Women’s Club raises $630 for good causes

Stecoah – The Graham County Women’s Club Easter bakers baked 16 carrot cakes, 10 coconut cakes, 11 lemon meringue pies and five dozen hot cross buns — all sold out at $15 per item, which raised $630 for a variety of charitable causes.

“The Graham County Women’s Club Pre-order Easter Bake Sale was a success,” said club member and quasi-publicist Tere Moore. “Our maximum order limit was
40, knowing how many volunteer cooks we had.”

Beneficiaries of Women’s Club fundraisers include MANNA Food Bank, Stecoah Fire Department, Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center, Graham County Schools, to name a few.

The group also holds a Back-to-School Drive and awards an annual scholarship of around $2,000 to a graduating senior from Robbinsville High School.

Funds come from bake sales, selling jams and jellies at the harvest festival, and member |dues.

“The main thrust is reaching new members,” said member Bonnie Dodson.

Club members don’t have titles. They refer to themselves simply as members, although each has her particular skillset and all members chip in where they are most able.

The group has 14 active members out of a list of about 30 total members. Though the club meets at the Stecoah Center, it is open to women (and men, too) from throughout Graham County.

“If you want to learn how to make an incredible home-backed goodie, here’s the place,” Moore said.

The group was formed in 1928. Joyce Jenkins, who died in 2021 at the age of 89, was the last of the club’s old-school members.

Social clubs across the nation are having difficulty finding new and younger members. Graham County Women’s Club is no exception.

The Graham County Women’s Club is a potential resource for younger generations of women who were not immersed in social clubs as they grew up.

The club provides an opportunity for “one-on-one socializing with human beings,” said Moore, who worked in the “corporate world” before retiring and joining the group in 2016.

It is a “brain trust” of seasoned homemakers – and women with real-world business experience, as well.

“You couldn’t be with a better group of women,” she said.

Pre-COVID-19, the group had guest speakers at its meetings, something members hope to resume soon.

The group spent about eight hours in the Stecoah Center kitchen on Friday preparing and baking the bake sale items.

The highlights from their ingredients are:

* Nine dozen eggs

* Six pounds of butter

* Four pounds of cream cheese

* Six pounds of powdered sugar

* 15 pounds of flour

* Eight pounds of carrots

* 13 pounds of sugar

* ½ gallon of freshly squeezed lemon juice

* Spices, flavorings, nuts, coconut, raisins and pineapple

Participants were Vicki Baker, Nancy Norcross, Shellie Orr, Julie Norcross, Tere Moore, Jennifer West, Eileen Kallmayer, Phyllis Hoffman, Janessa Brown and Bonnie Dodson.