The Woman’s Club
Part of a distinguished tradition of service

  The Woman’s Club of Rock Hill was organized in 1939. It is affiliated with the South Carolina Federation and General Federation of Women’s Clubs, the largest and oldest women’s volunteer service organization in the world. As far back as 1899, Federated women’s clubs established the national model for the juvenile court system. They were responsible for the establishment of 75% of America’s public libraries, led the effort to establish food safety laws, and contributed to the establishment of the Forest Reserve and the National Park Service, among their many other contributions. Notable club women include Julia Ward Howe, author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and a leader in the suffrage movement, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Jane Addams, founder the Hull House, a settlement house in Chicago which served as a model for social reform movement.
  GFWC-SC was founded in 1898 and includes over 60 clubs in the state. It is headquartered in Columbia in the historic Stackhouse Mansion which dates from the 1850s.
  The Woman’s Club of Rock Hill maintains its property, the Armstrong-Mauldin House, and its landscaping. The house was purchased in 1971 and serves as the clubhouse and the organizational center for all the club’s community activities. It is also available to the public for weddings, receptions, meetings & events.
  The Club, since its inception, has responded to local, national and international needs with contributions of volunteer hours and monetary support. For 19 years the community projects were funded with proceeds from the Club’s Bridal Fair. Having discontinued this fundraiser, the Club now supports the projects with other fundraisers. These projects are developed and implemented by six Community Service Programs.

The Community Service Programs are:
• Arts • Conservation • Education • Home Life • International Affairs • Public Affairs

In the last three (3) years, they have provided money and/or volunteer time to support:
• York County Library
• Arts Council of Rock Hill & York County
• Department of Social Services
• Rock Hill School District
• Clemson Extension 4-H Camps
• Rock Hill Clean and Green
• Children’s Attention Home
• Children’s Attention Home Charter School
• Central Child Development Center
• American Cancer Society
• American Red Cross
• Rock Hill Veteran’s Clinic
• Rock Hill Police Department, York County Sheriff’s Department
• Community Health
• Project Hope
• Piedmont Health Care
• Safe Passage

Selected examples of support during the past three (3) years:
Arts Program
• Works with the Arts Council of York County to:
• Pay for the Long Family Scholarship – helps send a talented student to SC Governor’s School of the Arts
• Send elementary students to Kennedy Center with group for an award performance
• Provide children’s activity at YC Library during ChristmasVille
• Contribute to Arts in Education Project
Also:
• Contributed to the setting up of the Northside Elementary School for the Arts Project by providing music stands, chin rests and music books.

Conservation Program
• Supports 4-H conservation camps
• Established of a backyard habitat
• Sponsors fashion shows (held at the club) by Camp Sew (4-H) children at the end of their camp
• Collects recycled cell phones
• Educates Club members and takes care of recycling at the Clubhouse

Home Life Program
• Contributed furniture, printer and paper to Children’s Attention Home
• Contributed heart models to the Women’s Center of the Piedmont Medical
• Purchased one (1) Canine Companion
• Donates toiletries to Palmetto Pregnancy Center
• Provided and installed landscaping needs for two Habitat for Humanity homes
• Participates in Relay for Life for American Cancer Society

Education Program
• Purchased playground equipment for special needs children at a public elementary school
• Supports Children’s Attention Home Charter School with materials, books, gloves, hats, holiday parties and gifts
• Compiled a manners booklet for elementary school students
• Organized a book club for members

International Affairs Program
• Donated books to a school in Bolivia
• Collects food for World Food Day
• Recycles T-shirts by making diapers for babies in Honduras, in hospitals and other organizations where needed
• Provides financial support to Heifer International
• Makes Kiva micro loans to people in developing countries
• Provides financial support to Operation Smile

Public Affairs Program
• Provides gifts to veterans at the Veterans’ Clinic
• Provides monetary contributions and personal care bags to Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners Program
• Provides monetary contributions to Safe Kids Program for Child Identification Kits
• Donated food for families of deployed troops
• Served in precincts on Election Day.
• Donated stuffed animals to Highway patrol for young victims of car accidents.

(Compiled January 2009)