-up event in April and a bake sale with the JWC of Lake Murray at our annual spring yard sale, Bag-A-Bargain.

We are very proud of this wonderful group of young ladies! In just a few months, the Juniorettes have already made a great impact in the community and we are excited for what the future holds for this club. The RBHS Juniorettes are truly "Living the Volunteer Spirit"!

Also, be sure to follow the newly created "gfwchq" on Instagram to see the latest on all GFWC Juniorette Clubs. The RBHS Juniorette Club was the first club featured on this page! See the post here.

It was a beautiful afternoon spent with the children at Palmetto Place! The Education Department of the Junior Women's Club of Lake Murray spent some time painting the backyard fence with chalk paint and assisting the children painting sun catchers.

Palmetto Place was founded in 1977 by the members of the Junior Woman’s Club of Columbia (JWC). In the early 1970s they became aware of the unique needs and tragic stories of abused and neglected children who needed support and created a plan to help.

Since the shelter was founded, more than 7,000 of the Midlands abused, neglected and abandoned children have found a safe, nurturing home at Palmetto Place.

At March's club meeting we met up at Saxe Gotha Presbyterian Church to pack Snack Packs for students of a local elementary school. Saxe Gotha partners with Lexington School District One. They help fill bags and send them to schools for weekly distribution to children who have great need.  Each child identified as having need will receive a bag filled with child-friendly, nutritious, easy-to-open food to last over the weekend. 

Interested in getting involved in your community? Let us know.