Volume 18, Issue 39
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
Durham Women’s Club gives back By Stephanie Wilcox Town Times Attention Durham women! Are you looking to get involved in the community in a way that gives back to the community? There’s a club for that! You might know them as the ladies who sell chili at the Durham Fair, but the gals with the Durham Women’s Club are so much more. The club, which has been around for about 35 years, is part of the CT Junior Women Inc., a state-wide group, says Durham Women’s Club president Ann Jindra. It was formed so that Durham would have its own chapter. (Middlefield has its own, too.) The 20 or so members meet monthly (usually the third Thursday) in the home economics room at Coginchaug High School. The meetings are formal and are primarily to discuss ideas on how to give back and whom to give back to. “Our meetings are a business of where there’s a need,” explained Jindra. “Someone will mention it’s needed, and we vote on how to give toward that cause.” The Durham Women’s Club holds two dinners a year — a holiday dinner and end-ofyear dinner, which takes place in May when new officers are installed. The group breaks for the summer and reconvenes in September. Surprisingly, their one and only fundraiser is the chili booth at the Durham Fair, located near the Midway. “We are very communitybased,” says Jindra. “We give the money raised to people in need, and we pretty much keep it in town.” Some
of the money goes toward gift cards at Christmastime. Four $100 Walmart gift cards were distributed this year anonymously. Money has been donated for the school fitness program Go Far, and the club sponsors a senior breakfast for Coginchaug graduates in June. The annual Community Round-Up food and gift card drive features a breakfast spread provided by the club. In addition, at each monthly meeting, members bring jars of peanut butter to be brought to Amazing Grace Food Pantry. The club has an Education Committee, so every year in November during National Education Week, they put together trays of baked goods for all bus drivers and all the teachers in District 13. They also help out with the local church’s blood mobile. It seems like there isn’t much that this group isn’t involved in. “We always manage to find a way to help people,” said Jindra, who noted that the group has evolved over the years. “It used to be very much for women who didn’t work. We had fashion shows and a Hospitality Committee, and we met in people’s homes. Now everybody in the club works!” Jindra continued, “The nice thing about the club is that you meet women of all different ages and stages of their life. I got to meet
Friday, Januar y 6, 2012
Show us some lovin’ Have we told you how much the staff of Town Times appreciates the positive feedback we receive, especially those folks who walk into our Middlefield office just to let us know? We are delighted by your appreciation of the work we do to bring you the community’s news each week. Well, now is your chance to show us that lovin’ and have it pay off... It’s that time again when you can truly help us continue to bring you this news for free. Please fill out and return the cards inserted in this issue. (There will also be opportunities in the issues of Jan. 13 and 20, but the faster you do it, the happier we’ll be!) The cards are postage-paid. We only qualify for the postal services special “requester” rate when we have over 50 percent of the reader base returning the postcard after checking “yes,” they want to continue to receive the publication. Thank you in advance for helping us to bring you your hometown news FOR FREE every week! Stephanie Wilcox, editor
Creative Arts Creative Arts Creative Arts
See Club, page 24
In this issue ... Calendar............................4 Creative Arts..............14-24 Obituaries..................10-11 Sports..........................12-13 Town Briefs ...................6-7
Enjoy more creative arts in this issue from page 14 and on, like this recycled dog mask by Caroline Gervais and Sarah Giannini, CRHS grade 9.