Downers Grove Junior Woman's Club

The Downers Grove Junior Woman’s Club (DGJWC) is celebrating its 60th anniversary during its 2019-20 club year. Founded in 1959 by the late Ruby Heckel, the club has evolved considerably from its roots, first meeting on the second floor of a defunct park district building then located at Fairview and Maple Aves., which is now the site of Hummer Park.

But the mission of the DGJWC has remained dedicated to supporting the Downers Grove community in various capacities, raising funds to support local students, seniors and individuals in need.

The first fundraiser the club conducted was a “style show,” and it organized a “reading hour” at the Downers Grove Public Library as its first service project.

Lynn Zaba, who served as club president in 1987-88, said while she was in the DGJWC (c. 1981 to 1988), there was initially an age cap that marked a distinction between the club and the Downers Grove Woman’s Club.

Zaba said during her club tenure, this restriction was lifted statewide, enabling ladies to remain in their junior woman’s clubs after attaining a certain age.

According to Zaba, when she joined the DGJWC, there was a wait-list; and during her presidency, the club consisted of approximately 150 members.

“We were one of the biggest clubs in the State of Illinois,” she said. “When we competed at state, we were in the top level. Hinsdale, on the other hand, which is large now, was small then.”

In those days, Zaba said the club assisted with vision and hearing screenings at District 58 schools, donated a toy room at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital and was instrumental in launching the Safety Town program in 1984.

Presented by the Downers Grove Police Department in conjunction with the DGJWC and the Downers Grove Park District each summer, Safety Town introduces incoming kindergarteners and first-graders to sundry safety concepts, while allowing them to familiarize themselves with local public servants such as police officers and firefighters.

Current club president Colleen Schaefer said the DGJWC’s involvement with Safety Town was a primary motivator in her joining.

“I [wanted] to make sure that that program is still around when my kids go there,” Schaefer said. “That [was] one of the main drivers of why I joined.”

In the two decades following Zaba’s presidency, club membership diminished substantially, falling to an estimated 30 to 40 members by 2008. Club leadership has attributed this decline to an increase in women in the workforce, as well as the general recession that began in 2007.

Over the past decade, the DGJWC has attracted more participation once again, and now consists of roughly 85 members.

In recent years, the club has begun to initiate annual partnerships with local nonprofit organizations, which serve as the primary fundraising beneficiaries for a given year.

The DGJWC’s current beneficiary is Reclaim13, which is devoted to assisting victims of human trafficking in the Chicago metropolitan area.

Reclaim13 was founded in 2012 by psychologist Dr. Cassandra Ma, who developed a safe-house at an undisclosed location in the western suburbs, which services up to six female victims of human trafficking from 11 to 17 years old at any given time. This is the only such safe-house that exists for child trafficking victims in Illinois. In 2014, the organization changed its name to Reclaim13 to signify the average age at which studies indicate children are drawn into human trafficking.

“We were shocked,” DGJWC vice president Samantha Figueroa said. “We had no idea this was in our backyard.”

In previous years, the club partnered with Operation Snowball and MAVinS (mothers against violence in schools), which was started by a group of Whittier Elementary School moms to deter the trend of school violence that has escalated in modern times.

MAVinS developed a “buddy bench” program, using park benches to encourage kindness and inclusion among students at a young age. These benches, on which students sit to indicate that they are in need of a classmate to play with, were placed on the playgrounds at Whittier and several other District 58 schools.

“It’s a bench with purpose,” Figueroa said. ... “It’s a nice social cue for the students.”

Desiring to promote equity across the district, the DGJWC pledged to fund benches at any D58 schools that requested them; and last year, the club donated 11 buddy benches to requesting schools, as well as concomitant MAVinS assembly programming to discourage bullying and promote inclusion.

“When you fundraise or you donate to the community, you always wonder, ‘Did I make a difference?’” Figueroa said. “And to then hear parents talk about how their children are making good use of the ‘buddy bench,’ or how the buddy benches are helpful for them, is so validating in knowing that the fundraising initiatives that we’re doing are making a difference.”

Each buddy bench contains an inspirational quote on the back, following the theme of kindness and inclusion.

“I think that we can all think back on moments where you remember when people were kind to you—when maybe you were having a hard time, and somebody made an extra effort to be kind to you,” Figueroa said. “And those are the kind of moments that I think children remember. Knowing that those benches are serving a really special purpose for these kids just makes our work feel so special.”

The DGJWC provides charitable support through various fundraisers throughout the year. The largest of these is an annual “casino night,” which raised roughly $38,000 last year.

“That event has gained so much popularity that it sells out every year now,” Figueroa said.

In addition to supporting the primary club beneficiary, proceeds from casino night are also directed to the DGJWC charity fund, which supports other philanthropic initiatives such as scholarships for local high-school seniors.

Zaba said the tradition of providing scholarships antedates her involvement with the club.

Other recent charitable donations include a $4,000 gift to the library for a new child interactive area complete with S.T.E.A.M. (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) kits.

The DGJWC meets the fourth Tuesday of each month from September through May at Emmett’s Brewing Co. in downtown Downers Grove.

To become a member, one must attend three club events, two of which must be meetings, as well as pay a $50 annual fee.

Figueroa said she “always felt a call for philanthropy, but never really knew where to go.” She said DGJWC “makes volunteering easy.”

“If you have a volunteer spirit, come to our meetings, and it makes volunteering easy,” Figueroa said.

Schaefer said members are not required to have a lot of time on their hands for volunteer work.

“No matter what your capacity is, or what you feel compelled to do to volunteer or give, we have something for you,” she said.

Zaba said both she and her husband met their best friends through her involvement with DGJWC, speaking to the lasting social impact the club makes on its members.

“I’m thrilled to see that it’s continuing,” she said. ... “It was a major part of our lives when I joined, and it was and always will be a part of me.”