About Us

The GFWC Lake Lanier Woman’s Club, Inc. held their first organizational meeting in the fall of 2024. With an exceptionally well received reception by the community, two long time GFWC Georgia members, Renette Todd and Cynthia English, began the GFWC Lake Lanier Woman’s Club, Inc. They held their first official club meeting in January of 2025. Beginning their first year with volunteer opportunities in the area of Art and Culture, Education, Environment, Civic Engagement, and Domestic Violence, eighteen charter members came together to form the GFWC Lake Lanier Woman’s Club, Inc. The club was chartered with GFWC International and GFWC Georgia at the 2025 GFWC GA Convention at Lake Lanier Islands. Certificates from both International and Georgia were presented by the GFWC GA 2024-2026 President, Kathy Jones. Eight members were present to receive their charter certificates, and to also volunteer at the convention as pages and co-hostess for one of the meals. President Kathy Jones made note that even before receiving their official charter, the members of the GFWC Lake Lanier Woman’s Club were ready to serve! Members that first year received individual Charter Member Certificates at their year-end Christmas Party.

Membership in the GFWC Lake Lanier Woman’s Club, Inc. is categorized as Active or Patron. Active members’ dues are $70 annually, and can be paid in two installments ($35 x 2). Active members must attend at least 5 of the 10 meetings per year. They have voting rights to determine the business of the organization. Active members agree to keep track of volunteer hours in the community and turn that information into the appropriate officer monthly. Active members may hold authoritive positions. Patron member dues are $50 and must be paid in full. Patron members have no attendance requirements and do not have voting rights in determining the business of the organization. They may not be officers or chairmen. Patron members do not have to keep track of volunteer time in the community but are welcome to join in any project that is sanctioned by the organization.

Plans of work shall promote and support the Community Service Programs as described below:

Art and Culture: Our club has contributed to our community in this area by providing craft supplies to the OT at a local nursing home, made Bunny Bags for Easter for the kids at a woman’s homeless shelter, put together Valentine treat bags and cards for an assisted living, provided a Concert and Cookies event at a local nursing home and sponsored artists to come and paint at the Flowery Branch Spring Festival. We also gave out sea tattoos to the children at the Flowery Branch Spring Festival.

Civic Engagement and Outreach: Our club members have been very active in this area. We had two female veterans come speak at a club meeting about their military service, and how to help veterans in our community. Because of them, we were able to help the veteran students at UNG on the Oakwood campus by supplying breakfast items and snacks for students in their Veteran’s Lounge. To support Habit for Humanity, we delivered water and snacks to their Woman’s Build site in the spring. We had a speaker from a drug rehab come and speak at a meeting. We donated items for their residents, along with a small financial donation, and items to be sold in their thrift store. We financially support My Sister’s Place, a woman’s homeless shelter. WE also made Bunny Bags for the children living at the shelter at Easter. Two graduation cards with Dairy Queen gift cards were provided to the high school graduates at Family Promise. We also completed a bird project for the daycare. We donated a bird feeder, bird seed, and books about birds for the children to learn and enjoy. We supported Evelyn’s Place Dog Rescue with a financial donation and the founder, TC Reynolds, came and spoke to our club members. We also donated 50 dog harnesses for her animal rescues. To celebrate our country’s 250^th anniversary, we placed flags on the graves of veterans at the Flowery Branch Cemetery.

GFWC’s Signature Project: Domestic Violence – This project area falls under Civic Engagement. Our club had the local shelter director come and speak and we collected laundry pods and baby wipes for their residents. We provided spiral notebooks and calendars for the clients to keep up with judicial appointments and to journal their feelings and a timeline of events. They are advised to journal in a notebook to help heal. We have also provided dinner for two of their parent meetings and plan to do that again later this year. We provided candy for their Trunk or Treat at Halloween, and we also celebrated Christmas for their residents by providing $25 IHOP gift cards for every resident. IHOP was kind enough to also add free kid’s meal certificates to go with the gift cards.

Education and Libraries: Our members serving in the Education and Libraries area stay constantly busy. They fill the Free Little Library in Alberta Banks Park two months of every quarter. It has been a blessing to our community to work with the South Hall Rotary Club to provide free books to children that come to the park. One of our members secured a wonderful donation from a local school that was refurbishing their library and we have so many books we can use in our Free Little Library. With our fundraising efforts, we have been able to provide GED scholarships to women in our community that are trying to improve their career options and therefore their earning potential. We provided breakfast for the Sprout Springs Library staff to begin their summer children’s programs. We provided snacks and treats for the Hall County bus drivers for Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week. Lastly, we signed and gave 35 graduation cards to the graduating seniors at Tallulah Falls School, a school that our organization began in 1910. Our organization has a state office on their campus.

Environment: Reforestation is the focus for our club in this area. We secured the donation of 50 dogwood and maple trees and gave them out free to residents of Flowery Branch at the Flowery Branch Spring Festival in 2025. We also secured and worked with Hall County Park and Rec to plant a pink dogwood in Alberta Banks Park, which is also the symbol of Flowery Branch. To celebrate Christmas, we donated an evergreen Christmas tree to Alberta Banks Park, which Hall County Park and Rec planted and provided power. We decorated the tree with white lights and environmentally friendly ornaments. We plan to expand on that project every year as it grows larger. We have secured donations to provide a bench that will be placed near the tree so that Santa can visit with the children during the holidays. Our latest endeavor in Alberta Banks Park is the addition of a dog waste bag holder to provide free waste bags for dog owners. This ensures our park stays clean and safe for children and pets.

Health and Wellness: To support our community, we had two food drives during the year. We provided critically needed canned meat and vegetables at the beginning of the year and filled a “Stuff the Turkey” box for the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of the year. We took up a collection from our members to provide a Chemo Care Basket for one of our members that was diagnosed with cancer. A nice basket of goodies was delivered to her. We also provided a meal the first week of her chemo. To end the year in this area, we provided books to every child in the pediatric wards in both Braselton and Gainesville hospitals that would be spending the Christmas holiday away from home and family. At a general club meeting, we held a chair exercise class that was fun and good physical exercise!

This is a group organization and we need YOU! Where does your interest lie? What projects do you know of that need our time and funds? What leadership role would you be comfortable with? We want your opinion, your ideas, your involvement, and most importantly, we want to make our community better for all who live here. We also want you to feel you are an important part of this organization!

GFWC Lake Lanier Woman’s Club, Inc.

P.O. Box 473

Oakwood, GA 30566

Our website: lakelanierwomansclub.org

Email: info@lakelanierwomansclub.org