Giving Back to the Community Committee

The Community Give Back Committee will sponsor a food drive for WOMANSPACE at our June 9th meeting. Karina Saba from WOMANSPACE will be our guest and will make a brief presentation. Their wish list is:
juices (boxes, cans) all kinds, all cereals, snack bars, crackers, fruit rollups, graham crackers, pretzels, raisins, fruit cups

Please bring your food donation in a plastic grocery bag. Your donations will provide some necessary nourishment for battered and homeless mothers and their children and at the same time help WOMANSPCE with their endeavors. Our food donation will allow them to to purchase more food because we have freed up some money they would otherwise have spend on these items.

The Community Give Back Committee thanks you for all your support this past year We will continue in our mission to provide our Chapter's support to women's issues. We welcome new additions to our Committee.

The Community Give Back Committee has rescheduled the Carnivale Game Nite to Tuesday, July 19th. Stay tuned for more specifics about place and time. The fun and games will heat up in the summer and you will all go home as winners! So, do not miss out on this fun evening, mark you calendars now!

At the April meeting, the Community Give Back Committee held a Regifting Silent Auction to raise money for the Scholarship Fund. There were 10 groupings of items for bidding and at the end of the night, all items were auctioned off for the total amount of $116. It was a fun event for there was great contention for several of the groupings as well as a last minute verbal auction for some other items.

During the past several months, an interested group of NJAWBO women got together to create the Mercer Chapter's Community Give Back Program. At the request of our President, Lisa Snyder, Committee members Eileen Entin, Suzanne Rosenblum, Grazina Crisman, Lynn McDougall, Kathy Morolda, Robin Fogel, Ruth Gatling and Arlene Schragger were guided by Community Give Back Committee Chair Linda Richter in discussing the goals, guidelines and plans to move this project forward. The following structure has been designed to do just that:

Goals - The objectives for the Program are:

• To help enhance community spirit in the Mercer Chapter
• To give back to the community
• To support women-related issues and activities

• Non-political
• Non-religious
• Support women's issues or support women-sponsored initiatives

Activities will be planned for each fiscal year (June 1 through May 31). The Committee hopes to hold up to three different types of activities per year under the umbrellas of:

1. a "walk" to individually raise funds for an outside organization
2. a donation drive-- of goods such as clothing, cell phones, food, school supplies, etc.
3. a Chapter sponsored fund raiser with these funds designated to provide several different types of scholarships to Mercer Chapter members

Some suggestions for fund raising events include a miniature golf night, a game night, a special dinner/cocktail party, a progressive dinner, a night or afternoon at the Grounds for Sculpture, a goods and services auction.

Visit our web site and check future newsletters for updates on the Committee's initiatives. Committee Chair Linda Richter welcomes comments and suggestions at our new email address: mercernjawbogiveback@yahoo.com