Centennial Celebration

 
{mosimage}At the September 2003 General Meeting, The Woman's Club of Raleigh kicked off a year long Centennial celebration that will continue until a grand finale in October 2004. A Centennial pin was created and a Centennial Cookbook was produced, both limited editions presented at the September 2003 meeting. That meeting focused on the first two decades of service. John McIlwee, director of North Carolina State University's Stuart Theatre graciously provided an exciting program.  His theatre troupe modeled clothing of the time as he gave descriptions of the outfits and injected bits of club history, mingled with very humorous tidbits of his own.

Throughout the year as we continued our programs and meetings we remembered the work of the club women who preceded us and recognized their achievements.  Mr. McIlwee joined us at each General meeting through May 2004 for a short commentary (always humorous) and more clothing of the decade we were recognizing.   Mr. McIlwee is scheduled to return for the October 2004 meeting at which we will celebrate the actual 100th anniversary of the founding of the Woman's Club of Raleigh.

What a fun year this will be and what a privilege to belong to an organization with such a rich history of service. Join in as we commit  "To Serve with Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Hands."

From Julene McPhaul's cookbook history:

In the days of "tea and crumpets" women began to realize that perhaps they needed to "improve their skills, expand their rights and apply their abilities and special sensitivity to our society's needs."  In October 1904, Mrs. Elvira Evelyna Worth Moffitt invited a group of ladies to meet with her in the State Library Reading Room for the sole purpose of organizing a Woman's Club. 

From that day to the present, the Woman's Club of Raleigh has stayed true to its statement of purpose: "The object shall be the intellectual, philanthropic, social and civic betterment of the community."

Further Information

The Woman's Club of Raleigh will continue to celebrate its 100th birthday in 2004! 

A centennial lapel pin is available for each member. A centennial cookbook with family recipes has been published and is available to members.  Brochures and historic booklets are being researched and compiled to commemorate the centennial.

During the first 100 years, the Woman's Club has been wherever there was a need, providing intellectual, philanthropic, social, civic and domestic betterment for the community. The documented history relates the tremendous number of volunteer hours, seed money, scholarships and continuing support given to improve the quality of life in the community. In 1957, the Woman's Club of Raleigh was chosen by Life magazine for a feature pictorial. . . . "Place after place in Raleigh is better for the touch of the Woman's Club's hand." A Century of Service to the Community.