Wilton is known for being a community of people who help others, and one organization that’s been doing so for a very long time is the Wilton Woman’s Club. Now, under the direction of two new co-presidents, the WWC is focusing on building its membership even more.
Donna Sargeantson and Stacy Crameri are the group’s new presidents. They’re inviting prospective new members who want to learn more about getting involved in the Woman’s Club to come to an open house coffee on Monday, Sept. 8 at 10 a.m. at Trackside (15 Station Rd.).
“I’m not new to the town–I’ve been very involved in my children’s school activities, the League of Women Voters, I’ve been here 15 years. But even I had a lot of misconceptions about the Woman’s Club. I’ve lived in other towns where the Woman’s Clubs were more social, you had to apply and be sponsored. In Wilton, it’s very laid back–they don’t ask you to total up a lot of volunteer hours, or bring a coffee cake to every meeting. It’s really do what you can, when you can–but do something.”
Crameri said her story is similar. She had always been very involved in PTA. “As my children got older and wanting to meet new people of different ages, I decided to join.”
Officially, the group’s purpose is for members “To Learn and To Serve.” The club helps facilitate volunteer opportunities for members and organizes events–lectures, trips and activities–that members can participate in to learn something new. The group has identified organizations for which they like to provide volunteer (wo)manpower as well as to do major fundraising–Person-to-Person and Wilton Social Services–primarily through their yearly fashion show at Rolling Hills every April. It typically nets more than $20,000 to be donated.
“That’s due to an army of women who volunteer as well as the community that donates products and services. It’s really great,” Sargeantson says.
But the new leaders say they’re also willing to get the club pitch in when a member has a cause that is particularly important or close to her heart. “If we can help, we’re going to do that.”
While the time commitment may be what members make of it, the return on the time invested can really be high–not only from friendships and camaraderie from meeting other women in town, but also from the reward of giving back to some of the organizations the Woman’s Club partners with.
“I spend one Monday a month working in Norwalk at Person to Person, and I sort clothes. It’s not fun, when you open a bag of donated clothes, you don’t know what you’ll find. But while you’re sorting clothes, you see the people come in, and there’s a lot of need, right around where we are. As well, in our own town. At the Wilton Holiday Walk, the weather was awful and we collected $500, to give $250 each to Wilton Social Services and Person-to-Person. They could each buy gift cards and toys for kids at holiday time,” Sargeantson says.
She also notes that it’s easy to just write a check to help a needy organization, “but there’s something about working side by side with someone. It is primarily to give back to the community but to do it in a way that we can build relationships, make friends and be social and try to limit the feeling of it being ‘one more thing.’”
With the collective membership, the new presidents explain, the group can really have an impact. “We’re all running in a million directions with our children and everything else. With this organization, if you can come together with a couple hours a month or every other month, together we make a difference. Individually it’s hard to do.”
One area of emphasis that Sargeantson and Crameri are excited about strengthening even further is the mother-daughter Junior Leadership Program (JLP), a program that engages moms and daughters in community service projects together. One effort that is a regular program for this segment of the club is making holiday meals for homebound elderly residents in Wilton.
“Two years ago I was trying to put together a mother-daughter volunteer effort through the National Charity League,” explains Sargeantson. “It’s big in Ridgefield, New Canaan and Westport, but it was hard drawing from a smaller group of people [here in Wilton]. So I approached the Woman’s Club presidents about joining. About 25-30 parents and their daughters joined.”
Crameri said that the JLP was a big draw for her to consider the Woman’s Club. At first, her daughter felt just like she did about joining. “She said, ‘I’m not going to know anyone.’ And then she met Donna’s daughter, who is two grades older. She didn’t want to leave. I’ve gotten to meet women I wouldn’t normally meet, but then my daughter had the same opportunity as well.”
Sareantson said there’s a natural kind of evolution, as the high school girls start to age out and become more involved in high school activities, some of the younger middle school girls and their moms step up to become more involved through the Woman’s Club. “We want the girls to go to the high school and join the Key Club and do other community service clubs. We’re looking for new people to come in from the 5th, 6th, 7th grades.”
In the coming weeks, the Club has several events planned. Among its program offerings will be a group trip to Kykuit (the Rockefeller estate), a discussion of healthy eating led by Kathy Helms (owner of Wilton’s The Well organic market), and a yoga class with guided meditation led by Andrea Lankaster, a yoga instructor at Four Seasons Racquet Club. There are also some regular smaller groups within the club to meet with shared passions, including a book club, a gourmet group and a bridge club. “If people want to create other groups, we’re defined by what the membership wants.
Membership costs $40 per year to belong. “We really hope people will give of their time through the Woman’s Club,” Sargeantson says.
For more information, go to www.wiltonwomansclub.org.