Clifton Community Woman's Club
Pat Riedinger is the GFWC Virginia Nominee for the national Jennie Award in honor of the founder of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs
GVWC VA Northern District – Education & Libraries Community Service Program
Honorable Mention
GFWC VA Northern District – 3rd place for our Newsletter, The Country Crier
GFWC Creative Writing contest, national level, 1st place for Sylvia Auton-Hanvey for her short story.
GFWC VA Northern District – HOMELIFE
Best Project – Large Club
Senior Citizen Outreach and Support Monthly Birthday Parties at local Assisted Living Facility
GFWC VA Northern District – Women’s History and Resource Center
Best Project – Large Club
Retention and archival storage of club business papers, pictures, and Memorabilia.
GFWC VA Northern District – GFWC VA President’s Project
Best Project – Large Club
GFWC VA Northern District – HOMELIFE
Best Overall Program
CCWC supports women’s shelters, food distribution centers, and other organizations needing specific help in areas of food, clothing, and toiletries.
GFWC VA Northern District – Communications and Public Relations
Best Program – Large Club
CCWC has a robust program for communicating club news/info and also relevant public issues to club members.
GFWC VA Northern District – Education
Best Program – Large Club
CCWC has a successful fundraising program that provides significant funds for us to provide scholarships to local Universities/Colleges/High Schools.
GFWC VA Northern District – International Outreach
Best Overall Program
CCWC members participate in the Great Decisions Program that provides opportunities for members to study and discuss major worldwide issues each year.
GFWC VA Northern District – Communications and Public Relations
Best Program – Large Club
CCWC has a robust program for communicating club news/info and also relevant public issues to club members.
GFWC VA Northern District – Conservation
Best Overall Program
CCWC promotes awareness of local resources, conservation issues, and interest In local community beautification.
On Saturday, March 14th, 2014, the GFWC Northern District held a spring meeting at the Springfield Country Club. The Clifton Community Woman’s Club received awards in the following categories:
For Large Clubs COMMUNICATION
This club exhibits exceptional community outreach through its newsletter, website, and Facebook. Their use of media outlets for their programs and well -known events is focused and well-executed.
ARTS Best overall
This club volunteers at local art and performing arts venues, hosts an annual art contest, visited the Richmond Museum of Art to see the Chinese Forbidden City exhibit, posts information of upcoming art events in the newsletter, started a photography group, and donates money to George Mason University for scholarships in dance and music.
CONSERVATION Best overall
This club practices conservation monthly by bringing mugs to their meetings rather than using paper cups, suggests monthly conservation tips and advertises recycling Sundays at the county dump, brings magazines to meetings to share, collects books for a museum book sale, and recycles ink cartridges at Staples, the proceeds of which are donated to the Humane Society of Fairfax.
LEADERSHIP Best Project
This club has 7 officer positions and an additional 36 co-chair positions. The number of ladies involved in planning and doing comprises over half of the club membership
On Saturday, March 13th, 2013 the GFWC Virginia Northern District held a spring meeting at the Piedmont Country Club. The Clifton Community Woman’s Club received awards in the following categories:
For Large Clubs INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH PROJECT AWARDS – Best Project
Clifton Community Woman’s Club The Best Project Award is given to Clifton Community Woman’s Club for their outreach project “SUNDRESSES for CHILDREN OF HAITI.” Twelve club members gathered to sew sundresses for children in Haiti which were subsequently shipped as part of “Project Starfish” (a project which aids underdeveloped countries.). Four sewing machines, a “loose” assembly line (for cutting, ironing, sewing, and inserting elastic) yielded 35 lovely sundresses for the children. (P.S. The day’s Hostess provided a soup & dessert lunch!)
EDUCATION PROJECT AWARDS – Best Project
Clifton Community Woman’s Club. The Best Project Award is given to Clifton Community Woman’s Club for their focus this year on bringing educational programs to their group. This club held informative meetings about women’s history, downsizing a home, writing and sharing original poetry, space travel through the experiences of a NASA astronaut, and the literary journey of a successful Harlequin Romance novelist. Knowing that learning is a life-long process, how nice it is to be exposed to the talents and expertise of others to foster our own personal growth!
HOMELIFE PROJECT AWARDS – Best Project
Clifton Community Woman’s Club With a focus on serving senior citizens, the Clifton Community Woman’s Club hosts a “Get Away Luncheon” each month from September thru May. Their guests include residents of both a local nursing facility and an affiliated assisted/independent living facility, as well as staff from the facilities. These luncheons are held in a member’s home and the guests are treated to lunch, conversation, and sometimes entertainment or special treats. These outings serve as a way to help residents stay engaged in the larger community.
WOMEN’S HISTORY AND RESOURCE CENTER AWARDS – Best Project
Clifton Community Woman’s Club This Club, under the leadership of its president, compiled eleven bins of club history by cleaning out, reorganizing, and consolidating years of information. With the help of the Fairfax County Library, they were able to save membership meetings’ minutes and issues of their club newsletter on microfiche. One member organized the club’s certificates into an album. Another member saved all of the club’s old videos to CD’s. By the time the project was concluded all the records had been consolidated into two bins for posterity. A huge undertaking, but now that it is in place, the history of the Clifton Community Woman’s Club is preserved!
PUBLIC ISSUES AWARDS – Honorable Mention
Clifton Community Woman’s Club This club is involved in Historic Site Preservation at 3 different locations, raising money to support restoration and preservation, and serving on Boards to help with the Fairfax Station Railroad Museum. They also support the Military with coupons for overseas bases ($35,236.40), sending care packages to American soldiers, as well as donating to the Armed Services YMCA and the Yellow Ribbon Fund. They presented a program on the perils of scams, fraud, and identity theft with specific ways to better protect our information and our possessions. This club supports its citizens with donations to the Clifton Betterment Association (non-profit), the Vision Series from George Mason University, as well as distributing brochures for members to both day and night units of this group.
ARTS AWARDS – Best Overall Program Honorable Mention
Clifton Community Woman’s Club – The Clifton Community Woman’s Club has a diverse program that encourages member participation in artistic expression as well as enabling community venues that celebrate the arts. Unusual and creative use of their club newsletter encouraged members to become knowledgeable about the year’s Oscar contenders. They held a fun “Oscars Prediction Contest” via their newsletter with the winner being awarded a prize and bragging rights!
COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS AWARDS – Best Project
Clifton Community Woman’s Club Again, the sum total of activities for the club shows a huge commitment to improving their communication efforts both internally and to the public through their website, yearbook, newsletter, emails, and community outreach via press and other community organizations for projects like their annual House Tour.
LEADERSHIP PROJECT AWARDS – Best Overall Program
Best overall program: Clifton Community Woman’s Club When it comes to club leadership, the “proof is in the pudding” and for that reason, Clifton Community Woman’s Club deserves the award for Best Overall Program. Their recipe for a comprehensive, cohesive club has yielded a dynamic organization with leaders at every level of the federation. The club racked up over 6,000 volunteer hours in its wide-ranging projects and successful fundraisers ($26,549.75)
GFWC VA Northern District – Arts Program
Best Project – Large Club
CCWC encourages and promotes artistic expression of our members and recognizes their painting, crafts, needleworks and photography talents. The Club also promotes appreciation of the performing arts by member attendance at local performances during the year.
On Saturday, March 12th, 2011 the GFWC Virginia Northern District held a spring meeting at the Dominion Valley Country Club in Haymarket, Virginia. The Clifton Community Woman’s Club received awards in the following categories:
Arts – Best Overall Program
The Clifton Community Woman’s Club has historically been a strong advocate for local performing arts. Groups of twenty or more members attended concerts together and visited exhibits and arts festivals. Their newsletter included information on local festivals and performances. Three members have formed a choral trio and are contributing their own talents to the local performing arts scene. The Club provides an annual scholarship to a student in the George Mason University Department. The Club also supported the George Mason University Dance Department and the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra Education Program with monetary gifts.
Education – Best Overall Program
Clifton Community Woman’s Club established a Book Club to enrich their own reading habits. Several club members mentor students at an elementary school and a middle school. The Club sponsors a poetry writing contest for grades 4-6 at a local elementary school. Several Club members judged the entries and presented certificates and monetary awards at the end-of-year awards assembly. They also made a $300 donation to a local elementary school library. They collected Box Tops and Labels for Education for another local elementary school. CCWC provided three scholarships to George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College and gave monetary support to the Fairfax County Library Foundation Scholarship fund and to the Friends of the Burke Centre Library.
Large Club HomeLife – Best Project
Each month from September through May, the club hosts a luncheon for senior citizens to include residents of a local nursing facility, its sister assisted and independent living facility, and seniors and shut-ins from the local area. The guests also include staffs that come with the facilities’ residents. These luncheons are held in the comfort of members’ homes; members take turns providing food, service, and clean-up. In addition, club members visit with the guests at their tables during the meal.
International outreach – Honorable Mention
The goal of GFWC’s International Outreach Community Service Program is to encourage clubs to reach beyond their own communities, through education and global awareness, to enable members to become better world citizens. Both of these clubs are recognized for the enormous number of hours a group of their members dedicated to preparing for and participating in the Foreign Policy Association (FPA) Great Decisions program.
Large Club Public Issues – Best Project
The members of our club supported the military members and their families by participating in Anysoldier.com, where cards, letters, and packages were sent to the soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. They wrote notes at the end of the Night Unit meetings, collected donations of toiletries, snack foods, and other sundries, and made up packages, including several cards per packages, and mailed them out. The Club also donated to several organizations supporting military members (armed Services YMCA, Fisher House at Walter Reed Hospital, Walter Reed Society, Yellow Ribbon Fund (Aid for injured Service members and families).
Women’s History and Resource Center – Best Overall Program
Thirty-four years ago, our club saved the Fairfax Station depot from destruction and have continues to actively support this significant Civil War Museum. Members serve on the Board of Directors and as docents. The Club also holds its monthly and other occasional meetings at the Museum. CCWC participates in the GFWC-endorsed project of the National Trust of Historic Preservation by emphasizing the importance of the Clifton Elementary School as a historic site. Lastly, the CCWC is supporting the Crouch School Restoration through education and donations to the Clifton Historic Preservation Society with an aim to restore the building and have it moved to a nearby middle school where Fairfax County will maintain it.