Altrusa Club members meet Tuesday to plan to serve the Dallas community in 2017
Altrusa International of Downtown Dallas will meet for its final luncheon meeting of 2016 on Tuesday, December 20th to discuss upcoming volunteer opportunities for 2017.
In November, the club members delivered turkeys and groceries the week before Thanksgiving to Shared Housing-Dallas recipients. One of those recipients will be on hand to thank the club members Tuesday and talk about her life and how Shared Housing--and Altrusa--has helped her.
The club members were busy in December, decorating the Ebby House in the Juliette Fowler Community, creating a warm and inviting space for the young women who live there. The Ebby House gives young women who’ve aged out of the Foster care system a home to live in while they complete their education and get gainful employment.
That same night, December 8, over 30 club members met and wrapped gifts for over 80 recipients of the Human Rights Initiative, refugees—including many children—who’ve relocated to Dallas. The Altrusa club members had shopped individually the week before for each gift recipient, then collectively met to wrap and label the presents in a three-hour service marathon.
First on the agenda for 2017 is the service project at the Vickery Meadows Learning Center (VMLC) where volunteers will prepare classrooms at both the main and west campus for the students who study there.
The members of Altrusa will be assembling 200 student notebooks, and clean and prepare classrooms for the new semester. Club members will also be donating cleaning supplies like paper towels and Clorox wipes for use throughout the new year.
In addition to service projects, the club has an annual holiday party planned the first Saturday of 2017. Since members of the club often have work parties in December, the club members have had their holiday event in January for the past three years so everyone has a chance to attend.
The members also meet every six weeks for a book club, rotating the evenings among various homes of the club’s members.
Altrusa is a service organization for civic-minded people who strive to create better communities worldwide. The focus of the Downtown Dallas Club is on helping women and children in the Dallas Metroplex by performing service projects to fulfill the mission of “Educating Families for a Better Future.”
The club is affiliated with Altrusa International, Inc., an international organization with over 300 clubs worldwide with a strong history of literacy education.
Since the Downtown Dallas club’s founding in 1982, the club has had numerous successful fundraising projects to support many areas of service and has raised more than $1,000,000 for community grants disbursed through our Downtown Dallas Foundation. Club members have contributed over 90,000 hours of service for the benefit of the Dallas community. Altrusa raises money to support local non-profit agencies through donations and a semi-annual gala, “Dessert First.” The club's most recent event on December 1, 2016 raised over $10,000 to benefit local agencies. Club members volunteer regularly with Attitude and Attire, Meals on Wheels, and at the Vickery Meadow Learning Centers.
To attend a Tuesday meeting, contact Membership Chair Kim Abmeyer: kim.abmeyer@raymondjames.com or President Nina Cox at ninafcox@gmail.com.
Questions can also be directed to Board Secretary Amy Gavigan at amy.gavigan@sbcglobal.net.
See www.altrusadtd.com for more information.
Author Judy Porter has been an Altrusa member since 1990. judy-porter@sbcglobal.net